The man’s eyes strained and fluttered as he tried to keep them open. The flashing red lights felt like jackhammers at the back of his eye sockets when he looked out the glass of his cryopod. He squeezed his eyes shut again from offensive light. As much as it hurt to do, he kept trying to open his eyes to figure out what was going on and force his eyes to adjust faster than normal.

He forced a yawn to help unplug his ears. The subtle pop opened the small flood gate of sound. Sirens blaring was obvious enough, even if muted through the walls of the cryopod. The sound of a muted explosion ripped through the hallway he could now see he was speeding through.

The robotic arm that had been moving the cryopod shuttered, then sped up to its destination. The full body length synthetic glass was instantly coated with frost on the outside.

“What the hell...” he slurred.

His muscle movement was quickly coming back to him. Probably because of the adrenaline dump, he thought to himself. He tipped his head down to in part avoid the offensive light, but also to check himself out and make sure he knew how he was outfitted. Cryosleep dreaming could make you think weird stuff sometimes. A quick visual inspection could put the sane mind at ease upon waking up.

Alan’s hands shook as he tried to clench his fists. His cryopod was thrust into a chute. Emergency automated systems took hold of the cryopod and thrust it down into darkness a short distance. It came to an abrupt stop. Another muted explosion which rattled everything around him much more violently this time. He instinctively grabbed the bars near his hands. There was nothing else to grab anyway.

“Good morning, Alan. I have a priority contract update for you,” said a female voice.

It finally dawned on him how much the cryopod muted outside sounds. That explosion had to be massive. “Now is not the time Sara! What’s happening to-”

Alan grunted with the sudden lurch downward. If he had any food in his system, he would have blown chunks and passed out from the forces. He nearly blacked out anyway. There was a good reason people didn’t move for an hour after coming out of cryosleep.

“What’s going on Sara?!”

“I’m sorry, Alan. Company policy requires of me to go over the contract changes as soon as you are awake enough to comprehend.”

“It can wait! This is an emergency! What the hell just happened!?”

“Your contract with Pargon Fabrications has been amended as follows:”

“They can’t amend my contract unless I agree to it. What’s happening to the ship?!”

“You must not have read the fine print. There is a clause amid the 378 page contract that you signed. You, Engineer Alan Cooker, agreed to become Paragon Fabrications property for the duration of the contract. Therefore, according to Paragon Fabrications business rules: All documents pertaining to Paragon Fabrications properties are subject to change without notice as the company sees fit. You should read your contracts more carefully in the future.”

Alan was no lawyer, so it didn’t surprise him that he missed something. There was no point arguing with the AI. She would do whatever the company told her to. So hopefully the amendment was short so he could get some actual information out of her soon. Even out here in the middle of nowhere the company owned him. He just stared blankly at the scene before him as he waited for her to spill the new terms of apparent servitude.

“Your added mission is to take the Neri’s Opportunity and land near Aurora Outpost on the planet Hespara. Retrieve 20 designated cargo containers of unspecified contents.”

From his cryopod he could see out through the now defrosted synthetic glass and the much smaller escape pod window. He could see the star-speckled vastness of space. Just coming into view was a planet that looked to have favorable qualities of sustaining life with plenty of vegetation.

“You are also to investigate Aurora Outpost to determine why the team there has gone AWOL. Secure the facility data cores and bring them back in a sealed cargo container for delivery along with the 20 designated containers.”

That didn’t sound too bad so far, except he had no idea what was happening with the Neri’s Opportunity since being ejected from it.

“Successful completion of this mission will be awarded two million in credits. Also, you will receive 1,500 company loyalty points toward a new contract. All pending a new signing of a nondisclosure agreement, of course.”

Alan’s eyes got wide at the reward. He could buy his own ship and pick and choose who he worked for... on his terms. Then his eye quickly narrowed when he got suspicious.

“Failure to complete the mission will result in a 500,000 credit bounty for your capture and return to Paragon Fabrications for disciplinary action.”

The escape pod began to rattle as it dipped into the air currents of the atmosphere.

“Okay, you read your bit, now I need information. What happened to the Neri’s Opportunity and what’s its current status?”

“Shield systems failure, followed by unidentified object collisions. First object impacted the starboard main thruster. The second and third impacts ruptured decks 2 and 3. Explosions caused hull breaches in 14 locations and major damage to the reactor as well as the jump drive.

“Damage to reactor reduced output to 23%. I was able to stabilize the reactor to keep it from exploding. The fourth, and last object, ruptured deck 2 and cause the weapon's energy capacitor to explode. That explosion resulted in all remaining oxygen being vented into space.

“Life support is offline. All weapons are offline. Oxygen tanks have ruptured and are offline. Only 47% of thrusters are intact and are offline. Jump drive is severely damaged and is offline. Communications systems are functioning at 8% of max range. Cargo status is unknown. The vessel’s current rate of fall is estimated to put it about 130 kilometers from our projected landing point. Loss of contact estimated in 6 minutes.”

The rattling of the escape pod was increasing as the air got thicker. It matched his nerves. Gravity was now taking its toll too. Alan closed his eyes and tried to do controlled breathing.

“Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Alan spoke through clenched teeth, “Contract... danger... level?”

“They rate contract danger level at high.”

“Where... is... this... planet?”

“Hespara is in the Atargatis System, in the region of Chaos Outlands.”

Alan wasn’t prone to swearing, but he would have if he could when he heard the last bit. Chaos Outlands, that explains the money.

“Neri’s Opportunity is no longer transmitting. Calculating probably crash site location.”

It also explained the exorbitant bounty price. It was probably bare minimum to get someone out here. It would have to be someone desperate. Paragon Fabrication liked to utilize desperate people.

Something didn’t make sense though. They should have sent a mercenary unit at the least. “Why... me?”

“If you are asking why would they send you instead of a security force, you were the closest company asset that could respond. A team has been dispatched to restart the facility. They will arrive in about a standard year.”

The rattling subsided to a somewhat graceful fall.

“Five minutes to landing. Deploying parachutes in 3... 2... 1...”

Alan felt like most of his guts might fall to the floor before resettling where they belonged. He couldn’t wait to get out of this damn pod. Of course, outside of the threat inherent with the Chaos Outlands, who knew what was waiting to make a meal out of him when he landed.

He thought about the team he was supposed to investigate. Odds are the team that was here before probably wasn’t AWOL. They were probably dead. It was just a case of what from.