I Was Thawed Out 1,000 Years in the Future. Men Were Extinct. ~Apparently, I’m Being Forced into Breeding Sex by Lewd Beautiful Girls in Skin-Tight Suits to Preserve the Human Race~ - 3

Chapter 3: Ground Drop Unit Alpha: The Frozen Man

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A reconnaissance drone had mapped the surrounding terrain in advance, unfurling a map in real time. The helmets worn by the ground exploration unit were equipped with transparent displays, onto which augmented visual information was projected. With Alisa at the front, the unit pushed through the ruins, steadily expanding the exploration area. The team extended their awareness in all directions, nerves taut so they could respond to anything that might appear at any moment. To the women advancing with guns at the ready, even the pitch-black piles of rubble looked ominous.

“Obviously, everything’s completely wrecked.”

One of the members muttered this while prodding a nearby machine with the tip of her rifle. Even though she hadn’t put much force into it, the rusted object crumbled apart, losing its shape. Despite being called ruins, there were hardly any traces of everyday life to be seen. Everything was scorched, half returned to soil. It was a sight that made one keenly feel both the horrific remnants of war and the powerful force of nature trying to erase them.

“Do you think it’s really here?”

Another voice exposed unease. Sensing the slight drop in morale around her, Alisa turned back and answered with forced confidence.

“We will find it. It’s a fact that the 188th Exploration Unit detected an old-era emergency signal somewhere around here.”

“Yes… you’re right…”

She had meant her words as encouragement, but the effect was weaker than she had hoped. Alisa and her team were the 264th Exploration Unit. The last time the sought-after beacon had been found was nearly eighty years ago. Since then, no exploration unit had even managed to detect an emergency signal.

“We’ve come this far. We’re just one step away, so let’s keep going.”

“Yes!”

In the end, she wrapped it up with a clichéd line. Forcing herself onward, Alisa led the team toward the massive tower visible even from afar—the main hospital building of the former medical city.

“Commander! Please look at that!”

Advancing nervously through ruins that could collapse at any moment, illuminating their surroundings with lights, the group moved through a narrow corridor filled with a stifling atmosphere. Then a bright voice rang out, as if to dispel it. All eyes turned toward the speaker, and then to where a small-statured girl pointed with her gun barrel.

“A floor plan…! Nice find, Lamina!”

“Hehe. Thank you!”

It was a large map of the facility mounted on the wall. Though heavily weathered, some parts were still legible. If analyzed, it might offer clues to their destination. Alisa immediately called over the subordinate in charge of information analysis and had it photographed and recorded.

“I’ll cross-reference it with the building’s three-dimensional structure. I’ve brought dictionary packages for old human languages as well, but… good. It matches Japanese.”

“Alright. Let’s start decoding it.”

After a thousand years, every language changed. Humanity, having spread into space, found language barriers cumbersome, and now a unified galactic language was commonly used. During Earth’s civilization era, despite being such a small and narrow world, countless languages had coexisted. Only a handful of old human languages survived into the present. Fortunately, the characters used on the hospital map were ones the OCR system could recognize.

“Most of these are patient rooms. Here are operating theaters and offices, and this looks like a pharmaceutical storage area.”

While performing language analysis and logical diagram completion, the analyst added information to the map. It was instantly shared with Alisa’s headset, and she couldn’t suppress the softening of her expression at the results.

“…There don’t seem to be any facilities related to cryogenic sleep.”

“I see… It never goes that smoothly, does it?”

The crucial target still hadn’t been found. What Alisa and her team were searching for was a male of the old human species, someone free of genetic contamination and capable of producing robust sperm. For certain reasons, more than 99.999% of the current human population consisted of women. The remaining few men were barely kept alive by life-support systems and had lost all reproductive capability. Even now, parthenogenesis was impossible, and only rare frozen sperm served as hope for producing the next generation.

Simply put, humanity stood on the brink of extinction. Even though humanity now numbered in the hundreds of billions and controlled vast reaches of the galaxy, without the birth of a next generation, all that prosperity would be fleeting. The fate of humanity rested squarely on Alisa and her team’s shoulders.

“Commander, the reconnaissance drones have completed scanning the entire area.”

Before the hospital map analysis was finished, the spatial scan by the dispersed drones was complete. However, the reporting member’s expression was grim.

“Any survivors, or clues…?”

“None found.”

With that single sentence, the unit’s morale collapsed. After a journey of a thousand light-years, the hope they sought had turned out to be a mirage. Some members collapsed to their knees and began to cry. Alisa wanted to cry as well, but her pride as a commander wouldn’t allow it. She also stubbornly refused to give up hope.

If Search Point One had come up empty, then they had to Search Point Two. The food loaded into their drop pods would allow them to operate for about a month, but the fuel was only enough for the round trip. Extending their ground search would turn their ticket into a one-way journey.

Everyone sensed death looming.

And then—

“C-Commander!”

The analyst screamed. When Alisa turned toward her, she saw her pointing at the hospital map with wide eyes, trembling.

“What is it?”

“T-the basement. The reconnaissance drones only scanned the surface level. But there’s a facility underground! A shelter!”

“—!”

Only a few people on the team fully grasped the meaning of those words. Shelters were underground. And shelters contained things that needed to be protected. For example, cryogenic sleep systems.

“Plot a route immediately! We’re heading to the shelter!”

“Y-yes!”

A path appeared on the map. Alisa got the team moving and sprinted forward. They ran through the tangled corridors, until a sturdy door blocked their way. A guardian that had endured a thousand years of wind and rain.

“Can you blow it?”

“I’ll try!”

An engineer dropped her pack and took out explosives. She connected the detonator and activated it. With a minimal explosion, cracks formed in the wall holding the iron door, and the heavy metal collapsed under its own weight. Diving through the rising dust, they found a winding staircase leading underground. Suppressing her impatience, Alisa descended one step at a time. The silence was so profound it felt as though she could hear the others holding their breath.

“Can you read what this says?”

“It says ‘Primary Evacuation Shelter.’”

Another door stood at the bottom of the stairs. Seeing the words carved into it, Alisa’s chest swelled with expectation. Once again, the engineer moved and breached the door.

“The power—”

“The facility is still alive!”

Inside the dark room, faint lights glimmered here and there. The purification systems were running, and the air inside was clean. While the rest of the facility had aged beyond recognition, this place alone continued operating on an independent system for a thousand years.

A large light was brought in to illuminate the room. At the revealed interior… Alisa and the others were struck speechless.

“N-no way…”

“This… can’t be real…”

It was a decayed ruin. A devastated room no different from the others. Metal coffins were lined up in neat rows. They were old-era cryogenic sleep pods, but every single one of them was open.

“Eek—”

Someone screamed. Illuminated by the light were crumbled human skeletons. Full sets of bones lay collapsed as if they had clawed at the walls. Such remains were scattered everywhere.

“Don’t tell me… everyone…”

The cryogenic sleep systems had existed. The systems were still running. But something unexpected had happened. The cryogenic systems had executed their thawing sequences without waiting for the shelter to be opened. As a result, the old humans awakened from their coffins only to realize they were trapped in another coffins. Entrusting their hopes to the future, they had gone to sleep, only to die at the edge of despair. The claw marks carved into the walls were horrifying. Someone retched.

“No… no… This can’t be… We came all this way…”

If only they had arrived a little earlier. If only their arrival or the shelter’s supplies had been enough, they could have saved them and preserved humanity’s lifeline. Alisa’s heart broke. The despair that lay just beyond a sliver of hope crushed her. She lost her balance and collapsed.

And then…

“…Huh?”

Alisa looked at the coffin she had been slumped against. It was one of the cryogenic sleep pods. But unlike the others, its lid was still closed. Only one—just one. Her ice-cold heart began to race.

“S-someone, come here! Th-this!”

Even in her panic, she shouted. Her subordinates rushed over at once, and upon seeing the sealed cryogenic pod, they let out cries like screams. Thawing was attempted immediately. There was only one chance. Failure meant there would be nothing left. Even if it succeeded, if the person inside was a woman, it would all be over. Still, they could only gamble on that slender hope. Alisa and the others watched with prayerful intensity. The engineers handling the procedure were tense as well. Humanity’s fate rested on their fingertips.

“—Opening.”

A trembling voice echoed. Alisa moved closer to the cryogenic pod. The thawing sequence executed, and someone who had been frozen in an instant was restored in an instant—without cellular damage, completely returned to normal.

Please. Please. As long as he’s alive, life-support systems can handle the rest. So please—be alive.

Everyone in the Alpha Unit prayed. And then…

Pshh.

The seal was released. The lid slowly opened, white coolant vapor spilling out. Once fully detached, someone kicked it aside. Alisa peered inside. There lay one old human.

“—A man!”

A naked man with prominent cheekbones. Confirming his groin revealed a penis, something no woman possessed. His body looked like skin stretched over bones, but the indicators attached to the cryogenic pod recorded clear signs of life. A medic immediately sprang into action. Medical nanomachines and nutrients were injected, repairing the damage to his body. The faint biological signals gradually grew stronger.

Alisa’s heart pounded.

“…W-where… is this…?”

His eyelids fluttered open slightly. Light returned to black eyes, eyes just like Alisa’s. At that moment, tears streamed down Alisa’s face, born from the emotions surging up from the depths of her chest.

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