The anabiotic compartment was a cylindrical, or more accurately, octagonal space. A huge, very tall can, on four sides of which were rows of docks - these beds were called exactly that.
In the center, along the axis of the "can" there was a power element - a pipe with a diameter of a meter. It seemed that some kind of emergency tunnel was arranged there. On both sides of the pipe there were metal ladders attached, which could be grabbed in zero gravity, and even under the gravity typical for acceleration and braking. Also, from edge to edge, from bottom to top, if you orient yourself in gravity conditions, three lattice platforms moved, which had a number of cutouts that served as ordinary openings in zero gravity, and in non-zero gravity conditions they became unsafe, constantly open hatches. However, with accelerations of less than half a meter per second per second, any fall from a conditional height of twenty meters was no more dangerous than a jump from a height of human growth. Besides, there would have been plenty of time to regroup. Unlike the entire medical section, the bay was painted a deep olive green, which, according to the designers, was supposed to have a beneficial effect on visual perception.
The platforms, parked one under the other at intervals of two meters, began to receive people once again. There were only fifteen of them - the computer, of course, determined the order and made a schedule for who and when to lie down and, accordingly, wake up. Somerset waited his turn for six hours and managed to take a nap without any suspended animation.
In fact, all this, at first glance, sluggishness in the organization was logical - even a dozen doctors would have found it much easier to service the docks with an even distribution during the day, rather than in the barracks mode, when everyone would wake up and fall asleep at once.
People dispersed across the platforms. Some had to make their way through one tier, some through two. In conditions of twelve percent gravity of the Earth, which is how the engines were working now, it was more like exercising in a pool. Only unlike swimming, you could breathe freely here. The platforms, each resting on its end stops, began to crawl away from each other. Somewhere, someone was laughing in response to another stupid, dirty joke. Someone was talking loudly to someone about what they would do in conditions of the Earth being at war on part of its territory, where they would find a quiet place. It was like the usual, almost street bustle. After the platform stopped again, Somerset found a dock on which was written the number assigned to him by the computer back there, in the previous compartment, where that briefing with the draw had taken place. Right there, next to the number, his name was displayed. Now all the docks were deployed in such a way that they formed a kind of multi-level, multi-tiered bed - one bed was located under another. The docks were mobile - in zero gravity, the drives deployed them and a continuous row of beds was obtained. Four such rows stretched along the entire compartment. So in zero gravity conditions it was easier for doctors to monitor passengers, flying from one place to another. There was no division into male and female sections - people simply dispersed closer to the edges, leaving the middle empty. Of course, when fully loaded, this empty neutral strip did not exist - after all, this was a space flight, and not a cruise with all the amenities and whims. And there was nothing special - the docks were closed with folding covers on movable frames, and there was no need to take off all your clothes. There were also picky couples who wanted to be placed in neighboring docks. As if that changed anything. They were being met. They were being placed right in the middle section, whether empty or filled to a hundred percent.
Somerset began to settle in. In the section above the waist, the dock bed, shining with steel, was padded with silicone cushions. They were soft, like the usual fabric ones. But unlike the usual ones, these did not require any washing - they were treated with an aerosol hydrosystem built right there.
Below, that is, closer to the feet, there was a molded surface of perforated stainless steel, and it looked creepy. In fact, air flowed through the perforation. That was the decent explanation. The indecent one was that the doctors should have as little trouble as possible in case someone did shit themselves. Air outflow again.
Somerset settled in. His feet rested on the silicone - there were cushions in the very bottom part too. Having reported the readiness of the next personal terminal to the camera, Somerset began to look around the compartment in search of a doctor. However, the results of such a search would not have affected anything - all that was left was to wait. He also needed to secure himself with fairly light straps. A yellow warning signal began to blink on the frame located on the foot side and it began to move forward, stretching the folded fabric cover.
It was possible to take off his pants and stretch out something like a blanket - it was a towel or a blanket packed in an attached package. It was possible to put the same under his bottom. Warm air blew from below, supplied through a perforated surface.
The doctor, an elderly woman with some kind of haughty face, appeared fifteen minutes later, without further ado, unzipped Somerset's corresponding sleeve and inserted an IV into his vein. Then she took him, Somerset's head, clasped it with her fingers, and brought an instrument to her mouth, which without unnecessary fantasy was called a gun. The device, it must be said, quite deftly inserted a tube into the esophagus and then into the stomach. The matter was, however, made easier by the anesthetic that Somerset had managed to take - it was supplied through a tube, one of the ones sticking out of the so-called port - a block attached to the side. Then the doctor pulled an elastic bandage over his head, containing sensors, and reminded him about the orange lever - this simple device blocked unauthorized changes in the position of the docks. Although the automation and the computer were much more reliable than even several duty officers, the designers still provided for a manual blocking of the possibility when all the docks would suddenly turn, and the unfastened ones, if any, would fly down, well, to the rear, if you count in the direction of movement of the surface of the compartment. Another ten minutes later, the bright, almost sharp, light was replaced by a muted bluish, twilight. A wave of somewhat pleasant fatigue rolled over his body. The only thing that was depressing was that after this he had to move away and this was not at all pleasant. A couple of minutes later, Somerset fell asleep.