Kane discovers this as consciousness returns after ninety-nine years of darkness, though he doesn't know the span yet. The pain speaks in sharp, precise tones, radiating from his left temple like an ice pick driven through his skull with mathematical precision. His fingers instinctively reach for the spot where Dr. Chen's "simple neural monitor" burns like a star going nova inside his head. His hands feel wrong – distant, disconnected, as if they belong to someone else or perhaps to a version of himself left behind in another century.
Through the darkness behind his frozen eyelids, text begins to scroll, projected directly into his consciousness by technology that shouldn't have existed in 2024:
▓═══ SYSTEM STARTUP ═══▓
〢 PHOENIX PROTOCOL INITIATING... 〢
〢 NEURAL INTERFACE ONLINE 〢
〢 SCANNING BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS... 〢
〢 WARNING: EXTENDED CRYO-STASIS DETECTED 〢
〢 INITIATING EMERGENCY REVIVAL SEQUENCE 〢
▓════════════════════════▓
"Hello, Kane. Please remain calm – your vital signs indicate elevated stress levels. Understandable, given the circumstances." A pause, precisely calculated. "I am ARIA, and I've been waiting 99 years, 9 months, 36 minutes, and 12 seconds to fulfill my primary function: keeping you alive."
Kane tries to open his eyes, but they feel welded shut by a century of disuse. More text cascades across his consciousness, his neural implant translating raw data into a holographic HUD only he can see:
╔═══ BOOT SEQUENCE ═══╗
〢 HUD INITIALIZING 〢
〢 BOOTING... 10% 〢
〢 CALIBRATING NEURAL PATHWAYS 〢
〢 ...20% 〢
〢 SCANNING BASELINE HUMAN PARAMETERS 〢
〢 ...50% 〢
〢 DETECTING MINIMAL CELLULAR DEGRADATION 〢
〢 ...77% 〢
〢 ANALYZING CRYO-PRESERVATION EFFICACY 〢
〢 ...86% 〢
〢 BASELINE HUMAN FUNCTIONS WITHIN ACCEPTABLE RANGE 〢
〢 ...99% 〢
〢 BOOT SEQUENCE COMPLETE 〢
〢 100% 〢
╚════════════════════════╝
The cryo-pod's seal breaks with a sound like dying stars giving up their last breath, releasing gases that carry the metallic taste of time itself. The medical gown – pristine white when he entered the pod, now yellowed and fragile – offers no protection against air cold enough to burn. His breath forms clouds that dance and twist in the strobing crimson of emergency lights, each one carrying away heat he can't afford to lose.
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"Your muscles will need approximately 10 minutes to regain full functionality," ARIA continues, her voice balanced perfectly between clinical precision and artificial comfort. "I'm monitoring your vital signs and motor control. Your recovery appears normal, though somewhat accelerated for baseline human parameters. Take it slowly."
Kane's vision finally clears, revealing a nightmare version of the pristine facility he remembers from what subjectively feels like hours ago. The once-white walls have surrendered to entropy, their surfaces gray and crumbling like the fossilized bones of corporate ambition. Dead vines thread through cracks in the concrete, their desiccated remains suggesting an organic invasion long since passed. Snow drifts in through holes in the ceiling, each flake catching the angry pulse of emergency lights that have somehow maintained their vigil for a century.
▼═══ ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN ═══▼
〢 TEMPERATURE: -5°C 〢
〢 RADIATION: ELEVATED 〢
〢 QUANTUM PATTERNS: DEGRADED 〢
〢 STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY: COMPROMISED 〢
〢 RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE RELOCATION 〢
▲════════════════════════════▲
His attention catches on deep gouges scored into the reinforced doors – massive claw marks that suggest something strong enough to treat military-grade alloys like tissue paper. The facility had been designed to contain everything from industrial accidents to terrorist attacks. The thing that made these marks hadn't cared.
"Analysis," ARIA says, her tone shifting subtly. "These impact patterns do not match any known terrestrial species. The depth and spacing suggest enhanced musculature and multiple limb configurations. The facility's security logs suggest we should avoid contact if possible."
Something moves in the darkness beyond those scarred doors. The sound reaches them – dragging footsteps accompanied by a wet, organic noise that human ears were never meant to process. Kane's HUD flares with urgent warnings:
? ! ? PROXIMITY ALERT ? ! ?
【MULTIPLE UN-IDENTIFIED ENTITIES APPROACHING】
【BIOLOGICAL SIGNATURES EXCEED NORMAL PARAMETERS】
【QUANTUM PATTERN CORRUPTION DETECTED】
【RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE DEFENSIVE MEASURES】
"Right." ARIA's voice shifts to tactical precision, the change as dramatic as switching weapons. "Here's our immediate survival plan: Security locker first – 30 meters, straight ahead then left. I'll guide you around structural damage and radiation pockets. We need thermal protection and basic weapons. Then we can discuss the approximately 1,147 questions I imagine you have about what's happening. Agreed?"
Kane tries to speak, but his throat feels lined with ancient dust. He manages a nod instead, the motion sending fresh spikes of pain from his implant.
"Core temperature dropping," ARIA warns. "Hypothermia risk in approximately 10 minutes without proper thermal protection. Multiple contacts converging. Estimated three minutes until intercept. Your baseline human physiology won't survive prolonged exposure to these temperatures."
The dragging sounds grow closer, accompanied by something that might be breathing if breathing involved too many lungs. Kane forces his stiff legs to move, each step feeling like he's learning to walk again after being unmade and reassembled by time itself. His bare feet leave prints in the frost coating the floor as he stumbles toward the security locker, guided by ARIA's highlighted path glowing in his vision like a lifeline through hell.
Behind him, something inhuman howls – a sound that carries traces of what might have once been human speech, twisted through geometries that Euclidian mathematics never prepared for.
The future he had agreed to study, to observe through brief periods of waking, has arrived with teeth and hunger and impossible shapes.
Time to find out why.
- K.M.
Sometimes the scariest monsters aren't the ones in the shadows, but the changes happening inside your own head.