Sleeping Beauty

With a groaning crack, the door shifted, releasing a gust of stale air. Angela could barely contain herself as the workers took up a better stance and repositioned their prybars; but reminded herself that a Seeker must always project an outward calm. On the count of three, the workers put their back into it and the heavy door popped off its tracks, tumbling down the hillside, leaving behind a gaping black hole.

Angela quickly waved the workers away and pulled out her precious flameless torch, one of the magical items which had belonged to the Great Ones. It cast light in a concentrated beam without any source of flame or need for reflectors, making it her most prized possession. The torch had been part of a cache that she had found with her father when she was 16, and her ability to unlock its secrets had marked her for Seeker training.

Centuries ago, the Great Ones had angered the gods and been cast down for their hubris, causing the Fall. The Seekers were the wise men and women of the People who cataloged and learned from the past, tasked with leading the People back to their former greatness. Now, after 5 long years of training, she was a Master Seeker, in charge of her first solo excavation.

Placing the breathing mask across her face, she nodded to the worker who began pumping the bellows which would keep fresh air flowing through her oxygen line and stepped carefully into the dark space. As the light of her torch swept the room, reflecting off panels she recognized as belonging to the arcane devices of the Great Ones, she felt her heart quicken with excitement. This was the best maintained cache she had ever heard of. The equipment appeared to simply be powered down, just awaiting the touch of a Great One to come to life. Most of the machines that they had found in the past had been severely damaged or torn apart by scavengers. But this…. this would put her on par with the greatest of masters! She would be credited with the most significant find in the history of the People!

Angela moved quickly but efficiently through the room; gently removing the light patina of dust with her hand and mentally cataloging everything she saw. Some of the words she recognized from her studies; life support, communication, facility defenses – and a few she did not recognize the meaning of; cryogenics, archives, and activation protocols.

Suddenly Angela stopped as the light bounced back at her from the far end of the room. Moving quickly, she approached what appeared to be a glass sarcophagus inside of which a human figure lay. Angela leaned over the coffin and gently wiped the glass to get a better look inside.

The coffin suddenly burst into light, and Angela jumped back, tripping over her air hose.

She expertly cushioned her torch as she fell backwards, bruising her bottom.

Slowly, she stood up, and approached the coffin. Lying, as though asleep, was a woman several years older than herself; with the pale skin of a newborn baby, and hair as dark as night, dressed in a pale orange jacket and trousers with yellow highlights, the color of dawn on the beach, with a rune of some type on the collar. And laying on her breast, over the jacket, was a golden locket, shaped like a heart, which glowed softly in the light.

Angela knew that she should go back and get the Junior Seekers, so that they could examine this sarcophagus properly, but if she could figure out how it worked by herself… well… it could put her well on her way to grandmastery. No one had ever made grandmaster before the age of 30, but she could be the first.

Angela noticed what looked like a glowing handprint on the surface of the coffin, between the boots of the sleeping woman. Slowly, and carefully, Angela placed her right hand on the handprint and waited to see what would happen.

A soft tingling flowed through her arm, then a cool voice said, “Genome Acceptable”, and the lid of the coffin swung up and to the left.

As the stale air of the room hit the body, the clothing suddenly crumbled as the body collapsed in on itself, leaving nothing but the locket behind.

Angela stood there is shock. She had never heard of such a thing happening, what strange magic was at play here?

Reaching out, she picked up the locket and began to examine it.

Spikes shot out and punched into her hand, embedding themselves deep into bone and sinew, causing immense agony. Angela tried to drop the locket, but it was now part of her.

Her body went into convulsions and her precious torch slipped out of her hand, the lens shattering as it hit the floor, but she was far too gone to notice.

The cool voice dispassionately announced, “10 percent…. 20 percent…. 30 percent…. 40 percent…. 50 percent…. 60 percent… 70 percent…. 80 percent…. 90 percent…. Transfer complete.”

~~~~~

Tris Kethlun shook her right hand gently to remove the sting of the consciousness transfer device as it fell to the floor and took stock of herself and her surroundings. She appeared to be breathing through some kind of mask connected to a hose which snaked off into the darkness, with only the suspension chamber appearing to have power.

With sure steps she walked across the room, directed by her memory, to the main control panel and flipped some switches, which caused one of the monitors to come to life, and a keyboard to extend. Tapping in the relevant commands, she waited as the servers began their boot sequence.

Several minutes later environmental kicked in, and Tris was able to remove the mask. The first thing she did was head to the restroom to take a good look at herself in the mirror. A youthful woman with tanned skin, green eyes, and red hair looked back, dressed in what appeared to be rough homespun clothes, bulky, and sturdy, with several pouches slung over the shoulders, and attached to the belt. So far, so good.

Tris shrugged out of the rough attire, taking in her new figure. She had clearly had at least one child in the past, but she was fit, if a bit undernourished. Not a bad vessel, all things considered. She would have preferred her own body, but if the transfer had occurred, it meant that the suspended animation chamber had run out of resources. Without the main generators running, it would have only been good for about 2 or 3 centuries. She wondered how much time had passed.

Tris turned and opened one of the lockers, to pull out a vacuum sealed uniform, much like the one she had been wearing when she went into suspended animation. Dressed once again as an officer of the Prophets of the New Dawn she returned to the control room and began entering commands. High overhead sleeping satellites, heavily shielded against dust and radiation, came to life and data began flowing in.

Looking over the displays it appeared that over 1000 years had passed since the Final Protocol had been triggered by the New Dawn, which, combined with the answering salvos launched by their enemies, the so-called United Nations, had destroyed what passed for civilization in that decadent time. A clean slate, that is what the Emperor Eternal had wanted. If the nations of the world had been unwilling to listen to reason, then they did not deserve to exist.

22 volunteers had been placed in secure bunkers like this one, to await the time when the world was ready to embrace Enlightenment, a perfect society under the guidance of the New Dawn; when all would be united by one faith, and one man – the Emperor Eternal.

Her satellite imagery showed a primitive camp setup outside the bunker, and a single command wiped it from the face of the earth with a targeted orbital strike.

Then she opened communications to the massive stealth station holding geosynchronous orbit over Antarctica and spoke, “The world is ours to command, my Emperor. What is your desire?”

Minutes passed as the ancient facility came to life, then a face she knew far better than her own came on the screen. “My beloved Tris. The herald of the New Dawn of Civilization. First, you will find me a body suitable to hold my essence, then you will take your place at my side as we bring about utopia. Let the great work begin.”