Jack woke up with a start, his senses frantically scrambling to make sense of the confusion around him. An alarm blared from somewhere outside his cabin, and there was a loud banging that rumbled through the ship at somewhat infrequent intervals. Something was wrong.
He opened the door, and was promptly shoved back into his room by a disheveled hulk lumbering down the corridor.
"Back to your room, boy!" growled the hairy chef, without looking back. "And stay out of the way!"
Jack retreated hastily back and shut the door, dazed and confused by the cacophony around him. His heart was pounding! He wondered what was happening; Were they being boarded by pirates? Were lawless villains taking over the ship, intent on gathering slaves for the remote mining colonies? Maybe they were navigating a treacherous asteroid field, and would smash to smithereens at any moment!
"Attention, this is the Captain!"
Oh no, here it comes, thought Jack. Whatever it was, he steeled himself for the worst. He had left home to embark on an adventure, and it looked like adventure found him sooner than he expected. He awaited the captain's announcement with nervous anticipation.
"Uh, yes, we will be docking shortly."
What was this? Jack's agile mind quickly assessed the situation, made some quick mental calculations, and engaged his mouth. What came out was a mumbled "howzat?" His computer perked up, happily waiting for its next command. Jack ignored it.
The P.A continued, "It seems that our engineer, Zach, failed to complete his, er, repairs of the A.G.S. Of course, you know what that means..."
As Jack waited for the rest of the message, the ship began to shudder. This did not feel right... Any moment, the captain would expl--
"I think this is going to get a little bumpy, Kat. It's a good thing we have these harnesses! What? Oh."
The P.A. system clicked off.
Harnesses? Did that mean...? Wait... A.G.S.? The auto-guidance system?
With a resounding THUD, Jack was mercifully returned to a state of unconciousness as the ship tossed him around the cabin for the next 2 minutes. His last thought as he drifted off into dreamland was "I don't remember seeing a harness in my room..."
Jack woke up, the cacophony still ringing loudly in his ears. It took him a moment to realize that the clanging and pounding were all within his skull, and he groaned as all of the bruises on his body began to announce their presence. He slowly opened his eyes.
