setting: space station

[rollbookstinger]

Her footsteps were being intrusively loud. Of course, she was wearing heels, but she hadn't quite expected to end up here when she'd gotten up in the morning. But that was assuming this was the same day. Her watch had stopped, her lips were dry, her nails had outgrown the clear coating of polish. Her teacher's garb—button-up blouse, gray jacket and skirt—seemed out of place, even though she didn't know what "in place" would be. Orange jumpsuits, perhaps, but that didn't seem right, either. The gravity was on, and the place was larger than she would have expected. But still, she got the impression she was in space.

What was she doing here? It was no use digging up the last thing she remembered—from what she remembered, she should be dead. Or if not dead, then some far-flung place that didn't resemble a space station. Maybe this was a joke. A joke from the Chairman: Ha ha, we fooled you. Welcome aboard. She wasn't a new employee (in either sense) and the Chairman wasn't given to jokes.

She turned the corner. Desperation and confusion drove her to speak even as she entertained the thought that it might be a trap. "Hello? Is anybody there?"