Thread: ..::Across the Universe::.. [ Raiden & Ironic ]

The Elder stirs in his bed, his hand rising and pressing against his forehead. God, a throbbing headache. He sits up slowly, careful not to bang his head against the metal ceiling of the bunkroom, and slowly slips down, landing in a crouch to soften the eight-foot drop. Regardless of status, space is space, and not even the Eldest gets his own quarters. The metal is freezing cold on his feet, but he hardly notices anymore, moving to the small row of lockers and pulling out the day's jumpsuit. It zips up fairly handily, and he steps out of the bunkroom a moment later. No-one else is due to be up for an hour, but he likes the solitude he can get early on the clock. He stretches as he walks down the corridor, rolling his shoulders and getting used to the chill air as he moves through the hallways, humming lowly beneath his breath. His brown hair ruffles occasionally as the air recycling pushes by his head, making him blink every now and then when a gust hits his face, obscuring dark brown eyes. His skin is tanned from working beneath the UV lamps for the crops, faint scars from work accidents crisscrossing his forearms. He's the second oldest of those aboard the ship, with the majority of the workers being around the same age, and the eldest just a few years his senior. His eyes wander as he walks... only to fix upon a small electrical panel, rust encroaching on one corner. Frowning, he moves to it, and inspects the metal, studying it and pulling a multitool from his belt, starting to fix up the busted wiring, and putting in a maintenance order to the main system. A few more moments, and the panel is mostly remedied, making maintenance's job easier... but a door beside him whines, pushing upward and revealing a stairwell downward. Odd. There's not supposed to be any lower decks accessible from up here... He pauses, biting his lip for several moments. They're not supposed to wander or explore. It's too damn dangerous to wander outside this level... but no-one will know... and he's careful. His mind decided, he slips into the passage and begins descending the stairs, flicking on a small light on his uniform to lit the unilluminated steps. Sterile, clean... but not in a maintenance comes daily manner. More that no-one's been here in a long time... He finally reaches the bottom, and the automatic doors pull open for him, exposing a large, open room, full of dozens, no, hundreds, if not thousands of upright, semiopaque glass tubes, humanoid forms barely visible through the material. What... is this? he wonders aloud, wandering down the rows and brushing his fingers against the glass. Many of the people, if people they are, are taller than any of the younger boys, and even taller than him, at least by several inches. He has to lean up on the very tips of his toes to brush the glass with his fingers, and he frowns, studying the forms inside. Men, older than the eldest, even. Women, even. He'd thought that was a myth, actually... And then, at last, he comes across a smaller form, only his size, even a little smaller. He can't get the glass to defrost enough with his hands, as he swipes at it, and instead, he looks at the panel, studying it intently... trying to figure out what and how to see what's inside, better... And his foot slips on a cable as he bends down, bringing his face directly into contact with one of the larger buttons, and sending him crashing to the floor with a yelp, rubbing his head and groaning. A low, soothing voice, unlike the system comm, rings out into his ears from above. Beginning defrosting process of cryogenic pod. Please stand back from the pod...