Free Twilight Earth by Ben Winston Page A

the door to the chamber and it opened slowly. Ben honestly couldn't tell if the door was resisting his push, or if he was just that weak. However, the air smelled a little stale and he thought he saw some dust as he opened the pod door. His first impression was that it had been longer than the programmed one-thousand-year sleep.
    He groaned as he all but fell out of the pod and sat on the bench immediately in front of it. After he mustered the energy, he turned slightly at the sound of another groan. Jorga had managed to push the pod door open and was blinking her eyes repeatedly.
    Ben got up and pulled the pod doors open for the remaining three chambers. He smiled at Deirdre when she opened her eyes. Marcy and Kait groaned like it was a school morning.
    Jorga kissed him when he offered and he took the time to hold her for a moment before helping the rest of his family out of the high tech coffins. He gave each woman a hug to let her know he cared for her.
    Beside each pod was a small locker that held the clothes that each person had taken off before getting into the pods. The instructions had suggested everyone change into utility coveralls before coming to the facility, which is how Ben had coveralls on hand when he woke before.
    He pulled out the clothes and soft-soled shoes and began the task of trying to remember how to put them on. He grinned to himself as he remembered an old joke about writing TGIF on the shoe. (Toes Go In First)
    “I don't know if we're the first ones to awaken, or not, but if the Doctor is up, we should try to help the others after getting checked out ourselves. Marcy, after you wake up fully, would you check with the computer to make sure of the date? Granted, it was a bitch waking up after two hundred and fifty years, but nothing like this,” Ben said.
    After they all got dressed, Ben led the girls to the small medical facility were Jon was just finishing up with his own family.
    “Am I imaging it, or was that way worse than the first time?” Jon asked when he saw Ben.
    “I didn't get up the first time, but I can safely tell you I'm glad we can't use those again,” Jorga offered.
    “How are your girls, Jon?” Ben asked.
    “About like yours and everyone else; groaning, but alive. Some of the other pods aren't so lucky,” Jon replied quietly.
    “What? How many did we lose?” Ben asked while Jon began checking him over.
    “About two-hundred and fifty, not counting the loss of the Hawaiian Pods of course. Ben, the cryo computer is reporting an overage alarm, but the clock is correct. It would have awakened us, but the master computer overruled it, it reset the clock, but couldn't reset the alarm in my logs,” Jon reported. “Something wonky happened.”
    “I asked Marcy to look into it. Are the rest of the pods waking up?” Ben asked.
    Jon nodded. “Yeah, right now, we are all taking care of our own. There will be a medical staff meeting in twenty-four hours. Luckily, none of the medical personnel were among the casualties.”
    “I guess that's a relative observation, Jon. The human race is on the endangered species list. We can't afford any losses,” Ben said grimly.
    “What about the evacuees? Don't you think any of them made it?” Jon asked hopefully.
    “I certainly hope so, Doctor, but we can't bank on it. According to that report, there had only been two hundred thousand of them. Besides, after all this time, I really doubt most of them even remember the Earth,” Ben replied. “Let's just hope they weren't the only ones to forget about us.”
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    P lanet Terral III
    Cassian March
    Duchy of Cassias
    Hyclarion Imperial Consortium
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    A ddson Dee was very excited. She had just discovered the ruins of another ancient city. She had been lucky in that. She happened to catch a glimpse of a hard trail in the shallows between small islands that lead out into the northern barrier sea.
    She flew all the way up to the face of the glacier,