Nova looked around her smiling. The hill her little cottage sat on overlooked a valley of lush heather. It was all perfect, but then her dreams normally were. Being free from the mind bending torture that was reality felt like heaven, then again she wasn’t free really. Having been placed in cryogenic sleep at the age of twenty for an incurable disease all she had was her dreams. The pain of the rare illness had removed her joy in life as it slowly crippled her, destroying her organs in an attempt to grow something new. It had been too long since she been awake. Perhaps being able to conscious in this way hadn’t been a good thing. Picking a flower she watched the sun set in her dream world. One day soon she hoped to open her eyes to reality.
Dr. Lisa Sun watched as the others check the monitors.
“How much longer until we reach the station Ace?” she asked.
“One week doctor,” replied the AI for the ship.
Nodding she entered some calculations into her notes. The Union had planned this just right twenty years ago. Now there was a facility to re-admit cryo patients into society. The process was two weeks there then usually another three years of outpatient visits. This latest case was the last one for the cycle. Sun smiled as she thought of her little boy, Yuri and the upcoming planet visit for his fourth birthday. They would be back just in time for it. Looking at the unit she studied the young woman inside. Asleep she held a similar look to Sun’s son, peaceful yet slightly mischievous. The file said she was placed inside at the age of twenty in order to stop the progress of Offic disease. A sickness cured over a hundred years ago after the discovery of the Datori race. Since finding her unit in the fault area of Earth they had cured that problem and now it was time for her to re-enter the world. The process being fairly new during her time meant that she had aged, nine years in total.
“What was it like in your time Nova? Before the troubles and the war?” Sun spoke, “One day I’m going to ask you that?”
Sun’s head snapped up as alarms went off. Heading out into the hall she saw soldiers with full gear running, it wasn’t another drill. Going back in she looked at the others. They were all civilians like her but, unlike her none had been on a military vessel before.
“Dr Sun to command,” she
“Go ahead Doctor.” One of the officers answered.
“How bad sir?”
“Bad. It’s the same bastards that destroyed a cruiser last week. Prepare for evacuation to be safe.”
She looked at the frightened faces before her: What they needed was a calm presence, one who lie and tell them it would be alright. Sun knew it wouldn’t but it had to be done, let them work thinking there was a chance.
“Let’s move people. Get the unit to the Det, Marc start downloading the information to that ship. Ace link up and download your program as well.”
She paused to send the wake up commands to the smaller craft. If anything happened Nova would be woken up. Marc, her assistant saw her.
“She’s not ready Lisa,” he swore.
“It doesn’t matter, it’s necessary.”
He knew what she meant, if they were dead someone had to tell the tale sooner rather than later. Working fast the personnel transferred all they could until it was time to move the unit. Sun stood back and when she was alone went to a viewer. Tears threatened to fall but she wouldn’t let them. If Yuri saw this she didn’t want him to see her crying. She knew that none had survived the attacks as of yet and that they were out gunned, meaning this would be her goodbye. Taking a deep breath she began;
“Hello Nova, I’m sorry we couldn’t be there…”
Nova strode through her forest listening to the noises. It was exactly like the one where she used to live. With a sad smile she thought of her parents. Both brilliant people, it was hard to think they would be older now. Hopefully they wouldn’t have held back because of her. She looked up as silence fell over her world. Worried at first that something was wrong; she realized that someone must be waking her up. Running to the lake to see it one last time she saw the landscape dissolve around her. Dizziness swamped her as she fell to her knees. There was no pain, no sensations to be had as darkness enveloped her.
Nova opened her eyes to reality, alone, cold, but pain free with a smile.
