"I was awaken at that designated time by a knock on the door then told to go to the infirmary to get that full body nanine shave," John explained.

"What was that like?" Aloy asked whimsically.

"It involved getting completely naked and having a silvery blob put on us composed of nanites. We were assured that those nanites would not damage our hair follicles. That blob then quickly spread all over us and we had to keep our eyes and mouth shut so that the nanites would not get into those places. It felt as if microscopic bugs were crawling into every nook and cranny of my skin, even in my ears and nose. That part was not as problematic as expected because the nanites stuck close to the walls of the nostrils and ears so as not to block them up. I could literally hear and feel the nanites munching on my hair all the way down into the roots. And this went on for a couple of minutes. Finally, the nanites were called off and I was left as bald as leather from head to feet. I was next presented with my cold suit and put it on, then I stuffed my clothes into the bag the cold suit came in and took it with me to the hangar. Osvald and his aides also went through that too . . ."

The smaller heliplanes were lined up side-by-side, each with a sign in front of them that had the name of the continent on it. North America, South America, Europe, and Australia each had only one cryogenic facility. Africa had two cryogenic facilities, one in South Africa and the other in Kenya. Asia had four: Israel, India, China, and Japan.

Osvald and his aides stood before them with that microphone plugged into a small speaker and with those planes to their backs.

"This is it," Osvald said in a serious tone. "Soon, we will be leaving to go to our destinations to undergo our centuries long cryogenic sleep. Each of you will see in your focuses your destination. When you do, line up single file in front of the heliplane that is destined to where. So here goes."

Osvald seemingly fiddled with invisible buttons that he can only see through his focus and the candidates all soon see the name of where they are to go. For John it was North America.

The candidates carefully walk through the place to line up single file in front of their designated heliplane.

"I won't make this long as I want us to get this over with, but at the same time, I do want to say something meaningful," Osvald said in a solemn tone. "Over a year ago, the beginning of the end of the world started as the Chariot Line Model went rogue and began replicating and eating bio mass relentlessly. Dr. Elisabet Sobeck foresaw the end of the world and decided to resurrect the world instead. It was a massive undertaking that all of you helped her to achieve. Hopefully the fruits of your labor will blossom and bring forth a new humanity into a new world. A humanity that will study us and learn all about us. About why our world ended. And here's hoping that all of us survive to give them a first hand account. And now to end this with a moment of silence for the billions of people who died, and life in general."

"It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop," John said as he stared off at something distant.

"That's because of all the death that you came to understand," Aloy said.

"Yes, there was that. For a full minute, nobody made a sound. Finally, Osvald spoke . . ."

"All right. I will conclude with, this is not goodbye; just see you all soon. Now all aboard."

Everyone boarded their designated heliplane and selected their seats to buckle up. One-by-one, the heliplanes took off and left the instillation. It was slow going as first the porch had to open then closed so that electronic signals would not get out to alert the Swarm as the outer doors opened. Just like when they were flying here, the heliplanes flew high up into the sky heading for their designated spots. That being flying up to where gravity began failing.

The North American delegation reached their cryogenic facility and landed inside. The facility was smaller as there was a porch only large enough for their heliplane and the place was lit with LED lighting. The heliplane lands successfully as the hangar doors up above seal shut. The ramp lowers and the heliplane shuts off, signalling the occupants to exit and assemble in a group. A female aide to Osvald Dalgaard addressed them.

"The cryo pods are right down those stairs," she said while pointing at a large opening with a set of stairs going down. "But before we go through, I have instructions for what you will encounter. There are of course fifty pods down there, all lined up next to the walls. Before you are to enter, you must remove your focus and put it into your bag and place it down by the side of your pod. Then get into the pod. I was trained as a nurse and will insert the tubes into your hands. I will then activate the servitor by voice command and we'll have thirty seconds to get comfortable. Then our lids will close and lock, our blood will be drawn out while at the same time that biological anti-freeze will be pumped into our veins. Finally, we'll be flash frozen. If any of you happen to survive and not me, then it will be up to you to remove your respirator and tubes yourselves. Now then, there is an emergency exit back up that way," as she pointed to the back so that the candidates looked to see another set of stairs, but these go upward to a small platform where there is a runged ladder going up to out of sight. "And finally, there is a spot above the descending staircase seen through your focuses that reads, message."

The word, message, gets a circle appearing around it and the holographic image of Osvald Dalgaard appeared.

"Greetings, future humans, I am Osvald Dalgaard, the spokesperson for Far Zenith. This place is one of ten cryogenic facilities out there in the world. Behind this door are fifty original humans. Yes, that's right. Original. They are in cryogenic stasis. I too am in stasis, but over in Europe. To awaken those below, all you need to do is enter the place below. There is a servitor that was designed to go into hibernation after we are frozen and then come out of it and thaw us out at the presence of an active human who gets near it. The thawing process should take approximately four and a half hours, but it might be hours before they regain consciousness. When they are ready, the pods will open automatically. Although I should warn you that there is a 98% possibility that they will end up dead. But maybe you could increase their odds of survival somehow, since you will have become so much more advanced with the streamlining of technology. So simply go down these stairs and hope for the best. And hopefully . . . hopefully . . . I will be amongst the survivors over in Europe. Osvald out."

The candidates mull that over for a moment.

"Now let's get this over with," the aide said.

They descend the stairs into a room that was the same dimensions as the one above them and also lit by LED lighting as well. They see fifty cryo pods lined up near the walls. The pods were larger than they appeared on holograms and raised off the floor. Its servitor was perched in the center and would start at a voice command from the aide.

"Okay," the aide announced. "Choose your pod, remove your focus and put it into your bag, then put it down near your pod and get in."

John chose his pod and did just that. The interior has high relief on the bottom and he surmises that they are for plugging into his suit as the back indentations show. He got in, careful to position himself so that those plugs will fit. He waited with mask in hand. There was an intravenous tube on either side of him, one would lead into a chamber that preserved blood and the other into a chamber containing the biological anti-freeze. Upon being thawed enough, it will reverse flow. The respirator was near his head.

The other candidates sat in their pods, with much discussion.

" . . . I hope this works . . . "

" . . . Man but I hope to wake up and see what the world will be like . . . !"

" . . . I'm so excited . . . !"

" . . . Maybe they'll have things we can only dream of . . . !"

" . . . They'll probably colonize the solar system by then . . . "

The aide started with John as his pod was next to hers and she was at the end of the circling row. She told him to put his mask on and he did so, plunging his vision into pitch-darkness. She next told him to lie back so that the plugs will line up. Again he does this. He felt the brief pain of the needles being inserted first into one hand then the other, both getting taped it into place. He next felt the respirator being pushed into his mouth, pressing his tongue down so that it would not end up falling back during unconsciousness to block his breathing.

John lay there for a time. The aide continued going around the place hooking up the rest of the candidates. He knew that she understood enough about nursing to put those intravenous tubes into her hands herself, then put on her mask and lie back. He also knew that it would be nothing for her to find the ventilator next to her head.

"Servitor!" the aid was heard.

How may I be of assistance? A pleasant feminine voice said.

"Password, Frozen Sleep!"

Password, Frozen Sleep verified. Servitor recognizes the speaker of password.

"Activate cryo stasis!"

Cryo stasis will be activated in thirty seconds.

There is a moment of silence until the servitor was heard counting down from ten seconds until finally.

Cryo stasis activation for all candidates.

John next heard a whirring followed by a clunk and the lid clinking shut as the electromagnetic locks were engaged. A hum was heard and he felt a slight vibration as he began feeling his blood leaving through one tube and a liquid being pumped into him through the other. Unease overcame John as he wondered if he was going to survive.

That unease began drifting away as John felt his consciousness drifting away as well.

"Did you dream while you were asleep?" Aloy asked.

"No, being frozen physcially also means being frozen mentally," John answered. "I also don't remember dreaming as I was waking up after being thawed out enough. But there was a moment of confusion . . ."

. . . Awareness . . .

. . . Awareness of warmth . . . Warm air entering his lungs . . .

John felt bewilderment, causing him to gasp and shudder as his heart skipped a beat. He started wondering if his mind was still intact, but concluded that it must be since he was thinking. He wondered if he was the first one up or were the others up waiting for him. But he wasn't hearing anything.

He lifted his hands, only to groan loudly as painful stiffness raced through his arms.

"Apparently that's what will happen when you get frozen like that," John said. "Your muscles seize up."

"How long did it take for you to recover?" Aloy asked.

"It took awhile. But I was still able to get out of that pod long before then. It was just a lot tougher than I had expected it to be . . ."

John summoned his courage as he took a deep breath and slowly reached up while making one long loud groan of pain as his muscles protested against the movement. He pulled the respirator out of his mouth and allowed his arms to drop back down as he made a loud rasping groan. John continued lying motionlessly and gasping intently for awhile until the pain in his arms subsided.

John lifted his hands once again, fighting against the painful stiffness, and reached for his face. He dug his fingers into the hole for the respirator and pulled wide, effortlessly tearing the mask apart to expose his face to the cool air of the room. He tried opening his eyes, but felt the sensation of sandpaper against his eyes as he attempted to open them. He deduced that when he was frozen, his tears froze. When he thawed, it caused the surface of his eyes to dry out. Tears were quick to form though and they flooded behind his eyelids, lubricating the surface of his eyes.

John was finally able to open his eyes and was greeted with the sight of the ceiling lit by the faint LED lighting. The silence made him uneasy and he wondered if cryo sleep had struck him deaf. He struggled to sit up as he had to pull himself up by using the side of the pod as the feeling of his muscles seemingly to tear themselves to pieces raced throughout his body. He felt the panel rip off the back of his suit, exposing his entire back to the cool air. He sat there for a moment, then took ahold of first one intravenous tube and pulled the tape off, then pulled the needle out, wincing at the pain of having it being pulled out. He waited several seconds and did the same to the other. Next, he tore the gloved part of his suit off his hands and snapped his fingers. He was relieved to have heard the sound. He sat there for a moment as anticipation flowed through him, causing a ticklish tingling sensation to reverberate through his palms and groin.

John took a few deep breathes and exhaled, then lifted a leg over the side as he groaned and cursed loudly while gritting his teeth. He stopped to catch his breath as he was halfway over the side. Taking a few more deep breathes to psyche himself up, he turned over as he lifted his other leg over the side of the cryo pod. Knowing that he risked possible injury from simply allowing himself to fall onto the floor, he kept a firm hold of the side as he slowly allowed himself to slide downward. The pain was intense. His toes touched the floor and he continued to slowly though painfully lower himself. Wincing through the stiffness and pain, John carefully lowered himself onto the floor. Once his buttocks were close enough at some couple of inches, he let himself go and flopped painfully onto the cold hard concrete floor, causing him to rasp loudly with pain.

John next got into a sitting position with his back against his pod. It was warm, so he sat there on the floor until he felt rested enough to try that again and closed his eyes. His muscles still ached painfully though, but he managed to rip the entire top part of his suit off, exposing his upper torso. He sniffed and opened his eyes to stare at the pod in front of him. He leaned over while reaching out and touched it to find it warm too.

John slowly but firmly knocked on the pod. When he did not get an answer, he knocked all the more intently while calling out to its occupant. He next reached up to clasp the rim of the pod he had been in and pulled himself up while attempting to stand. Again, his sore still muscles protested. He stood there bent over with head resting upon his hands while clasping the rim of the pod, forcing himself to endure the pain in his legs as the weight of his being and tension in his muscles aggravated their stiffness. He carefully turned and reached out to the other pod and took a step forward, then stumbled forward to find himself staring down into the pod at the covered form of the female aide of Dalgaard. John reached down with both hands and tore open the neck of the cold suit to expose her neck. He pressed his fingers against the side of her larnyx to feel for a pulse, only to feel none.

"It took me a long time but slowly, painfully, I went around and checked each and every one of them for signs of life," John said morosely. "But I discovered that they had all become corpses."

"It's a pity none of them survived," Aloy said empathetically. "But I still cannot help to wonder if it was the same for the nine other facilities out there."

"Same here. Now to continue . . ."

With the legs of his cold suit shredded from the repeated movements he had been making, John casually ripped the rest of it off, leaving him completely naked. He next picked up his carry bag and opened it. He took out his focus and put it on to check the time and date. It was 18:45 and the date was Sunday, March 22, 3040.

Next came his clothing. He began the torturous procedure of getting dressed as his muscles had not fully recovered just yet. It was a uniform of sorts that the members of Project: Zero Dawn all wore: a simple shirt and pants that resembled a sports suit, along with slippers. Yet they were colored to reflect the Subroutine they were working on. For Apollo, it was white and grey.

Once he finished dressing, John walked around the room scanning the occupants with his focus to see that they all had a blue glow instead of that red one that living warm-blooded creatures have. He walked over to the stairs then took one last look around at the dead and sighed regretfully, then ascended the stairs. At the top, he stared at the heliplane that bought him and the now dead others here and wondered if he could use it to get out of here and entered it. He entered it and made his way to the cockpit, then used his focus to start up the engine. This heliplane was of simpler function since its purpose was to fly the candidates here, making securing such planes a very low priority; otherwise it would have needed more than a focus to use them.

John started up the engine so he could get a reading of just where he was and where he could go to for help. Even if the world outside had changed so much, the new humans would have rebuilt the infrastructure and high technology to deal with this heliplane.

But nothing happened. Not even the troubleshooting lights, let alone the engine, came on. A further scan of the heliplane revealed the problem. The fuel lines were reading as a solid. It meant that the fuel had coadulated over the centuries, making the heliplane useless.

"When it rains it pours," John huffed to himself and got up. "It's the escape ladder then."

No, it will be sunset now and night would be coming on. Worse, it was only the beginning of Spring and there will be snow out there, given that he is within the southeastern half of Oregon. He was going to have to wait out the entire night down here in this tomb. John laid across some of the padded seats to rest and plucked his focus off to set on a seat ahead of him. The soreness was also still in him and perhaps actual sleep will do him good. He wondered if it would be possible to fall asleep. The soreness of his muscles and the tiredness that came from the ordeal of being thawed out from a supercold sleep eventually and quickly overwhelmed his consciousness.

"I had dreamt about being in a city that suddenly got overrunned by the Faro Swarm," John said. "Of my parents and siblings getting devoured by the red mist that Swarm gave off. Then it switched to Dr. Sobeck talking to a girl, who in hindsight was you."

"What did she say to me?" Aloy quipped.

"I don't know because I woke up. I put my focus on and the time showed that it was dawn."

"You mean those changing numbers that you see in your focus? I see them too sometimes. But I don't really bother with it."

"That's because you weren't raised to be concerned with time. Back in my day, keeping track of time was very important. But to continue . . ."

Sleep had done wonders for John as he felt more refreshed than when he first awoke in the cryo pod and the soreness was gone. He left the heliplane and walked toward the metal stairs leading up. He stopped and decided to check out the others one more time, just in case. Once back down there, he checked them all out once again to be certain that they are indeed dead as he went about that room scanning them and even touching their throats once again. They were also cooler to the touch as their muscles felt abnormally firm. He even tried to move an arm on each of them, only to find it unmoveable, showing that rigor mortis had finally set in.

Convinced once and for all that they were truly dead, John returned upstairs and began his ascension to the exit. Once up there, he climbed the runged ladder and reached the top that was a round hatch with a valve wheel. He braced himself and took ahold of the wheel and turned it in the direction it was supposed to be turned as the arrows around it showed. The going was difficult as the valve wheel had seized up from centuries of disuse.

He put his all into turning the valve wheel until a thud let him know that the hatch was unlocked. This was it. He was about to take his first breath of air and have his first look around at the outside world, hoping that Gaia had been successful in reclaiming the earth. John took a deep breath and pushed upward with as much strength as he could muster. At first, the hatch did not seemed to want to move, but it did so as the outside air flowed in, along with humus that looked to be a couple of inches deep. Cold air and snow also spilt in. John continued pushing the lid all the way back while exhaling. He then inhaled deeply, getting a lungful of fresh cold air.

John looked around to see that he was surrounded by a forest of coniferous trees. The humus having poured in was the result of the entire area around being buried in from what was centuries of the growth and death of plantmatter. With the depth shallow, only grasses, flowers, and other small plants would grow here, making it look like a meadow surrounded by forest. The snow looked to be an inch deep, nothing to get bogged down in. He even heard bird song and calls. Even seeing them fly by.