Year: 2700
Location: Demolished Tena Lab, Terra A Sector 6
Dust drifted through shattered beams of sunlight as the three kids wandered deeper into the ruin. One of them, the tallest, stopped and pointed.
"Hey… look at that."
Half-sunken into a wall was a crooked metal door.
Slightly ajar but jammed in place like it hadn't been moved in centuries. One suggested leaving. Another wanted to go in. The decision came down to the time-honored ritual.
"Rock. Paper. Scissors."
The loser groaned as the other two snickered. With a trembling hand, he pushed the door open, hinges groaning under decades of grime and rust.
The room inside was colder and quieter. Separated from the main chamber only by a thin wall of scorched alloy, it looked almost preserved by the shadows. And in the room were four pod-like machines. Three stood opened , hollowed, like corpses with their chests cracked open. The fourth was different.
Its glass canopy was shut, fogged by a thick layer of frost so heavy it looked almost grey. Veins of cold etched through the surrounding metal. A soft, blinking light on the side panel was the only sign of life.
The kids stepped inside cautiously.
"Yo, what are these things?" the smallest asked, brushing dust off a fallen cable.
The smarter one of the trio
quiet, sharp-eyed
moved toward the closed pod. His fingers hovered over the interface panel.
"Standard Cryogenic Pod Model II," he read aloud. His brow furrowed. "Remaining Power: 20%."
There was a full cluster of buttons beneath it:
Release cover. Deactivate preservation. Temperature adjustment. Diagnostics. Manual override.
Even reading it all made his head spin.
The other two peered over his shoulder. "Wait, what's it saying?"
He turned to them, eyes wide, barely containing his excitement.
"If I'm right… there's someone inside."
The two other kids went silent.
"Huh? Why the hell would someone be frozen down here? In Sector 6?"
"Aren't these things, like… stupid expensive?"
"There's four of them…"
They stared at the fogged glass.
"Maybe… maybe we just ask him?"
The smallest shoved the smarter one forward. "You're the genius. You open it."
He gulped, but stepped closer. His fingers hesitated, then tapped through the menu with childlike logic, pure guesswork based on half-understood words.
Then….. HSSSSSSSSSHHHH!
A hiss burst out from the base of the pod, and the interface flickered. The words changed:
Initiating Reverse Cryogenic Process…
The kids stepped back instinctively as the pod whirred, gears shifting, inner lights pulsing like a heartbeat restarting after a long coma.
Sixty seconds of total silence followed. The kids were clearly nervous.
Except for the machine which was making whatever sounds machines make.
Then….. CLICK.
A release latch unlocked. The glass cover popped open, and a cloud of frigid mist coiled out like smoke from a dying beast.
They stared.
Inside was a boy.
Clearly older than them. Late teens, maybe seventeen. Pale skin, sharp features. Jet black hair lay tousled across his forehead, stiff from the cold. His chest slowly rose and fell.
The smallest kid whispered, "He looks like my brother… maybe a little older."
Then, finally his eyes fluttered open.
Dark green. Like emeralds
Polished , but dulled without glimmer. He blinked against the dim, broken sunlight spilling in from above.
The ruins around him stayed quiet. The machines fell still.
And he took his first breath in centuries.