Awakening

Prologe - Sleepers

3th of January 3040 , the Cut
Former Wyoming, not far from the ruins of Jackson
Cryo facility Psi, Security Level high

Darkness was the first thing that enveloped Bair, cold darkness and the unpleasant tingling in his stiff limbs, into which the warmth slowly returned. The young man's head felt like it had been wrapped in cotton. Everything seemed dull and the low hum of the cryo chambers sounded as if they were far away.
A felt eternity later, Bair could hear the monotone voice of a woman who seemed to repeat an announcement over and over again. What she said, however, his mind could not yet process.
The cold that enveloped his body was slowly replaced by pleasant warmth, which at first felt good but with it came the pain that was chasing through his body like a blazing fire. Bair wanted to move, he wanted to scream, to cry but he could not move and the only sound that came over his lips was a low whimper.

Darkness again.

The pain had subsided and only echoed faintly through his body. He must have lost his mind again. Bair felt hard ground underneath. He must have fallen. But how the hell had he gotten here ? He did not remember. The last thing he knew was, that his father had told him, that he would not let his son die and forced him into one of the cryo chambers.
Bair tried to move, a task that seemed nearly impossible. His limbs felt like he had not moved for ages and it took some time until he was able to reach a sitting position. He tried to focus on the surroundings and the first thing he recognized was that he was naked. His armor was gone, as were all his clothes he wore underneath.

"Fuck." His voice sounded wretched, weak, rough like he had drunk too much and screamed a whole night long. What had happened ? He could not remember and the female voice constantly repeating the same announcement made it hard for Bair to think, but now he was able to understand, what the monotone voice was saying.

"Malfunction in cryo chamber gamma, reactivation of subject 2 initiated. Calculated reanimation time 1.35."

Static noise, a brief break, and the voice started over again. It was hard to make any sense out of it but something had gone awfully wrong. How much time had passed ? Only days ? Weeks ? Years ? Bair closed his eyes. He needed to get his protesting body working, get some clothes. He needed to find out what happened. Minutes later Bair had managed to get to his feet. The room was bleak and only the flickering displays of the cryo chambers and the control devices provided some light. His body still ached like someone had beaten him up but at least he stood and was able to walk slowly towards the opend cryo chamber, the one he must have been in.

The display, which indicates the vital signs, was misted. Bair wiped the moisture away. Several error messages flashed on the holographic display, which Bair had to click away before he could devote himself to the menu. It had to be found somewhere, how long he spent in this thing.

"Here it is." Bair stated to himself. His voice was still scratchy and it hurt to speak. He scrolled through the Holographic showing Datas from his vitals, listed by date and measures made to counter complications. The list was long, extremely long and the farther down Bair scrolled the more he started to realize that not just years, not even decades had past, it was centuries.

"974... years..." Bair looked at the display in disbelief. "This cannot be true..."
He sounded miserable and his legs felt as if they were about to buckle under him. He braced himself against the flap of the cryo chamber and staggered toward the lock that led out of the room. It took him a few tries to open it, but in the end it opened with a faint hiss and cleared the way for a long dark corridor, from which several doors and other corridors left. The lights flickered into live. Still naked he slowly walked along the corridor, where he had to lean against the wall to prevent himself from collapsing and took the first door to his left. He pressed his hand on the holo-lock in the center of it. The door opened way into a small quarter, which was furnished only with the most necessary things, a bed, a small desk, a locker and a small bathroom, all made of some kind of metal.

For Bair, however, there was just the bed right now, because his legs would not hold him much longer. His consciousness could not handle the information that he had spent nearly 1000 years in cryo sleep and his body, weakened as he was demanded its toll. The young man just made it to the bed, whereupon he collapsed and passed out again.