Page 2 of Taken
“Pamela.” I hate it. “Is anybody else awake?”
“My records show that sixteen preservation pods have been engaged.”
I wait for her to say more. She doesn’t. “Engaged? What does that mean?”
“Sixteen preservation pods have been opened and are currently unoccupied.”
“So, some people are awake? Is the Captain awake?”
“Negative. The Captain’s preservation pod remains intact.”
Intact. I don’t like the way she says that. Goose pimples feather on the back of my neck. Goose. Geese. Gooses. I’ve never had goose. I wonder if the biochemists aboard this Chamber have goose DNA, if we’ll be able to restore the creatures so we can eat them over a big happy Christmas dinner, like my Irish nana always talked about from her childhood.
I clear my throat. “So um, what are the other fifteen people doing, then?”
“I am unable to provide you with an answer to your question…Rhen. Please, rephrase…Rhen.”
I think. “When did the last person wake up?”
“The last preservation pod was engaged six hundred and nineteen years ago.”
The goose pimples on the back of my neck work their way around to my throat. I can’t breathe. I feel scratchy. Scratchy inside like the outside of an ananás. I swallow a few times, but I’m thirsty. “So, are we close to eleven thousand years in, now?”
“I do not understand…Rhen. Please, rephr…”
“How many years have passed since the Sucere Project began?” I snap.
“It has been…” Please say eleven thousand years, please say eleven thousand, eleven thousand, eleven…“Three thousand, nine-hundred and ninety-six years since the Sucere Project began.”
Oh. Oh. Okay, then. Okay, okay, okay. This is fine. Fine, fine, fine. Fine. Fine. “Cool. Cool cool coolcoolcoolcoolcool.” I take a big, gasping breath. “Thanks, Pamela. That’s cool. Everything’s fine. That’s good. Thanks for the…”
I have a panic attack. It lasts hours or maybe minutes. Maybe days. When I come back to, Pamela is waiting patiently for me with instructions on how to find the med bay, the dormitories, and the cafeteria. “I encourage you to explore the safety manual of the Sucere Chamber before leaving the Chamber for the surface world. Remember, thousands of years have passed since you last were awake. The world will look very different than you last left it.”
I amble shakily upright, using the lip of my open pod for support because there’s no way in hell I’m getting finger smudges all over some other frozen refrigerator magnet’s pod. I’m up! I’m alive! My legs are rubber, so I drag my feet behind me as I head off to the left in the only direction on offer to me given that I’m the last. damn. person. in the Sucere hierarchy. I am the least important person here. I have no survival instincts to speak of. How am I going to live? No no no, forget about all that. I’m up! I’m alive!
“Thanks, Pamela.”
“You are welcome…Rhen.”
I shuffle off a few steps before glancing up at the smooth surface of the roof over my head. “You uh…have any advice for me?” It’s weird hearing her voice come from everywhere and not knowing where to look to talk to her. She isn’t ashe,Rhen. She’s a goddamn robot. I’m alone…and I’ll die alone here…
Nope. NOPE. Fuck that! I’m up! I’m alive! Ha. HAHAHAHAHA.
“I encourage you to read the safety manual of the Sucere Chamber before you do anything else…Rhen. You can find copies of the safety manual in the common areas of the Chamber. You can also find safety manuals in the dormitories where you can sleep. I encourage you to read the safety manual before attempting to explore the surface world. Radiation levels may be too high for you to venture outside safely. However, there are many activities available to you within the Chamber. And, if you become bored, I am always available for you, Rhen.”
That makes me feel absolutely fucking terrified, because I can see it now, me in thirty years, still talking to fucking Pam.
Pam. Oh shit. I’ve already given her a nickname.
“Fuck me.”
“I am sorry…Rhen…but I am not a sexual being. I cannot perform…”
“Okay, yes. Thank you, Pam,” I scream shrilly. Pam.Fuck!
I make my way down the long hallway, moving faster as I walk. Faster and faster. The eyes of all those people, though only half open, seem to be watching me. It gives me the chills. The fucking chills. Even in my strange uniform.
It looks an awful lot like a mechanic’s uniform from the old world. It even has my name printed on the breast.Rhen.What kind of a name is Rhen? Hippies, my parents were. I think of them rather than focusing on the sight of the faces around me, sightlessly staring. Endless hallways filled with ghosts.
