Everything went dark on the Normandy's engineering deck. Even the ship's emergency lighting didn't activate.
Kaidan Alenko was looking at a diagnostic display just a moment before. And now he saw...nothing. He realized that the white noise hum of the ship's engines was gone too, replaced with mute silence.
"What the hell?" said Kaidan. He thought of Engineers Daniels and Donnelly, who were only one or two rooms away. "Gabby, Ken, what happened? I can't see my hand in front of my face, it's so dark in here."
A murky black curtain had fallen over everything around him. There were cloudy, ghostly dark shapes everywhere, but nothing more substantial. It was like being in a forest at night, in the fog, with not so much as a flashlight. He waved his hands in front of him, near his waist, and his palms found the welcome, firm surface of the console. He was about to grip the console when it seemed to vanish into thin air. Waving his hands frantically, Kaidan reached for the console, but only found black space, emptiness. He tried to take a step, and his eyes widened as he couldn't feel anything under his legs, either.
It's like I'm scuba diving, thought Kaidan. No, no, that's not it…not scuba diving. This feels just like basic training, that first time they put us into that simulator, that one that trained us how to handle...oh, hell no… Then he heard the sound of Gabby's voice. She didn't sound too far away, and finished his thought for him. "We're floating in zero-g, everybody," she said. "We've lost power. Hang in there until we get it fixed."
"Thanks Gabby," called Kaidan. "That's what I thought. I guess I'll just hang out. Nothing better to do."
From the darkness, now he heard Ken's voice. "Hey Gabby, leave the lights off. Nobody can see us, I've heard sex is great in zero-g."
"Jeez, Ken," said Kaidan. "Your jokes are bad enough when we can see you."
"Ken, will you knock it off?" said Gabby.
Kaidan had to chuckle as he imagined Gabby floating in the pitch dark, shaking her head, still having to listen to Ken's dumb jokes. Then all at once he was awash in an ocean of bright light. He squinted and covered his eyes.
"Got the lights back on," said Gabby. "Sorry they're so bright…"
She's close by all right, thought Kaidan. He shook off the eye strain and began to look around, but couldn't see Gabby or Ken. They must be working at a circuitry board in the next room. And…oh, no…I'm still in zero gravity, and now I'm floating upside down. Great.
"Uh…Gabby! Ken!" he called. "Before you bring the gravity back on – "
Too late. He heard Gabby say, "Gravity's back up!"
Aw, shit! thought Kaidan as he fell head-first toward the deck.