Should we wake him?

Two days ago, we reviewed how Rei, Rome and MINIMCOM discovered Captain Keller's sarcophagus floating in a debris field in space at the edge of the Tau Ceti system. They had no choice. They had to go out and recover it. It would have been immoral to do otherwise. And we must be cognizant of the fact that Captain Keller became a major force in the remainder of Rome's Revolution. In fact, Captain Keller was the central "villain" in The Ark Lords. He even had a small role in Rome's Evolution.

The whole adventure was somewhat traumatic for Rome because it was truly the first time she was ever alone. As a connected Vuduri, this would have been unthinkable in her former life. Luckily, it did not take Rei and MINIMCOM long to retrieve the Captain. It took Rome's attention away from her loneliness. As soon as they retrieved the sarcophagus, Rei wanted to reanimate the Captain. MINIMCOM had already informed Rei that he did not think Rei should awaken him.

     “Romey, do you think I should thaw him out here or wait until we get him back to our ship?” Rei asked.
     “While you were out retrieving the sarcophagus, I have considered this,” Rome said. “I believe MINIMCOM is right. I do not think you should reanimate him until we arrive at Deucado.”
     “But, but,” Rei sputtered. “It’s Captain Keller. He’s my commander.”
     “Still,” Rome said firmly, “I do not think it is wise.”
     “No? Why not? I think I have to. I mean, I don’t even know if he is still alive,” Rei said then caught himself. His reply sounded too sharp, even to himself.
     “If you will give me a moment,” Rome said gently.
     Rei started over, “I know I’m overreacting. I’m not challenging you, Romey. Oh, maybe I am. My mind is reeling right now.”
     “You are not overreacting,” Rome said. “This is the link to your past. It is understandable.”
     “OK,” Rei said, taking a deep breath. “Explain.”
     “There are several reasons,” Rome replied. “First, assuming he is still alive, should he need medical attention, we are not equipped to provide it.”
     “Oh, yeah,” Rei said, deflated. “I hadn’t thought of that. I guess that makes sense. What else?”
     “The second reason is more trivial,” answered Rome. “Our living quarters and support system were designed for two people. Adding a third would stress it. I do not mean terminally but it would be to the edge of our capacity. We would have to rig additional sleeping quarters and so forth. We only have another month to go. I think we should wait.”
     “Yeah, I see your point,” Rei replied. “And MINIMCOM, you think we should leave him frozen too?”
     “He has been in that container for over 1300 years,” answered MINIMCOM. “Remaining frozen one additional month should make no difference.”
     “But where you keep your memrons, don’t they leak heat?” Rei asked. “I remember back in OMCOM’s core, it was really warm. Won’t he thaw?”
     “The polymer film that lines my memron storage compartment is opaque to microwave and infrared. The memrons are perfectly insulated. I normally keep the entire cargo compartment depressurized so the sarcophagus will remain at exactly the same temperature as if it was still in space. It will not make any difference to Captain Keller and this way we can decrease the likelihood of any unforeseen events that another crew member would introduce.”
     “I don’t know what you mean,” Rei said. “What unforeseen events?”
     “He is an unknown. Look how long it took you to orient yourself to this timeframe. While it appears simple and smooth, our journey is extremely hazardous. Thawing your captain would introduce yet another variable into an already complex situation. I believe your expression is ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’ which in this case is even more apropos.”

Rome's rationality won the day and I'm sure it was for the best.