Taming new wilds

Cryogenics

On the morning of the 5th week something changed. Once they got to breakfast the food tasted a little different, it was richer, smoother. It was Better. Immediately Mika was on guard wondering what was going to happen.

The guide stood at the head of the table behind Fish, "Hello everyone. Today is the day of your departure! You will be cryogenically frozen after this, and then you will spend 10 years getting to the other side."

"Wait, we'll be asleep? How do you know we wont forget what we've learned?!" asked Sue, a redheaded and outspoken girl of barely 18.

"You won't, you'll be in stasis, not asleep." the guide explained soothingly, "I believe in you! You'll make it!" they really seemed to believe that, to believe in them. It felt strange compared to their pasts.

"That sounds risky, what are the odds that we'll all wake up?" asked Vision with a tone of worry.

"98.7%" the guide said with a smile, "very high indeed! " Vision settles down, casting a worried glance around the table. If any of them died, that would be one less person to teach everyone how to survive.

Kiki a tiny wisp of a thing with enough fire in her soul to warm a city hummed in annoyance. "That's too high." she stated, "what's the chance the whole ship lives?"

"... 85%" the guide said, their smile slipping a little. "But that's to shear numbers! The ship is very secure. I personally think it's a guarantee that you'll all live!" they were trying overly hard to keep them happy and it was clear.

Mika felt bad for them and quietly said, "we'll make it through this. We'll live."

Everyone settled for a moment and then nodded. They would. They had too.

After breakfast they were taken to the large central room. From the first day, it was filled with almost 200 people wearing white. They were milling about, but two people stood out to mika, Before her were Roy and Michal. The only two people for her in the world.

"please mingle for a bit while things are prepared. I'm sure some of you have missed each other." the Guide said. There were several other people in red now, with their guide. They all turned as one and left the room.

Mika rushed the boys with open arms, hugging them both with ferocity.

"I'm so glad you two are alright! I've missed you! Are you okay? What did you do while we were learning and stuff? Did you get to eat too? You both look so healthy they must have fed you." she was babbling thanks to her anxiety.

Roy grabbed her arms and shushed her, "hey now its okay, we're okay. Yeah they fed us and let us bathe and stuff. Learning? We made soap and built a loom. What did you learn?"

"Yeah, they taught us how to make fire and how to filter water. Oh and we made tools, like the stone age. It was so weird, but it might save our lives when we land so I'm not complaining." she said, shaking her head and looking around nervously. Everyone seemed so skittish and shy around others, like they were waiting to be attacked at any given moment.

"Did something happen before we got here?" Mika asked not taking her eyes off the crowd.

"Yeah, a fight broke out. Instead of shooting the people involved the robots restrained them, the room's been tense ever since." Michal explained to her.

Mika nodded and then chatted with the boys about the other leaders, and how each of them was probably selected for some actual reason. Not just grabbed randomly like she initially had thought. She explained about each person in some amount of detail.

She explained about Pika, the monster obsessed girl who practiced magic and understood how to identify lots of stones and crystals.

Midnight, is a Gardener, who studies herbs and grows them on her roof. A rare bird indeed these days.

She also explained about Tiff, a person who could build anything. They often used local trash to build small shelters against the dust storms, an impressive feat on its own, add that to Mika's spacial awareness and they were confident they could build anything with James's help to do the heavy lifting.

Mika talked about her videos that she had been watching and a little bit about her excitement to be leaving the planet.

"If this new world looks anything like the videos i've been watching it will be kind of amazing."

Michal nodded "yeah but it's still... terrifying." he said softly, Mika and Roy nodded along with him.

After a while of chatting the wall slid open. Before their eyes was an absolutely massive ship. The outside was a shiny black metal, it had a set of huge doors that lead inside that lay open before them. Slowly the people started to approach the ship, eyes wide in wonder. This was amazingly huge. It had to be for all the people on board.

The head guide, Mika decided that must be their job, standing just inside the ship's entrance. They started waving people inside, "please please come in and go to your assigned pods! We will be lifting off in less than 3 hours!"

Everyone filed in, followed closely by robots to prevent any last minute revolts. People looked for their names on each pod, standing next to them awkwardly as the robots came and directed them into each pod and began strapping them down.

"Once everyone is strapped in we will begin the cryo process! When you wake up you will be a bit groggy and tired. You mustn't let this get in your way! Fight to survive! We will be sending you a drone with a radio attached to it 6 months after you land. Once you have that if you are still alive please report to us regularly on how you are faring." they spoke in a fast brisk manner, trying to convey as much information as they could before they ran out of time. "We do not know where you will be landing, we have the ship set to find you somewhere advantageous but who honestly knows what will happen at this point in that regard. It will be 10 years from now." The guide sounded worried but gave them one last smile, "please. Do your best. The world may depend on it."

Mika was pushed into her pod and the door was closed upon her, the world suddenly felt very small and cramped. Before she could panic however a gas filled the little chamber, knocking her unconscious as the freezing process started.

It would be 10 years before any of them opened their eyes again.