Roaring reverse thrusters snapped me back to my disjointed reality. Grey Mason's megaphone speech was muffled, dissolving into inaudible chatter. A motley of broken sentences.

"If you don't...SHIT...Ok...Try today's special, it's...WE WILL SHOOT YOU!"

I returned to life on the jagged rock bed. Life in the Deadzone. I carefully rolled over to drink the cup of water which was now lukewarm. Happy I missed drop off time, at least I didn't have to fetch anything. The water was ...