Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Chapter 22: the new guy

Esperanza was a little surprised to get a call from Rainier so late, but she paused cooking dinner and headed down to cryo. They had enough people around, they didn't need Esperanza, but Rainier had admitted he would rather have Esperanza there.

"You could always ask Madison to transfer me," she remarked when she came into the room.

"I could," he admitted. "But then Louis here might get jealous."

Louis was a tall dark man that Esperanza had not formally met. He rolled his eyes when Rainier said this.

"If it mean I could be home with my kids and dinner on the table, then by all means let Esperanza run cryo," he said. "Nice to meet you, Esperanza. I've heard a lot about you."

"Probably more about my partner Lully," she remarked.

Louis boomed a laugh. "My partner works in printing. So yes, I've heard a thing or two about the infamous Lully." He clapped his hands together. "When is Dashiell getting here? I have other things to do with my evening."

"We could start now and just hold them until Dashiell arrives," Rainier suggested. "I'll call him. Get the first cryo chamber."

Louis pulled the information up on his holo-rib and the chambers sorted themselves as one slid out. Esperanza helped pull it to the center of the room and Louis began the wake up sequence.

"Why are you helping us?" Louis inquired.

"I was trained as a nurse for cryo," Esperanza explained. "But I imagine that you're waking someone and their partner? Rainier tries to have another woman in the room if he's waking up a woman. Especially since old Aeneid cryo boxes have vacuum suits instead of clothes."

Louis laughed again. "Yes, I can see why we'd want a feminine touch."

The box lid popped open and Esperanza watched as the woman opened her eyes and sat up. She looked around for a moment and then up at Louis. She was wearing a shiny blue blouse and thin pants with stripes. Esperanza liked the stripes; most of the clothes here were solid colors. Her hair was long, black and straight, nearly unmussed by her stay in cryo.

"And I on the planet?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am," he answered. "The year is 2167 or Year Twenty Five. Do you remember what year they put you in cryo?"

"2077," the woman replied.

"And your name?"

"Do you not know?" she questioned.

"I do, I'm just asking some simple questions for confirmation."

"Oh. In that case, my name is Valerie White, but I go by Val. Have you awakened my husband and son?"

"Not yet, you were first," Louis said. "We have a short physical exam that Esperanza here would like to perform if you'll step over into the next room. I'll be retrieving your partner shortly."

Esperanza helped Val up and led her to sit on an exam table. Esperanza checked her reflexes and pulse and blood pressure, but most of all fielded questions.

"So what's the planet like?"

"Hard to say because I'm used to it," Esperanza admitted. "Our sky is lavender. Dashiell says the sky back on Earth was blue. We're in the middle of an earthstorm, but you didn't have such things there. You probably won't be able to go outside for a while even without the earthstorm; the air is much thinner here, you'll need time to acclimate."

"How many people are on the base?"

"Two hundred eighty?" she guessed. "The Canary crashed and lost half of its crew then. The Aeneid didn't fair much better when they landed twenty-four years ago."