“So...” Becca said with a meaningful little pause. “How are we doing in here?”

There I was sitting on the lab’s pristine white laminate floor in my disheveled hospital gown, cryo chamber busted, technically in breach of contract, flanked by two techs dressed up as space gladiators, and everyone in the building just heard me screaming. I leaned into the sarcasm. “Well I'm doing great, Becca. How are you?”

“Great,” she said. And she sure looked great, with her brown hair pulled into a tidy little bun, and her big round mahogany eyes filled with that impervious corporate optimism.

I waited a few seconds for her to continue, until it became obvious that she was waiting for me to explain myself. “So…” I said, defiantly stealing her pause.

Becca’s eyes narrowed slightly, and the butterflies of regret started flitting around in my stomach immediately. I knew she had just checked off some box they’d installed in the back of her mind during those training seminars. I could feel her analyzing me, wondering why I wouldn’t choose to politely volunteer an explanation. I was the one in breach of contract, after all.

Naturally I tried to rally my own self esteem by turning the analysis back on her. I looked for any flaws in her appearance... A wrinkle in her shirt, a stain, any little fashion faux pas, but I couldn't find one thing wrong with her. Her gray blouse and pants were neatly pressed and professionally austere, and they were complemented by a no frills black top that was so clean and fresh she could have bought it an hour before work. The little golden sun medallion dangling from her neck was a brilliant touch. It tastefully modest, and it added a little splash of personal expression to her uniform, a decision probably designed to send peons like me a disarming message... I’m not just some corporate robot, you're just being paranoid and unreasonable.

She was flawlessly assembled.

You know those dreams you have where you walk into work with nothing on but your robe, which is just a little too loosely tied in front, and you almost escape but your boss catches you on your way out the door? That's how I felt. I started smoothing my gown self consciously, even though nothing was showing but my pasty day walker legs.

“What can you tell me about all this?” Becca finally asked. She kept her tone light and friendly, but she folded her arms across her belly.

The lights flickered again after another explosion rocked the ceiling. A little puff of dust drifted down between us, and again Becca acted like nothing was happening. I shook my head incredulously and pointed up. “You mean all that?”

Becca acknowledged the battle raging overhead but waved it off in the same gesture. “You don’t need to worry about that. But what about your cryo chamber? What happened to it?”

I could already picture my termination letter. I tried looking to my new space gladiator friends for help, but they just stood there like a couple of perfectly innocent statues. I sighed and slouched my shoulders. I was about to make some weird enemies. “Fine… Here’s what I know. I woke up screaming, and these two space gladiators here were trying to keep me quiet.”

“Oh,” Becca said, as if she’d just spilled her coffee. “No. Kevin. They’re legionaries.”

I blinked back the urge to say who the fuck cares. “Right. Fine. Legionaries.” The weapons test swelled to a constant otherworldly roar, and I heard a bone chilling shriek. “Anyway, you should ask the legionaries, because I have no idea how this happened.” I glanced over my shoulder at Eighty Three, “Sorry, your turn.”

Eighty Three tipped his head sideways a little, as if to say fair enough.

Becca kept her focus on me for some reason, and her mood shifted ever so slightly. “But why would they let you out of your cryo chamber?” she asked. It was obviously an accusation of some kind.

My heart skipped a beat. “I don’t know. Guys?” Neither one of them said a word. I started rubbing my thumb and forefinger together nervously. “Can’t you just watch the video?”

Becca’s smile waned a little. “Well of course we reviewed the video.”

My ears were burning hot at this point. It felt like a prank, or some kind of test. “Becca? If you watched the video, you know more than me, so why don't you tell me what the hell is going on here?”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Becca let both of her hands drop, and her smile fell away completely. “Did you call the legionaries here?”

“What?” I asked. She gave me that single eyebrow raise instead of repeating herself. “Come on, really Becca? I was in cryo sleep!”

“You seem agitated,” Becca said, and she scowled knowingly at my hand. “And you’re fidgeting. Why are you fidgeting, Kevin?”

For the record my parents were both feds, and my mom even taught those bullshit seminars they send HR reps and claims investigators to. There are a plethora of reasons why a person might be nervous during any sort of meeting or inquiry, especially those of us who have a healthy fear of authority.

In summary I was very triggered.

“I didn’t do anything wrong!” I shouted. “I was asleep in my goddamn box! Alright?!”

Becca made that breathy huh sound people make to let you know they're offended. “Kevin? Can we keep this professional?”

I summoned up all the defiance a guy in a hospital gown possibly could. “Becca? Can you tell the techs to get me off the floor and put me back in my chamber?”

Instead she flattened her raspberry glossed lips and strode forward determinedly, coming to a stop next to my empty cryo chamber. With a little flick of her foot, she set all the dangling sensors that were supposed to be attached to me swinging. “Did you ask them to come here and do this for you? How did they find you?”

I tossed my hand up in frustration and let it drop back to my useless legs. “Again… How would I do that in my sleep?"

Becca copied my gesture, and it was so perfectly flippant. “Well you are a levitator, aren’t you?”

Just to be clear... Yes. Yes I was, and yes I am. When Ten and Eighty Three found me, I was levitating. Floating, hovering, however you want to look at it. I was in cryogenic sleep, in total stasis, hadn't aged a day, and somehow I was levitating.

I was also completely unaware of the fact. “Why the hell do you all keep saying that?”

Becca lowered her chin without breaking eye contact, as if to say now now little liar without saying it. “You know why.”

I really didn't, and I wasn't ready to hear about it. I was done with all three of them. “I’m not saying anything else until Doc Z gets here.”

“Well Doctor Zadzisai is no longer with us,” Becca said, with just a hint of disdain.

I couldn’t believe it. “You have to be kidding me. He took another job?”

“No,” Becca said, shaking her head ominously. “I mean he is no longer with us.”

“He’s dead? Doc Z is dead?” The man pioneered the entire program, and I just woke up screaming, so you can imagine my concern.

“I’m afraid he passed away more than two hundred years ago, Kevin.” She said it so casually, like I was supposed to just accept it.

“No," I said. "Obviously this is some sick prank. It’s just Sunday. He’ll be in tomorrow.”

“Kevin,” Becca said. “It’s Tuesday.”

"Bullshit," I said, but in truth I was already starting to believe. It fit. There was something very wrong with my circumstances, and a prank didn’t explain it. Nothing I could imagine did.

Even that didn’t explain why I was the only subject left in the lab, of course, but I hadn't thought of that yet.

Becca kept grilling me relentlessly. “Did you contact Analog?”

“I don’t kn- No. I don't..." I didn't know what to say to that.

“Did you bring them here?” Becca demanded.

I was about to give up and lay down when Eighty Three finally stepped forward. “I think you’re done here lady.”

“Excuse me?” Becca asked him venomously. Then she snapped her attention to my other side, inhumanly fast, as Ten stepped passed me as well.

“Go ahead,” Ten said to her. “Let's get this over with.”

Becca’s eyes widened in anticipation, and her smile took a wicked turn. She had a whole new look now, like a pissed off demon-raptor. At least I didn’t have time to scream again. In the next breath she and Ten had a duel that ended with a long spear of red light spiking her to the bulkhead behind my chamber. One of her arms was disgustingly contorted, with all four fingers smoking like prop guns. The shots had gone into the bulkhead thanks to Ten's absolute ninja kick. Her jittering mechanical eyes were still locked on me, so I had to assume I was the target.

Missed me, I remember thinking.

Days later someone explained to me that even the machines were forced to make budget cuts, so that was why Becca only had one antiquated processor hidden in the obvious location behind her sternum. She wasn’t a full combat model, more like a low level assassin.

"It's over," Ten said calmly, and then he just walked away like all he'd done was step on a spider. His light-spear flew back to his waiting hand, leaving Becca standing there all seized up, sparks shooting from the hole in her chest.

It took me a full five seconds to make my voice box work. "What's over? What the hell was that?"

I was talking about the light spear more than anything, but Eighty Three let his helmet melt back into his cape and knelt down next to me so he could lay it all out. “A cyborg just tried to kill you, and her friends are coming. We kinda thought you might've been... Well... Never mind, I'll explain that later, you really need to come with us."

Ten shouted at that exact moment. Becca’s friends weren’t coming, they had already arrived.

“Get behind something,” Eighty Three said as his helmet snapped back into place.

I swiveled around on my butt to see what had them so worried, and what I saw makes me weep for humanity to this day.