Chapter 7: Defrosted
Orcilla, Denise, Louis, and Freddy had arrived at Location 1. The four of them climbed out of the flying vehicles. They looked over at the rock formation that concealed the chamber.
‘This is where my adventure began all those years ago,’ said Denise as she looked up at Orcilla. ‘This place left me with so many questions.’
‘It’s about time we get some answers to those questions,’ said Orcilla as she continued looking at the rock formation. ‘I think I might need a little help getting up there.’
‘Freddy and I will go first,’ said Denise. ‘We’ll lower a rope down towards you to help, and Louis can keep you stable.’
Freddy scaled the side of the formation with ease, and Denise followed closely behind. Orcilla began climbing but was soon in some pain. Freddy and Denise lowered the rope, and Louis tied it around Orcilla’s waist. The three of them assisted Orcilla up to the top of the rock formation.
‘I’m sorry about that,’ said Orcilla as she panted heavily. ‘I’m not what I used to be.’
‘Don’t worry about it, friend,’ said Freddy with enthusiasm. ‘We’ll always be here to help you.’
Orcilla smiled at Freddy as the four of them walked over to the hole in the roof of the chamber that Denise had made on her first visit to this location.
‘How about we lower you down first?’ suggested Denise to Orcilla.
‘I’d be honoured,’ replied Orcilla.
The three of them lowered her down, and then one by one the others joined her, with Freddy the last to descend.
‘Wow, this is amazing!’ said Orcilla. ‘Looks so much more impressive in person.’
‘I knew you had to come here,’ said Denise.
‘I think she’s small, very small,’ noticed Louis.
‘The glass distorts size, but you are likely right,’ said Orcilla as she turned to Louis. ‘I think she is smaller than any of us, even Denise.’
Orcilla walked over to the control panel next to the glass pod.
‘We’re going to have to open this up to see what’s connected to what,’ said Orcilla as she studied the buttons and dials.
Freddy rushed over to her with his bag of tools. Orcilla, Freddy, and Louis worked together to open up the machine. Once open, Orcilla studied the inside of the machine carefully for several minutes.
‘Let’s take a good look at what we have on the pod,’ said Orcilla.
The three of them carefully dusted down the pod.
‘If it’s like the other pod, it should have a small dial in the bottom front corner,’ said Louis as he dusted in that corner. ‘Yes, found it.’
Orcilla peered over Louis’ shoulder as Denise shone the torch on the dial. ‘It’s on the second from last setting,’ said Orcilla. ‘Someone adjusted the setting after the freezing. This should give us a better chance of bringing her back.’
‘I don’t think this was the case at Location 6,’ said Louis.
‘The Linap at Location 6 probably froze himself unassisted,’ replied Orcilla.
‘Do you think he survived the defrost?’ asked Louis.
‘They took him, so I guess so,’ replied Orcilla. ‘He might have some serious side effects from his prolonged deep freeze. Anyway, let’s begin. Turn the dial once in a clockwise direction.’
Louis turned it, and the glass pod began making a noise.
‘We have progress,’ said Orcilla. ‘This should begin a nice slow thawing out. If she begins thawing too quickly. We may need to manually adjust the power flow to the machine.'
‘In Location 6, we found a small hole in that button there,’ said Denise as she pointed to a button.
‘Maybe they used this as an access point to disrupt the electrical flow to the pod,’ replied Orcilla. ‘It would have taken a long time, but it might have been the reason they could have pulled him from the pod alive. It makes me wonder how they could have known they had this much time to act.’
‘Maybe they watched us transport all our machines into the tunnel,’ said Louis, sounding a little nervous. ‘That might have been an indication to them that we would be gone a long time.’
‘Maybe,’ replied Orcilla as she sat down on the floor. ‘Anyway, stay vigilant. We need to watch her closely and provide any medical help if needed.’
After about three hours, the pod door opened. Orcilla rushed over to check on L1 Linap.
‘She’s breathing, but it’s shallow,’ said Orcilla. ‘We need her in here a little longer before we can move her out.’
They waited a little longer, and then Freddy and Louis slowly moved her out. L1 Linap was still unconscious.
‘Louis, Freddy, you need to get her to the second flying vehicle,’ said Orcilla. ‘At the back is a medical capsule. She needs it to stabilise her body.’
Freddy and Louis gently raised her out of the chamber. Within a few minutes, they had her inside the medical capsule. Once she had stabilised, Freddy returned to help Orcilla back to the flying vehicle.
‘She’s stable and doing well,’ said Louis to Orcilla, who was now sitting next to the flying vehicle.
‘Great to know,’ said Orcilla calmly. ‘You did well, Louis.’
‘She appears injured,’ said Louis. ‘These injuries appear to have occurred before she was frozen. I don’t think she can walk.’
‘We need to get her back to Downs for treatment,’ said Orcilla. ‘I trust Yassmay to help her.’
‘We will meet up again at our next location,’ said Orcilla as she looked over at Denise grimacing. She then looked back at Louis. ‘Bring more of my medication. I’m going to need more strength than I have now.’
‘That’s a relief to hear,’ said Denise. ‘You shouldn’t be putting yourself through this.’
‘Resources are tight. I’m doing this as a last resort,’ said Orcilla as she pulled herself back on her feet. ‘Colin has a detailed schedule. We can’t deviate too far from it.’
‘How much of the twins time is spent finding cures for you?’ asked Denise in a frustrated tone.
‘They came up with some great creams for my skin,’ said Orcilla as she opened the door to the flying vehicle.
‘Yeah, but that was years ago,’ said Denise as she placed her hand on Orcilla’s back. ‘I mean cures for the damage done inside you.’
‘Spending time on something that’ll buy me a year or two is not a good use of our time,’ said Orcilla as she turned to face Denise. ‘I’ve been buying myself time with lower dosages. Besides, a cure for the others would also be a cure for me.’
‘Okay,’ replied Denise in a soft tone as she nodded.
The two flying vehicles took off together. The flying vehicle with Freddy, Louis, and the L1 Linap flew back to Downs, and the flying vehicle with Orcilla and Denise flew on to Location 7.
Meanwhile in Downs, Yassme and Yassmay were having fun riding Sapes. Yassme was riding Hamlet, and Yassmay was riding Rico.
Vulay’s exploration team found Rico wandering around in the Southern Agricultural Zone. He appealed to them because he was wearing a hat. The team thought he would make a good friend for Hamlet. Rico was much smaller than Hamlet and had thicker hair. Despite being smaller, Rico could not match Hamlet’s speed. Yassme loved racing Yassmay while riding Hamlet, as she would always win. Yassmay did not seem to mind.
Yassmay looked into the sky and saw the flying vehicle approaching. ‘Gosh, that’s quick,’ said Yassmay in a concerned tone.
‘I really souped up their engines,’ said Yassme proudly.
‘I better get over there and greet them,’ said Yassmay as she patted Rico on the head to take her to the laboratory.
Yassme watched on as her sister rode off on Rico.
The flying vehicle landed in front of the laboratory. Freddy and Louis jumped out of the flying vehicle and rushed to the back to get L1 Linap out.
Yassmay arrived at the back of the laboratory. She leapt off Rico and ran inside. She ran through the building to the front to greet Louis and Freddy.
‘You’re back,’ said Yassmay, sounding surprised as she watched Freddy and Louis lift L1 Linap onto a gurney.
‘She needs your expertise,’ said Louis as Freddy wheeled L1 Linap into the laboratory. ‘Where’s Eugene? We need refuelling!’
‘I’m wherever there’s suspicious activity,’ said Eugene as he appeared from behind the building opposite. ‘I’m a Co-Head Enforcer. Best you don’t forget that.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ said Louis with a sigh of annoyance. ‘Do you think you could facilitate the refuelling of our vehicle and maybe provide some extra fuel for the other vehicle?’
‘Need my help, eh?’ said Eugene confidently. ‘It doesn’t surprise me at all.’
Inside the laboratory, Yassmay and Freddy had wheeled L1 Linap into a small medical room.
‘I can handle things from here,’ said Yassmay to Freddy.
Freddy gestured with two thumbs up, and then he rushed out to join Louis.
Yassmay began checking the output from the medical capsule.
‘Looks like you’re going to be fine,’ said Yassmay as she looked down at L1 Linap.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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