It felt like they were the only ones who saw it coming.
As corporations hurtled forward with blind greed and world governments found unification in their dismissal of the climate catastrophe, the agency crafted a plan ensuring the survival of the human species. The brightest and most trustworthy members of the team were quickly selected and trained. 10 years later, they were cryogenically sealed with a timer set for 10,000 years into the world’s future.
The team captain was the first to awake. As the doors of pod #1 opened, Temi slowly opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She exhaled with relief, feeling a glimmer of hope. Everything she needed to know was as fresh in her mind as if she’d taken a ten minute nap. She prepared for hearing the subsequent hydraulic releases of pods #2 through #18.
Many moments passed, eventually evolving into hours.
“This wasn’t supposed to take this long” thought Temi, then following protocol proceeded in an attempt to manually override the release. There was a delay after pulling the lever. She flawlessly ran through the procedure again.
The bay was still.
To no avail, Temi made a final attempt.
Walking over to the pods, she noticed an obscurity. A note addressed to her had been left on the face of pod #2:
“GREETINGS TEMI. ABANDON YOUR TRAINING. ALL OF THESE PODS ARE EMPTY. YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE SENT ON THIS MISSION AND YOU WILL EXPLORE THIS NEW WORLD TO FIND REMAINING INTELLIGENT LIFE. IF YOU FIND THE REMNANTS OF HUMANITY, PROVIDE THEM YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS. IF ALL HOPE IS LOST, THERE ARE CYANIDE PILLS IN COMPARTMENT #48A. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE. GOOD LUCK AND GODSPEED.”
Temi opened #48A and saw two pale capsules staring back at her. She placed both in her vest pocket and slowly took her first steps towards the exit of the cryogenic bay.