Cryopods
Cryopods preserve people across long intervals, allowing staggered shifts and, according to Thurman, the same few people to retain power.
Story so far
The coffin-like units hold living occupants in rows reaching toward curved walls. Their panels identify sleepers by first names, arranged alphabetically even when names repeat; the orange-lit invented names are intended to sever ties to the past. Empty units stand at the room’s far end. With no soil for burial in Silo One, pods also store the dead.
Screens show names, temperatures, and other readouts. Awakening raises the temperature toward thirty-one degrees Celsius, with the lid releasing at thirty; resetting the temperature dial does not halt an awakening already underway. Dr. Wilson says closing the lid after turning down the temperature puts an occupant back under. Donald uses a code, red button, and dial to warm Charlotte’s pod, and the unit containing Thurman’s dead body continues humming after Donald closes it.
Blood discovered during servicing later links a pod’s exterior to its assigned DNA record. Darcy reports that blood inside matches a partial executive-file record and says the injured occupant was connected to the functioning unit before he was shot. Thurman credits the pods with preserving the same leadership across shifts. Dmitry concludes that the Atlanta group uses cryogenic units to stagger shifts over five hundred years.
Appearance
Coffin-like units with frosted viewing panes and small illuminated displays showing names, temperatures, and other readings.
Role
Units for long-term preservation and staggered awakening.
Sources — 23 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.
- A medical technician discovers blood on a cryopod lid while servicing a neighboring pod.
- The blood on the cryopod’s exterior matches the DNA record assigned to that pod.
- Darcy reports that the blood inside the pod matches a partial record in the executive files.
- Darcy says the injured man was already connected to the functioning pod before he was shot.
- Thurman credits cryopods with allowing the same few people to retain power across shifts.
- Dmitry concludes that cryogenic units allow the Atlanta group to stagger shifts over five hundred years.