Bye Y'All

Bye, Y’all

Cryogenics was not Rachel's field of research at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Her specialty was pediatric oncology, and she was lead researcher on a study of triggers for childhood cancers hoping that better understanding of those triggers could lead to effective interventions to forestall the disease. But today Rachel was across from NIH at the National Library of Medicine accessing all the information they had on cryogenics.

Two days earlier Rachel’s own doctors had identified an inoperable malignant growth in her brain that was a more definitive death sentence than any delivered in a court of law. Since she was no fan of death, especially for herself, her analytic mind automatically began to search for alternatives. She concluded that only cryogenics offered any hope, and at that, only a long shot. Not only would she have to freeze herself, she would have to be thawed undamaged, and science would have had to find a remedy for her tumor in the interim.

Her decision was typical of her. A long shot was better than no shot. So cryogenics it was!

She opted for a full body freeze, being very skeptical about the alternative to just freeze the head. She could imagine all kinds of problems getting reattached to a body after being thawed.

Cryogenics America, located just up the road in Baltimore, offered the services she needed. A really high tech, self contained, hardened, bunker-like facility run by artificial intelligence awaited her near the BWI Airport. It had the further advantage of being affiliated with Johns Hopkins University Medical School.

So two weeks after her diagnosis Rachel was ready. She had opted for automatic thawing in 30 years because, as she was aware, some advances in science take longer than others.

There were only her physician and two technicians on hand for her immersion into her capsule. Looking around, she thought it seemed appropriate to say something, so she said, “Bye Y’all”.

Rachel remained safely frozen in her capsule for 30 years, her 31 year old body remaining frozen in place and in time.

But the world kept on its worrisome path. Glaciers melted. Oceanside cities submerged. Crypto wars raged. Populations migrated. And worst of all, 12 years into Rachel’s 30 year sleep, egomaniacal leaders emerged in the U.S., Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea at the same time. They all had their fingers on the red nuclear buttons, they self destructively pressed them, and they annihilated each other. The result being a radioactive earth and the eradication of two thirds of the population.

Rachel’s facility survived. The missile meant for Ft. Meads intelligence facilities, which would have destroyed the cryogenics facility, was miles off its mark and ended up killing a herd of cows near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia.

On December 12, 2051, at 4:15 in the afternoon, on the anniversary of Rachel’s freezing, artificial intelligence, without the aid of human hands, opened Rachel’ capsule, thawed her, and revived her. Had the designers of the system not been dead, they would have been very proud. Rachel was as finely tuned as she was the day she entered the capsule.

Her eyes were still a little blurry, she did not see that she was alone. Still she managed a smile and said, “Hi, Y’All”.

Taking her time, after all she had not moved in 30 years, Rachel retrieved her emergence package from a locker and readied herself for returning to life. She extracted her identification records, her birth certificate, documents regarding her cryogenic experience, bank and investment accounts information, and most important of all, the little silver heart shaped locket her father had given her when she was ten.

When dressed and ready she followed the signs to the hermetically sealed exit, pressed the “Open Door” and stepped outside into a cold, wintry new world, with clear skies and patches of snow on the ground. She wondered what changes might have occurred in her absence.

She recognized nothing. The area around her looked like pictures she had seen of a bombed out city after World War II. She sat down in shock, tears welling in her eyes, and allowed her loss to collapse in on her. She knew immediately that no treatment awaited her.

Minutes later, how many she did not know, she rose to her feet.

Speaking to herself, for no one else was around, she said, “Well, I’m not dead yet. Let’s go find out what the hell happened.”

And off she went, looking and hoping.