Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

  *

  Eventually, the tunnel widened and led them to a large circular room. Spaced evenly apart were seven doors, each identical in appearance save for a small digital plaque displaying a representation of the room's function. Clockwise from the entrance, they were: a blue lightning bolt; a green human outline; an orange box; a golden apple; a purple microchip; a silver chain; and a teal water droplet.

  Kingston closed his eyes and spoke, “The Generator; The Cryogenic Pod Rooms; The Storage Areas; The Pantry; The Computer Core; Re-mech Services; and Water Works. Looks like they built this place in the Ellipsis Pattern. That should make it easier. Well, for now, let’s head to the pods and get Barsch suited up.”

  As they crossed the room, Maloch spared a glance at the door to the computer core, the beginnings of an idea blossoming in his digital brain. A moment later, they were through the door and walking down another corridor. It was larger than the first, so Maloch could finally straighten up. Along the walls were several posters, some labelling safety procedures while others showed pictures of what the world would look like once the pollution was gone. One of these, a picture of a pristine lagoon with a windswept beach and clear-blue tides, caught Kingston's eye. Maloch heard him mutter, “That's where we had our honeymoon... it's gone now... just like everything else...”

  While Kingston was reminiscing and Maloch was focused on carrying Barsch -whose fever had continued to climb- Alza was contemplative of her new surroundings. “This place feels familiar... but why? It's doubtful that I passed through here on my way to... my destination. But, I still can't shake the feeling that I've been here before. Is it something from my past? Did I come here as a child? Either way, Ion said that the only way for me to regain my memories was to find the madman, so I just have to hold out for a little while longer...”

  Soon, the tunnel began to slope downwards, the artificially maintained air growing colder and drier to suite the change. Streaks of ice began to appear on the walls, while miniature stalagmites acted as crystal chandeliers above. The posters had been replaced by glowing arrows set into the walls and floor, pointing towards the way back to the exit. Interspaced between the arrows were engraved lines of text, which said, “DO NOT PANIC. PLEASE MOVE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION.”; “YOU MAY BE FEELING LIGHT-HEADED, NAUSEOUS OR WEAK FOR SEVERAL MINUTES AFTER YOUR AWAKENING. PLEASE CONSULT ONE OF THE STAFF IF THESE SYMPTOMS PERSIST.” and “AN ASSIGNED RE-MECH WILL GREET YOU IN THE DECONTAMINATION CHAMBER, PLEASE ALLOW THEM TO GUIDE YOU TO YOUR NEW SETTLEMENTS.”

  Soon enough, they came to another circular room. The room had five arched doors, labelled alphabetically: “POD ROOM ALPHA” to “POD ROOM EPSILON”.

  “This way,” said Kingston, as he walked towards Pod Room Beta.

  The tunnel leading to the pod room was short, and they soon emerged into a wide, cylindrical room. Kingston, who had taken the lead, turned dramatically and said, somewhat mockingly, “Welcome, to humanity's last hope!”

  The room was massive, far bigger than anything they had encountered on their journey thus far. In the centre of the room was a gigantic, steel-silver tube, which measured 300 feet in diameter and arose to a height of 120 feet from base to ceiling. Embedded in the walls, like diamonds in stratum, were thousands of white pods. The pods were seven feet tall and two feet wide, with a wide glass plane allowing access from about half-way up.

  Inside each ivory capsule, a person slept. Young; old; men; women; rich and poor all sleeping side by side, the threat of death finally having made all mankind believe in equality. Below each pod was a cradle, into which hundreds of wires and cords were fed, sending a constant stream of data from the sleeping occupants to the stations mainframe. At the base of the tower was a computer station and a large-screen monitor, upon which statistics and diagnostics were displayed.

  “Hermit... You said that this place will save Barsch, but how exactly will it do that?”

  Kingston strode purposefully towards the computer, beckoning them forwards while he explained his plan. “I suppose I should have explained before we got here, but now is as good a time as any. What I'm about to tell you is confidential, but between Maloch's unflinching loyalty and your apathetic attitude, I guess that doesn't really matter.”

  Kingston had reached the computer terminal and, with a skill that had not diminished one iota after two decades of isolation, began to type. Each line of text was entered too fast for Alza's untrained eyes to follow, but she managed to get the gist of it. The text was red as it appeared, but would change to a gentle green as each program was recognized and activated. Amazingly enough, he was able to explain his plan while rewriting most of the terminals programs.

  “Very few people know this, but the cryogenic plan wasn't perfected before it was implemented. Because the scientists had so little time to build the stations and organize the revitalisation re-mechs, some details were purposefully left unfinished. Among these, the fault in the cryogenic pods was the most serious. You see, when a human is frozen without taking the correct cryoprotectants, ice builds up in their blood and tissues, leading to long-term cell damage and even death. However, even with the right drugs, the scientists found that the bodies were still degrading. Although the rate was slowed dramatically thanks to the freezing process, five hundred years of cold sleep would be more than enough to fatally age everyone in the pods.”

  The text on the monitor had been replaced with a wire-frame schematic of Pod Tower Beta, with glowing blue dots indicating which pods were currently occupied and red squares for those that were empty. Kingston touched one of the red squares, calling up its data. Nodding his head once, he continued to change the program’s parameters.

  “So, the scientists came up with a rather brilliant solution. Instead of slowing down the ageing process, they sped up the body's healing factor. This was accomplished by inserting a certain chemical into the cryogenic gas, which would saturate into the tissue and allow the humans to be frozen without fear of waking up a hundred years older. What I intend to do, is to give Barsch a massive dose of this healing agent, while placing him in a partial cold sleep. I'm hoping that this will allow him to retain his sense of self while his body is healed.”

  “So basically, you're giving him an overdose and making him stay conscious while his body repairs itself? You're insane.”

  For the first time since he started typing, Kingston stopped and looked at her, his eyes heavy with guilt and remorse. “Trust me, if there was another way... if I could give up my life for his, I would do it in a heartbeat. But, after seeing what his body is capable of, I am fairly confident that he will emerge with minimal damage. And, by keeping him awake, we will be able to revive him with much less risk, as his brain will not need to be restarted. I know that you do not trust me, Alza, but I am a scientist. I will not let him die...” then, in a smaller voice, he added, “I made a promise, that I would keep him safe...”

  Kingston then turned back to the terminal, while instructing Maloch to bring Barsch to the tower. He then asked Alza to go over to a row of lockers at the far side of the room, where she found row upon row of podsuits. They were arrayed in colour, shape, fit and style, offering countless options for the more fashion conscious pod-dwellers. At first, Alza's hand reached out towards a long-legged suit with white and red accents, but something made her stop. “It looks too much like the one that man with red eyes was wearing.”

  Eventually, she settled on a black and gold model, with the words, “LUX EX TENEBRIS” emblazoned on the breast. The quality of the material made her think that the suit had been specially made, but had probably never been collected. Taking the raiment back to Kingston, she had a chance to see the unloading process in action.

  Kingston took the dark apparel from here with a sad smile, which was replaced by surprise as he read the words imprinted on the garment. “Light from darkness? How fitting...”

  Within seconds, Barsch was out of his frayed clothes and into his new podsuit, which would have made anyone but Alza
embarrassed. With Barsch in his new clothes, Maloch knelt down and injected a strange purple fluid into one of the suit's openings, located beneath Barsch's heart.

  “I found some remaining cryoprotectants, I just hope that they have not expired. “ said Maloch, after Alza gave him a querying gaze.

  “I'm bringing the modified pod down now, be ready to act,” Kingston called from the computer terminal.

  With a few simple keystrokes, Kingston gave life to the tower, causing it to slowly drop down towards the floor. The tower of sleeping humans revolved as it descended, until the desired pod was within sight. Appearance-wise, it was no different from any of the thousands of others, but it had been specially programmed by Kingston to only release a fraction of the cryogenic gas, while still releasing all of the healing agent. When the pod had reached the ground floor, Kingston and Maloch gently lifted Barsch into the awaiting husk, before strapping him in with the detachable restraints. As the glass sheath closed, the computer called out, “Warning, this pod has been tampered with. Diagnostics show that the inhabitant has a thirty-five percent chance of receiving fatal damage from the current configuration. Would you like to abort or proceed anyway?”

  With a look of resignation, Kingston placed his withered hand on the glass, as if he could reach through it and touch his dying friend. To Barsch, he said, “I wish it didn't have to be like this... from the bottom of my heart... I wish. I know that you are strong, and I know that you are brave.... so, please, don't die...” Then, to the computer, he said, “Revelation Station 52, Pod Room Beta, Pod number 45 027, you may begin the cryogenic process.”

  “Order received, Activating L-H3 hoses. Monitoring neural activity. Monitoring pulse level. Confirming L-H3 gas complete saturation. Temperature in pod: 77.15 K. Pulse level...0, Neural Activity...Minimal. Time remaining until awakening...six hours 35 minutes. Error. Time remaining is not consistent with global average. Error override detected. Switching to stand-by mode.”

  Finally, Kingston pulled his hand away from the glass, condensation having given it a thin layer of ice. Barsch was less than a foot away, but to Kingston, he was in another world.

  “I...I can't watch him when he's like this...I, need to go and find us some supplies. I'll be back if there are any problems.” With that simple statement, Kingston was gone, slipping away through a previously unnoticed door at the far end of the tower room.

  “Mistress Alza, if I have your leave, there is something I wish to find. Is that acceptable?”

  “Re-mech... Maloch. I am not your master. If you desire to leave, then leave. I will watch over him while he sleeps. If anything happens, I'll call you.”

  “Thank you mis- Thank you, Alza.”

  And then Alza was alone once again, left to her own devices with only a sleeping Barsch for company. With grace, she sat down on the hard floor, its discomforting coldness dying before her overwhelming apathy. Although his green-blue eyes were now peacefully closed, she still did not meet his gaze, instead focusing her attention on the steel-grey floor.

  “Barsch, I know that you can't hear me, but... do you remember that day on the mountaintop? While we were waiting out that terrible storm, after you and Kingston had fallen asleep... I left. I was lying when I said that I went to find the summit... in truth, I was trying to run away. However, I stopped walking after fifty steps. I found that I simply could not move further, despite my best efforts. And so I found a place to sit and wait… for you…”

  If Alza had been expecting Barsch to say something, he failed to meet her expectation. He hung there, supported by the restraints, as his body fought against the side-effects of the healing reagents. Nevertheless, Alza continued her monologue, despite knowing that it would never be heard.

  “I think… that even then, I knew. I knew that we were connected, bonded on some unseen level. It was I who awoke you to the wonders and terrors of the dreamscape. It was I who changed you. It was I who manipulated you into aiding me… and yet… you defy logic. I tried to leave, again and again, but a single thought always stopped me. The thought that you would protect me… if I stayed. That you would accept me… if I stayed. That you would fight for me, no matter what my past revealed…if I only stayed…”

  Alza glided closer to the frosted pod, staring at the boy inside. Reaching up with her left hand, she placed it on the cooled surface, just above his heart.

  “And so, I will stay. I will see this through to the end, no matter the outcome. I will not run away again, I promise. You promised to protect me… and look what that brought you. So, I will return your promise with one of my own. I will protect you, Barsch La Tergan. Whether it be from Avatars, madmen or even your own heart, I will protect you. Until the day comes when we must part, I will protect you.”

  With that Alza turned and walked back to her post. Sitting, she lifted her head, staring at the boy she would protect. Under her breath, in a voice which could barely be classified as a whisper, she said, “So please… don’t die…”