The Thaw
I woke up.
Tried to stretch my arms... they crackled with the icy coating all over them. Hands bumped the walls of the tank... ouch! Too hot, better let everything cool down.
But I was awake. I was warm, too. Getting warmer. Hot, even. I was disoriented, naturally. Hibernation does that to you. Hotter... the air was in flames! I tried to loosen my collar... my arm moved slowly, and cramped. It tingled with pain. A solid lump stood up from my tricep. Egad, the pain! My fingers scratched at my collar, but that was useless. Hibernation suits were too tight, and it was frozen to my chest anyway.
Frozen.
The heat was unbearable, I fell asleep. Blacked out? Awake again, I could open my eyes now. The frost was gone but it was hot as hell. Temperature gague read 278 Kelvin.
The walls burnt my hands, too damn hot! Was there a fire out there? I saw someone being carried out of a hibernation tank out the little window on the corridor. They were having trouble getting him onto the stretcher. He looked in bad shape, twitching all over the place and all curled up. He was white as milk, and was squinting against the heat. Heat? I read the little display next to the window. Outside temperature was 289 Kelvin, that was really cold! I tried to shift position... all my limbs cramped up at once! I arched my back and bit back a scream of agony... I wasn't ready to move.
It all started coming back to me.
This was a colony ship. Jesus, how long had it been? I worked my jaw, my tongue massaged it's way around my mouth. I got some moisture into everything... gawd, I felt like crap. A monstorous headache was sweeping across my temples, it nearly blinded me! No, that was just the lights. Someone was turning on something really bright out there. Gah! Bright as a floodlight!
I turned my head. My neck protested but that light was burning it's way through the lids, I couldn't stand it. The soft green glow of the tank was soothing. I didn't want to look at any bright lights for awhile.
I saw a small condition readout next to my head. Circulation was going... apparently one of my legs had suffered tissue damage during freezing. No, my whole left side had suffered tissue damage. What the hell happened? Not good news and if I was thawing it meant we had reached our destination. Would I be walking with a limp when I first stepped out on a new world?
Actually, we didn't have a destination. Not a specific one. We were to find a yellow dwarf star with a habitable planet circling it. We were given seven canidates for habitability. The tour could, at worst, take three thousand years. So said the astronomers.
My headache pounded. My legs didn't throb too bad if I just curled them up a little... I was a solid chunk of cramp, from ankles to jawline. My calves had little mounds of knotted tissue sticking out. What an awful cramp! I was exhausted already. Fell into a fitful sleep.
I heard a whooshing noise... I tried to open my eyes but they were glued shut again. I couldn't move at all... I was numb and tingly all over. So tingly it hurt, like everything was waking up again. Someone was carrying me on a stretcher, I think. Eventually they halted, opened another door, and set me down on a cot. When I could finally open my eyes again I was in a mercifully dark room. A pair of sleeper techs were walking out, they shut the door behind them. Still hot! Arrgh, couldn't they turn it down a bit? My limbs were starting to wake up again, but I almost didn't want them to.
I wondered breifly how I was moving any muscle at all at my temperature. After a while I figured it out. They had gone the quicky route.
My genes had been altered somewhat to cope with long term hibernation, but that didn't make it any walk in the park. If you want to be safe about waking a guy up it takes a week at least. If you want him up faster, you have to inject a warming agent straight into the muscles, organs and brain.
It's risky, but you can get a guy up and sipping cocoa in three days.
It had been tested earthside, you had a 3% chance, give or take, of killing someone however you ran it. That figure shot up to something like 15% when you used the drugs and the warming agent.
The bastards.
I slowly uncurled and massaged my poor, tortured limbs. When I could lay flat again on the bed, I tried to get some sleep.
I don't know how long it took, but eventually sleep took me. What a ride.
Tried to stretch my arms... they crackled with the icy coating all over them. Hands bumped the walls of the tank... ouch! Too hot, better let everything cool down.
But I was awake. I was warm, too. Getting warmer. Hot, even. I was disoriented, naturally. Hibernation does that to you. Hotter... the air was in flames! I tried to loosen my collar... my arm moved slowly, and cramped. It tingled with pain. A solid lump stood up from my tricep. Egad, the pain! My fingers scratched at my collar, but that was useless. Hibernation suits were too tight, and it was frozen to my chest anyway.
Frozen.
The heat was unbearable, I fell asleep. Blacked out? Awake again, I could open my eyes now. The frost was gone but it was hot as hell. Temperature gague read 278 Kelvin.
The walls burnt my hands, too damn hot! Was there a fire out there? I saw someone being carried out of a hibernation tank out the little window on the corridor. They were having trouble getting him onto the stretcher. He looked in bad shape, twitching all over the place and all curled up. He was white as milk, and was squinting against the heat. Heat? I read the little display next to the window. Outside temperature was 289 Kelvin, that was really cold! I tried to shift position... all my limbs cramped up at once! I arched my back and bit back a scream of agony... I wasn't ready to move.
It all started coming back to me.
This was a colony ship. Jesus, how long had it been? I worked my jaw, my tongue massaged it's way around my mouth. I got some moisture into everything... gawd, I felt like crap. A monstorous headache was sweeping across my temples, it nearly blinded me! No, that was just the lights. Someone was turning on something really bright out there. Gah! Bright as a floodlight!
I turned my head. My neck protested but that light was burning it's way through the lids, I couldn't stand it. The soft green glow of the tank was soothing. I didn't want to look at any bright lights for awhile.
I saw a small condition readout next to my head. Circulation was going... apparently one of my legs had suffered tissue damage during freezing. No, my whole left side had suffered tissue damage. What the hell happened? Not good news and if I was thawing it meant we had reached our destination. Would I be walking with a limp when I first stepped out on a new world?
Actually, we didn't have a destination. Not a specific one. We were to find a yellow dwarf star with a habitable planet circling it. We were given seven canidates for habitability. The tour could, at worst, take three thousand years. So said the astronomers.
My headache pounded. My legs didn't throb too bad if I just curled them up a little... I was a solid chunk of cramp, from ankles to jawline. My calves had little mounds of knotted tissue sticking out. What an awful cramp! I was exhausted already. Fell into a fitful sleep.
I heard a whooshing noise... I tried to open my eyes but they were glued shut again. I couldn't move at all... I was numb and tingly all over. So tingly it hurt, like everything was waking up again. Someone was carrying me on a stretcher, I think. Eventually they halted, opened another door, and set me down on a cot. When I could finally open my eyes again I was in a mercifully dark room. A pair of sleeper techs were walking out, they shut the door behind them. Still hot! Arrgh, couldn't they turn it down a bit? My limbs were starting to wake up again, but I almost didn't want them to.
I wondered breifly how I was moving any muscle at all at my temperature. After a while I figured it out. They had gone the quicky route.
My genes had been altered somewhat to cope with long term hibernation, but that didn't make it any walk in the park. If you want to be safe about waking a guy up it takes a week at least. If you want him up faster, you have to inject a warming agent straight into the muscles, organs and brain.
It's risky, but you can get a guy up and sipping cocoa in three days.
It had been tested earthside, you had a 3% chance, give or take, of killing someone however you ran it. That figure shot up to something like 15% when you used the drugs and the warming agent.
The bastards.
I slowly uncurled and massaged my poor, tortured limbs. When I could lay flat again on the bed, I tried to get some sleep.
I don't know how long it took, but eventually sleep took me. What a ride.
posted by alcazabedabra at 12:33 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home