2091: The Cryosoldier

Chapter 1-1: The start in a new life

The modular station lay quietly in the infinite vacuum of the universe. Far away from Pluto, the nearest inhabited planet. The task of the station was to find new ways to provide relief from their problems to all beings in the known galaxy. The medical station was a cooperation of the humans and the alien race, the Antians. Even though the views of the two could not be more different, the Antian government wants to promote war medicine, while the humans prefer a more general application.

Inside the station, Admiral Vladimir Kalenkov marched down the metallic corridors. As director of the entire station, he sometimes has to take care of the most important cases himself, including the patient in Awakening Section Nine. Arriving at the door, he saluted the human guards and then strode into the sparsely lit anteroom.

"Good afternoon sir. Trial ready. Arm computer has all the information. Routine for you." Greeted a non-human being, in a dark scratchy voice. "Questions?"

The admiral did not even greet Professor Katzka, but strode straight to what he knew was the observation window. Through it, he could watch the sickroom with Katzka and the woman in bed inside to make sure she didn't wake up prematurely and become active. He didn't know what to make of Antians. The lack of any facial expressions, thanks to the bone plates, didn't help the visible cold-heartedness. Even though Katzka's clothing made him look quite civilized, Kalenkov had a healthy respect for the claws on the end of the three fingers.
"I don't know about your race, but we humans possess empathy and I don't feel so good about it."

In response to this statement, a sound followed that gave him slight goosebumps. The professor jabbed his two jaws, completely covered with bone plates, together to express his distaste."Neurological weakness. Unfit for military. Antian doctors know that. I know that. Obey my orders and instruction, commander. Rest irrelevant." The Antian stopped with the sound and looked through the same window as his human colleague. The woman in the bed turned nervously in bed and opened her eyes. She looked around the hospital room, checking her hands, and under the covers they could make out movement at the foot of the bed."Subject awake. Kalenkov, move!" the Antian ordered as he checked and aligned the screens next to the window once again.

The addressed smoothed his gray uniform once more and cleared his throat before reaching out to open the door to the sickbay. "Can't they find someone else who knows German, I can't stand this routine much longer." He thought, his pity even being due to the patient rather than himself. With this thought, he walked through the door, which closed automatically behind him, and immediately noticed that the patient's eyes followed him until he stopped in front of her bedside. The brightly lit white room was always dazzling the first moment one entered it.

"Good afternoon, I am Admiral Vladimir Kalenkov, head of the research and sickbay station 'Sir William Osler'," he greeted her in broken German and swallowed once. Too many times he had said these phrases. "It is an honor to meet you. Would you please give me your details?"Despite the put-on smile, any human would know how uncomfortable he was by the sweat on his brow. The human woman sat up a little and brushed her freshly cut black hair out of her face to greet the admiral with a laugh.

"Nice to meet you, I am Frau Hauptmann Maria Erika Schneider, personnel number 251250-S-90116, but feel free to call me Mary. That's what everyone actually calls me."

"Friendly, not confused or suspicious. No questions. Bad omens: suggests she has distanced herself from memory imprinting yet again. Possibly thinks these are dreams. Nevertheless, continue," suddenly came the unpleasant voice of the doctor from the headset the admiral was wearing.

He dropped his mine for a second, but then concentrated on his play again. "We need to run some tests, I'm sure you understand."

"Of course, you have to check if I have an ice burn on my cortex," the patient replied with a grin, because of her own joke. Her blue eyes positively sparkled with relief at the end of her long sleep.

The admiral pulled a yellowed photograph from his pants pocket and placed it on the woman's lap. "What do you think of that?"

"Where did you get this picture? It's an original shot of me and my squad down in Vietnam in '71." She let the picture slide through her fingers, smiling. "We got la paid vacation ... from Ho Chi Min himself for helping him."
Kalenkov replied with a mortified smile, so many times he had heard this nice talk. To dispel his thoughts, he cleared his throat loudly once. "Here we have our next picture, who is this gentleman?"
"This is Oleg Malovsky, the president of Earth." she answered without hesitation, even if her expression briefly distorted when she uttered the word 'Earth'.
"Progress. Better neurological processing of foreign memories. Earth is key word, triggers distrust." A dry throat clearing was heard through the speaker. "Next question! Answer should include keyword."
With a nod toward the, disguised as a mirror, observation window, he removed his pistol from its holster and placed it on her lap. "Same question again?" he asked pleasantly as he picked up the photo from earlier and put it away.
"This is the P91, classic projectile weapon, the ordnance weapon," she faltered. The smile disappeared and she began rubbing her temples, "of the United Earth Army."
Behind the window pane, various monitors began to beep, but the professor with the gray bone plates only drowned this out with the sound of his jaws. The latter again summarized everything succinctly, "Blood pressure increasing, neural activity in the yellow range. Sedation by injection ready. Kalenkov, answer all subject's questions. Full clearance, finally want to move forward."
"What year is it! Where are my squad!" Mary was now yelling at the admiral. Her mood had deteriorated in one fell swoop, yet he took a step toward her. He knew the performance up to this point, even the question was word for word, the first time being the worst experience so far. But until now he never had to answer that question, which will only worsen Mary's condition. The thought of it turned his stomach, but orders are orders, the woman would understand that too if she were in his position.
"2091 ... it is the year 2091 and I am sorry to inform you that no one you know was allowed to witness this moment."
The woman immediately turned pale and after a brief pause for breath, began to gasp. Then tears ran down her cheeks to her chin. Even though Kalenkov had witnessed this so many times, it still took him every time. His hand touched the leg covered by the blanket to give her comfort."I thought these were just dreams?!" she screamed at him as she buried her face in her hands. Her black hair was a contrast to her now red face. The sobbing was the only thing still heard in the room. Seconds that felt like minutes.

"Answer the question!"

This command interrupted the silence, Kalenkov bit his lip. "Yessir!" he answered quietly to himself, raising his head again. His gray, short hair shone, drenched with sweat. "Those weren't dreams," he shook his head tersely, "Those are the memories we gave you to help you cope in your new life." His fingers now clutched her leg "That thing with your squad, was an accident. I swear to you."
Schneider's hands shook as his gaze met the admiral's. "My friends are dead, my comrades are dead, my family is dead." Her hands stopped shaking and her reddened eyes stared fixedly into space. "With that, I'm dead too!" she screamed, suddenly picking up the pistol still in her lap, holding it under her chin and pulling the trigger. Her body went limp in the upright sitting position and the pistol fell to the floor with a crash as her hand fell off the bed.
"Emotional overreaction. Neurological short circuit. Brain activity was in the red zone." the scene was again summarized succinctly, but this time the raspy voice came from the door. "Immediate sedation was necessary. Good thing gun wasn't loaded." His jaws again produced the clacking sound. "No choice. Emotional barriers and partial amnesia must be performed. One week." The Antian walked up to the woman, put her slipped-down hand back on her stomach, and tossed his pistol back to the admiral.
"Stand by. One week. Next test. Have a nice day." he finally summarized and left the room, Kalenkov, however, put his pistol back in its holster and held his face for a second. He was close to tears, but then pushed the air out of his lungs just once. As he emerged from the white room, he saw the Antian interacting with the screens and talking to himself.
"Heartless bastard."