Awakening

by Hayden Pearton

  *

  However, a few seconds later, that thought, along with all others, was blown away by the scene before them. Overhead, alarm bells rang incessantly, as chaos descended upon the normally peaceful pod room. What should have been a scene of quiet beauty had become a visage of horror, as pod after pod was unhooked from its cradle and gently lowered to the floor. The umbilicals, which were supposed to supply the pods with an unending stream of cryogenic gas, had been torn asunder, leaving the displaced gas to spray into the atmosphere. In a nearby pod, Barsch watched, horrified, as the occupant began to convulse. And, as he quickly realised, the convulsing man was not alone. On every level, across thousands of pods, people were beginning to move.

  In short, the entirety of the Station's population was waking up: five centuries too soon.

  Barsch, from the corner of his eye, could see that Kingston and Alza were wearing identical expressions: utter shock. Even Maloch, the stoic, had not moved an inch, as the full magnitude of what he was seeing taxed his processors to their limits.

  Still looking out of the corner of his eye, Barsch noticed an active monitor by the room's entrance. They had missed it while coming in, but now that he stared at its contents, he sorely wished that they hadn't. On the screen, another map had been drawn up, although this one covered a great deal more land. Once more, the numerous Stations had been outlined as white circles, and important statistics had been listed beneath each dot.

  The topmost statistic was what caught Barsch's eye, and, even though it showed only a series of numbers, it was the single most horrific thing Barsch had ever seen. In bright green writing, the statistic stated, “NUMBER OF CONSCIOUS INHABITANTS: 5029”. With every passing second, the number grew larger, mirroring the dozens of other Stations, located in every corner of the globe. At the top of the screen, a tally was kept, labelled “TOTAL UNFROZEN GLOBAL POPULATION”. The number beneath was already in the tens of millions, and showed absolutely no sign of slowing.

  It was the final piece of evidence needed to finish his theory. “They are waking up... all of them...” he mumbled, mostly to himself.

  The worrisome feeling in his stomach had become almost unbearable, as visions of millions of people leaving the Stations and entering the toxic atmosphere filled his mind. There was nothing they could do. There was nothing any of them could do to fix this. All they could do was stand there, side-by-side, and watch the beginning of the end.

  “You're wrong,” said Alza, suddenly grabbing hold of Barsch's hand, “This is merely... the end of the beginning.”