FIVE
THE DEEP SLEEP
Raine lay down on the cool bed of the cryo pod.
A trio of doctors whizzed around him, checking the fit of the suit, looking at the Ark’s monitors, then coming back to check small readouts on the suit itself.
Hill had disappeared, and that made Raine uneasy.
None of the doctors said much, just a “lift your arm, please” and “turn to your side.”
Their bedside manner sucked.
Finally, Hill came back. Just in time for Raine to notice that something had begun swinging over the cryo pod from the side, resembling a hypodermic with a dozen wires trailing from it.
Except this hypo was the size of a bazooka.
“Mighty big needle,” he said.
“Yeah.” Hill turned to the doctors. “Can you give us a minute?”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” one of the white coats said.
“Just a few minutes.” His tone didn’t leave the impression this was a request. Same ol’ captain, Raine thought.
They backed off, busying themselves at the consoles positioned around the perimeter of the Ark.
“In a few minutes this device will implant something in you called ‘nanotrites.’ Experimental. It’s not even something we would use on the battlefield.”
“Then why do I want them?”
“Because of their potential. The test cases show that nanotrites do some pretty amazing things. In case of severe tissue damage, organ failure—even a momentary cessation of primal functions—the nanotrites are amazing cellular engines. They promote incredibly rapid tissue growth. They can even restart organ functions.”
“And the downside?”
“We don’t know all the side effects. Not in the slightest. Could be there’s a price to pay for using them, but if there is, we haven’t had time to find it. And, they are not the miracle nanomachines we thought they were.”
“You’re losing me.”
“Nanomachines—biologically engineered micromachines. We’ve been playing with them for decades. These seem to work. And because of that potential, we feel it’s too good an opportunity to pass up. We don’t know what kind of world you’re going to wake up to, but we think these nanotrites will be pretty useful. Everyone who went into the Ark has had them implanted.”
“I’m guessing I don’t have a choice about them. I mean, you said they haven’t been fully tested. Could be I’d be better off without them …”
“No. You’re going, so you get them. Consider that an order.”
“And fingers crossed on side effects.”
Hill grinned. “Send us a note back.”
Raine looked at the doctors, waiting, still standing back.
“Captain …” he said quietly.
“Yes?”
“The asteroid. Most of the world predicts a miss. Then a handful of scientists predict a hit. How’d that happen?”
“That’s the other thing. Can’t say I fully understand it.” Hill came a bit closer. “An astrophysicist at Palomar was the first to see something was off about the asteroid, then someone in the London Observatory. They were professional friends, so they communicated their findings to each other, and as soon as they alerted their governments, they were ordered to keep it quiet. More scientists made the discovery … all seeing something different than what was predicted.”
“Which was?”
“The asteroid acted erratically when it passed close to any zone with a measurable gravitational force. Somehow, that gravitational force, which in most cases should have been insignificant, or at least measurable and predictable, caused a dramatic shift in the asteroid’s trajectory, a definite wobble. Most astrophysicists would write it off to random erratic behavior. But for this group, even with Apophis so far away, they saw it as something else.”
“Captain,” the lead doctor said. “It’s time.”
Hill held up his hand. “They were finally able to measure it, Raine. Whatever caused the trajectory to wobble and shift … could be measured. And all anyone knew was that there had to be something within the asteroid itself, something due to its unknown mineral makeup, where it came from … what it was made up of …”
“That caused the effect?”
“Exactly. Another unknown, Lieutenant.”
“Seems to be all you have to offer today.”
“It’s time,” a doctor said, more firmly. Hill nodded.
Raine, wearing the bulky Ark suit, raised his right hand up as sharply to his brow as he could.
“Last time I’ll have to do that, sir.”
Hill nodded, grinned, and then saluted back.
“Okay,” he said to the doctors. “We’re all set.”
The long, gunlike device came down slowly, precisely to Raine’s neck.
The female doctor gave Raine the play-by-play.
“Lieutenant, you will feel the metal tip press against your neck. The nanotrites need to reach critical velocity within the insertion device. It’s really a minicentrifuge. Once they enter, they will travel immediately to your brain stem.”
“And you can’t knock me out for this?”
A small smile from the doctor.
Guess it’s too late to ask her out on a date, Raine thought. Late, by maybe a hundred years.
“For the first moments, you can’t have anything in your system to knock you out. No sedation. Full brain activity is required.”
“Then full brain activity they shall get.”
“Moments after they enter your body, the drip into the suit will pump in the sedative. You won’t be awake when the full cryo process begins.”
“Which I guess is a good thing, hm?”
“Yeah.” A pause. “Good luck, Lieutenant.”
Raine felt the metal press against his skin. Cool. Just a bit of pressure.
Then—something sharp.
A definite prick, much worse than giving blood or an IV.
The needle going deep hurt, but it was followed by a burning sensation that made his eyes water.
It was as if fire filled his throat. He felt it migrate to the back of his neck, near the brain stem.
Then up.
The lights in the room took on an intense brightness. The people in the room turned into ghostly shadows.
He barely felt the injection device pull away … because now his entire skull felt that warmth. He had read somewhere that the brain has no nerves, so no feeling there. Probably a good thing. Still, he wanted to scratch his head, covered by the Ark suit skullcap.
But that thought was interrupted as the brightness began to build, turning from a simple fire into a white heat that made him feel as though he lay in the dead center of a massive incandescent bulb.
Then—suddenly—the brightness, the light … faded.
The sporadic explosions of heat from his head eased.
He wanted to say something, but saying something had somehow turned impossible. Right, he remembered as the team watched, the sedative …
Even thoughts were difficult now. One came to him: Close my eyes.
Then another thought: Sleep would be nice.
Then: nothing.