lichen wrapped itself around the ruins, covering and smothering the solid concrete in its ever-growing embrace. Trees forcefully drove their roots through every crack and cranny they could find in the old surfaces that had once been woven together into a jungle of their own, one of stone and technology, yet if no helpful cracks presented themselves, the plants made their own, driving down into the surface and pushing it apart.

Sometimes they were aided in their activities by machines, varied designed with almost as much variety of their own as the wildlife around them: small humanoid figures with slender arms and gentle touches, large tracked ones wheeling along, planting vast fields in their wake. Each machine had its purpose and to that set purpose they stuck, it didn’t matter that all the people they’d originally been built to serve were dead or that the local ecology had completely overrun everything, all that mattered was their task. So they continued day in, day out, tending to and nurturing the plants, regardless of where they grew.

Yet not all that remained from the once flourishing civilization was completely ignorant of the world around it. One last triumph remained, slowly wandering the world on mismatched limbs scavenged from any and all sources. A single sentient machine simply known as The Entity. Humanity's last achievement.

-------------------------

The Entity ducked back behind the concrete pillar, practically cowering away from the machine that trundled on past in what must once have been crowded streets. It knew that the machine didn’t actually care about it and that had it wanted to, the advanced sensory equipment storied inside that towering metal bulk could have pinpointed its location several miles off. Still, the simple act of pulling behind the pillar helped steady its nerves, allowed it for a few seconds to feel grounded in this unreality of a world that it lived in.

Gently a hand reached out, the smaller of the two mismatched arms attached to the bulky looking torso and pushed a strand of vine aside. The machines outside were docile, yes, harmless even. The only problem is that they were authorised to escort any damaging factor away from plantlife, which was on the face of it a rather innocent order. Simply pick up something or someone damaging wildlife and put it down where it is no longer a threat, the problem arose that in picking up, it tended to crush whatever it was holding, something the Entity had discovered many times.

Today it was going to explore a new building, another in the seemingly endless forest that made up this megapolis. It looked just like the thousands it had explored the years previously and the thousands more it expected to explore later. A towering structure of concrete and glass, with a now faded neon sign hanging loosely over the entrance.

“--------- Cryo ----- st-rage ---- “

Half the words were faded or destroyed beyond recognition, still, it felt good to speak what it could recognise aloud. In a small way, it reminded the Entity that it was more than the lifeless machines which roamed the planet.

The first few floors yielded nothing but abandoned workplaces, desks and chairs that once housed human workers and terminals for the machines that they worked alongside. If only it knew how to repair any of them, it knew that they were still powered, the solar fields outside the city saw to that, generating an infinite power source for a city that no longer needed it. The Entity wondered what stories they'd be able to tell. If any of them knew why it had been created.

A noise zipped through its hearing circuits, blowing away all other thoughts instantaneously. Surely it had misheard?

The faint sound made itself heard once more, the sound of electricity coursing through water. That single noise brought more excitement to the metalic brain than anything had done for years previously, for it only meant one thing. Some part of this ancient facility was still working, some machine even was still whirring away, something with more intelligence than the husks which tended to life outside.

It was the least the Entity could do to stop itself from bounding upstairs and damaging something, even now it had to tread carefully. A careless movement could break whatever delicate machinery remained, severing this single clue to the past.

One flight of stairs, then the next flew by, time seeming to slow as it drew closer to the source of the noise. Until it rounded a corner and came face to face with the sight that awaited him.

A single terminal inlaid into the wall glowed faintly in a small display of information, while above and below remnants of wires drooped from walls into shallow pools below, letting off the occasional shower of sparks as the near-infinite energy supply dumped itself into the only available destination.

Gingerly tiptoed around the pools, an act that still the Entity itself didn't understand, it would be unharmed by the water and yet it still avoided it, automatically taking the route presenting the tiniest number of hazards. As it moved closer it read aloud the small information displayed by the terminal.

Cryostorage chambers 1 - 4,
1 - Status: Partially flooded - 1 lifesign remains
2 - Status: Energy failure - no lifesigns remain
3 - Status: Environmental damage- no lifesigns remain
4 - Status: Fully functioning - 1 lifesign remains

Recommendation: Repair chambers 1,2 and 3 and freeze new occupants

------------------------------

--------------------------

Emergency defrost - engage? YES / NO

" .... Creators?"

The question seemed silly, but there was no one left to hear it, not until now. Of course, the Entity had theorised that it's creators had been organic, they had to be, after all, it matched all the skeletons it continued to find. Now it had concrete proof, they were organic and here were two survivors, frozen away.

It didn't even give itself time to think before it hit the small button to the bottom, practically shattering the thin glass with its eagerness. Only to jump back again as a weak voice rung out through the floor.

"Chambers one through four engaging emergency defrost, standby to aid any who are struggling and welcome them to a bright new future."

The Entity stood for a second, beyond the door beside the console, there presumably lay a corridor and off that - the species that created it. Yet it couldn't bring itself to take that first step, there were too many questions it wanted to ask, they needed time to adjust, that voice said so, it couldn't bombard with queries yet, that could wait.

So it stood there, one hand hovering gently beside the console should it need to do anything else and waited. Waited for the first human the walk the Earth in hundreds of years to step through that door.

Terror, pure terror was what awaited her. Aoi Chiba was not exactly one for people touching her, but the scientists around her though seemed to not care, if anything they seemed to enjoy touching her. She shuddered and pushed people away from her as they tried to force her into a skintight jumpsuit, pure white to match the surrounding walls and made of a soft, warm material that hugged her skin frighteningly well.

After she found herself in the jumpsuit, the scientists had to get three others to hold her down so they could provide the shots needed for safe cryo storage. One of the bigger problems was that when the human body reaches a certain point below zero, liquids tend to freeze, including blood, and frozen blood has a tenancy to crystallize and shred soft tissue.

After leading a shuddering Aoi away from the needles, they quickly sent her through a room filled with oblong tubes the perfect shape to hold a person in. Before placing her in a pod, a kindly old man shuffled up to her with a tray covered in cups that were filled to the brim with a bluish gelatin that tasted horrible, like the cough syrup that was promised to taste like cherries but only tasted like broken dreams. Aoi did not have much time to think about it though, as soon enough she was rushed into a pod and the last thing she thought was that the next time she saw her father, he was getting an earful.

______________

Warning, Severe structural damage to lung, Heart running on Emergency commands.

This message had flared in the back of the unconscious Aoi's mind for several years now, it seems that synthetic organs did not enjoy being frozen, despite the shots she had been given. There was also the fact that it had been quite a long time since she had last plugged into her neural interface, at least they had noticed THAT, or else Aoi would not have been alive to complain about it.

Complain she did, in fact it was her first word out of her mouth when the hissing of the pod woke her and she found her legs buckling underneath the weight of her body, as if they had just forgotten how to work. Aoi collapsed forwards in a heap, vomiting a vaguely bluish liquid as her brain and neural interface tried to make sense of why her limbs refused to function.

She coughed and sputtered, the one lung still working frantically trying to intake oxygen to make up for the synthetic organ that was beside it, refusing to work. Her heart meanwhile worked up a fuss, the synthetic portions of it complaining to each-other and the brain at a speed the Neural Interface did it's best to keep up with.

" God Damn it. "

At least I can speak, Aoi thought to herself as she vaguely noted the long wire inserted into her neural interface that lead off into the darkness of the pod. She struggled to stand as she only now opened her eyes, finding that the left was just as lazy as her nonworking lung. At least I can see, she thought to herself as she waited for the synthetics to realize she was awake and reactivate themselves.

Still struggling after such a long time spent in a sub-zero enviroment, her right eye gave her a vauge picture of the room around her, just enough for her to see that the room was in utter shambles.

" Do the eggheads not have a janitor? " Aoi mumbled to herself as she suddenly found that standing was an Olympian feat just by itself. She shakily held onto the pod she fell out of with her left arm, leaning heavily against it as she tried and failed to get her legs or right arm to properly move.

" What does a girl need to do to get some help around here. "

The absence of sensation had been a steady companion. Unwelcome as it had been, the womb like embrace of the tempered glass tube seemed to have grown to be a part of him. Whatever aspect of who he had been before his unconscious body had been placed into stasis, it was a weak flicker in an ocean of numbing silence. Henry Clayton was accustomed to this existence, which is to say, barely one at all.

There was a pressure first, a dull push on his inner ear. The whirring and clicking of the CryoPod sputtering to life was like a distant dream, the damaged pneumatic tube system quickly overheating in its attempts to pump the rapidly defrosting liquid from the chamber. Clayton, the small part of him that had accepted his state sought to deny the waking nerve endings. His eyes fluttered as for the first time as his upper body was exposed to crisp fresh air. his limp carcass held aloft by sagging suspension wires.

Synthetic fingers twitched as the numerous IVs, long needles plugged in at strategic points throughout his torso all came sliding out in perfect synchronicity along with the thin hoses stuffed down his nose and throat. The sizzling crackle of electricity filled the air. The smooth opening motion of the door hiccuped as a small flood of the remaining CryoSleep liquid came spilling forth, along with his unprepared body.

His mind reeled, physical orientation all but forgotten, conscious thought crying out for a return to ‘normal,’ the essence of life forced back into a shell it thought lost. Heart and lung function burst back into rapid, throbbing rhythm as he was deposited roughly on the floor, a streak of blue bile erupting from the depths of his stomach.

Clayton’s lungs sucked in oxygen in long haggard rips, like a fish out of water, as he collapsed fully into the fresh blue stain. Awakened muscles pulsed and flexed against the wet floor they regained function. With great effort Henry clumsily managed to roll to his back, eyes clamped shut in anguish his body racked with throaty, burning coughs. Sparks shot in irregular clumps from the digital screen afixed to the side of his pod, dancing across his damp skin in angry hisses.

As his body struggled to adjust there was a part of him that recognized the sound of a human voice, it sounded nearby but the words didn’t register. Another flume of blue sprang from Clayton’s esophagus as he rolled to a seated position, spraying the frosty interior of what had been his home.

Groaning painfully Clayton slumped back to the floor, another fit of coughs catching in his lungs.

“Cr-Cry-C-C-CryoPod One. One. One. One…Dam-ma-mmamamage De-De-Detected.” The cheery automated voice stuttered from the speakers above him. Clayton’s piercing sapphires assessed the machine critically, a grimace plastered on his features.

“Re-Report To Clini-ni-ni-Clinic Sector Bravo.Vo.Vo. F-F-For Assessment.” The voice chirpped.

Recognition of his surroundings dawned slowly on the botanist, his head slowly turned toward the shattered window to the sprawling expanse of green ruin stretched endlessly past the horizon. Clayton's bearded jaw fell open.

“Where, Uhgf.” He coughed out another gelatinous chunk of blue slime. Clayton gazed at his trembling hands.

Who am I?
What is this place?

The Entity blinked, two mechanical slots sliding in over the optical slots on its head. Really it never needed to blink or even to rely on these basic optical sensors, it had far more it could choose to use, yet something held it back. The machine had no idea why or even what was causing that, whether it was a self-made desire or a pre-programmed feature, all it knew was that it didn't want to use anything else.

That was definitely two noises.

A vast rushing wave of emotions flooded over the humanoid figure as it hovered in front of the door, elation, fear, worry, relief and a creeping curiosity. It's creators lived and there were two of them! The circuits that made up its brain whirred into gear even faster. Should it go in? Should it help them? Did they even need help?

A finger hovered slightly closer to the door controls, retracted for a few seconds, before finally and tentatively pressing down. As the old controls took their time to recognise the unusual feeling of pressure another wave of fear swept over the Entity. What if the doors didn't work or the corridor was blocked! It's creators would be trapped inside, helpless or even dying. It had even started to look around for something, anything to smash against the door before it slid open, the movement snapping all attention back to that one location.

Just beyond was the corridor and it was nowhere near as bad as the machine had feared, here the floor and walls were relatively intact, water could only really be found pooling out from under the door to chamber 1, yet that had the luxury of being cut off from the electriciy supply and relatively safe. One look at the deathly quiet and blackness from under the door to chamber 2 convinced it to never look at that again. Whoever or whatever was in there wouldn't bear looking at now.

Even the gaping hole that was chamber 3 looked better than that, at least the impassable web of branches showed some form of life and whatever was beyond that would be long destroyed by now. It needed worry about that, there would be no horrors for it there.

Yet even after the agonising decision, it had gone through to open the door, another even harder question was being posed, should it go to chamber 1 or 4 first. Both intrigued the machine, the first obviously contained a survivor, they were the only one left from their damaged chamber after all, but the other had been all alone, what must that creator have done to be placed in that position? Were they held in high regard or were they being locked away from others?

After a few more moments of hesitation, it couldn't wait any longer and opted upon the simplest of choices. The machine simply stood there and raised it's voice to a volume it hoped both could hear. "Ummmm, hello! Creators, if you need assistance or anything, I'm just outside, I can help!"

It was a weak opening, but what else could it say? Lamely it followed up with another fairly lackluster and nervous statement. "You may need adjustment, I can help with that too... maybe."