Respite
Aesurad became aware. It wouldn't be proper to say he woke up, since he wasn't exactly sure if he had even been asleep. Aesurad became aware, and felt the sensation of something pressing against him. A pervasive feeling of consistent pressure all around his body.
He tried moving, and he did; something below him shifted lazily to the left. Pressure increased from the all encompassing thing on his left side while he moved, then equalized. Aesurad concluded that he was suspended in fluid. Analyzing his current state, he decided that he could be drowning. He tried moving again. This time he shifted lazily downward. It struck him that it may not in fact be downward, but rather downward relative to… him, just like there was a thing below him that moved earlier. Below him. Him. What was the him above the the thing below? He pulled his hands toward himself; he had hands, and presumably arms. One of Aesurad's fingers poked his closed right eye; he had eyes. His mouth opened with shock from the sudden pain; he had a mouth. Fluid rushed in.
Ah, that's right, he was drowning. Or perhaps he wasn't, he hadn't felt the need to breathe. As if conjured by the thought, Aesurad felt lungs in his… chest, and they began to burn with the need for air. Aesurad cried out in panic, a torrent of bubbles escaping his mouth. Struggling to engage his higher reason, he opened his eyes and saw the stream of bubbles dancing upward, breaking the surface less than a foot from his face. He was on his back, close to the surface. Now possessing of a sense of orientation, Aesurad swung his legs down instinctively, his head breaking the surface of the fluid. Spitting the fluid from his mouth, he took in several large breaths of air. Air? Yes, it didn't burn, it wasn't causing any immediately obvious detrimental effects. Air, for now. Moving to the side of the… container? he grasped the rail that ran along it and pulled himself out with little effort and sat on the edge of the container.
Looking down at himself, he took stock of what he saw: torso, legs, feet still in the fluid. Nothing he saw looked like it was covered in skin, rather, it was a light colored material with several seams. Aesurad grasped the material on his thigh between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it outward, feeling a vacuum forming between it and his skin as he did. He had skin. Aesurad felt inexplicably relieved at that. Carefully, he stood at the edge of the container. It was surrounded by a floor covered in large grey tiles. More of a pool, then. He could see other square pools around him, separated by about twenty feet of floor between each. Curious, he approached one and peered into the fluid. It was empty. He couldn't tell if there had ever been anything in it, there were no puddles of fluid around it like the puddles that he was leaving behind him. Perhaps the occupant had exited long enough ago for the puddles to have dried?
Aesurad spent a short time wandering between the pools in the floor, there were nine; arranged in a neat grid that he found to be incredibly satisfying. Peering into each, he found them all to be empty. He was beginning to feel a nagging hollowness in his core. Hunger? Yes, it was gnawing at him, and he didn't like the feeling. He scanned the walls of the chamber and spotted an unremarkable door, beside which stood a long table. Aesurad approached the table and saw that it held nine dark green cases, each with a fluffy grey towel folded neatly on top. Moving the towel to the side, he unlatched and opened the case. Inside were a pair of sturdy grey utility pants, a lighter grey long sleeve shirt, and a pair of boots. Taking the towel, Aesurad dried himself off. He set the towel aside, and dressed himself with the container's contents. Casting a last look around the room, he turned toward the door, but then stopped and picked the towel back up, carrying it with him as he passed through the doorway.
As he passed into the smaller room, a soothing female voice emitted from speakers mounted in the ceiling. “Dr. Aesurad, your relaxation period has extended beyond your allotment by fourty six thousand, nine hundred, thirty one hours.” Aesurad paled, he had been in the pool for…over five years? The voice continued. “Your conduct has been documented. You are reminded that overlong use of the relaxation pools can cause unintended side effects. You are further reminded that remaining in the relaxation pool beyond your allotment forces other members of your crew to wait longer to use them than they should have to.” A quiet snicker came from the speakers, and Aesurad could hear scolding whispers. His memory was beginning to return, and he realized that he recognized the voice. “Your extra time in the pool will be docked from your pay and your debt to the Carrilliad corporation has increased by five billion, one hundred sixty million…” The voice broke into gales of laughter, and Aesurad looked sternly into the tiny camera by the exit. “Alright, alright, I'll tell you what. I'll take care of the dishes for the rest of the week. Will that be enough to cover my debt?” More laughter pealed from the speaker and another female voice came through. “Well then, I guess you had better hurry on up here. Tani just finished cooking dinner and there is a nice stack of pots and pans waiting for your attention.” Aesurad shook his head, chuckling to himself, and slapped the egress button, opening the door to the ship's main corridor.