First Time Off Ice

20250503

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

Gabby blinked and blearily wrapped her hands around the steaming mug of coffee. The post-cryogen fugue making every motion and thought a struggle through treacle. “I… sorry, w-what?”
“I said, don’t worry, we’ve all been there.” Seth repeated patiently. “First time doing cryo?”
“Y-yeah…”
“Figured. First ‘ice-lag’ is always the worst.” Seth sipped at his own mug. “Don’t strain yourself, ok? We can delay the handover until your body’s rebalanced. Especially since Diana’s an old hand, so her and Natasha will probably be swapped by tomorrow.”
“Sorry.” Gabby mumbled. Second-guessing - and somewhat regretting - her blithe confidence that she could do this from before the flight started.
Seth tsked. “Don’t be. Like I said, we’ve all been there. You just got turned into a popsicle and thawed, of course you need some time to recover. Usually takes ‘bout half a dozen freeze-thaw cycles before your body accepts this is a thing now.”
“Ugh.” Gabby shuddered and clutched the mug tight.
“Hey, don’t worry, after this first one it’s all a downhill ride. Each is a lil easier than the last.”
“Good.” Gabby gingerly sipped at her coffee. Her body felt like it couldn’t quite remember how the digestive system worked. Like that time she’d been so sick she couldn’t eat for six days, only moreso yet without other symptoms.
“Yeah, I’d recommend sticking with the soups for a few days.” Seth pulled a face. “And, uh, make sure you know where the lavs are at all times. Word to the wise and all.”
“Oof. Thanks.” Gabby managed a smile. “The stuff they don’t tell you when you sign up.”
“I mean, they do, but you have to wade through twenty pages of boffin-waffle.” Seth rolled his eyes. “And personally, I couldn’t figure what ‘post-cryogenic digestive perturbance’ meant until… after the fact.”
They both snickered. Even in the depths of space surrounded by technology so advanced it was downright magical, poop jokes prevailed.
“Alright. I think I can manage the easy handover parts.” Gabby pulled a ‘slab over. “Let’s get the damned forms done.”
“Amen, sister.” Seth plucked the stylus from behind his ear. “Alright. Blah blah blah, company policy, blahdiddy blah…”

Prompt was “Write about a character who has recently been brought back after being cryogenically frozen”.
[I suspect this was meant to be a temporally displaced person story, but my brain immediately went to the scifi trope of using cryo for long-haul space flights.]