The hum of the cryochamber section grows louder as you descend the stairs. Level C's dim, eerie red lighting casts long shadows across the rows of cryogenic pods, a third of them dark with the unseen corpses of the men who died almost a century ago. The rest store the sleeping forms of the women who remain, ready and willing to do what is needed, volunteers to seed the stars with human life, though not exactly in the way we will have to do going forward.
You find Chamber C-47 and approach the gss canopy covering Sophia Patel's pod. Scanning the readout, you see her vital signs are stable, and then with a few buttons presses, the revival process begins. The outline of her form in the frozen chamber grows more colorful as her life returns. Her neat and shoulder length auburn hair starts to whisp about her lovely heart-shaped face as she is defrosted.
Within a few minutes Sophia's lithe and petite body in her simple white unitard takes her first breath in centuries. Her moderate sized breasts rise and fall gently, and the sensor reading say her heart is pumping, and her brain is active again as well. Then there is a soft melodic beeping sound and the pod's lid slowly retracts with a hissing release of gas. Dr. Patel stirs, and her brown eyes flutter open.
“Are we there already?” She croaks a little joke, rubbing her throat, trying to shake off the lingering effects of her cryosleep.
“We are arriving at KX-456,” I begin, and she stops me.
“Not Cygnus X-1?” she asks, confused, then blinks more, looking about at the other partially powered down chambers. I knew she was intelligent, but she didn't even need me to figure out the truth in just seconds. “There's been an accident.” she says, deadpan, her voice pale and hollow.
“How do you feel?” I ask, deflecting her question to the more pressing issue. Sophia's eyes widen as she takes in your words and surroundings, her gaze sweeping over the dimly lit chamber and back to you.
“Yes, I'm fine, but... KX-456... What kind of accident?” She pushes herself up, wincing slightly as her muscles protest the unfamiliar movement after so long, so I grab her arm to steady her. “I'm fine, just a little groggy. Disoriented. But otherwise, physically fine, I think. Just give me a moment to clear my head from their cryosleep.” She takes a few deep breaths, her focus sharpening. “The damage must be significant if we've redirected to a secondary target.” Concern creases her brow as she looks up at you expectantly, waiting for an expnation.
“I'll expin everything after we wake two others. Are you okay to walk with me?” Dr. Patel nods, her brow still furrowed with concern but resigned to following your lead for now.
“Yes, I can manage. Just give me a few minutes to stretch my legs and get my bearings.” She attempts to stand, swaying slightly before finding her bance, but then her face droops with dread as she sees quite a few of the other nearby cryochambers dark and lifeless.
“How many died?” Sophia asks quietly, a dark realization coming over her as you two make your way to the next level of cryotubes.
“Almost two thousand...” you mutter, sickened by the drastic actions the ship’s AI had made to ensure the best survival of the mission.
As her eyes scanned the dark tubes, no doubt still containing the entombed remains of so many people, she came to a grim realization. "Our colonization pns will need to change radically," she whispered to herself. You could see the fear and determination in her gaze, but she was lost in her own mind, simply following you while she thought long and hard about your new situation.
