Kayla for Stasis

KAYLA FOR STASIS

The line snaked across three city blocks. People had braved the rain and cold and stood for hours in line to get a chance at the screening. A small square entrance portal defined the point where the line seemed to be headed. As each candidate came near it, the entryway slid up and when they entered it dropped down shutting the rest of the crowd out. The building housing the eliminations was huge and windowless. A great hum emanated from it; it was the noise made by the hundreds of cooling machines required to keep the structure cool.

Kayla stood in the steadily moving queue and sighed, it was cold and wet and the wait was seemingly unending. She was hungry and her feet hurt, but her heart was full of hope, and that gave her the energy to buckle up and keep standing. She watched as several people eventually gave up and dropped out of the line.

The line kept on inching forward and soon Kayla was near the entrance. “Just a few more candidates to go and then I will be safe”, she thought. Just then her pager beeped. Startled, she huddled deeper into her parka. "Oh God, the tracker in my pager will lead them here in no time at all. Please hurry, hurry hurry."

She muttered under her breath. 

To her immense relief the portal opened and she jumped in with alacrity. The guard standing just inside smiled at her knowingly. With a thought sensor strapped to his head he could easily sense her mental vibrations. The invention of the thought sensor in the last decade had done away with lots of cumbersome security measures. If one could sense the thoughts of the person in front, then one could take action based on them. A simple easy innovation! 

Kayla smiled back and hurried on, down the long winding corridor. 

A smile of relief lit up her face, at last she was safe. Now she only had to pass the elimination round. She had worked really hard to get all the paperwork done, it had involved a lot of running around different departments to get her documents in top shape. 

As she neared the end of the corridor a round opening slid open and she slipped inside. The room was lined with chairs filled with people waiting their turn at the eliminations. Kayla sat down and awaited her turn. 

She was here to undergo the preparation for 'Stasis'. 

Stasis was a slowing down of the body processes and of the bodily fluids, a sort of hibernation period but not seasonal. You could choose to be in Stasis for either one or two centuries according to the program you selected. It took a week for the body to be prepared for this procedure. A painful process it taxed both mind and body to its limits. Only the tough of body and mind were able to endure the full procedure. Many gave up halfway; but there was a catch! If anyone gave up halfway they were as good as dead as they had to spend whatever life they had left like a pickled vegetable!

Then why were so many people committing to being in Stasis? Why were they choosing stagnation over life and living? What was driving them to this point?

The answer lay in the present day conditions here on Earth. Earth had been totally spoilt for life. Pollution had done away with most of nature and its fauna and flora. Great barren deserts now covered vast areas of the planet; where once beautiful forests and magnificent lakes had been. Blue skies had been replaced by grey murky ones. Most of the food now had to be grown artificially and was tasteless. Only the rich could afford foods with enhanced taste and the chemicals used to do that were killing them off.

 After centuries of searching for worlds which were more habitable than the home planet, humanity had come to realize that there was none to be found. Humans would have to make do with the one planet they had in hand. There was no other better world to flee to!

Armies of “Climate Warriors” had then been formed around the world and Earth was being terraformed on a war footing. However scientists had predicted that it would take the world at least a century to revert back to normal. Meanwhile the conditions here on Earth were becoming hellish and unbearable to live in. There was a universal uproar amongst the masses and a clamour to find a way. 

Beleaguered governments across the world had agreed to work together and come up with a solution; and the solution was “Stasis”. When people were put into Stasis they went into a state of suspended limbo from which they could be awakened at a pre-decided time and by applying another procedure. People could stay in this state for decades or even centuries, making it an ideal escape route from the current world crisis.

The Stasis procedure had been invented a few decades ago and was legalized by some countries. But it was so expensive, only the very rich could afford it at first. However in the past decade the climatic conditions on Earth had deteriorated so much that people were desperate to escape them in any way possible. Now the Stasis program had been made accessible to the common people through government funding programs. It offered a beacon of hope for those brave enough to attempt its painful process. 

What were the advantages of going in for Stasis? 

Entering the program required a long and tedious vetting process. You had to be medically certified by a panel doctor that you were in good physical and mental condition. You should be free of any pending legal issues and also free of debt. You should have a good credit score. And most importantly you should have a no objection certificate from your immediate family.

Then began the week-long procedure of painful injections loaded with drugs to preserve the body in a static state. The mental processes were slowly shut down with psychotropic drugs. Then The comatose body was placed in a self sustaining nuclear powered capsule. The capsule was self sustaining and required no external maintenance. The capsule was then transferred to deep underground vaults where it would stay for centuries if required. When the time came for the reawakening of the human inside the capsule, then again a long process was undertaken to reverse the stasis.

So why was Kayla here? Young, energetic and beautiful she had her whole life before her. Why was she choosing to be a vegetable instead of being a vibrant living form?

Kayla’s mind went over all the events of the past year that had culminated in bringing her here to this room. A year ago she had been a mother to a 5 year old son and wife to a loving husband and so happy. But that was all about to change with the advent of the Stasis program. As soon as the program was announced, she noticed a change in her devoted husband. He seemed to be aloof and moody. When Kayla questioned him, he explained that he was going to register the three of them for the Stasis. Kayla was shocked! Why did he want to do that and that too without her consent? Did he not know about the risks involved? And what about their son? Will he be able to endure the procedure? What if one of them did not make it?

But he was adamant and registered himself and their son on the sly. He even forged Kayla’s consent letter. When she returned from a two day business trip she found her husband gone and her son with him. She was dealt a double whammy when she realized that she was now saddled with their joint debts.

It took a week of running around and cutting through a lot of bureaucratic red tape to find out the details of what had happened. Her husband was one of the first one to apply for the Stasis program along with their son. He knew that Kayla was opposed to the program and feared for her son’s safety, but he himself had complete faith in it. He believed that if he went into Stasis for a century or so then he and his family would awaken in a much better world as had been promised by the scientists.

When Kayla vehemently opposed him, he decided to go ahead without her knowledge, and take his son with him. He took out a loan to finance the preparations he needed to get himself and his son to get declared medically fit for the Stasis. He even pulled some official strings to get his son admitted to the program.

The result was a bereft Kayla who was left searching frantically for her family. It was at this point that she made the decision to follow her husband and son into Stasis. She desperately wanted to be there for her son when he woke up. Then she realized she would have to clear the debts left behind by her husband if she wanted to enter the program, and this seemed impossible. Luckily for her when her boss came to know about her story he agreed to help her by calling on some favors a powerful official owed him. This enabled Kayla to enrol for the Stasis. But at the last minute just before she was to reach the Stasis center, her debt fraud was discovered. Somehow she managed to flee her captors and once inside the center she was safe and immune according to the law.

So now she found herself sitting in a chair waiting for the interview, which would determine her eligibility for Stasis. An official emerged from the door and beckoned Kayla in. she entered a small boxed up room to face the questions that would determine her fate.

“Why do you want to undergo Stasis at the prime of your life? You have your whole life before you” the official asked.

“I love my son and I will follow him to eternity to be with him and be there for him. He was taken away from my arms to sleep for a hundred years and I, as his mother, want to be there when he wakes up and cries for his mummy.”

“Permission granted,” said the official with a smile.