Callisto: Bound to the Alien Commander |18+

Chapter 2

A pit of churning, twisting nausea rolls around in my stomach. I didn't sleep for one second last night. I figured, I'd be getting plenty of rest starting today, I should spend my last hours doing anything else.

From the looks of it, the rest of the crew had the same idea. Everyone looks tired and slightly green.

"Doctors," Mr. Fischer calls all of us. "If we can have everyone move to the holding bunker to begin."

My hands tremble as I fall in line with everyone else. We're herded down the hall and into the underground holding locker. An uncomfortable chuckle slips past my lips as I realize, for the first time, that we're being stored underground. Buried.

Wow, a bit slow on the uptake there Nicole...

We've been briefed over and over again on each step of the freezing process. I know exactly what's coming but I'm still nervous.

The next three hours are filled with every embarrassing bodily fluid that they could think of. Blood is drawn, and we have decontamination showers and supplements to prepare our organs for freezing. Evacuations of the bowels and bladders...

Stepping toward my pod, I reach into the large tub of skin protective cream and start to slather it over my body.

"Are you ready for your suit, Dr. Isbel?" One of the lab technicians steps forward to help me when I'm sufficiently greased.

"Yes, thank you."

She pulls my wetsuit-like cryo-suit out and helps me slide my gooey body into it.

"Doctors," Mr. Fischer addresses the crew again, "if you would be so kind as to lay down in your pods, we will be administering the last round of muscle fortification shots. Please stow any personal items in your pod lockers now."

I know we're supposed to put personal items safely away, but I sneak a picture of my mom and dad into a small pocket on the sleeve of my suit. I want them right beside me, watching over me for the next hundred years.

As I crawl into my cryo-pod I am filled with the sudden urge to run. What kind of stupid idiot am I? Who volunteers for something like this?

With frantic eyes, I scan the room. I'm met with the frightened faces of the rest of the crew. Everyone looks like they are working through similar feelings of panic.

"Oh my god, what the fuck am I doing?"

"Freaking out?" The man in the pod next to me attempts to smile but I can see that he's shaking.

"Why are we doing this? I feel like I'm about to throw up and then pass out.

It's like dominos falling over, unease spreads through the room, gripping everyone's necks at once.

"Scheiße!" Dr. Schneider jumps out of her pod beside mine to retch into the trash can. We're empty, there isn't anything left to throw up.

The room is suddenly filled with the sound of sobbing, heaving, and labored breathing. Everyone is panicking. Everyone has lost it at once. My mind drifts back to the day, months ago when we all sat in a room full of LevenCrop lawyers and signed our lives away.

"Under the terms of this agreement, upon defrost, if the signing party does not reawaken, LevenCorp is released from any and all legal liability..."

The point is to be unfrozen in one hundred years but the legal discussion had to happen. It's enough to make even the most excited applicants nervous to even think about. One hundred years is a long time. So many things can go wrong. Each pod has backup generators and solar panels attached to keep them operational under any conditions but that suddenly doesn't feel like enough.

"Science is your life. You are a part of something bigger than yourself. This is something that could save thousands of people every year... people like mom and dad." I whisper quietly to myself with my eye pinched tightly closed. Trying to ignore the panic swirling in the air around me, I cup my hands over my ears and repeat that sentiment over and over again.

I'm so panic-stricken that I almost notice the nurse poking the gigantic needle into my thigh, almost.

"We will release Nitrous Oxide into the pods now, for your comfort."

I jump into my pod and try to take deep breaths. I need as much laughing gas in my system as I can get, quickly.

The slight hissing sound of the gas being released swirls around me as the weight in my chest starts to lift. Calming gas is...lovely.

"The doors to your pods will now be sealed. Please, film your final video logs." The voice sounds hazy and far away.

A whooshing sound, then a click. I'm locked into my pod. I know that's what's happening but it doesn't make me feel anything. Calming gas really is the best. When my screen lights up, I press record and try to think of something profound to say in my final log for one hundred years. These will be my last words for one hundred years. I want to make them count.

"Today is April third, 1983... in my last video log, I just wanted to say...It would have been nice if you could have given that horrible shot after we got the gas. Umm, also I'm excited to see the world in 2083. I'm grateful for this opportunity even though I'm pretty sure I was about to pass out before the Nitrous Oxide, which is delightful by the way. Anyway, goodbye 1983. Oh! This is Dr. Nic Isbel... Nicole...Isbel, Anatomist. Pod twelve."

Even in the state of mellow detachment, it occurs to me that our final videos should have been recorded before the drugs were administered. I'm sure that whoever watches these, whenever they watch them, will cringe at my drugged-out rambling.

"Doctors," Mr. Fischer's voice sounds far away now, "please, put on your face shields."

Reaching up, I pull my helmet down snuggly over my head. A blue-tinted face shield comes down, which causes me to feel suddenly tired.

As the hissing sound of gas fills my pod again, I slide my parents picture out of its hiding place. Tears blur my vision as Mr. Fischer speaks.

My eyelids flutter slowly closed as his voice fades, growing softer and more distant with each word. "Godspeed into the future. Good night and good luck."

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