Cryo-Stasis

“Mr. Talbert, can you hear me?” a woman’s voice cut through the dreamless sleep Collin had been stuck in for some time. His eyelids felt glued shut, until a woman pried them open with her index finger and thumb. “Mr. Talbert, are you awake?” The woman asked again, shining a light into Collin’s eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a tired croak. “He’s awake guys, lets get him out of there.” The woman backed away, allowing two police officers to help Collin out of the cryo-stasis chamber and onto a doctor’s bed.

“What’s going on?” Collin managed to whisper, his eyes darted around the room. If he had been woken up in the same place he had been put under, there was no way of telling. Where there had once been folders of written documents, there was now glowing machines. Even the equipment the doctor was using reminded him of something one would see in a movie about alien invaders. After listening to his heart, and taking his blood pressure with the new fangled tools of the era; Collin was allowed to sit up.

“How much do you know about the scientists that put you under?” The woman asked, Collin shook his head trying to think. The doctor reached into a mini fridge under her counter, and pulled out a plastic water bottle. She cracked it open before handing it over to Collin.

“Here, drink slowly. What these men did to you was awful.” For a minute Collin stared at the water bottle. Reading the label he discovered its contents, and began sipping at it.

“What do you mean?” Collin set down the bottle to button his faded, blue shirt back up. The doctor shook her head slowly, letting out a long slow sigh. Collin looked up, examining her face, a beautiful dark-haired woman.

“Collin, the place you were frozen in wasn’t a real science lab. They didn’t have government clearance or funding. I’m surprised you aren’t dead.” The doctor stood up walking over to one of the glowing machines. She touched the screen a few times, and began scrolling down the screen. Across the room papers began to come out of a noisy machine. Collin held his head. It was all too much to take in at once.

“Dead? No, that would have made things too easy,” he said. The doctor walked over, and grabbed the papers. She flipped through them as if she knew what she was looking for. The doctor pulled out a document, handing it to Collin.

“I thought you would feel better reading it this way, and not off of a screen.” Collin looked over the document, his hands slowly beginning to tremble.

“This says, this wasn’t a real medical facility. When were they shut down?” He asked. His eyes lifting to look at the doctor.

“They were shut down in two thousand three, but your chamber was time release. Nobody knew whether you were dead or alive, and we had no way of knowing what opening it before the set time. So we moved you to a place where we could monitor you safely.” Her eyes turned away, as his lip began to quiver.

“My mother, she didn’t get anything they promised. Did she?” He closed his eyes tight, afraid of the answer.

“I’m afraid your mother didn’t even receive your letter until we shut the program down, and by then she was on her death bed.” Hearing this, Collin put his face into his hands. The only person he had cared about, the one he had done this all for. He couldn’t even apologize; she was long gone now, and he had no one.

“What am I supposed to do then?” he asked, his control was slowly slipping away as tears began to run down his face.

“If you would like, I can make arrangements for you to come stay with me.” The doctor took a seat in a comfortable swivel chair. “I doubt you’ll ever get completely used to this day and age, but I can help you figure out how to at least live on your own.” He tried to control his sobs, moving his hands away from his face.

“Why would you do that or me?” His eyes lifted to hers, red rimmed and a little puffy.

“Because I want to make sure you aren’t just abandoned in a strange place. You could die if I were just to let you go off on your own.” She said holding out a hand. “I’m Tilda, by the way.” Collin reached out, shaking her hand.

“Collin, but you know that.” He gave a slight smile, his eyes becoming sad again. “Are you sure that’s okay? I don’t want to put you out.” Tilda waved a hand to silence him.

“It’s fine. You can be my dog sitter until you get a job.” She smiled at him. “Now, if you think you’re ready we can be on our way. I’ll make my calls to get permission once you are comfortable.” She stood up, and took off her lab coat. Jeans and a pink blouse hugged her body, and drew his eyes until she put on a large, green winter coat. Collin looked surprised; that was right. It should be winter outside. He had no coat.

“I don’t have a coat anymore,” he said frowning at the thought. Tilda let out a girlish giggle, smiling at him.

“If you can tough it our for a few minutes, there is a department store down the street. I can buy you one there.” Collin stared at her conflicted, could he really let a woman buy him something. He was about to protest, but she put her hand up to silence him. “Don’t worry, I can start a tab for you if it makes you feel better. I’m sure we’ll get you a decent paying job in no time.” She opened the door, telling the officers they could leave.

Collin followed her into the hall, and through the maze-like building. His head hurt by the time they got outside. So many new sounds, new devices, people tapping on screens and laughing at things he didn’t understand. The experience was nauseating, but outside was even worse. Loud machines honking, driving up and down roads, people inside of them yelling. Collin brought his hand to his head, an overwhelmed expression coming over his face.

“Collin?” Tilda looked at him confused, but it only took her a moment to realize cars had just barely started progressing in 1952. She reached into the pocket of her jacket pulling out a set of unopened earplugs. She held them out to him. “Put these in, I’m sure you’ll enjoy the scenery much more without the noise.” With a grateful smile, he took the earplugs, putting them in.

Now that the overwhelming sounds of the street had been muffled, he looked around the street. His eyes widened as he took in the sites. So many different people, wearing different things. All of them going to different places. There was no right way to dress, it was amazing. Cars made him feel small, but he could get anywhere, everything in this era was so much different. It both astounded and frightened him.

Tilda smiled, grabbing Collin’s hand. She led him down the street while he stared in wonder at the world around him.