text: [Themes: sci-fi, science fiction]
  
  You leave the tubes and step through the small door. You stand at the end of a stark hallway. Everything here is solid, shining metal. The walls are clear of any marks at all -- there are no rivets or lines, just apparently enormous sheets of metal for walls.
  
  There is no sound here, but on the wall next to the door is a large toggle switch. The switch has a catch at the top so that is will take two hands to move the catch and flip the switch down. There is also a latch on the side, so that after moving the catch and starting the lever moving, you'll have to put the latch to get the switch all the way to the down position. Clearly this switch was made to be sure that no one would move it by accident.
  
  From the switch there are numerous cables and pipes that lead up and into the wall and ceiling. Written on the wall above the switch is the word "Sealed." At the bottom of the switch is the word "Release." There is a row of three lights at the top of the switch, all of them solid green.
  
  The hallway also continues from here, sloping just slightly downward. The hallway appears to go on for some distance, but it is gently lit with some dim lighting. There are no light bulbs of any kind, so you're not completely sure of the source of the light. Looking carefully down the hallway, it does appear to get lighter further down the hall.
  
  > continue down the Hallway...
  The smooth hallway continues going slightly down and it curves around a bit to the right. There are still no seams or joints at all that you can see, it is almost like walking in a giant tube. As you continue to walk, the lights stay low, but you can tell you are headed towards an area of more light. In fact, as you watch the light, you start to notice different flashes of lights, sometimes getting brighter.
  
  As you turn a corner at the end of the hallway, the place suddenly opens up into a large area that must be some sort of viewing area. There are a couple rows of chairs facing what looks like a large, curved window. The windows are dozens and dozens of feet wide and at least 15 feet tall. The floor color changes near the seats, and you can see that it is because there is a rug there.
  
  Looking out the massive window, you can see that the main source of the light are various stars that appear not too far away (relatively). But at the same time, you can see all sorts of things moving around out there, between the stars! Taking a step forward to the window, you can see that there are ships out there, and they are moving fast. And the flashes of light? Those must be some sort of laser, because the ships appear to be fighting one another!
  
  At that moment, there is a tremendous crash and the ship shakes violently, almost knocking you off your feet. The light inside quickly changes to a red blinking light and sirens and klaxons start going off. Looking back to the hallway, you see some sort of steel door slam down into place and lock, blocking your retreat. The red light keeps pulsing and the battle is apparently raging outside.
  
  Looking for somewhere to go, you spot two small hatches as the only other apparent exits from this room. Each has a sign over the hatch, one labelled "Attack Pod," and the other labelled "Escape pod."
  
  > jump into the attack pod...
  You move quickly through the shaking ship and jump through the hatch marked "Attack Pod." You find yourself in a large space, almost like you jumped into a large ball with a seat. You sit down in the sit in the middle of the ball and wonder what you're supposed to do next.
  
  Suddenly the interior of the ball transforms! A lap belt appear around you and a helmet is lowered onto your head. Control panels flip up from the floor and various scanner screens drop down from above. Your seat releases its brakes and the seat now moves with your slightest shift in weight, allowing you to quickly shift and move to look in any direction. The hatch to the pod slips shut and two joysticks appear from the bottom of the seat and rise to meet your hands. Then the pod starts sliding down.
  
  In a blink of an eye, you find yourself outside the ship, floating around in space. You can see the ship you just left above you, but in all other directions there are stars and darkness. Well, except for the various small ships you see flying around, shooting lasers of some kind at one another. Shifting in your seat, you can look in any direction and the seat, the joysticks, and the screens all move with you.
  
  A beeping pierces the silence of your pod and a red light starts blinking. Your chair spins to face a small fighter craft that appears to be turning towards you. You can see various blips and beeps on the monitor, and you can quickly determine that all the activity in your pod is due to that fighter. That ship turns to face you and you see laser blasts shooting near you!
  
  > press the joystick trigger button...
  You pull the trigger and press the buttons on the joysticks and to your relief, you see a laser blast of your own shoot out towards the other ship. There is a large explosion and the ship vaporizes. Looking around, you don't see any other ships attacking you at the moment.
  
  Experimenting with the controls, you quickly figure out how to maneuver the ship and still keep your seat. At first, your stomach protests when you move too quickly, but you get the hang of flying this ship before any of the others spot you. When another fighter moves towards you, you quickly shift your seat, adjust the joystick, and blast it out space.
  
  With your newfound skills, you manage to start moving your ship and flying through space. You soon identify the two apparent factions fighting by the shape of their ships: the ones that attacked you were rectangular and long, while the rounded ships have not attacked you. You nimbly fly through space, quickly eliminating the various rectangular ships much faster and easier than the other rounded ships are able to do. In a short time, you notice that you cannot find any more rectangular ships, and the rounded ships are moving into some sort of formation.
  
  You realize that the battle is over, and you can see your starship sitting off to the side. You can see a few burn marks on it, but it looks like it should be mostly intact. You fly around it once, trying to figure out how to get back inside. There is one area that appears a little more open, and it looks like there might be some sort of hanger or landing area inside, but you can't be sure.
  
  At the same time, the various rounded ships have formed up in a location with a missing part. A couple of them bob and weave, indicating that you should join in their formation in that missing part. Apparently they want you to join them, perhaps for a victory party, but you can't be sure.
  
  > follow the victors...
  You easily guide your ship into the formation and the formation starts moving through space. Your ship appears more maneuverable than the other ships, so you find it easy to keep up with them. While you are flying, you look over at the other ships, trying to get a glimpse inside them, but you cannot see anything that looks like windows or any way to see outside at all.
  
  After a bit of time, you can see a planet starting to grow larger, and it looks like you are heading right towards the planet. You can see various swirls on the surface of the planet that look like clouds. As you get closer, those swirls look like they are moving very quickly and you can see lightning flashing, even from in space: there must be some incredibly violent storms on the surface, and those storms look like the cover the entire surface of the planet!
  
  As you get closer, you start to sweat and get worried about landing on such a planet, so much so that you almost miss the turn when the formation gently climbs up and around the planet. You watch as the incredible surface of the planet flies past you and you approach one of the moons of the planet. Getting closer to the moon, you can see the surface is covered with vast areas of green and blue. Clearly the formation is headed there as they move directly towards the moon. As you get closer, you realize the moon is much larger than you first though, perhaps as big as the earth you left behind.
  
  Nearing the moon, you appear to enter the atmosphere of the planet and can now see that the blue is indeed water and the green appears to be vast amounts of vegetation. This reminds you of pictures you have seen of the Amazon Rain Forests. The formation flies low over some of the water, then you see a wide open area in the green. The formation heads for the opening area and quickly slips over land and then all quietly land.
  
  A gentle breeze appears to be blowing, but then the vegetation erupts with movement: dozens and dozens of, well, creatures start appearing and walking towards the crafts. These creatures are about four feet tall, and walk on two feet. However, that is where the similarity to humans ends! They have three or four long appendages that end in vicious claws. On the top half of their bodies, they have massive maws filled with row after row of razor-sharp teeth. They move quickly and raise their claws in the air -- you can hear the clattering of the claws even through your pod's window. Then there is a high-pitched sound that scratches your ears, and you cannot tell if that is coming from the creatures or from something else.
  
  > take off, turn around, and head back to your ship...
  Not having any idea what those strange creatures want with you, you quickly nudge your seat to the side and launch back into the air. You turn the ship around and head it out and away from the moon as quickly as you can make the ship go. Turning and looking back, you don't see anyone following your or chasing you as you leave the atmosphere and head back out into black space.
  
  It is easy to guide your pod past the planet with the violent storms and into space. You watch the planet fade into space as you continue to fly. However, in a few minutes, you realize that you really don't have any idea where you are going. You look around and since you are in a spherical pod, you can look in every single direction -- and every direction looks exactly the same. There are stars everywhere around you, but all appear far away. You don't see your original ship, and now you're not even sure if you could find the storms planet again if you wanted to.
  
  Looking back over the "controls," you see a couple gauges, one marked "oxygen." That gauge indicates that the oxygen supply is at 10%. You have no idea how long 10% is supposed to last, but you're guessing that you must have already used quite a bit fighting and flying to the moon. While you're pondering this, the gauge blips and indicates 8%.
  
  Realizing that you do not have much time, you start to panic and start breathing heavily. You realize that will just use up your oxygen faster, so you try and control your breathing while you look at the gauges and start searching around for some way to find your way to your ship. You realize that there simply is nothing there that you can identify. The oxygen gauge blips again, down to 6%, and starts blinking red.
  
  You sit back on the control chair and try to relax. You try to think of some way out of this predicament, but you cannot think of anything. The stars are relaxing and distracting, so you close your eyes to concentrate. You breathing slows as you try to use less oxygen. You start thinking about the design of space shuttles and realize that you don't know anything at all about shuttles, ships, or even sailing ships. You remember once that you went sailing with your family off the coast of New Jersey, but that was a long time ago, or was it? It was dark that day, you think, as dark as now. In fact, the darkness overcomes you as you peacefully fall asleep and slowly run out of oxygen.