Across the Universe………………and into its Sandtrap
Prologue
A man stands alone in a sea of strangers. Smoke drifts lazily from the cigarette that is dangling from his mouth; his last cigarette before cryogenic sleep. He remembered the surprised looks he'd gotten from the medical staff when he'd asked whether or not nicotine would interfere with the cryogenic process, and also remembered his relief when they'd told him it wouldn't. So now he stood smoking that final cigarette, with a distant, sad look in his mismatched eyes.
"Sir, are you all right?" a voice asked. He looked down to see a dark-haired woman standing before him, her soft brown eyes filled with concern.
"I'm fine." The man said, reassuringly. The woman smiled.
"That's good to hear. You looked so sad just now, almost as though you had lost someone very dear to you." The woman said, gently.
"I did lose someone………….but it doesn't matter now. Soon I'll be away from here and starting a new life. I'll leave my old memories behind." The man said, as he finished his cigarette, glanced longingly at the remains, then extinguished it in a nearby ashtray.
"Very true. That also happens to be one of the reasons that I signed up." The woman said, honestly, as she motioned to the huge ships nearby with a wave of her hand.
"Would group 'M' please report to the cryo-stasis room? Repeat. Would group 'M' please report to the cryo-stasis room? Thank you." A voice over the intercom said, getting an exasperated groan from the man in response.
"What's wrong?" the woman asked.
"They're doing everything here by the frikkin' alphabet! I'll be an old man before they can get to 'S'!" the man grumbled, moodily.
"What's your last name?" the woman asked.
"Spiegel. And yours'?" the man asked, in turn.
"Saverem." The woman replied, then added, "My first name is Rem."
"And mine's Spike. That has to have been the weirdest intro I have ever heard." The man said, with some amusement in his eyes.
"I must agree. There's not many people who will ask for a last name first." Rem said, with a cheerful smile.
"Why did you?" Spike asked, with some curiosity.
"I'm a member of the crew that will be awake on the main ship. It seems that 'S' group will be one of the closest groups to the main ship. I'll be able to look out and see you from where I will be on board." Rem said, listening as other groups were called to report in.
"I understand and then I don't. What's so special about me?" Spike asked, confused.
"It's not something that I can easily explain, but I just have the feeling that you are someone special. You're going to make someone very happy." Rem said, confidently.
"You sound so sure." Spike murmured, with a sigh.
"I'm sure because my heart tells me so. Now, I think they're about to call 'S' group together." Rem said, looking up just as the loudspeaker called for the group.
"Okay, I guess this is it. It was nice meeting you, Rem Saverem." Spike said, as he picked up his bag of clothes and other necessities.
"And it was nice meeting you, Spike Spiegel. I hope we meet again." Rem replied, watching as he walked away. As Spike walked up into the cryo-stasis chamber, he wondered what the future held in store for him, now that he was leaving his past behind.
"I wonder what the new world will look like? Will it be anything like the old-timers say the earth was before the Gate incident?" Spike wondered, as he stowed his personal belongings into the compartment beneath his cryogenic 'casket' and locked it, sealing the contents inside.
"Are you ready, Mr. Spiegel?" one cryo-engineer asked. Spike nodded, and climbed into the smaller chamber. When the door was closed, Spike felt, for only a moment, a hint of claustrophobia, but then he calmed his racing heart and waited. At first, nothing seemed any different, then he felt a drowsy calm drift over him, dulling normally sharp senses and gradually taking him away from consciousness. Before his eyelids drifted shut, Spike's last thought was of the woman he'd loved, and had watched die in his arms.
"Julia……………….."