Chapter 7: Maru
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Hao couldn't believe his eyes as he stared at the woman who was standing
in the tube.  "Wasn't this a graveyard?" he thought to himself.

After staring back at the strange human in front of her for several
seconds, the woman finally spoke.  "You're not Messatii, are you?" she
asked in a strange accent.

"I thought you were dead like the others," Hao managed to reply.

"They're all dead?" the woman asked as she sprang from the tube.

"Yes," Hao answered as he watched the woman circle the room.  "I was just
about to leave when I noticed your tube was still intact."

"My tube?" the woman asked.  "Oh!  You mean the stasis chamber."

"Stasis chamber?"

"Haven't you ever heard of a stasis chamber?"

"No.  What does it do?"

"Why, it keeps a body in stasis.  Don't tell me, you don't know what
stasis is either, right?"

Hao simply nodded his head.

"Stasis is a process by which body processes are slowed, if not
completely stopped.  It is supposed to keep a person from dying
indefinitely, but something went wrong here.  For some reason all of the
other stasis chambers have been damaged.  You honestly have no idea what
stasis is?"

"No," Hao answered.  "Nor do I know what causes the walls to glow around
here."

"Those are plasma lights," the woman answered, "They are activated by
either voice or movement.  By the way, I am Maru, General Maru of the
Messatii.  And you are?"

"Hao," Hao answered, "I've never met a general before."

"Well, don't start saluting me, Hao.  It appears my army is dead and I am
the only one of the Messatii left," Maru replied.

"There may be some left somewhere," Hao said.  "You'll just have to go
and look for them."

At that Maru began to giggle.  "Trust me, Hao, if there were any Messatii
left, you would have known about it.  We lived to explore and conquer."

"What were you doing here anyways?" Hao asked.  "Trapped in stasis, I
mean."

"This is, er, was Masettii outpost Omega.  We had just completed the
construction when a terrible storm struck the island.  All of a sudden,
the island began to sink.  You could feel it literally dropping out from
underneath you.  I gathered as many of my soldiers into these caverns the
had the entrances sealed as the island continued to drop.  After several
days and the island was still underwater, we entered the stasis chambers
and hoped that someday other Messatii would come to rescue us."

"How long had you been in stasis?" Hao inquired.

"That's a question I too would like to know the answer to," Maru answered
as she approached one of the walls.  After searching for a moment she
pressed against the wall and part of it slid open.  "Come on, Hao."