The Curse of Cryonics

by Mine_Menace

The Recovery of the Discovery

Guys...why didn't you tell me?

I thought this as I sat down heavily on the floor of the mine.

Why didn't you just tell me there would be others?

I raised my head slightly, looking back up at the ponies and listening hard.

"Uh...Princess..." one of the miners said. "I think we found another one of those...metal rooms?"

"Yes, I believe you have," Celestia said calmly.

"You think we should dig it out and...open it, like we did the other one, your highness?" another one asked.

"I shall do it myself," Celestia said. "Step back a little. This should only take a moment."

As the miners and Firefall backed up slowly, I stood up again to get a better view of exactly what she was trying to do. Her horn started to glow intensely gold, and the rock face covering the rest of the third cryochamber began to glow gold and shake.

"She shouldn't hit us," muttered Firefall, who had come beside me, "but watch out anyway."

I nodded and watched apprehensively before what happened next...happened.

A piece of rock tore itself from the rock face violently and settled down a good few yards away from it. And then another. And another. Within seconds, the air in front of us seemed filled with flying chunks of rock.

Within about thirty seconds, there was a large pile of rock, and just behind it sat a fully exposed cryochamber--different from mine because mine was only partially exposed, dug out manually in what must have taken hours at least. Whereas this one was done in less than a minute by one creature.

I made a mental note to tread even more carefully around Celestia in future in case she somehow figured out a way around my immunity to magic.

"Firefall, Patrick," Celestia called softly, turning around, "come here, please."

I really didn't want to go near Celestia anymore, but I did anyway beside the only being I even slightly knew. Against my better judgement, I thought. But I knew what she wanted.

She wanted me to open it and for the three of us to get inside, and most likely to awaken the person who was still frozen. And since I wasn't keen on pissing her off anytime soon, I circled the cryochamber until I found the door, with Firefall and Celestia following closely behind.

Once we found the door on the back side, Firefall pressed his hoof against it and it refused to budge. "Locked. I can't get in."

"You're not a human," I pointed out shortly, leaning over and pressing my left hand against the door. It beeped and slid open, revealing darkness. Almost automatically, it seemed, Firefall lit his horn and, like before, three orange balls of light floated in and stuck to the ceiling, banishing most of the darkness.

"Thanks again," I said absently, moving toward the cryopod in the center of the room. The cabinets on the right had clicked open already and hung ajar, revealing a few bags.

But that means...if those are open already, the person should be...

The cryopod beeped, and the top of it slid open, revealing a sleeping young woman with gray clothes, pale skin, and brown hair that had been cut short (which was expected; short hair was safer for cryofreezing).

"Is...the human...awake?" muttered Firefall, but I ignored him. At the sound of his voice, though, the woman's eyelids fluttered slightly and slowly opened.

"Okay," I muttered to myself. "Okay, just don't..."

I hadn't any idea what I'd been trying to tell myself, but the woman, not seeing us, muttered, "Who's there?"

I steeled myself, approached the cryopod, and leaned over slowly. "Hi," I said calmly, trying to not frighten her. "Who are you?"

"Katherine Franklin," she said quietly. "Who are you? What year's this supposed to be?"

I chewed my tongue for a second. "I'm Patrick Stanford Walker. I'm number eight, I guess...and the year is...I forget exactly, but it's about two million years later than 2016."

Katherine frowned and started to sit up. "What do you mean, you're number eight? How do you not know what year it is?"

I probably should have expected this line of questioning based on what I'd said, but I crossed my arms, a bit frustrated. "You know how those scientists said they'd been looking for smart people for that experiment, and you were good for it? You weren't the only one. There were eight others. I'm number eight. You're number three. As for the year, I only found out a few minutes ago, and then you were found."

Katherine's frown disappeared and was replaced by a confused expression. "Wait, what? What are...when were you born?"

"March twenty-first, 1996," I said. "Lady, I was put through the same experiment as you. I only found out you had too a few minutes ago."

"But...uh...okay. So, Patrick..." she said slowly, "can I talk to people who are actually from this...time period? Two million years?"

I internally winced. "Uh, right. About that. See, the thing is...we're the only two people around who are conscious. Probably in the whole world."

"What? That's ridiculous," Katherine scoffed. "If that's true, how did you wake up?"

"Well...my cryochamber was a bit faulty...and recognized some other species."

"What? What do you..."

She sat up fully and I stepped aside, revealing Firefall and Celestia. Both gave smiles--though Firefall's was a bit weak--and Firefall waved his hoof slightly and greeted her. "Uh...hello, Miss...Franklin, was it?"

To Katherine's credit, she didn't faint, but unsurprisingly, her jaw dropped and her mouth hung open. After nearly a full minute, she closed it and said, "Okay. Yeah. Okay. This is all just a big dream. I'm going to wake up any moment now, and I'm going to be in bed at home or in the lab. Because..."

"Yeah, no. This is real," I muttered, sighing heavily. "Yeah, denial isn't going to do anyone any favors. Just don't go hitting your head or anything."

"But...but...oh my god!" she suddenly shrieked. "What is this? What are those things? Why is it two million years in the future? It wasn't supposed to be past a thousand years!"

I recoiled, pressing my hands on my ears. "Shut up! Screaming doesn't do any good! Breathe, for Christ's sake! Relax! They won't hurt you!"

"Answer my questions first!"

"What's the magic word?" I prompted angrily, increasingly irritated.

"...Please answer my questions!"

I breathed steadily, trying to calm myself down. "Okay...okay. Those are...ponies."

"I think I know what ponies look like, Walker. Those aren't ponies," Katherine said, frowning.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," I said, "and that's what the other eight will think. They're ponies, but they're obviously special in that they can do magic, they talk, and they're at least as smart as humans."

"Magic? Now you're pulling my leg. What do you think this is, My Little Pony?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Firefall and Celestia exchange questioning glances. I pretended I hadn't seen it, and said, "This is real, not some dumb show you probably watched when you were five. If you don't want to believe it, I think we can just lock you back up and you can wait another two million years until cows are the new overlords or something."

"Look, I'm sorry, but I can't believe this. There must have been some kind of side effect. There's just no way..."

"Well, I'm sorry things didn't go as planned," I said dryly, not even trying to hide an eye roll. "The AI in my cryochamber just told us that it's over two million years from 2016, and I'm sure yours will say the same thing. I'm just guessing humans couldn't find us, or forgot about us, before they probably died."

Katherine leaned back and frowned, obviously thinking. I stepped back a bit and started to pace restlessly, hoping this wouldn't get more complicated than it needed to be. As I got close to Celestia and Firefall, Firefall leaned in and said in a low voice, "She's taking it better than you," smiling slightly.

I chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"Okay," said Katherine loudly, and we all looked at her. "I...think maybe...you know, okay. What are you going to do with me?"

"Katherine," said Celestia in a disarming manner, "we promise we won't harm you. This is what we will do for now, however: if you'll come with us, we'll set up a room in Canterlot Castle for you and let you get settled in. After that, I would like to speak to you in private."

Katherine pursed her lips. "Okay, but I don't know who you are. I don't know where I am. Sorry, but I don't even really know what you are, either."

"I'm Princess Celestia," said Celestia, "and I'm the ruler of Equestria. Firefall and I--" she gestured to Firefall as she said his name-- "are both ponies, as Patrick pointed out. And you're underneath Canterlot, the capital of Equestria."

"Like the Princess said, I'm Firefall Strider," said Firefall, "and...well, I've been assisting her with dealing with Patrick--because he's the only human we've ever seen. I suppose I'll be seeing you, too, since you're also a human."

"Okay. Okay." Katherine gingerly stepped out of the cryopod and landed on the floor with her bare feet. "Look, this is still really hard to believe. But I guess there's no real choice. I mean...I was expecting humans! Or something close to that!"

"To be fair, I'm a human," I pointed out, "and they might find a few more if we're lucky."

"Yes. Yes, you're a human. But still, you're not what I was expecting. You're from my time." Katherine shook her head slightly and moved over to the slightly opened cabinets, grabbing a couple of duffel bags and a backpack. "I'm still hoping I'll wake up from this..."

I glanced at Firefall and gave him what I hoped was an apologetic smile. He shrugged noncommittally and glanced at the doorway, starting to head that way.

"Yeah, I wouldn't be so hopeful," I told Katherine, starting to rock back and forth on my heels. "I mean, I've already been awake for a couple days..."

Katherine shrugged and wordlessly followed Firefall to the door, and I followed after. "Oh, and unless you like roller coasters, you've got a lot of climbing ahead of you..." I added.

And as we stepped out of the cryochamber and the magic light balls went out, I heard Katherine mutter almost inaudibly, "I don't, though..."

Author's Note:

And there's the chapter; I'm done with another one. I should probably stop being so surprised at the speed at which I'm finishing these...

Until next time...