Beep. Beep.

Raymond Chan, decorated Armada veteran and the Savior of Sector Seven, awoke in a half-drunken stupor. Without opening his eyes, he slammed his hand down on the button which would disable the alarm on the mass spectrometer.

Beep. Beep.

The alarm continued to sound.

“Ok, ok, I’m awake, “ he slurred to the empty cockpit.

He sat up and rubbed his eyes, slowly becoming aware of the throbbing pain centered in his head, as if someone had driven a rod in one temple and out the other. The alarm sent fresh waves of agony through his skull at each sounding. Chan hit the override button three more times, hard, but the high-pitched noise persisted.

He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and began to massage his temples. When he opened his eyes, a rock twice the size of his ship was floating by nearly close enough to touch.

“Oh, shit, “ exclaimed Chan, awaking enough to realize that he was alone in the middle of the biggest asteroid field he’d ever seen.

Beep. Beep.