The lights brightened in the pod as the life support systems kicked in. The timer for removing the subject from cryo-stasis had come to pass and the suspended animation stages were now drawing to an end.
The lights went from fluoroscent white to yellow, to prevent any retinal damage to the occupant in the pod. The tubes that fed the placentic fluid into the lungs and stomach were causing a suction to remove the liquids. Adrenaline was injected into the body to pump up the heartrate slowly to re-animate the body and bring him back to life.
Carl jolted awake unaware of what was going on. He had difficulty breathing, his limbs weren’t responding and neither was most of his body. He tried talking but his passage was blocked. Mustering in every ounce of strength and vocal capacity he had to scream for help, not knowing why.
His pod slid open, the top cover lifted and opened halfway on either side from the centre. Two nurses came in rushing, to help Carl and ease his panic. The first nurse, held the tube connected to his mouth and asked him to relax as she pulled it out. The second one grabbed the tablet and pressed a few buttons which caused the fluid in the pod to drain out.
In the few moments that passed, Carl started feeling even weaker, the liquid had encouraged him with weightlessness to feel even lighter but now with that gone, he felt like he had no body – just a conscious man paralysed all the way through. The second nurse tapped a few more buttons and light sprays from the corners of the pod, cleaned up the remainder of the liquid that was stuck to the body.
The pod rotated to make him now upright and the nurses took his arms to get him to a wheelchair. The wheelchair had automatic straps, that wrapped around his thighs, arms and across his abdomen to support his back. In a moment he had an intricately woven, skin tight jumpsuit across his entire body and suddenly he didn’t feel the weightlessness nor the paralysed muscles.
Carl felt his fingers move and an instant delight came back. He was happy to know he wasn’t handicapped.
The nurses pushed his wheelchair out of the area where the pods were and into the next room. Once there Carl saw 10 others just like him, sitting on a wheelchair, shaved completely and totally clueless about what they were doing. They were all carefully placed along the edge of a circle and the centre of the circle kept empty.
The nurses left and the centre of the circle lit up. A holographic figure now stood there, garbed in a suit and sharply parted hair. He must have been in his 40’s, with a moderate build and a welcoming stature he began to speak.
“Welcome to the Exodus Program, if you are viewing this I would have been dead for over a 100 years now. It’s the year 2130 and you have been roughly at sleep for 111 years. With the population under control, the program has begun pulling it’s participants from cryo stasis and are now beginning to phase them into society. It is a lot to process but we shall help you progress through recovery in every way possible. Cryo-stasis is a very troubling period of sleep and symptoms such as nausea, amnesia are common. So, if your body is experiencing any discomfort or difficulty don’t fight it, just let the medicines do it’s course. Welcome back to society ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your sacrifice and look forward to having you enjoy the beauty of nature pure and unaltered.”
The hologram disappeared soon after. Carl felt the straps tighten as they started forming a supporting exoskeleton around the legs. He stood up with it’s support but somehow didn’t feel like he was in control.
“ The straps are part of an exoskeleton framework, it is automated and will guide your path to recovery until your body can gain full control. You haven’t used your muscles for over a century and they have gone inactive, the exoskeleton will help in reactivating them and fight off muscle atrophy.”
“ I have been asleep for a century, everyone and everything knew is long gone. I feel a panic attack coming over but I don’t feel it, why?” asked Carl worried.
“The cocktail of drugs injected as soon as you woke up are mild sedatives, your neural implant will gain a new data stream of personal messages for you to recover your memories but this will all take time so please don’t worry. ” said the nurse who had helped him get out of the pod in the first place.
Carl walked to a room that seemed like his personal quarters, he saw three others sitting on chairs in the room. Two women and a man roughly his age by first glance.
He took a seat.
A splitting headache started growing from the base of his skull all the way to the top but was gone in a few seconds as he lost consciousness and blacked out.
Carl, can you hear me?
Carl, honey – it’s me mom, wake up – there is a lot we have to talk about.
Carl wakes up in a jolt and in a moment of panic pushes a few steps away from the figure that claimed to be his mother. He didnt feel the weakness all of a sudden, his body miraculously had gained full functionality. But the person in front of him, was what terrified him – his mother, who as mentioned a few minutes back should have been dead but here she was like a ghost of a memory. In the few seconds that followed, the figure started to become clear. The skin tone started growing fair from it’s initial black shade, the face started forming clearly and in a few moments it grew clear, his memory and sight were now coherent.
Carl ran to her and hugged her as tight as he physically could.
“Mom, how is it possible? It’s been over a century how are you alive? What happened? Why was I asleep for so long? I was supposed to look after you, help you grow old. Give you grandkids, give you the pleasure of telling them bedtime stories. Where is dad? Where is everyone else? What is this place? Why is it so dark here? What is happening? ”
It’s alright son. We shall go through this slowly. Sorry the program isn’t loading as fast as anticipated. We are personal constructs your parents left behind for you. This is a virtual environment that is booting up for you to cope with the trauma of experiencing a futuristic reality.
“Dad, it’s you!” said Carl as he hugged the second figure.
In the year 2050 it was predicted that the population of the earth would touch 10 billion which essentially is the limit to earth’s capacity. It would lead to famines, death and catastrophe. Society in 2019 was already at it’s tipping point and we were 2 billion people away from actual calamity. With our limited understanding of space travel and lack of different planets to colonise, we soon realised that earth is the safest bet and to ensure human survival, drastic measures were needed. Thus, the Exodus programme was born. The generation of your parents were asked to make a sacrifice for the sake of planet earth. To let go of the promise of seeing their kids grow old and have their own families. It was a lot to ask but they volunteered knowing we would be at that bridge soon enough. Your generation was put into cryo-stasis while the rest of the world lived the rest of their lives, grew old and died. The volunteers were given economic favours for their sacrifice and a virtual recreation to see how their kids would grow up to be. “It wasn’t the same but somebody had to do it.”
Even though the person stood in front of him looked like his dad, he spoke in a narrative voice and in unison with the lady who looked like his mom.
Carl sat on the grass floor as the environment kept on rendering with time. To show a green field with endless meadows at a time very close to sunset.
“Did it work? Did their sacrifice lead to a better world? And why is it called exodus program?”
Yes, it did. The population is now at 2 billion with 60% of the non-exodus participants being at the age of 80 years or more. Soon, the world will be empty and the damage from human existence having been completely reversed. As for the name – similar to the exodus of Moses and the 12 tribes across the Nile, you were sent out of the continuity cycle to ensure, the survival and comfort of the human race.
“But how do I interact with them? I miss them so much, I was supposed to put them to their eternal sleep. Supposed to give them gifts with my first salary, enjoy barbeques with them on the weekends, spend thanksgiving with them.”
Once, this initial scenario play is over, the program will settle in the digitally reconstructed conscience of your parents for you to interact with them. The conscience backed by AI logic networks will evolve with every interaction to mimic their behaviour as close as possible.
“Did they leave me anything? Can I see their last will and testament?”
They have left you their 100-acre mansion set a 1000-ft above the atlantic ocean alongwith a sizeable amount of money. The rest of the EXODUS population will be joining in the floating colony while the surface is being cleaned up for your healthy and safe return.
“How was their life? Did they live a good life? Did they do it for the money? Do you have anything for me, that doesnt involve a robotic conversation with them?”
There is over a 1000 hours of footage that we can deliver for you to watch as a recording or we can merge it with your memories to make you feel, you were there with them. However, we can give you AI assistants that can mimic them and act as your parents as long as you need them.
“What about my friends, did they make it to the program?”
We shall give you a list of all those factors, once you completely recovered. The recovery period is estimated to be a few weeks long with accelerated nanites repairing parts of your body from extensive lack of activity. But you should be healed and live the rest of your life in a new world.
But Carl could see into the eternity as the horizons started to grow dark, like lights shutting off in a mall. The two figures in front of him started blurring out and soon disappeared. And in a while it was all dark.
“All right, you can remove your headsets now.” Said a voice.
Carl, removed his VR goggles to step back into his actual reality. As an attendant, came and collected the goggles and removed the device at the base of his skull.
“Well, hope you liked the demo for our program. The cryo-stasis experiment has proven successful in test patients and can be in mass production by end of Q4 -2019. Thank you, for showing your interest in the Exodus Program. We shall be taking questions and opinions shortly. “ said the presenter.
Temporalnomad
THE ENTICEMENT 