Waking Up Under Water

Pitch black. Then warmth. Light, lights. Blinking. A voice... "Welcome to the future Mr. Jennings"

Electronic beeps, machinery humming. More light, eyelids tightly steeled slowly opening, then fluttering, then awake. Touch, a pin prick, a needle. More feeling, a caress of fresh air. The inside of the pod becoming visible. The soothing voice continues, "10 minutes until resuscitation completion". Taste, sour and stale.

More sensations, the pod surface slowly becoming opaque. Eyes coming into focus. Thoughts..

"Who am I?"

"Jamison"

"Where am I? "

"A capsule of some sort, a pod"

"What, how, why?"

The pod interrupted his thought process with its calming voice, "5 minutes until resuscitation completion". The light level had further increased, and the opacity continued to clear. His thoughts continued, "Apocalypse, Cryo, salvation". Memories slowly started returning. Entering the pod, saying good bye to loved ones, monitoring short cryo cycles with test - subjects? No, friends. His thoughts continue to dwell on memories of friends and coleagues.

A loud hiss fills the pod, and the breathing apparatus is removed. "Unassisted patient breathing commenced. Subject is responsive. Beginning final sensory awareness tests"

"Hello Jameson, are you awake?"

"yes, yes I am."

"Good. Can you tell me your age please?"

"I'm 29"

"Excellent! Now, how many blue lights do you see in front of you?"

"Um... 24"

"And now?"

"Just the one."

"Alright. Let's check final reflex responses"

The pod proceded to poke and prod him as he remained constrained within its embrace. The gentle voice returned, "30 seconds until resuscitation completion." He looked around the pod, therr really wasn't much to see. Be remembered programming the awakening sequence. The fibal piece was the opening of the pod surface. The countdown had been added as a gentle reminder that the pod traveller would soon be reunited with the world. The world they had left for some time.

5..

4..

3...

2..

1..

WHOOSH! The frigid water rushinf into the pod made his muscles clench reflexively. He nearly died in that moment, the surge of cold water and the pressure mounting in the tiny air pocket near his head. He couldn't think. Only react. And the frigid cold made even that difficult. Sparks from the pod's exposed systems being snuffed out by the water and meeting their end in short circuit corruption were heating the water rapidly around him, causing his body to release itself from its clenched position. He had only a split second to decide what to do, and he chose to swim.

Being an observant person under normal circumstances in the past actually rescued Jameson from peril. He saw the bubbles direction illuminated by the pod as it continued its nightmarish death of sparks of light and shadows cast haphazardly. He followed the bubbles, swimming as swiftly as he could. But his lungs ached, and his muscles after such a long time in cryo were not at their peak. He continued his ascension, and hooed and prayed he wouod find the surface soon.

His lungs burned and felt like they would rupture, his legs no longer wanted to move - bubbles escaped his mouth as the pressure inside increased in intensity. He'd never been a strong swimmer. And the cold water around him made it harder. Releasing some of the pressure from his lungs alleviated the bursting sensation, but not he had a new problem. He needed to fill those lungs again.

"This is insane!"

"yes, it is. You spent so much effort and time and money to avoid the apocalypse, and now you're going to die in an little bit of ill placed water"

"Oh, go away or be helpful!"

"And where am I supposed to go? We're both in this sinking ship."

"This isn't a sinking ship, we're almost there, I can feel it."

"No you can't, you can't feel the surface before you get there."

"Yes I can, you remember swimming at the beach in the summer? The sun warmed up the surface, but the deeper water was colder?"

"Or... you peed yourself and we're swimming in circles!"

Jameson focused himself, but the pressure to breath in was too much, and he was opening his mouth in surrender when he crested the surface! His lungs filled with mixture of air from the surface above and some water still streaming from his face. He quickly choked and sputtered and started to fall back into the water. But his fighting spirit wouldn't allow it. He coughed and sputtered, but finally, he was able to breath.

He continued to tred water. Trying to collect his bearings and look for land was no easy task in the dark. He spun slowly in the water - trying to locate some frame of reference, but he couldn't see the stars, much less land. Despair started to build, he was no serious athlete, and already his legs were quite tired from the swim from the pod to the surface. He laid back and started floating. He didn't have much other choice - and he hoped that he might make it until morning.

"You know, you're going to get eaten by a shark!"

"A shark? Are you kidding me? This is not the ocean."

"Well, maybe it isn't the ocean, but, maybe you're near the ocean and you'll get eaten by a shark."

"No. I'm not going to get eaten by a shark."

"Well, maybe a snapping turtle will bite you. You never now..."

"Oh, do be quiet. I've got enough to think about without adding fear of aquatic monsters to the list"

"Well, even if there aren't aquatic monsters, you're still going to be stuck out here forever and drown."

"Now what makes you say that?"

"Well, the pod was what, 10 meters down? Why would it be so deep unless something bad had happened?"

"I really don't know. But this time. I'm afraid you're right."