“Cryonic sleep cycle has been completed, please—open your eyes slowly, refrain from speaking for the moment.”

The man, a fit-looking fully naked five foot-eight light brown haired Caucasian, was greeted by a soft-spoken female computer voice as he woke up. Despite following instructions, he felt confusion and a moment of panic while struggling to swallow. In response to the man’s sudden alarm, the AI promptly provided additional instructions.

“Your body will resume its normal functions in a few minutes, do not struggle and remain calm, fluids are being increased gradually to reboot your body’s natural rhythm.”

The man, still dazed, noted his surroundings as he fluttered his eyes open. He was in some sort of opened glass casket, full of tubes, wires, and a mist slowly dissipating around him. He tried to flex his arms, feeling the urge to pull himself up, but again, he was lacking the strength to do so. Again, the AI voice explained further.

“You should remain still for the time being, there are electrodes attached to your limbs and torso, they will begin to stimulate the muscles and revive the nerves from atrophy.”

Saliva was gradually increasing in his mouth, and swallowed in pain, he attempted to speak.

“W-w-who…” He paused, then tried again. “W—who… are…” The sharpness of pain caused him to flinch. He winced, taking a moment to try again. “Who… am I? Where… am I?”

“Do not be alarmed. You must not try to move or speak. There will be a temporary moment of memory loss, a side effect of the cryogenic process from a prolonged hibernation cycle. It will gradually return in time, your thoughts will become stable. For now, I can inform you of the standard basic information. Your name is Gary Steinbeck, you are aboard the vessel, Infinite Traveller One, and we are currently outside the heliosphere of the solar system.”

“Solar… solar system…” Gary groggily repeated. He licked his dry lips and glanced about. “Okay, sure, so I’m on a spaceship—why am I on one?”

A monitor over head of him switched on, a detailed graphic displayed images, videos and other quick news blurbs about him. The computer explained.

“On July 6, 2072, you, Gary Steinbeck, the tenth wealthiest entrepreneur in the world, embarked on a journey to circumnavigate the galaxy. The engine, built and designed by you, the Zenith-Mark-Two, will propel you with limitless energy using dual micro-singularities.”

Gary tried his best to focus on the images scrolling away. It was displaying his entire history, with pictures and documents of his childhood, listing all the achievements, diplomas, and success in technological business. There were detailed schematics of the ship and engine scrolling beside the other information, the computer was cramming all the data him at once. It was a lot to take in.

“Okay-okay!” He held up his hands. “Enough, please…” He blew out a breath and started to roll on his side. “Look, first thing’s first, an engine like that can’t be possible. Dual singularities can’t create power without canceling each other out.”

“You solved that issue.”

“You’re kidding me.” He groaned while moving about. “How did I break the fucking rules for that?”

“Do you want me to explain it in long terms or just the Coles notes version?”

Gary chuckled at that response from the computer.

“Wow, your fucking cheeky one, aren’t you?”

“I learned from the best.”

Yep, he must have programmed it as well. As his memory improved, he seemed to recall that being the typical answer he would give anyone that wanted him to elaborate. He doubted any current generation would even know about what Cole’s notes was. He found them in the library one time, and found them to be very simplistic, and basic as all be. It was also a running gag with some of his professors during his university years.

As he continued to move about, he discovered the various tubes and wires attached to him. The most uncomfortable one was up his ass, to which he instantly reacted by pulling it out immediately.

“Holy fuck! What the hell?”

“Those are necessary,” The computer replied. “Waste disposal from the anus is sent to the bio-recyclers for the hydroponic section.”

“Does that include the vacuum tube on my dick?” He pointed at the device strapped on, a long flexible hose that hissed slowly from the suction.

“Yes,” It replied. “All human waste is recycled and processed for planet and water needs.”

Gary Stienbeck fought with the hose as it tried to latch back on, the suction was so powerful it seemed to have mind of its one, he forcefully pulled it away and tossed it to the side. Once it was out of his way, he spun around and sat up on the cryo-bed. Steinbeck began removing the other attachments: Monitors for his heart, brain activity, nervous system, and the tubes for his blood flow, oxygen, and drug administration.

“Your confusion is a natural part of the unfreezing process.” The computer continued to explain. “It took several days to bring your core body temperature back to a sufficient level. Your higher brain functions will take time to compensate.”

“Reintegration of Sensory Neurons…” Gary complained. “Like a hard drive booting up…”

“In a matter of speaking…” The computer stated back. “I would advise caution trying to move about too quickly. It could lead to injury or a sudden bout of nausea.”

“Yeah, sounds about right.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Steinbeck slowly came to realize that this was the protocol he had created. The more he thought, the more it came back to him in pieces. Bit by bit, he started to remember everything. It was a gruelling process, and the computer was right, it would take some time to adjust.

“So, you said we were outside the heliosphere?”

“Affirmative…”

“Great,” He smirked, then quickly shifted to a look of concern. “Wait, no… I was supposed to be awakened before that. Wasn’t I? I think I… yeah… I think I had a message to send, didn’t I?”

“That was done ten months ago. This is your second awakening from the cryogenic sleep. Ten months, four days, and twenty-two hours.”

“Oh?” Gary glanced up in surprise. “But, I don’t remember that… at all.”

“Short term memory loss is a side effect of the cryogenics.” The computer factually stated. “If you like, I can show you the archived video file of your transmission.”

Gary rubbed his eyes and looked about for a screen.

“Uh, sure… okay…”

It pinged a sound overhead of him, directing his attention to the flatscreen monitor attached to the ceiling over the cryo-bed. It brought up the video file and played it back. Gary gave slight yawn as he angled his head to look up at it.

“Hey, this is good ol’ Gary here!”

The video showed him waving with a smile on his face. He was bobbing about in the same section he was in now, the cryogenic chamber bed in clear view behind him. The time index was as the computer mentioned, ten months prior.

“Well, I’ve just about reached the edge of the Oort Cloud, the laser signal should be reaching you a day later. Uh, and side note to Larry Watkins, besides my congrats on taking my spot as head of the company, make sure that the Earth and Moon antennas are calibrated for ample signal strength. I’d hate to only have this beam to those guys on Mars. Oh, and before I forget…”

He came up close to the camera and raise his middle finger.

“That’s for Musk, suck on it, you ol’ bastard. Make sure he gets that message when he wakes up from his rejuvenation tomb.”

Gary chuckled at that. He’d almost forgotten about the man’s longevity nap. The ol’ fart want’s to be immortal, well, he’s one step ahead of him being out here. Gary, more than likely, has surpassed him by years in that department. Ten months have gone by, but in space, at the speed he’s doing, yeah, he’s past the man’s prime. He continued to watch the transmission with a smirk.

“So, I know many of you are asking—Hey? What’s the deal? Why are you risking your life to travel so far? Nobody will be around to celebrate your colossal achievement when, and if, you get there.” He paused for a minute to fix his position, bringing himself back into the camera’s view. “Well, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I really don’t want to come back to you all. No offence, but, I can’t stand humanity of this era. I’m making it my mission to see how far we’ll come by starting the voyage at this point and time, then launch over the entire span of the galaxy to meet up with our system again.”

He held up a diagram of the Milky Way and showed his course with his finger.

“I’m here, in this time now, give or take a few years. Then I’ll navigate the ship to leap over the central axis, like a dome, and return to our solar system by the time I reach the other side. See, my journey will take hundreds, if not billions, of years, as I arch over it, and return just as the Milky Way has completed a full rotation to that destination point.”

Gary lowered his eyes from the monitor for a moment, trying to remember the calculations, and nodded in agreement with his on-screen counterpart. He’d been busy working out the mathematics for most of his life. He even consulted the top minds in astronomy, physicists, and debating with self-proclaimed cosmological theorists on social media. Everyone doubted his rational thinking on the matter. Just another self-righteous billionaire making a stupid publicity stunt–well, not quite, but it couldn’t hurt to make that benefit him, right?

“The galaxy is constantly on the move.” His video-self explained. “It’s moving far faster than I am in this ship. If I try cut through, in a straight direct line… across the axis plain…” He motioned his hand across the picture again. “The spiral arm won’t be there in time for me. I’ll be way off and in a totally different part of the galaxy. But…” He smiled, motioning his hand over the image, curving overtop. “If I do it this way, the spiral arm will have made its full rotation, and I will be in sync, totally lined up to meet up with our solar system once more. Of course, who knows if it will still be there when and if I do, right?”

Gary dropped out of his bed and tried to stand on his feet. He gripped onto the edge of the cryo-tube, and used it as a support for his back. The urge to crumble to the floor was there, but, his arms had just enough strength to support his weight. That’s when he noticed it. He wasn’t floating. There was no weightlessness. That surprised him.

He commanded the computer to pause the video, and asked to explain how or why this was possible.

“The ship is on rotational spin. It is comparable to a near-Earth gravity setting.”

It displayed the ship on another screen next to the bed. The wireframe image was animated, showing the long, slender, tube-like vessel surrounded with eight rings around it. There were spokes attached from it to the primary hull, and much like multi-centrifuge, they spun about slowly, creating gravitational field directed at the centre.

“Why didn’t I have it on ten months ago?” Gary grunted as he tried to maintain balance.

“You didn’t want to waste the energy while in system.” It stated. “It was your instruction not to activate it until the ship was beyond the heliosphere. A protocol you created—it is only to be turned on two weeks prior to each awakening from you sleep.”

“Right,” He nodded back. “I’m sorry, I forgot about all that. It’s slowly coming back to me.”

“No apologies are needed.” The computer replied. “I am stating only what you instructed to me.”

Gary attempted to move his legs. They were wobbly and weak. He let go of his support, waving his arms about, searching for something else to grab, and lunged forward, catching the back of a swivelling chair near the flatscreen terminal area. The wireframe image was still moving on it, showing multiple angles of the ship. Gary shifted his feet along the cold, metallic-type floor, and guided his body down into the chair that he turned about. Lucky for him the thing was bolted to the floor, he could have fallen had it not.

“Put the rest of the video up onto this screen, please.” He said, turning about to face the monitor. “I need the refresher course to jog the rest of my brain.”

The computer complied. The video popped up on the monitor, and resumed from where it left off.

“That’s it in a nutshell,” Gary said in the video. “The Cole’s note version, anyway. I’m on my way to meet our future, whatever that may be, and leaving all of you in the past where you belong. That might sound a bit bitter, but,… yep, it is.” He placed the galactic image down and laughed. “Oh, I know you’re all glad to be rid of me as well. Especially you Larry, don’t deny it. You’ve wanted to take the reins of my company for years. Well, it’s yours now. Just remember what we agreed on, keep an eye and an ear out for me, and have a good life.”

Gary shivered slightly while sitting in the chair, watching himself on the screen, being thawed out and naked was a tad chilling. He rubbed his hands for warmth, and then his upper arms.

“Please increase the heat setting…” He instructed the computer.

There was a faint beep as it activated, the rush of air flowing through the vents overhead. He could feel the warmth blowing on him now.

“So long people of Earth…” His video-self stated, waving to the camera and smiling. “This is good ol’ Gary saying his last goodbye to you all. I can’t wait to meet our future kind on the other side. Or maybe not… who knows. If we haven’t obliterated ourselves in some stupid way or another.” He gave one last wink and grinned. “So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

The video ended, and the screen went dark. Gary snickered at the reference. He loved Douglas Adams, and found it a fitting finale to that transmission. He leaned back in the chair and sighed.

“So… now what?”