Maria missed most of what her doctor had said after the word "cancer." Her ears rang from the quickening of her heart. It was her husband who stepped in and spoke.
"So, that's it then?"
The doctor shared an unsure look with his colleague. "Well, there is one other option."
Several weeks later Maria stood, full of trepidation, naked as the day she was born, inside of a cryogenic pod. The case had not yet been shut and Maria's husband stood in front of her, face close to hers.
"I love you baby." He said, eyes red rimmed and sad.
Maria had wept a life time's worth of tears already, but a couple of more fell down her cheeks. She wanted to be serious, but her nerdstincts made the opportunity too perfect to miss. "I know, " she replied and leaned in for a hard kiss. Her husband started to laugh while their lips still touched.
Twenty minutes later, the lid is shut. Maria looked out at the well lit, white painted cleanroom, at the doctors wearing their masks and serious looks of consternation and focus.
See you later everybody. She thinks. And then a cold begins to touch at her fingers and toes just as unconsciousness washes over her brain like a warm wave of molasses.
"...Rrgnsee ranreation kumseet..."
A noise wakes Maria. It begins in her dreams as an indistinct hum but then morphs into something clearer.
"...Rgensee ranremation kumpeet..."
In her mind Maria's husband is speaking to her, but his face moves strangely, like his lips belong on another person's face.
"...Emrgnsee reanreation kompleet..."
Finally the bizarre mumbling coalesced into muffled words and Maria awoke.
"...Emergency reanimation complete..."
Inside of the cryogenic pod the voice came through muffled. Maria's eyes were immensely blurry for a time as the announcement repeated, though how long she was blind Maria could not say. Eventually eyesight returned and Maria took stock of her surroundings through the glass of the pod.
What had been, to Maria, only a moment earlier a pristine white laboratory was now a vision of pure derilection. The room was almost completely dark, lit only by sparse white and red emergency lights. The once perfect white washed walls stood darkened and black with mildew and the muck of time. The equipment was gone, and all that remained of anything other than the pod itself was scraps of stripped metal.
Directly in front of her, where there had been a steel door, there was now just a darkened door frame leading to a hallway. The portion of the hallway nearest the door was barely visible in the emergency light. Only a few meters into the hallway it coalesced into impenetrable shadow.
It took some time for Maria's brain to react, but eventually the panic came. It overwhelmed her in the pod and she began to hyperventilate. All the while the voice kept repeating the same phrase over and over.
"...Emergency reanimation complete
Maria forced herself to breath steadily. She had practiced mindfulness meditation, but was shitty at it. Still, eventually, eyes closed, it worked.
Calmer, she pushed on the glass door of the pod and it swung open easily. With a careful step Maria placed her foot onto the cold, moist tile of the lab. The mildewy air was acrid and chill in her unsure nostrils.
Maria tried to squeeze her foot into a ball, causing John McClane to reassuringly spring into her mind. She imagined herself as the star of Die Hard squeezing the carpet with his toes to fight jetlag. To her relief she felt her calf muscles tighten responsively. At least, it seemed, the reanimation had gone like planned.
With stable footing, Maria stepped out of the pod. Turning to look back at it - her home, in effect, for however many years - a shiver rocked her from head to toe. With her left hand she reached over and swung the pod door shut, in a quick, disgusted motion, as though it were contaminated with some awful disease.
On the glass of the door, about waist level, Maria saw words printed in chipped and worn red ink letters.
Sample 18.x4 - Break In Case Of Emergency And Administer RAR Kit
In life, before her foray into timelessness, Maria tended to mumble to herself. Her voice box made an unconscious effort to repeat "Sample 18.x4?" outloud, but her vocal chords just let out a sound akin to "smmmmrr."
Above the official looking letters, there was a piece of paper. Maria reached out for it, her fingers still wet, her hand shaking. The paper was affixed to the pod's glass by some lightly adhesve paste.
She brought the paper close to her eyes and read it in the dim light.
"It's an emergency. Come to The Tower."
Maria re-read the little note a half dozen times. She flipped the paper over twice. Nothing. She looked around the room and soon found a small pile of clothes - tattered sweat pants, patched and repatched, along with what appeared to be a hemp shirt. She put them on, thankful for their meager warmth.
"...Emergency reanima."
The voice cut out suddenly and there was only Maria, the emergency lights, and silence. The lack of noise brought renewed panic. Maria searched around frantically for a weapon, something to defend herself with down here in the darkness, come what may. Eventually she found a sharp shard of metal and held it close to her chest, back firm against the pod door.
Eyes closed, Maria considered her options.
Open your eyes. Take the metal shard and slice length wise along the lengths of your forearms. It will hurt, it will be jagged, but soon it will be over.
Open your eyes and walk into that hallway.
After a long time, Maria took a breath and made her choice.
