The medics closed in. Monitor patches were bonded onto Soćko’s skin, providing a more detailed picture of his vitals. Fleshmeld blisters were applied above his femoral and carotid arteries, ready to supply artificial blood or drugs if and when they were needed. He wasn’t breathing. The blood generated in the external Kcell organs and fed through his umbilical was fully oxygenated. Artificial saliva was sprayed into his mouth, and they slid an intubation nozzle down his trachea—ready. With the prep done, they moved him out of the chamber and onto a bed.

A crash team stood by, watching and waiting as the extraction team clamped the umbilical cord—and cut it.

No warning went off. His heart kept on beating uninterrupted. Brainwave function remained flat.

The intubation nozzle started to pump oxygen-rich air into his lungs in a slow rhythm.

I watched his chest inflate, sink back down. Rise again. Soćko gave a slight shudder, then another, stronger shiver ran down his body. The revival team tensed up; crash-revival tools were held up ready. Soćko’s shakes continued for a while longer before he went quiescent again.

“He’s breathing naturally,” the lead doctor announced. There was a note of surprise in her voice.

On the other side of the glass, the medical techs were high-fiving. Two of the doctors were preparing their surgical remotes to remove the stump of the umbilical from Soćko’s navel.

“Now what?” Yuri asked.

“We wait,” Lankin said. “Make sure he remains stable, and give his body a chance to filter out the barbiturates. If he wakes naturally, fair enough. If not, they’ll try stimulants.”

—

We all trooped back to the lounge, with its comfy chairs standing on the bare composite-panel floor. Loi and Eldlund went over to the freezer cabinets and started searching through the meal packs for breakfast. Alik got himself a Belgian hot chocolate from the dispenser and settled back in his chair.

“It can’t be that easy,” Kandara said when she sat next to me. “What about muscle atrophy? He’s been lying there for thirty-two years, for fuck’s sake!”

“Something took care of that,” Loi said as he came over, carrying a plate of scrambled eggs, sausages, and hash browns straight from the microwave. “Something in the blood they haven’t found yet. It all came from the Kcell organs, don’t forget; we don’t fully know what they’re capable of.”

“You’re talking magic potions,” Callum said dismissively. “Not real biochemistry. No chemical treatment will preserve an inactive body in healthy physical shape like that for thirty years.”

“What then?”

Eldlund sat down beside him, blowing the steam from hir porridge. “Maybe Soćko is the success? The others are all being rebuilt by the alien cells, but he was just further along?”

“No,” Yuri said. “The Kcell organs in his hibernation chamber were different. They supplied blood that’s rich with oxygen and nutrients—a real hibernation as opposed to what’s happened to the others.”

I kept a very careful watch on the faces around me as I said: “He might not have been asleep the whole time.”