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“So this is safe, right?" Kinsey asked taking a good look at the device that was supposed to store her body for the next few hundred years. Jason Chazz gave her a quick pat on her shoulder, “that all depends on what you mean by safe."

“Chazz I'm being serious here!"

“Yes Kinsey, for the last time it's safe. NASA has been working on this for the past thirty years, it's been successfully tested multiple times, and to top that off this thing is supposed to work for a few millennia. Now get in the pod! Unless you want the others to stay frozen longer?"

Chazz's speech didn't seem to calm Kinsey down any, but he did have a point. She was delaying the mission. The first manned flight to a planet that was able to sustain human life, “Fine but if I get out of this thing brain dead I'm going to make sure you regret it." Kinsey could hear chazz laughing at her idle threat. She didn't like the idea of being cryogenically stored, especially with technology they were still learning about, but she climbed into her pod anyways.

Jason smiled at her, “Don't worry I'll be here to wipe your ass when you get out." Chazz lifted his arm up to pull the chamber door down. Air hissed out towards him as the pod was being pressurized, and before long the console was singing a tune of beeps and whirs as he made sure the freezing process was going along smoothly.

He glanced towards Kinsey just quick enough to see the fear in her eyes. He placed a hand up to the pod door, “Don't worry. You'll be out before you know it." He stayed by her side watching her breath slower and slower until it eventually came to a stop. The computer chimed in through the overhead intercom, “Cryogenic storage complete" the computer's voice had been recorded well before the machine, and even though it was more robotic in nature he could still make out the stressed and unstressed syllables that made it Kinsey's.

“There like you haven't even left."

A pang of guilt swept over Chazz. He honestly didn't know how safe the technology was, and if he was being honest with himself he didn't want to know the truth of it. The mission was far too important to be getting cold shoulders this late in. Earth was no longer the resource rich planet it used to be. He knew it, The government knew it, and the rest of the world knew it. This mission was more than just a test of long term space travel, it was a testament to the fate of humanity.

“Sorry for the delay Houston, had a runaway bride so to speak." Chazz effortlessly strapped himself into the pilot seat of the Ascension.

“Copy that Ascension, shouldn't be too much of a problem. Is all the crew prepped and ready for launch?"

“That is affirmative all crew frozen and accounted for on my end. Just one overly excited pilot ready to begin the first flight to another planet that can support life as we know it.“

Chazz scanned the console of his ship. Making sure everything was in place one last time. They had already taken the first step towards their journey getting out of the earth's atmosphere, but plotting a course to an entirely different solar system that was thousands of years away was another task entirely.

“Don't get to excited Major still a long ways from actually stepping foot on PX249."

Jason rolled his eyes, “Maybe for you lot, but for us up here it will take nary a second. I may not retain a lot of things, but I do remember the test subjects not being able to recall the time they were frozen." A smirk spread across Chazz's lips as he waited for Houston to respond to him. “Good lord I've left you speechless."

Minutes passed by before Chazz heard his intercom flare back to life, “Major looks like that delay is working in your favor. We've just received word the optimal flight route will be go in another sixty seconds. Can you confirm all systems are prepped?

Chazz nodded forgetting he was talking over the radio, “Everything's good on my end Houston."

“That's good to hear Ascension, remember that this ship is mostly designed to fly itself. We just need you to fire the rockets up and shut them down for the trip. Any unexpected veers off course should be adjusted for by the computer."

“Should be, I'm not gonna wake up in the middle of deep space am I?"

“Prepare to activate main engines half power for nine seconds."

The halfcocked smile disappeared from Jason's face, instead his eyes were focused on the controls. A drop of sweat ran down his brow, he was focused on the mission. “Activate engines now" Chazz slid his hand upward he could feel the vibrations as the engine fired to life, “6.7.8.9. Shut them down! We need a 3 second thrust down and then a two second to the left."

“Copy Houston."

“Doing Great Ascension, fire the main rocket up again until you hit optimal speed then we can get started on your instant trip to paradise, yeah?"

Jason couldn't help but laugh at that. He really was going to Paradise though wasn't he? An entirely new world filled with life that no human had ever seen before, and he was one of the lucky ten that got chosen for the trip. The computer chimed in interrupting his thoughts, “Approaching optimal speed vector." Jason slid the lever controlling the main engine back down, “Yeah, yeah."

He stared out of the windows before him, the planet he had grown up was already so small, so distant. Yet with all the troubles that had occurred on the planet it seemed so peaceful from here.

“Ascension please stand by for Cryogenic Storage."

Jason yelled out, “God Almighty Houston! Don't scare a man like that!" Chazz unbuckled his seat belt and began to make his way to the end of the ship where the pods were kept, “Sorry Major, but we need to preserve as much power as possible. Your pod is specially designed to be remotely activated from our end, so once you get that pod shut just sit back and relax."

He nodded again to excited to care that they couldn't see it as a response. He rest his back against the human molded shape inside of the pod. Each one had been made specifically for the Ascension crew. He leaned forward grasping the iron handle on the pod's door and pulled it down towards him until the hissing of air pressuring began.

“Now one last thing before we put you under, all your vitals are being monitored down on the ground, but once you get around Jupiter these readings will be too unreliable. After that if anything goes wrong you are on your own."

Another nod, “All of us aboard this ship are well aware of the risks Houston."

The electronic locks on the door sprung shut, and a liquid began to fill the tank. Jason reached for the oxygen mask in his pod and struggled to strap it around his neck. The liquid was freezing, but a necessary part of the process. He listened to the sound of his breaths as he was enveloped in the strange fluid. Then everything was dark.