Thirty four wake cycles. That's how long Rati had been on this cursed heap, give or take a few hours. And so far, every one had sucked more than the one before it. When that damned grapple slithered out and harpooned his dustwalker, he'd been startled as hell. When it reeled him and sealed him, he'd been slightly terrified (well, just a little). But when it hacked his on-board systems and vocalized (in a very condescending tone of voice, no less) that his 'escape pod' would be inspected, repaired, decon'ed, and decomm'ed, he was pissed. Well and thoroughly pissed. For the first three cycs he tied the shuttle door shut with a rudimentary cable lock and sulked, refusing to allow the ship to finish its spectrum cleansing, but finally the AIs shut down his synth engines and he was forced to abandon the 'walker or suffocate.<br/><br/>For cycs afterward, Rati wandered through corridors of the massive ship, easily getting lost among the rather sparse honeycombs of the docking circles. Every now and then, just for an instant, he'd swear he caught a glimpse of movement ahead, or on his flank. The first few times he gave chase, but the pointlessness quickly became apparent after the fourth failed hunt. There was no sound but his own, no other footsteps, no one else breathing. He stopped at a conveniently placed synth chamber every now and then, restocked his dwindling supply of emergency rations; at least he wouldn't starve on this miserable piece of<em>jersa</em>. More than a few of the passageways were filled with some sort of thick green slime, mottled and dark; these Rati avoided on general principle.<br/><br/>At last, he found a bulkhead marked "Launch Bay" with a door that opened almost halfway and didn't have noxious fumes pouring out of it. Rati poked his head in for a quick look and hope exploded in his chest, just between his kidneys and third lung, at the sight of rows upon rows of short- and mid-range shuttles in seeming pristine condition. He was about to squeeze inside when a high, piercing scream echoed down into the corridor from a patch of nearby vent shafts. For a long moment he looked around, his curiosity piqued...but then, his curiosity had been piquing for cycs, now. With a shrug, he slipped into the launch bay.