EPISODE CLIII - YOU DO THE HOKEY-POKEY AND YOU TURN YOURSELF AROUND
Schrader came to slowly, the stench of smoke filling his nostrils as he struggled to orient himself with his surroundings. He was in his ship, but beyond that, he wasn't sure.
Vaguely recalling a high speed dog fight, he searched the darkness beyond his cockpit for any signs of the enemy, but found to his confusion, only endless space.
Reality hit him like a like an overly sensitive hooker, as he searched the black sea before him for any sign of the USS Escort. He was alone, adrift in space. He took a quick inventory of his supplies
and realized he wouldn't last long. With the exception of a few energy bars he'd found in the emergency kit, he had no food. The only thing he had to drink was already inside him, and as thirsty as
he might get, he knew he was no Broski.
All of his systems were on the blink from the force of the shock wave, but he was able to divert enough power from life support to run a systems check. Checking the read outs, he wished he'd saved himself
the effort. Both drives were fried as were the navigational circuits, and he was unable to get the weapons systems to register at all.
"Well ain't this lovely?", he muttered, peeling the wrapper back from one of the energy bars and jamming it into his mouth. His jaws worked furiously to grind down the brittle fibers as he released
himself from his safety harness. Once free, he leaned back as far as the cockpit would allow and looked out at the stars. He began to doze, but came awake suddenly, hearing a hissing sound from all
around him. He looked around and noticed a wispy white gas flowing into the cockpit from several small vents.
"What the...?!?", Schrader exclaimed, and then he understood. The XP-2000 was equipped with a cryogenic survival package which activated when life support reached its lowest level. The temperature
dropped rapidly as Schrader began pushing buttons in an effort to short circuit the program.
