Final note from the author: Hi to all. This is "officially" the last chapter in first generation but there's a very short epilogue which I'll post as soon as I've perfected it. Enjoy this and keep an eye out for second generation. (I'll try and be quick). thanks.
Chapter 8 - Final thoughts.
I wake up after god knows how long and it's freezing cold; I don't even know where I am. Slowly I open my eyes; I'm in a circular room with the other three. The walls are metal, there's frost on the floor, no-one in the room seems to be moving; I try moving, nothing happens. 002, 003? I say. Can you hear me? 003 looks up slowly. You're awake, she says. Can you move? No, I can't; neither can she or 002. 001 is asleep on the floor, covered in frost. I ask what the hell is going on; 003 takes a very deep breath as if she's about to cry and slowly begins speaking.
We're in the furthest underground room of the base, she says. We're shortly going to be frozen by the scientists. Apparently the world isn't ready for us and technology needs time to catch up before they can properly begin testing on us; this room is intended for cooling us down until we pass out before they take us to the cryogenic freezers. This can't be happening, she's already given up; I'm not done yet. I keep trying to move my arms but nothing happens, and this feeling keeps growing on me; this strange sluggish feeling. Like how I feel when it's the day before a huge storm and everything is so humid. But this can't be the end; I won't let it. We were so close to finding a way out; now this?
003 lifts her head again and speaks further, it's draining all her energy just to talk to me. There, there's a forty-five percent chance of us surviving; I can hear them. They don't see us as human at all; to them we're just machines that have broken.. They were in here ten minutes ago; they didn't look me in the eye. We, we're nothing to them. I look over to her, she's crying; the tears hit the ground and freeze instantly.
002 groans from the other side of the room as he wakes up; I take a turn to explain the situation. By the end of my explanation I feel completely exhausted; 002 keeps trying to move now and has no luck either. He's putting up so much of a fight I can't stand to watch. Just give it up, I tell him. It's useless. We've tried to get out and we failed. It's done, face it. But he doesn't. No! He yells. I won't give up till I'm gone. I don't want to die! He keeps trying, 003 cries, I keep telling 002 it's useless; we end up yelling at each other. We end up completely exhausted. Silence falls in the room as it gets colder and colder and we become further exhausted; 002 only says one thing before letting his head drop forwards onto his chest. But we were so close… I try to talk to 003; she's dropped out too; now I'm alone here.
This can't be the end, it doesn't feel right. I suppose I always had some big dream of dying as an old man, after a long life; with her. But I can already see what will happen if we survive: they'll know we've thought about escaping. They'll put up tighter security and they'll train the men not to listen to us; I've seen it before. We've lost our only chance. As I slowly lose my grip on the world all I can think of is Hilda; it's comforting to know she never had to go through this torture. She's waiting for me now. Blackness…