Message:Many rambling pages. One coherent entry.
“The Cryonaut Teams were betrayed by an Anonymous Donor, who fully funded their Kickstarter™. Why? I wager religious zeal, but that’s speculation.
“Most of the sleeper chambers in the Alpha site were flooded w/ Argon. Commander Richards and his wife Andrea, among the thirty dead. They had most of the access codes and certainly the only coherent plan. Near as I can tell, I was spared because the gas distributed unevenly. That and w/ my sleep apnea, the tech configuring my cell gave me a circulating 70% oxygen mixture. She was nice; I hoped to text her. Am I lucky to be alive? Everyone I once knew is dead – most burned alive a century and a half ago.
“Was supposed to be three years, less than a trip to Mars. Our team chronometers were changed to base sixty-four counters. Engineering error? And the Argon? We woke 126 years after our intended date, and only then because the hacker made an arithmetic error. We might have been out for ten thousand years.
“I and four survivors set out from Sloan Canyon. The terrain had changed, but I still found some landmarks.
“The radiation outside from the three nuke strikes is high, but long-term cell damage appears to be the least of concerns. The southernmost crater has an odd color, and I hope the desert was making it shimmer. Be very strange to see ants swarming from twenty miles away? Luckily, I didn’t need to reach Goodspring.
“My companions – I miss them. Three more dead, none of us were survival ready. I was the only one to reach Delta. Wish I could have buried my friends. Chuck at least was buried in the landslide. Seismic activity in Vegas? The tectonic plate must have cracked?
“I found Delta still frozen. I try to spoof their sleep counters and get the chambers to think the date of activation approaches. I must exercise caution, since the launch data must not skip. I need to bring them close, hopefully w/in a few months, then just wait.
“I wish I had paid more attention in my college electives. I’m a scientist, but not a computer scientist. Sparky used to do these things, but he’s dead. Eaten by some carnivore. Maybe the monster escaped from the zoo, but it looked home-grown and mutated large. Survival of the fittest and strongest. Brain versus brawn, I hope my evolution beats theirs.
I’ve gotta get some rest. More later....
(There was nothing else written of value.)
Yours,
IronRed
18-Feb-2021