Pandora's Call

Chapter Three: In Cryo You Don't Dream

Zora laid down inside her Cryo capsule. She looked down at her IV in her arm and then at the doctor responsible for making sure she's put into Cryo properly.

"Alright Zora, I'm going to give you some medication to help you drift to sleep, then once you're asleep I'll turn on your Cryo chamber and next thing you know we will be in Pandora." He said standing over Zora.

"You've done this before. Right?" Zora asked, nervous.

"I've put plenty of people in Cryo, I normally stay on Earth but I've been reassigned." He said, smiling through his mask.

"So who puts you to sleep then-" Zora turned to look at his nametag, "Mark?" Zora finished.

"If I could, I'd put myself to sleep, but my buddy will. There's more than one doctor here, Zora." Mark said.

Zora looked at his green eyes and blonde hair. Without thinking she grabbed his hand.

"I will wake up. Right?" She asked.

"You will. Looks like I'll be giving you some anti-anxiety medications too." Mark laughed.

Mark softly set down Zora's hand and connected the medications to her IV. Zora kept eye contact for as long as she could, eventually she fell asleep. Mark placed the security straps over her body and secured her in place. He closed the cryo chamber and punched his code in on the keypad, the chamber flashed a green light 3 times. The generator started up and the chamber began the Cryo process.

"Unit 01; Sully, Z is in Cryo." Mark called into his radio.

"Copy Unit 5039; Sully, Z in Cryo." Unit 01 replied.

Mark walked over to his Cryo chamber and climbed into it and waited for his moment to be sent into Cryo.

Zora slowly opened her eyes and looked around.

"Fuck, my head hurts."

She opened her mouth and blinked her eyes a few times. She looked at the small light on the inside of her chamber. She felt like she was going to float away but something was holding her from bouncing around. She felt a rush of anxiety realizing her chamber hadn't opened yet.

"Oh my God, I woke up too soon." She said hoarsely.

All of a sudden she heard a loud clanking and she started to move into a light.

"Oh, I'm dead aren't I. God dammit." She said again to herself.

She squinted her eyes at the light, and saw a figure float over the top of her.

"Told you I knew what I was doing." Mark said giggling.

"I am dead aren't I?" Zora asked in a distant state.

"No, no sunshine. We're coming up to Pandora." Mark said, undoing the restraints holding her like bubble wrap.

Zora blinked a few more times, each time regaining more of her own consciousness.

"Listen up everyone, You have been in Cryo for five years, nine months and twenty two days. You will feel hungry and you will feel weak. If you have nausea, please grab a bag from inside your chamber." A voice yelled out throughout the ship.

"Come on, we can figure out how to float together." Mark said, helping Zora out of her chamber.

After going to her locker with Mark they pushed themselves over to a line of people waiting to go into the main cabin to be loaded to their assigned shuttle. A few people were clutching bags of their own vomit, desperately trying to regain their color in their faces. Zora and Mark entered the chamber after a few minutes of waiting. Meeting them from the otherside of the chamber was an African American man in uniform that was floating holding onto the opened door for support.

"Alright, names." He said flatly, he didn't seem too thrilled to be ripped out of Cryo either.

"Sully, Z"

Harding, M"

"Alright, Sully and Harding you are going to Shuttle A. It's down the hallway to my left, look for the sign that says A." He replied pulling himself towards the door to make room for Mark and Zora.

"Watch your head." The man called, as Zora bumped into the ceiling.

"Thanks." Zora replied, looking at the ceiling in disgust.

They went through the hallway and came face to face with the Shuttle that will take them to Pandora. They followed the people in front of them through a small porthole into the shuttle.

"Find a seat, strap yourself in. If the straps feel too tight, you need to tighten them more. Gravity is a bitch after six years in space." A woman called. She was in the middle of the shuttle repeating her words every few minutes.

Zora and Mark pulled themselves into a couple empty seats and strapped themselves in.