Beep! I was fading in and out, like a dream. Beep! I didn't know if I was consious or not or even alive or not. Beep! I remember memories, not thoughts. Beep! It was unbelievably cold, like hell if it froze over. Beep! I couln't move and was beginning to get impatient. After what seemed like an ammount of time is shouldn't have taken I opened my eyes. It was dark, but I could see light. A dull light as if it had been reflected off something hundreds of times and the "soul" of what your looking at is no longer there. I tried to stand up but something was keeping me in place. Beeeeeep!!! I hear air rushing all around me, I pulled myself free. My mind was foggy, as if a dark cloud was preventing my thought from going into my mind.

I stood up, slowly, like I hadn't moved in ages. The last thing I remember is... what was the last thing I remembered? Something about a war? I decided I didn't care, if my brain didn't want me to know it was probably for the better. I slowly inched toward the light. A light like I felt I had not seen in an eternity. Like it lit up my soul. I saw a hole, neat and round as if a laser cut through. I stepped out of the hole. My eyes were fuzzy, and all I could see is a white glow. I dropped to the ground, my muscles wouldn't let me stay up, ever move hurt, even when I was not moving at all. After a while my eyes felt as if they wanted to see. I forced my neck, which felt like ice, to look up at the horror before me.

Everything lay in ruins, he entire city was falling apart. Snow covered half of even the tallest buildings. Entire walls were ripped off of skyscrapers. A large crater lay at where the "Politician of Peace" lived and where the negotiation building was supposed to be. Building lay on the ground and as my gaze drifted toward the wall next to me were I saw half the torso and the head of another mantis being.

A surge of memories came into my head like a builder dropped from the top of a building. I remembered the war, the government. They wanted to freeze me so I could help in the future. I remembered my friends, my family, my home. Everything I knew I didn't have anymore.

I panicked, I forced my icey muscles to take me to the pod, I had to know how long it had been. I couldn't get there fast enough, it felt as if my legs would snap in half. I came up to the pod, and in the dark I could see the glowing numbers clearly. 500 years. My mind went blank, I didn't know how to respond to something like this. I couldn't think of any words to describe how I felt.

I slumped to the ground, ignoring the grinding frozen pain in my body. I didn't do anything, I just sat there and let myself feel empty for a while. Then when I seemed most hopeless I had an idea. I had seen some of my friends in the stampede to get into one of the cryogenics chamber, they might still be alive. I don't hang around with idiots, they must have found a way to get in. I got up, they must still be alive. The only thing I was worried about was that there were no scientists around to unfreeze me. The cryogenics process isn't perfect, so there could be something wrong with me, and maybe my family and friends too. I couldn't sit around any longer, I had to get moving.

System processing...error error. Back up systems initailized. Power systems.....online. Welcome to the world

Meldraenei shook her head slowly and blinked, looking at the slowly rising door with a groan "Ohh what happened? My head feels like its got a virus" She said before exiting the pod. Mel wore her favorite outfit, her black dress, shoes and her hair in the festive style. She remembered a war...fighting, killing. But the memories were still fuzzy since her systems were still coming online. She gasped and looked around frantically "My scythe....my scythe...where is my baby?" She said and looked around from back and forth. She issues a sigh of relief when she spotted her massive weapon behind a strange insect like person. "Out of my way" she said, her voice slightly metalic sounding as she bolted for her scythe, hugging the weapon tight. She looked behind her "Any idea how we got here?"

I stood up, although my legs were still very stiff. I decided to walk around some to loosen up my joints. I felt the normal flow of blood return. Then I suddenly heard a sound.

It sounded like one of the pods opening. I hear a voice say: "Ohh what happened? My head feels like its got a virus". I looked behind me and saw what looked like a robot, my eyesight was still a little fuzzy so I couldn't see any details. The robot seemed to be frantically looking for something and saying: "My scythe....my scythe...where is my baby?". The robot's gaze locked on me and said: "Out of my way", in a slightly metalic voice. Before I even had time to blink she came bolting towards me.

I jumped out of the way and stepped through the hole in the wall into the snow. My leg sank a little in the snow. I turned my head to see the robot hugging a scythe, that must have been what she was trying to get. She turned around and said: "Any idea how we got here?"

I wandered what she meant at first. I remembered that the cryogenics may have damaged her brain, and mine. I regognized the robot to be a cyborg angel, I've never seen a cyborg angel before, plenty of angels but never a cyborg one.

I answered to the cyborg angel: "Don't you remember, we were cryogenically frozen by the military, that's all I'm sure of at this point. My name is Lazarus Psichi Dac-zaki Zhar, but you can call me Zhar. May I ask what your name is?

"Analyzing....analyzing....." She said with her yellow eyes out forward and looking into the snow "Confirmed...Military units capture me on date 2/31/2562. Internal time database shows our time is now 5/31/3067" She said in a cold, metallic voice. "Atmospheric conditions are grim...air is latent with radioactive debris from nuclear missiles....i believe we are in nuclear winter" She said, turning her head to the being "My name is Meldraenei....Mel for short. I need a link up with the base's mainframe...to determine where we are and best course of action"

I thought about this for a few seconds. She was captured, I wondered why the military would imprison her. Would they try to reprogram her to fight in the war? Her clock said she had been frozen for 505 years and 3 days, I didn't notice any other beings in any pods before I was frozen 500 years ago, does this mean my pod was moved? It did make sense that the debris from the radioactive bombs would have caused the air to become poluted and block out the sun causing a nuclear winter.

"Hi Mel, nice to meet you", I answered as I tried to remember the scematics for this place. I walked around a bit, searching for something I would recognise. My hunch was correct, I wasn't in the same room. The pods were too frozen over to see what was inside. I noticed a fuse box, they would probably put a command console in that. I opened it and saw a series of buttons and levers, I knew pretty well what they did. I pressed a button and a computer screen flipped out of the wall.

"Here it is", I told Meldraenei. "You can hook up to the mainframe from here, considering it hasn't been damaged too badly". I had an idea. I took two wires out of the computer and attached them to my antennas. I told the computer: "Download new city schematics, facility information and anything about the war."

A surge of knowledge came to mind. I saw a map of the city, it was completely destroyed by war. I also knew what this facility was for. It was meant for cryogenic pod storage, this confused me. Why weren't we in a cryogenics lab, why would we be put in a storage room for unused pods? I also saw the war, it was horrible beyond belief. The bomb was deployed 9/31/2567, that was 4 days after I was frozen, according to the glowing number on my pod.

The data also confirmed my hunch, but it was worse that expected. The scematics confirm me as a military professor who was brainwashed to help develop the bomb, and that Meldraenei was scheduled to be rewired (which probably meant brainwashed), which might exlain why she was captured. Although there was one nagging suspicion in my head. Am I still under the effects of whatever they used to brainwash me, and was Meldraenei also possibly brainwashed.

She nodded slowly and dowloaded herself into the netwrok "System proccessing....sca.sca..sca....scannnnnning database" She said, obviously enountering someting from the freezing process "Theory...th th th theor confirmed...frozen due to the war. Recommend we...we..w.w.w.w.weeeee find the breaches in the base and se..see.sseeeaal them. the we...we..we.we need to open up the rest of....rest of the subjects in the pods" She said, disengaging herself from the network "System processing....error...error" She said and visibly twitched "It appears i have been....i..i.i.ii.infected with a....v..v.v.vvvirus. Recommend.....recommended you find a .......da..da...data proccessing lab and....attempt to...attempt to corrrrrrect the problem" She said, sputtering her words as the virus was wreaking havoc on her vocal proccessers and her CPU, she was already brainwashed...all that was happening was the brainwashing taking hold

As I was deep in thought I noticed Mel acting strange. She was stuttering and twitching. She said we should seal up the base. I quickly told the computer: "Seal all known breaches". I immediately saw the hole in the wall dissolve and close. I knew that there was reasonable chance that not all the breaches were sealed, but this was as good as I can get at the moment. I told the computer: "Lights on" and the room was immediately filled with an eerie orangey light coming from the few working lightbulbs in the room.

I remembered she also said something about opening up the pods, this I wasn't too sure of. For one thing I was worried that there might be more cyborg angels with virusses in them that might start blowing the place apart. I was well aware I might also be under the effects of brainwashing but it made logical sense to me.

I had to think quick, I used the blades in my arm to cut a hole in her torso. I saw some electrical wires. I quickly cut them, hoping this would turn her off long enough for me to get her fixed, and prevent her from doing anything the virus might make her do.

She screamed out loudly as if she was in horrific pain and fell backways, crying softly and holding her open torso. She actually had tear ducts installed so she could simulate crying "You son of a bitch...you cut me o...." She said and looked down at herself "System Proccessing....shutdown of secondary subsystems complete. Virus deleted" She said before her wound slowly covered itself in aa thick, silver liquid. The wound sealed up and the liquid went back into her body "Next course of action is to search the base for food and water..."

Stan watched the strange pair close by, through a small window of a factory, still standing and very sturdy. Frost periodically fogged the lenses on his gas mask, and he wiped it of with his gloves now and then. Dressed in black to absorb heat, he was rather visible, with his snow pants and parka, but Stan never thought he would see anyone again, especially a huge bug and a robot angel. He didn't even blink when the Mantis cut up the girl. "If it got rid of whatever was causing seizures". He said to himself. He doubted they were hostile, but he loaded his pistol anyway. "Next course of action is to search the base for food and water..." Stan smiled as he heard the Angel. Smart girl, planning things out. "Guess I better help." He said quietly, vaulting over the window, grabbing his backpack after him and began to walk over. "Hey, you there!" He called, hoping they would hear.

I was slightly surprised to see that pulling those wires turned off the virus, while I intended to turn her off entirely to figure out how to fix her. The virus had only infected her secondary systems. "That was lucky", I thought.

As I watched Mel's wound heal I heard a voice in the background, I couldn't make out what it had said, then I heard a pistol load. I tilted my, pupil-less, eyes up and saw a dark shape in the shadows. It seemed to be another robot, though all I could see was it's face. I heard Mel say: "Next course of action is to search the base for food and water..." I also heard the dark figure respond: "Guess I better help."

I stood up and entered a pre-battle pose, I didn't know if this being was dangerous or not so I'd better prepare for the worst. I heard it say: "Hey, you there!" as it was heading over.

I didn't really know what to say. I was also busy worrying if Mel was o.k., but I couldn't let myself be distracted. After a few seconds I responded: "Yeah?" In my head I was coming up with a battle strategy the entire time.

Mel looked at the man and held her scythe tightly in her hand "Warning....possible intruder and threat" She said with a growl "Who are you? What are you doing here?" She said while she unfurled her wings and stood ready to attack "Should i attack him?"

Stan halted. "I just wanted to join up with you two." He said slowly. "I'm no threat. This pistol is just for protection" He pulled it out, and placed it on the ground. "I have food, and water is no issue, because of the snow." He looked at the robot. "I'm going to pick up the gun now." And he did, keeping his eyes on the pair. "I never thought I would see another face. I was so happy, I didn't really think." Then he looked around aimlessly. "My pod malfunctioned six months ago, and I now know my way around. Oh, by the way, when I said my gun was for protection, I meant against the mutants." He paused. "Okay, I know. It sounds crazy, but can you really level a planet with a nuclear bomb without one popping up?" He motioned to the door of the factory. "You might want to get in there before they show up. They seem attracted to the Podders. That's what I call us."

When Stan mentioned mutants I became a little frightened. I remembered the mutants from a few horror movies I watched, I wondered how powerful these mutants are. Up to now I had assumed the radiation levels would have wiped out all life, or at least have made it infertile.

I decided it was safe enough to divert my attention. "Mel are you ok", I asked"? "I'm sorry I had to do that".

After she answered I said to Stan: "Sure, you can join up with us, the more the merrier, I'm Lazarus Psichi Dac-zaki Zhar by the way, but you can call me Zhar". I was feeling a lot calmer now that we knew where to find materials. "Food", I thought? I hadn't realized how hungry I was until he mentioned it. "Where can we find some food, I'm starving. I haven't eaten in centuries", I said smiling.

I started walking towards the door, signaling for the others to come.

"Recommend we proceed with caution" She said and slowly followed the man "You described 'mutants'. Can you please elaborate on these so called mutants. And the term podders?" She said, her eyes glowing more as she adjusted to the lights in the room

Stan chuckled. "'Course I could. These mutants are your garden variety. They are amazingly smart, scary, and can tear you into pieces in seconds. They look all the same: Humanoid, black skin, red eyes, claws, sharp teeth, thin as a javelin, and just as deadly at high velocity." He closed the reinforced door, looking like a submarine hatch, with a slam. "Obviously, Podders are the people who wake up from the pods, and often get killed." At that happy note, he showed them around the room. "This is the only safe part of the factory. I had to block off the rest" He said. The room was as big as a basketball court, rusty and dim. It was almost empty, as if the workers took the supplies with them. In a corner, however, a dumpster was there, on it's side, the top propped up. The dumpster housed a sleeping bag, a kerosene lamp, and a small shelf. "I sleep there." he said proudly. He pointed out a mound of packages next to it. "There might be a few tents and supplies in there, make yourselves at home." He said, "I tend to stockpile." He walked off to adjust his "House".

"Sound creepy", I told Stan after he told us about the mutants. After he showed us the pile I started to rummage through the pile. I wasn't really worried about sleep, I had been asleep for the last 500 years. I found a little airtight package with some food in it. I asked Stan: "Mind if I take this?", as I started to work on the tent.

Mel looked around and chuckled softly "I do not require sustenence nor do i need sleep. However i do need a viable power source to keep my internal systems operational" She said with a giggle, heading towards the rear of the room, siting by the wall and watched the door "So...tell us more about the base here..." She said a little

Stan looked at the package. "Sure, but don't eat it all in one go, food is valuable." He laughed weakly. "I tried a garden, but it's dying fast." Turning to Mel, he smiled under his mask. "Sure, use the generator. It's reliable, hand-cranked, and powerful!" He sighed and looked around aimlessly. "The base? Well, it was a car factory before the bomb... As far as I know, this room was for storage. The other rooms were blown up, contaminated, or just plain dangerous. It took me 2 months to get all this stuff!" He waved his hand at the meager pile. "The radiation's low here, and it has no windows for mutants, still has vents, though." Stan walked near the dumpster, pulling out a crate, a pan, and what appeared to be a can of meat. He gathered some cardboard from the pile, threw in a little coal, and struck a match. Within minutes, he had his dinner. Savoring it, he looked at them. "The fire's warm. Have a seat if you want."

I ripped open the package, I greedily ate it. Even though I was very tempted to eat it all I made a knot in the package and closed it. I walked over to the fire, I felt like I still had a little ice in my blood.

"Hey Stan, you know there was a control panel in he other room, I bet I could use one of those to help. If the computer systems aren't too badly damaged I could heat the place up, find some more materials, or some other stuff. I'm a wiked good programer."

"Agreed....restoring power would be best. The longer you two are exposed, the quicker you shall be consumed by disease and death" She said with a nod, opening her arm panel and started to read the display "I shall return shortly" She said before going out of the room and down the hall. She slowly started to scan the room now infront of her. It held a large breaker and a few lockers. She went to the breaker and lifted the switch, restoring power to the building and the heat. In the locker which was opened, she spied a weapon. She pulled it out and found it was a twin barreled shotgun. She cocked the gun and put it on her back. She then proceeded to the surveillance room and started to watch the cameras, seeing if there was any danger to her friends

I walked over to the other room with the pods in it and started to work on the control pannel. The software was severely damaged due to the radiation, although the hardware seemed to be fine. I started rewriting the damaged programs.