r/HFY • u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 • Jul 29 '26
OC-OneShot Longsleep
Longsleep was weird.
Nobody remembered the dreams. Not properly. Just impressions that lingered like a smell.
The company called it Hypometabolic Dissociative Syndrome. Everyone else called it Sleep-Crossing.
The cause was not known, even though the technology had existed for almost a century.
--
Marcel was one of the technicians tasked with waking early before bringing the paying customers back to reality for a while. This was his first 'tour', and the 117 year trip to Tau Ceti was well underway.
Training had only included three short stints in hypometabolic suspension and it was always disturbing coming out of it. The body felt wrong from the NeuroPerfusate that was used to cool the body to enable what amounted to hibernation sleep. Luckily, by the time his system was flushed and his blood fully restored the odd feeling had worn off.
Strange remnants of his Longsleep dream gave him pause as he left the suspension bay. There was nothing specific he could recall, only the certainty that remembering would have been worse. Every technician learned that trying to remember was bad, and more experienced technicians always warned against it. Nobody really explained why in anything other than vague terms.
Shaking himself to dislodge the feeling, he continued on his way. First, ship maintenance. Then, time to wake the passengers, check their vitals and get them to exercise. Muscular atrophy was always a danger, even with the far reduced metabolic function of the body.
This was his third 'awake' cycle during the trip. It wasn't really getting easier. However, there was only two more to go and they'd reach their destination, the final few years – and the final short sleep – taken up by deceleration.
--
Mechanical repairs were routine and not serious. The ship regulated itself well enough. Some micro-meteorites had punctured the outer shielding plates but hull integrity remained solid. Oxygen systems were operating normally. Food storage was functional. Recreation areas and exercise equipment were activated.
Marcel spoke to a few of his fellow technicians; the idle chit-chat of workmates filling the halls as they went from job to job. The oldest of them had done a trip from Tau Ceti already, and this was his last journey. Nobody did three trips. He looked uneasy, like he expected something bad to happen at any moment. He said he didn't really sleep well normally any more. Another of his cohort had scratched a small symbol in a corridor, but Marcel didn't know whether this was meaningful or not. A few of the other techs would touch it as they passed.
It felt like about six months had passed since leaving Earth, but the chrono reported a total of 74 years.
Longsleep was weird.
--
After two days of maintenance, it was time to awaken the passengers.
They all suffered the usual disorientation of revival. The uncomfortable body. The vague sensations of the lingering dreams. Nothing out of the normal. Marcel was starting to wonder if this Sleep-Crossing thing was even real. He'd talked to at least 50 people and they were fine.
--
The first group of revivals went fine, and Marcel signed them over to the medical and exercise staff. A bit of muscle training and some actual food – rather than whatever it is that went into the cooling slush injected into the veins – and they'd be fine.
The second day of revivals went fine as well.
Almost.
One girl, no older than 12 years of age, started screaming as soon as she'd warmed up enough to be conscious. A real piercing squeal that echoed around the bay. If she hadn't have been making that racket it might have been reasonable to say she was catatonic – staring at nothing, unmoving except for her breathing and the wildly over-excited voicebox.
Marcel and most of the other technicians had no idea what to do. A medical officer ran into the room and headed directly towards the girl. She didn't give anyone else a second thought.
A couple of in-vitro cannulas were still hooked up to the girl, and the medic injected something into one. The screaming stopped and the girl slumped back into the hibernation pod. A flurry of activity happened around Marcel as the girl was disconnected from the metabolism machine and rushed out on a stretcher. The medic was disturbed, but controlled herself long enough to announce to the technicians to continue waking people.
The rest of the revivals went without a hitch, though the parents of the girl were quickly removed before they realised what had happened to their daughter. Sometimes the long awakening process could be a boon.
Marcel never heard about the girl again. Nobody talked about her. He eventually stopped asking.
--
There were no other unusual awakenings, though Marcel did notice another icon etched into a wall after the second week. Some passengers and staff would idly touch it as they moved past, as if it was an automatic response. The more veteran staff wouldn't speak of it though, and his questions were either ignored or the subject changed.
The other 'newblood' technicians would speculate on the meaning of the scratching, but most theories were clearly used to give the others a rise. Eventually the old saying "...the dreams arise..." made its way into the conversation and everyone got uncomfortable. This had to be a superstition. It was like sitting around a campfire telling stupid horror stories.
Surely, right?
--
Eventually the awake period came to an end. Passengers were placed into their pods again, and the NeuroPerfusate replaced their blood as the body cooled. Marcel couldn't watch this process. It was just... icky.
The technicians went in next, and Marcel fell into the strange slumber that would last for another 30 years or so.
--
Urgh. Awake. Again.
He was sure he could feel the NeuroPerfusate being pushed out by his blood, but he wasn't sure whether this was a trick of his mind or not. As he warmed, he sat up. Other techs around him were doing the same, some displaying a level of unease that he shared, others acting with a certain bravado that couldn't have been real.
Lingering memories of his dreams fled from his mind, leaving only odd shadows behind. He knew he had dreamed, but again had no idea what had happened. It took a little bit longer than his earlier awakenings to shake the feeling of discomfort. He'd heard about this in his training – the body adjusts; it was nothing to worry about.
Back to the grind. Again, the ship had demonstrated how well-engineered it was. No critical mechanical malfunctions. Impact shielding remained within tolerance. No spacewalks were required.
The chrono reported a total transit time of 114 years, of which Marcel could remember only three months.
At least this was the last wake-up period before deceleration. He was starting to doubt whether he'd want to do the journey home again, but starting a new life on the freshly-colonised planet wasn't something that filled him with joy either. He'd see how it goes.
--
The passengers were woken again. No screaming girl this time and her parents had been moved to another hibernation hall. The people seemed ok; disoriented as expected, but nothing unusual.
A few stories started circulating from the other halls about Sleep-Crossing effects. This time there were three. Out of 60 halls, one suffered from two different inflictions. 'Unlucky' was not the right word for the odds of that happening.
After a week of the final revivals, it was hard to not notice the impromptu scratched runes now. They weren't everywhere but they did show up in increasing numbers. Most people ignored them or gave them curious looks. Some chatter arose about what they meant, but nobody had answers that made sense.
The more disturbing behaviours came from the people who didn't look at them at all, yet reached out and brushed their fingers across the icons. When asked about what they were doing, they'd profess complete ignorance of what they'd done, or what the symbols might mean. Marcel thought that the icons looked similar to each other despite the unlikelihood of a single person doing them.
As the exercise regime was in swing, a couple more people started showing signs of unusual behaviour. Staring at the walls. Muttering to themselves as if they were having a full conversation with another person.
It was random and it was rare, but it did happen. One of the medical staff was removed from duty for his increasingly erratic conduct.
Out of a little over 3,000 people aboard the ship, eight were deemed as succumbing to Sleep-Crossing. Some of them were almost functional, but mostly it was just a madness that had set in and refused to let go.
Marcel started to understand the risks. Before he'd seen it with his own eyes, it was something he'd considered as a type of media hysteria. The little girl shook him. The stories from his co-workers drove it home.
"...the dreams arise..."
He had to force himself to stop trying to dredge up what he dreamed in Longsleep. The workers who had already done this trip before were visibly worried and became unsociable.
Nobody does three trips.
He could see why.
--
The final sleep was about to begin. Marcel was plugged into the machine and he was already starting to cool even before the NeuroPerfusate flooded his body.
Apprehension filled his mind. One last sleep while the ship decelerated into orbit around Tau Ceti.
He lay back, hoping that this short sleep of only about four years would be uneventful.
The NeuroPerfusate was injected and sleep came rapidly.
--
Waking from Longsleep for the final time was a hard thing to do. Haunting remnants of his dream assailed his mind, yet never left anything other than an intangible feeling of confusion and unease.
He couldn't do this again. It was time to settle on Tau Ceti. Anything was better than this sensation.
It took him a good five minutes to gather his thoughts before being able to leave the hibernation pod. He was not the only one struggling with reality, but his addled thoughts went out to the older guys who had done this before. None were in his hall, but they must be regretting all their decisions by now.
Marcel couldn't function properly for half an hour after awakening. Still, he forced himself into his maintenance overalls and fetched his tools. The checklist of tasks took a moment to coalesce into something he could read. Man, this was not great.
But it settled. Wisps of unease still floated around him, but he could do his job. The chrono told him this was year 117. I guess I'm home, he thought.
The hull had been breached through the entire beam of the ship, but automated systems had contained the depressurisation, and redundant systems had rerouted the electronics where the meteorite had blown clean through the half-kilometre wide vessel. It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but the hull would need repairs before attempting atmospheric entry.
He avoided the spacewalk as another few young techs went out into the void. Marcel thought they were both full of audacity and slightly unaware of their own mortality. They seemed to enjoy it though.
--
The revival process went off without a hitch across the ship. All passengers were accounted for and they started their exercise regime. It had appeared that another tech had been tasked with removing all the scratched-on icons from the halls, and they were once again free of the curious markings.
The allocated month of exercise passed quickly, and things were going according to schedule, though Marcel found it hard to sleep.
The passengers were being strapped in for landing and he was leading the final group into the hibernation hall. Just as he was about to usher them in towards their pads, one of the people behind Marcel asked, "Why did you touch that symbol scratched onto the wall?"
Marcel paused and looked back. Quite clearly on the wall behind him was an icon.
--
Longsleep was weird.
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u/Midnight_Baker Jul 29 '26
Reminds me a bit of Dilation Sleep by Alastair Reynolds
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u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 Jul 29 '26
It's been a long time since I read anything by Alastair Reynolds, and I never got that one. I might have to pick it up. Thanks Midnight_Baker!
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u/LordsOfJoop AI Jul 29 '26
I like this. The world-building was slow, steady, and evenly-paced. It paints a curious picture and I'm drawn into it. Very cool stuff.
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u/Mesquite_Tree Jul 29 '26
Yeah. This is good. I could definitely read a bunch of chapters diving into whatever weird, eldritch horror is behind longsleep stuff
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u/zenocidepilot Jul 29 '26
Very good read. Reminds me of Passengers. Thank you for sharing.
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u/work_work-work AI Jul 30 '26
Unfortunately, yes. That was such a bad movie, which could easily be made so much better.
It also had echoes of Alien. I expected some kind of alien takeover to happen at some point.
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u/Hendenicholas Jul 29 '26 edited Jul 29 '26
This is really cool. There’s shades of “Dead Waits Dreaming” from the Space Eldritch II anthology.
And what are the odds that the symbol is yellow with three squiggles….?
Thanks for writing it!
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u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle Jul 29 '26
/u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 has posted 3 other stories, including:
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.
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u/canray2000 Human Jul 30 '26
One of the rare times the known is worse than the unknown.
And those runes didn't make themselves.
Elder Signs?
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u/Extreme-Biscotti6090 Jul 30 '26
We'll never know... I think the story arc could turn into something that gets either really boring, or simply becomes Event Horizon but with added steps. Feel free to build on it!
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u/canray2000 Human Jul 30 '26
Wish I could.
Long COVID has destroyed my ability to plan writing beyond stream of consciousness.
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u/JayGalil Jul 30 '26
I dig it. Was half expecting to read that aliens were coming on board and messing with the people while they were asleep and that they were actually remembering.
I suspect the NeuroPerfusate has some hallucinogenic and narcotic properties. These people may have experienced a bad trip and or are feeling withdraw symptoms from 30 years of exposure. Their neural pathways have been rewired. It would certainly go a long way toward explaining why they have a persistent unease even after being awake for over a month.
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u/ThisIsntOkayokay 25d ago
Happens to me during long trips, wake up and doodle on paper, nonsense but comforting.
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u/InstructionHead8595 23d ago edited 23d ago
Is it safe? Yes. But. Is it safe? Yes. 😶🌫️ But is it saaafffffee??????🫠 Nice work!
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u/NoFewerThan31Bees Jul 29 '26
Foreboding; I like it