The Departure Protocol

Chapter 26

The Control Room was nondescript, rectangular and illuminated by banks of dim light strips that stretched from side to side across the ceiling. On the far side of the room, a bank of computer monitors was mounted on the wall above a corner desk while rows of seats stretched along each of the longer sides of the room. Randee, seated in the chair at the desk,turned and lit up when he saw Shea and Wared enter the room.

"I'm glad you're here. It's almost time," he said and waved for them to come closer.

"Time for what?" Wared said with hesitation in his voice. He had a feeling he already knew the answer to that question.

Randee grinned and pointed towards two chairs at the far end of the desk. "Come on, pull up a chair."

"What are you doing here, Randee?" Shea said as she sat down next to him and leaned forward, her arms across her knees.

"We're in the process of reanimating your grandmother. From here," he said and gestured towards the screens, "I control the whole process, from selecting the subject for reanimation, to the retrieval of their pod and then the final stages where their body is slowly returned to an awake state."

"How long does that take?" Wared said.

"Unclear. The process is about 67% complete at this point," Randee said and pointed towards a progress bar on one of the monitors. "However, from what I've seen so far in the process, that does not appear to be process related to time, just how far along in the various steps the process is. It could be an hour, it could be days for all I know."

Wared ran his fingers through his hair and grimaced. "I hate to say it, but I don't think we have days."

"Oh, I'm aware," Randee said. "But, there's really nothing I can do to speed up this process. It has to follow it's assigned process. Cryosleep is a very sensitive state that involves the human body. Its reversal has to follow the prescribed processes without deviation. We don't want to jeopardize the viability of the subject, right?."

Wared sighed. "What's the plan then? It's only a matter of time before the Protectorate makes it through the security doors."

"I don't think we need to worry about the Protectorate," Shea said.

Wared furrowed his brows and turned to Shea. "And why's that?"

"To them, this place is holy ground," she said and made a sweeping gesture. "It's where it all began. The origin of our colony, ground zero of their power. Without this place, they wouldn't exist. Yes, they'll likely try to find a way in, but not in a way that will be destructive to the facility. That buys us time."

"How much time?"

"Transportation," Randee interrupted and glanced at Wared and Shea over his shoulder. "Once she is awake, we need transportation to get out of here."

Wared sighed. "What kind of transportation?"

Randee shrugged. "Anything that can get us out of here. Here," he said and tapped a few buttons on one of the screens. A floor plan of the facility appeared. "Look, there appears to be a garage of some sort here," he said and pointed at the screen. "While we wait, why don't you run over there and see if there is anything there."

Shea leaned closer to the screen, furrowed her brow and then shook her head. "That area is outside of the bulkhead doors. If we open them now, we compromise the efforts we just put in to secure the core. I don't think that's a good idea."

Randee leaned back and crossed his arms and rubbed his chin while he stared at the screen. Finally, he nodded. "Yes, you're right, my mistake. We'll just have to take note of where it is so that we can get there once she wakes up."