Project New Eden

Chapter 2

Alarms blared. one by one the lights came on down the long hall of the cryo-bay; Thousands of pods Lined the room containing the last humans in the universe.

A Loud hiss came from a few cryo-chambers as they thawed out their occupants, the ones containing the ship's doctors who would then handle the thawing of everyone else.

Ren's pod was one of the first to be thawed, being the head of security meant he needed to be there in case any problems arose, a long time in cryo had a way of making some people crazy.

His pod popped open, Ren felt sick to his stomach and confusion gripped him, he wasn't quite sure where he was for a few minutes.

"Relax sir, you will feel better soon." A doctor said to him, plopping him down in a wheelchair and hooking him up to an IV bag. "Just some fluids, you'll be up and running around in no time, I've got to check your vitals."

"Thanks Doc." Ren looked around at the other people being thawed out, he didn't feel so bad about his state considering the mess other people looked like.

People all over were dry heaving, falling over, complaining of not being able to see for a few minutes, all sorts of problems Ren was lucky to not have dealt with.

"Everything looks good, take it easy for a little while and welcome back," The doctor said, gathering his equipment and heading to the next pod.

Ren was happy to have had a real doctor check him out, the doctors that were thawed before everyone else had to have the ship AI handle everything before their pods opened.

The Cryo-Bay was far from welcoming, tall steel walls rose up in all directions; cryo-pods lining the walls and ceiling. Bright white lighting made the whole place feel surreal, water from the thawing pods running into the grates on the floor.

Pushing his hand back through his long hair, he was surprised to feel the ice still clinging to it; A thousand years and nothing changed, his facial hair still well-trimmed.

Ren was still coming to grips with reality when the ships PA system came to life, "Ren, report to the bridge ASAP," the artificial voice startled everyone for a second; nobody was fully back in reality yet.

I guess some people woke up early, Ren thought, wheeling himself over to the elevator. He entered the lift, dull steel walls making it feel like a cage. Pressing the button for the bridge, Ren felt the lift begin to rise, the sudden motion making his stomach turn.

The lift came to a smooth stop, doors sliding open to reveal the security station that guarded the bridge. Since Ren was the only member of the security staff currently awake the station sat empty, Ren simply wheeled right through the scanners and into the bridge.

Four crew members sat waiting, Ren only recognized one of them, Captain Thalin. They were all standing, obviously they had been thawed for a while since Ren couldn't even think about standing up yet.

The bridge was a tribute to technology, computer screens everywhere detailing everything from the oxygen levels in the ship to the composition of an asteroid that passed within a few million miles of the ship.

Ren rolled over to the table the for were standing at and was greeted by the captain.

"Ren, how was your sleep?" The captain's question was clearly sarcastic.

"Better than the wake-up call sir!" Thalin chuckled at Ren's response before introducing the other three.

"This is Jordan, Richard and Tom, they are the Project New Eden mission coordinators." Ren shook their hands, nodding to each of them. They were typical business looking people, dressed well and with clearly smug looks on their faces. Ren figured they didn't get the memo that without Earth they didn't matter any more than the ship's janitors. "They have some amazing news that we felt necessary to share with you" The captain waved for the others to go ahead.

"Well," Jordan began, "As you know, Project New Eden is our last attempt at saving the human race. The fact that you are awake should tell you that we found something." At this point Richard leaned over the table and flicked a switch, a hologram of a planet sprung to life over the table, slowly rotating in front them.

Richard tossed a stack of paper to Ren then began explaining the find. "This is almost ideal, the planet is M-Class, at least we think so according to initial scans." Ren flipped through the stack of papers as Mike continued, "There is a breathable atmosphere, vegetation, and we think animal life. This could be humanities new home."

Ren interrupted, slightly confused. "This is obviously wonderful news, and I'm excited about the possibilities this gives us, but what does this have to do with me? Shouldn't we have the scientists on this?"

Tom stepped forward, "I handle the tactical side of the Project, and after talking to the others, we decided that you should bring a security detail down to the surface with some scientists. We don't know what is down there, and we can't risk losing people, what we have on this ship is all of the humans left in the universe, even one death is tragic. We need to get down there and see what we are up against before any real plans can be laid."

Ren understood, nodding in agreement. Thalin put his hand on Ren's shoulder, a warm smile on his face. "This is it, we could be home. Head down to the mess hall and get some food in you, we are thawing the rest of security as we speak. Ill contact you as soon as we are ready to go for briefing."

"Aye sir!" Ren snapped a quick salute that the Captain returned in earnest before turning and heading out. He was overwhelmed with excitement, full well knowing that he would be one of the first group of humans to ever set foot on another planet.

MRE's were not something Ren enjoyed eating, he had powered his meal down as fast as possible to avoid tasting as much of it as he could. After eating and finally feeling like he had enough strength to walk, Ren headed to the security office to begin his assignment.

He was to pick three other members of the security that would accompany him and a single science officer down to the surface of the planet. Once down, they would gather soil samples and get a better idea of whether the planet was inhabited or not.

Ren full well knew the pressure of dealing with the unknown could be a problem for people who had rash tendencies, for this mission he wanted people used to working under pressure. Flipping through the security members files gave him a good idea of who he wanted, and was quickly settled on who he was bringing.

Patrick was the most experienced working in hostile environments back on earth, deployed in war zones as part of the military many times; an easy first pick.

Henry was known for being aggressive in a combat situation, Ren figured that could be useful if things went south. Ren's final choice was Alaina, she had served as a combat medic on three tours of duty back on earth and her skills could be needed in a bad situation.

Feeling that his choices were good, Ren closed the files and left the security office. It felt good to finally stretch his legs, wandering the ship's halls seeing how things were going.

It was a depressing place to be, the only change in the uniform steel walls was the occasional bulkhead sticking out of the side.

The ship was still surprisingly empty, most people were still in cryo, and wouldn't be woken up until they were ready to begin colonization. If all went well that would be soon, there would be homes being built, services being readied, Ren was mostly excited for farming to begin, he was already tired of MRE's.

After a while walking through the halls to test his legs Ren began to get tired; it surprised him that after spending so long sleeping he was already ready for bed.

Tomorrow is a big day, should probably get some rest anyway. Ren thought to himself, tomorrow he had to brief his team and if all was ready take their first trip down to the surface of the planet.

The cots on the USS Humanity were uncomfortable and not near long enough to stretch out on, Ren's feet dangling just over the edge. It didn't matter though, sleep quickly came for him, and Ren embraced it.