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Cookie.’
    ‘Hey, I found her.’
    ‘Stop clowning,’ Howe growled, ‘you have seen a naked woman before.’
    ‘Aye plenty, but never one that flawless.’  Cookie moved on, ‘here is another sir; same again.’
    Howe joined him, ‘what do you mean Cookie?’
    ‘Look at them both sir; flawless, perfect.’
    Howe got it, ‘god yes; the guy too looks straight out of a magazine.  Perfect specimens.  Babes said they were breeding them on their home planet, they could still be alive.  Babes how long will these units work for, are these people in suspended animation and could they still be alive?’
    She answered so all the men in the room could hear, ‘those units are fairly standard throughout the universe.  They are often used if a journey is going to take years or more to reach a particular destination, they will last a hundred years before requiring maintenance.  Hold your hand up to the side panel Colonel.’  He obeyed.  It took her a few seconds.  ‘The woman in that chamber is still alive.’
    Cookie had moved on and suddenly burst out laughing, ‘you have to see this sir.’  Cookie wiped that last of the frost away with a sleeve.
    Howe caught up with him and his jaw dropped, ‘oh you have to be shitting me!’ 
    Cookie burst out laughing, ‘he looks pissed doesn’t he?’
    Howe suddenly grinned, ‘he does doesn’t he.  I will call the captain.’
    Ten minutes later a very pale Steven arrived, his colour began to return as he stared in at the figure within the glass in wonder, ‘wow, he looks pissed.’  The men all laughed.
    Howe was grinning, ‘he was the only one dressed; the rest are all naked; men and women and even number, four of each. I would describe them as perfect specimens of humanity; then there is this guy.’
    Steven reached up and ran his fingers over the thick glass like surface, ‘he cracked the glass, another layer has been welded on top.  That is an American uniform isn’t it colonel?’
    ‘Yes sir, I would say his smock is late forties, fifty’s era.  The shirt underneath I would say was older; Second World War and if you come to the side you can just see ribbons on the shirt.’
    Steven did as bid and squinted, ‘that’s a lot of medals colonel; do you recognise any of them?’
    ‘Medal of honour, Normandy, purple heart, looks like campaign medals mostly; can’t really say for sure.’
    ‘He is a big fella, it looks like he was a wake when he was stuffed in here.’  Inside the cylinder stood a soldier dressed in full battle regalia with a snarl of hatred on his face.  ‘He is obviously a sergeant; do you know what regiment colonel?’
    ‘1 st Infantry division sir.  What do you want to do sir?’
    ‘I want to wake him up and find out what the hell happened.  By the looks of it he will be far more compos-mentis than any of the others.’
    Howe scratched his head and grinned, ‘I can’t fault you on that assumption sir, but I think we had better all stand back.’
    Steven ran his eye over Howe, ‘you still have your uniform don’t you colonel?’
    ‘You mean my combat uniform sir?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘You think it might be better if he is greeted by someone in a uniform he can recognise sir?’
    Steven nodded, ‘he might not recognise the uniform straight off colonel but I don’t think badges of ranks and things like that have changed much since his days.’
    ‘They haven’t at all sir.’
    ‘Then go get changed please.’
    Half an hour later Steven began the sequence that would release the mad looking sergeant from his prison.  Steven expected the man to collapse in a heap after being in stasis for so long.  He couldn’t have been more wrong.  With a mighty roar the sergeant burst free from the unit.   Steven was forced to duck as the glass door went flying and the sergeant came leaping out.
    ‘You dirty stinking rotten…’
    Howe’s voice snapped with authority, ‘front and centre sergeant.’
    The man froze for a second his eyes