"What was going through your mind when that Silas fellow pushed that button?" Aloy asked.
"Well," John answered, "you've probably heard it said that at the moment you think you're about to die, your whole life flashes before your eyes."
"Yeah, I've heard that. And they're wrong."
"Um . . . Yeah, your whole death actually flashes before your eyes. I saw myself turning into red goo, then to mist, and finally vanishing. When that nanite capsule merely dissolved in my mouth instead of dissolving me, I felt overwhelming relief. Anyway, we followed Silas Crighton to a waiting heliplane . . ."
The heliplane flew away at supersonic speed. In spite of the Chariot Line Model down below watching the heliplane flying away, they could not discern that there were humans aboard it, due to the electronic shielding that heliplanes possess to render its human occupants undetectable. So while these robots may be intelligent enough to learn from their mistakes and never repeat them, they were still stupid in other ways.
As they flew along, the outside looked like a scene from Hell. One year and three months ago the sky was blue with the sun shining brightly; the air and water clean and clear; and the flora and fauna relatively abundant. The Faro Swarm was merely a localized threat confined to Indonesia. Now, the sky appeared to be a mixture of orange and yellow, with the sun appearing like an orange circle. Clouds were red, orange, and yellow that released rain with a pH level on par with vinegar, resulting in waters just as polluted as the air and land. Plants and animals that did not become food for the Faro Swarm ended up dying from a level of pollution that supposedly not even bacteria could tolerate, effectively rendering the biosphere sterile. It was all due to the overwhelmingly thick smog that blanketed Earth, which in turn was the result of the Chariot Line Model having somehow gone renegade and go on to replicate, devouring plants, animals, and people alike without hesitance to now cover the world some seven million strong. It had all come to pass despite the intense resistance humanity had put up against those rogue robots. Intensity that resulted in using nukes. At one point the heliplane flew over an unknown city. Its skyscrapers were broken and jagged with some leaning over. At times, Scarabs and Kopesh could be seen crawling over the landscape below looking like mechanical army ants. Off in the distance, a monstrously huge Horus could be seen crawling over a mountain. Though it was miles away, its long tentacle legs were slowly wavering as it was pulling its massive metal bulk across the landscape. A Horus was a moving manufacturing plant, continuously spewing out Scarabs and Kopesh alike, and even replicating more of themselves in the process. Due to its size and capabilities, a Horus needed the most bio matter for maintenance and production.
All over the world, the Chariot Line Model were still crawling around in their eternal quest for something to eat. But they will no longer find anything to eat and soon their hibernation mode will kick in. A mode they will remain in until something edible comes along.
The heliplane flew higher until the sky began darkening as it was nearing outer space. The feeling of gravity began to lessen. They soon headed back down and eventually passed through the clouds to land within another instillation. The doors were closed and the porch doors opened. There were many smaller heliplanes to be seen. Upon touching down, Silas Crighton emerged from the cockpit and addressed them.
"Okay, candidates. This is where the rest of Far Zenith are located. Once we depart, you will all be briefed on what is to happen to you."
The heliplane door opened and they all got out to discover that there were even more people gathered on the tarmac as well. These were the other four hundred candidates. Before them all was another man standing before a microphone plugged into a small speaker nearby of whom Silas Crighton deferred to as he acknowledge that person in question. The man was very slim with a nerdy though pleasant look and lively hazel eyes, light brown curly hair, and dressed in a casual though formal manner with a pair of blue silk trousers, a white silk button-up shirt without a tie, and brown leather shoes. John had seen his image countless times before and knew that he was as well known as Ted Faro.
"Welcome everyone," the man announced. "Osvald Dalgaard is the name, being spokesperson for Far Zenith is my game." He spoke with an optimistic tone and in an English that hardly showed his Dutch heritage. His introduction was of no suprise either since it was known that the Spokesperson for Far Zenith had a reputation for eccentricity.
"Let me just say, congratulations to you all for surviving the selection process," he continued. "Now I know you are all eager to undergo cryogenic sleep, but this is not the place where it'll happen. Instead, we'll all be spending the next three days in this facility getting prepped for cryo, starting with a liquid diet. As of now, no more solid food until we awaken from cryo. Instead, we'll all be drinking our food, along with laxatives to help clear out our colons. Then comes a very fun procedure . . ."
"It was a colon cleansing," John said.
"A colon cleansing?!" Aloy snickered.
"A tube is inserted up the anus, all the way up through the large intenstine. Water is next pumped up there to flush out any remaining dung."
Aloy laughs and has to catch her breath.
"Wh-Why d-do all that?!"
"It was part of reducing anything unnecessary into the freezing process. Now then, over the next three days breakfast, lunch, and dinner was soup that was little more than broth. Laxatives were also liquid, but tasted terrible. Water was the only beverage. During that time, our upcoming cryogenic procedure was explained to us through the use of holographs."
John goes on to explain that across the world are ten cryogenic facilities, each for fifty candidates, with the one he came out of here on this continent. Each cryogenic pod was a white cylinder measuring seven feet long by three and a half foot wide with a sliding lid with one end counter weighted so that it only needed gravity to open. Its lock was electromagnetic to not only be firmly shut, but also not jam when the time came for the lid to open.
The procedure for undergoing cryo was described to Aloy as first starting with the candidates having all of their hair removed from scalp to feet via nanite shave, then getting dressed in a skintight jumpsuit made from a special fabric whose purpose was to efficently channel temperature changes to better freeze and thaw out their bodies. John went on to explain that they were shown a sample of the suits as two of Osvald's aides, one a man and the other a woman, presented themselves in cold suits. The suits were a grey metallic looking jumpsuit that covered the wearer's body from neck to feet like a second skin, leaving only one of two openings on the backs of the hands for intravenous tubes. The suit had large raised metal indents on its entire back. Those were for plugging into the pod to insure freezing and thawing. On the chest was a bar with raised slots, making this the electrodes for jumpstarting the heart. The cold suits came with a matching balaclava, but with only one opening in the face and that being for the mouth and raised indentations on the back of the head.
"So do you still have your cold suit?" Aloy asked.
"No, the material turns brittle during the thawing process," John answered. "It got torn up simply by my moving around. The pieces are still back where I came from."
John continues on about how they were next told that they would have to lie in the pod, then have two intravenous tubs stuck into either hand and electrodes stuck to the slots on their chest. Next came a respirator tube to be placed into their mouth. Connected to the fifty pods was a simple servitor whose duty was to begin their freezing at the word of whoever was in charge. The cryogenic servitor was a four foot tall stationary control center with a wide light grey table-like top that resembled a thick disc lying on its side and the bottom part a white pillar. The servitor voiced an instruction of there being only thirty seconds to get comfortable. Once the thirty seconds were up, the lids closed. Next the pods removed their occupant's blood while at the same time pumped a biological anti-freeze into them through the other tube. Their blood would be stored in a compartment within the pod, also in biological anti-freeze.
Once that was completed, the servitor would cause the pods to freeze their occupants in an instance at supercold temperatures and kept at that temperature. John did not use temperature measurements because he understands that these new humans may not have rediscovered thermometers, so Aloy would not understand the numerical variation of temperatures.
The pods would next rise and turn upside-down. Finally, the servitor would go into hibernation mode, but were designed to come out of it and start the thawing process if one of two scenarios happened. The first scenario involved a future human discovering and entering the place, especially when they got near the cryo servitor. The servitor would come out of hibernation upon sensing their presence and start the thawing process; since it was stationed in the center of the room, it was impossible to avoid getting near it. The second scenario involved the power cells being close to exhaustion; if there were several days of power left in them, the servitor would come out of hibernation and start the thawing process. The best that could be done to get individual power sources for each cryo pod, and the servitor overseeing them, were power cells that last for up to approximately nine hundred and seventy-four years.
John next explains to Aloy about the thawing process. It started with the pods turning around to level out, then gradually warm their occupants at a low temperature using a low level microwave since it was the only effective means of heating up absolutely every cell of a multicellular organism simultaneously. Once their bodies attained a mild temperature, the pod would shut off its low level microwave and next go to work pumping their blood back into their body, which were oxygenated and heated by regular means to body temperature. Life support would next jumpstart their heart and lungs. Once their brain temperature measured normal, the lid unlocked, causing it to slide back.
"However," John stated in a grim tone and expression to match, "in spite of all the necessary procedures to revive us, we were clearly warned that there was still a 98% probability that we could wind up as a corpse."
"What does that mean?" Aloy asked. "A 98% probability."
"It means that statistically there are ten of us out there now: one per cryo facility. It might seem to be the case with me, since I was the only one out of those fifty who survived."
"So you really are the only one out of that cryo facility up to the northwest then. Then that means that the other four hundred and ninety Old Ones were already dead by the time they had thawed out enough."
"Yes, but statistics only represent an ideal; meaning that there might actually be less than ten, or even more for that matter. And it may be that I could be the only one who was successfully revived."
"And since you also said that your kind would be thawed out if anyone entered the cryo facility, it must also mean that a long time ago people had entered one of those other cryo facilities out there, causing your kind to be thawed and successfully awakened. Then they exited that place and ended up living out the rest of their lives with the locals."
John snickers. "You go a point there, Aloy. For all I know, the rest could've been revived so long ago that they've all since died by now; possibly making my group the last to have been thawed out. But we'll never know . . . Now back to the story. This part is about Dr. Sobeck . . ."
January 15, 2066
The candidates were all in the briefing room with Osvald after he had told them over the public announcement system to assemble there for some very important news. The mood from the spokesperson of Far Zenith could be seen on his face and it was grim.
"Everyone, I have bad news," Osvald said with matching tone. "Elisabet Sobeck is dead."
Everyone gasped with shock as they exchanged alarmed looks. John felt as if someone dear had died.
"Actually it would be more accurate to state that she will soon be dead," Osvald continued. "It all started when Gaia Prime's hatch did not form an effective seal and its energy signal began leaking out. The Swarm detected it and was on its way."
Cries of shock and anguish were heard and John felt as if he had been kicked in the gut.
"Now don't despair!" Osvald announced quickly and firmly while holdings his hands aloft to assure them. "Don't despair . . . ! The Swarm didn't make it and Gaia Prime still stands, all thanks to Dr. Sobeck!"
The candidates calm and express sighs of relief, John included.
"It turned out that the hatch could only be manually sealed from the outside and the Swarm was closing in fast. So while the rest of the Alpha's were bickering, Dr. Sobeck took it upon herself to secretly don an enviro-suit and did what needed to be done. She then said her goodbyes to the Alphas and left. They told me that her last words were, I'm going home."
The candidates silently mulled that over. John felt both relieved and sad over this. But in awe as the leader of Project: Zero Dawn took it upon herself to sacrifice her own life for this venture.
"We were uncertain if that was what really happened," John said.
"Why would you think that?" Aloy asked.
"Because of Operation: Enduring Victory. It was a lie to get the rest of humanity to sacrifice themselves to buy us time. So we couldn't help but question what Osvald had told us, though not openly. But I'm sure it's all true."
"It is."
"What?"
"Ah, please continue."
"Okay . . ."
January 16, 2066
It was night time and the candidates were all in a briefing room with Osvald once again, only this time it was not about bad news. They came here after they had their colon cleansing, of which John found it to be an . . . interesting experience.
In the briefing room was a water dispenser with large clear plastic glasses stacked near it. Osvald addressed them.
"This I will keep short because it is important that you all return to your rooms and get a good night's sleep because you will all be awakened at oh five hundred hours. I have spent the past two days wondering where each of you should go where. I have studied each of your profiles to deduce which one of the ten cryogenic facilities that each of you will be sent to. I am proud to say that I have finished that task. However . . . your destination is non negotiable, so what I have decided is exactly where you will be going. But that I will reveal tomorrow morning after you are all gathered in the hanger." Resulting in a few groans of frustration from the group. "Tomorrow morning when you are awakened, you are to head down to the infirmary for your full body nanite shave. Then you will dress in your respective cold suits, pack your clothing into a small bag, and head to the hanger where I will announce who will be going where. Now before I dismiss you all to your rooms to sleep, let us make a toast; so go and fill a glass with water then gather before the podium."
The candidates did just that. Osvald and his aides also had a glass of water in hand.
"Let us all raise a glass of water to our coming cryogenic sleep," Osvald said as he does so. "Cheers!"
Everybody repeats, then they all drink.
"Aaah," Osvald sighed as he lowered his glass and glanced at it. "That was a nice tall cool glass of water we all just had. Now drink up because it will be the last we have up until we awaken from cryo. It is to keep our bladders relatively empty for when we get into our respective cryo pods. And now it's off to bed."