<ENTERING ORBIT OF PLANET BRYNN>
<ANALYSIS: SUBJECT 0013>
<VITAL SIGNS: NORMAL>
<COMMENCING REANIMATION SEQUENCE>

Tomoe awoke slowly, laying still with her eyes closed, trying to remember where she was.
Of course...  The shuttle...  Has it been 10 years already? 
She opened her eyes, but all around her was total darkness.
"Lights."  She said.  Her voice was hoarse from lack of use.  Immediately, the capsule around her was illuminated with a soft glow.  She was strapped onto a pallet of some sort, inside a coffin-like capsule three feet square that barely gave her enough room to move around.  The automated system had already freed her arms, so she began undoing the straps around her waist and unhooking the monitors from her wrists and scalp.
"Status report."  She commanded.
<ORBITING PLANET BRYNN.  COMMENCING REANIMATION SEQUENCES>
"What...  What is the date... back home?"
<DATE ON EARTH IS 12 25 3557, 0900 HOURS>
God, it really has been ten years...Merry Christmas to me...  Tomoe thought to herself.  After detaching all the monitors, she commanded the system to open her capsule.  The shuttle interior that greeted her was almost blindingly white.  She stepped out and made her way carefully over to one of the windows.
When she saw her translucent reflection against the darkness of deep space, she gave a small sigh of relief.  At least she hadn't aged any.  She ran a hand through her long black hair, looking down the corridor.  None of the other capsules had opened yet.  Looking out the window again, she gasped slightly as Brynn came into view.  Instantly, she felt a small pang of homesickness.  The planet had the familiar swirls of white clouds and blue seas... but the continents down below were completely foreign.
A loud thud made her spin around.  A young man with blonde hair had fallen out of his capsule and was currently muttering curses at it.  he looked up, and his face broke into a charming grin.
"Well, hi there."  He said.  "Never had a chance to meet any of the other candidates before I was frozen."  he stood, brushing himself off.  He was significantly taller than Tomoe.  He looked over at the window, then pressed his nose against the pane.
"So that's it, huh..."  He murmured.  "Sweet..."
Tomoe rolled her eyes.  He may look like a man, but he's still very much a child, she decided.  She walked off down the corridor, looking for some sort of meal.

Alex watched the new girl leave.
She's pretty cute...  He mused, his gaze lingering on her backside.  This whole colonization thing might not be so bad after all...

Tomoe sat in what she considered to be a galley.  She had found a store of enough energy bars to feed an army for a year, and was now currently munching on what the colorful wrapper claimed to be 'chocolate chip', but to her tasted like styrofoam.  Lovely.

She stared down at the schematics she had uncovered from her pod.  Basic instructions for starting the colony.  The compound itself was already in place, and contained a few apartments, several laboratories, a clinic, a recreational facility, even a greenhouse.  Tomoe didn't particularly trust the robot-built construction, but at least it gave her something to work with.

Alex was still staring out the window at the new planet when he saw Cal come into view.
"Sweet, someone else is awake."  He said with a wave.  "Morning.  Name's Alex Peterson."

(no problem.  We can't all have novels every time )

Tomoe looked up, surprised to see someone else.
"Uh, yes."  She shrugged.  "My name is Tomoe."  She picked up a schematic tablet, selecting a few options.  The tablet beeped quietly in return.
"And according to the station schematics...  We'll have about twelve hours to get used to being awake before any shuttles leave for the planet's surface."

Alex followed the sounds of voices until he reached the table where the two girls sat.
"Gonna join this party, if you ladies don't mind."  He grinned at Cal.

Tomoe looked up.  It was true that she had no idea about the other colonists.  She was just as curious as Cal.

"Tomoe Minamoto." She said with a nod. "I was educated about robotics and machines, so I suppose I'm the engineer or mechanic of this team."
"My name's Alexander Peterson.  Just call me Alex." He said, leaning his chair back.  "I'm a zoologist.  Got the degree to prove it and everything."  Upon hearing Cal's question about how they would get down to the planet's surface, he grabbed the tablet from Tomoe's hands.
"What the hell?!"  She tried to grab it back, but he held it at arm's length, grinning.
"The lady has a question."  He said lightly.  He looked at the tablet, tapping the screen and frowning.  Tomoe watched with mild interest.
"I WAS going to tell you how to use it, but..."  She shrugged.  She turned to Cal with a small smile.
"Well, since we're all awake, I think we may be able to leave for the surface now, if we want.  The shuttle is over in the far starboard wing."

"Oh, yeah."  Alex nodded. "They've been terraforming the planet for nearly a century now.  First thing they did was to set up a breathable atmosphere and get some plant life to take root, to give it time to grow and stuff.  About ten years before they sent us, they sent animal life.  And that's where I come in." He thumped his chest proudly.  "Gotta make sure all those critters are in tip-top shape, maybe even start a farm or something."  His mouth began to water at the thought of bacon.
"Well, while you're playing around with animals, I've got an actual job to do."  Tomoe said flatly.  She was not looking forward to running around the compound, doing various tests and making sure the robot-built structures were not about to collapse on top of them.  She began to make a list of all the things she needed to accomplish in her head, which began to depress her as it lengthened to huge proportions.
"So, you never told me what your job is on this little adventure."  Alex said, looking over at Cal.

"So I gathered." Tomoe said with a slight smile.  "Anyway, hold on.  We're about to leave the docking bay."  She strapped herself into the cockpit, engaging the initial thrusters.  There was a deafening boom, and she felt the familiar pressure of the g-forces as the small craft freed itself from the space station.  Because the shuttle was on the opposite side of the station from Brynn, she had to maneuver around for a few minutes.  Finally, the front view was filled with the blue-green sphere.
"We should be landing in a few hours."  She said finally.  "Make yourselves comfortable."

The entire time, Alex had been clutching the armrests of his seat, his eyes tightly shut.  If there was one thing he hated, it was flight.  Airplanes, space shuttles, it didn't matter.  He much preferred to be on the ground.