text: [Themes: sci-fi]
  
  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 escape pod...
  You move quickly to the hatch marked "Escape Pod." You open the hatch and climb inside. You find yourself inside a large ball -- but a very nice large ball. There is a large semi-circular couch that fills half the space here. It is a white couch and quite soft and luxurious. You take a seat on the couch and lean back and realize that this is very comfortable. There are even a couple small pillows on the couch to help you get as comfortable as you need.
  
  Another sudden bump brings you back to reality as you remember that your ship is apparently under attack. You look for controls and find a few dials and blinking lights. There is just one large button. It is green and has written on it, "Activate Escape Pod." You press this button and the lights all turn green.
  
  There is a lurch as the pod shifts and the door slides closed. You hear a hiss and feel the pod start moving sideways. The pod accelerates quickly and presses you into the comfortable couch. In just a moment you are outside the ship -- you can tell now that most of the pod, except for the floor and the couch, are windows to the outside. You have a 360-degree view around you as you float away from your ship.
  
  Looking backwards, you can now see how immense the ship is that you just left. The ship looks tall enough to have 20 floors, and it is wider than 3 football fields. As you start to drift away from it, it gets smaller quickly. Maybe it isn't that large.
  
  Your attention is quickly drawn away as you realize that you are floating into the middle of the space ship battle going on all around you. Looking around you can see small ships, obviously fighters or some kind, flying around at high speed and firing their lasers at one another. No one seems to be targeting the ship you just left or your pod -- it is almost as if you are invisible to them. Your pod actually drifts right through the battle and continues to move away. A jet fires to steady you and keep you from spinning as you drift.
  
  > Drifting away from the battle...
  Your pod continues to drift away from the battle. In a short time, you can see the fighters get smaller and smaller until all you can see is tiny flashes of light in that direction. You keep watching until you cannot see anything in that area of space.
  
  In all directions now is nothing but space. There are stars, but clearly none that you recognize. The silence is occasionally interrupted as the escape pod spits out a jet of energy to keep you on course. On course to where, you have no idea.
  
  Looking back over the "controls," you realize that there are absolutely no controls at all. There are 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 whoever was supposed to charge this escape pod must have taken a day or two off. 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 control the pod. You realize that there simply is nothing -- apparently these pods are designed to, well, float around in space until someone rescues them. The oxygen gauge blips again, down to 6%, and starts blinking red.
  
  You sit back on the couch 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.