1) The Awakening
A soft whir droned in his ears, but it was his sense of smell that effectively stirred his psyche and caused it to leave behind the comforts of deep sleep. The unmistakable quality of recycled air, reached his nostrils, filled his lungs, and swirled the fog in his mind. Despite being conditioned in an attempt to mask its canned scent, the air still carried with it unnatural odors of plastic and metal. Combined with the lack of reverberation, these strange scents and sounds conveyed to his barely-conscious brain that he was not in his own bed. This space felt considerably smaller and only scarcely able to accommodate him.
With his head still in transition between realms, his body began to catch up slowly. Though only vaguely, he was cognizant of the myriad of sensations caused by each piece of equipment that had kept him alive and sedated being disengaged from its intrusive position. He felt the tug of the catheter, and then the relief of its absence, as it was pulled from his urethra, immediately followed by awareness that he was naked. Then he received only minor discomfort from the intravenous needle being retracted from his arm, and the feeding tube as it was withdrawn from his nose. The tactile bombardment concluded with the remaining electrodes, probes and invasive devices retreating from his body to be stowed in their respective compartments.
An increase in the concentration of oxygen sweetened the quality of the air within the chamber, and the ever-present hum from the circulating fan became more prevalent as it sped up, aiding in the endeavor to bring him to a fully alert state. As is often the case when one wakes up in a strange place, the voice in his head asked: Where am I? Usually, as the mind throws off the shroud of sleepiness, the awakened one can remember, or figure out, the answer to that question. Having virtually no light with which to ascertain his actual situation, he could easily have assumed that he was in a coffin. With realization of this possibility came the urge to panic, and he might have done so if he were inclined to give in to such impulses and if he could move.
Though he was now fully able to
feel, he was still immobilized. Selective paralysis would remain in effect
until the device inducing it was withdrawn. That wouldn’t happen until the
powers that be were convinced that he was in full control of his faculties.
Searching itself, his mind recounted the events that had brought him to this
point and, though he had no way of remembering the actual process of being
placed into the cryogenic induced hibernation, he now knew the answer to his
own question. And it was only slightly more comforting than his first impression.
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