Cryopods
Cryopods preserve living sleepers across shifts and also hold the dead; Thurman’s pod continues humming after Donald closes it over his body.
Story so far
Rows of coffin-like pods hold living people behind frosted glass. Their displays list first names, including duplicates; the invented names are intended to separate sleepers from their pasts. Empty pods are stored at the far end of the room. Because Silo One has no soil for burial, pods also store its dead.
A screen at the base displays a name, temperature, and other readouts. Waking involves raising the temperature toward thirty-one degrees Celsius, with the lid releasing at thirty degrees. Turning the dial back does not halt an awakening already underway; Dr. Wilson says lowering the temperature and closing the lid will put the occupant back under. Donald uses his code, a red button, and a dial to warm Charlotte’s pod. After his confrontation with Paul Thurman, Thurman’s pod continues humming with the dead man inside.
Appearance
Coffin-like containers with frosted viewing glass and small orange-lit displays; a screen at the base shows a name, temperature, and readouts.
Role
The pods preserve sleepers between awakenings and provide storage for bodies in Silo One.
Relationships
Sources — 17 recorded facts, by chapter
- The coffins hold living people in rows extending toward distant curved walls.
- The coffin Troy wakes in has frosted glass near his face.
- Cryopod displays identify their occupants by first names only.
- The sleeping occupants are arranged in name order, including duplicate first names.
- Troy believes the names on the cryopod panels are invented.
- Troy finds that frost has recently been wiped from the pane of a woman’s cryopod.
- Empty cryopods are kept at the far end of the room.
- The pod holding Troy opens with a hiss of air.
- The pods have small orange-lit displays showing invented names intended to separate the occupants from their pasts.
- Pods are used to store the dead because Silo One has no soil for burial.
- The pod has a screen at its base displaying a name, temperature, and readouts.
- A pod’s waking process raises its temperature to thirty-one degrees Celsius.
- A pod’s lid releases when the temperature reaches thirty degrees Celsius.
- Resetting a pod’s temperature dial does not interrupt a waking process already underway.
- Dr. Wilson says closing a pod’s lid after turning its temperature down puts its occupant back under.
- Charlotte’s pod warms after Donald enters his code, presses the red button and turns a dial.
- Thurman’s cryopod continues humming after Donald closes its lid over his dead body.