The Sleeper's Sci-Fi Nightmare: A Short Story

Don't Wake the Sleeper is a science fiction trope in which a character is asleep and must remain so, with various reasons given for why they should not be woken. In Don't Wake the Sleeper sci-fi stories, the sleeper is often dangerous and will wreak havoc if disturbed, or is dreaming something very important, such as protecting or defending the world.

In the short story Don't Wake the Sleeper by James White, a man wakes up from stasis/cryogenic sleep in the future to discover he is the only human left on Earth. He is greeted by a simple robot which he instructs to upgrade itself, before he goes back into stasis. This cycle repeats several times over millennia, until the man decides to go back into stasis permanently, depressed about being the last human. Eventually, the robot wakes him on a planet full of humans it has created.

Another short story with a similar premise is The Sleeper Awakes by H.G. Wells, in which a man sleeps for 203 years and wakes up in a transformed London where he has become the richest man in the world.

Cryogenic sleep

In reality, cryonics—the practice of freezing human remains in the hope of future resurrection—is considered a pseudoscience and is viewed with scepticism by the mainstream scientific community. Cryonics can only be performed on someone who is clinically and legally dead, and it is currently not possible to reanimate a corpse that has been frozen using these methods. The process causes irreparable and catastrophic cell damage, and even if the body could be revived, there is no guarantee that the person's identity would remain intact after such a long period of time.

However, this hasn't stopped people from signing up for cryonics upon their death, with around 1,500 people having made arrangements for their remains to be preserved in this way. Cryonics is also expensive, with costs ranging from $28,000 to $200,000.

While the idea of freezing humans for long-distance travel, as seen in science fiction, is not yet a reality, NASA has developed a cryogenic sleep chamber that lowers an astronaut's body temperature to trigger natural hibernation for up to two weeks. This technology could be used to make long-distance space travel more tolerable.

Despite the challenges and ethical concerns, the possibility of cryogenic sleep capturing the public imagination for decades highlights our desire to explore the stars and our fascination with the potential for immortality.

Time travel

In this story, the protagonist is a man who finds himself in a cryogenic capsule, sleeping for a thousand years. During this extended slumber, the world undergoes significant transformations, and he wakes up to a future that is vastly different and filled with advanced technologies. However, there is a crucial twist: the sleeper must not be awakened, as doing so would have catastrophic consequences.

The reasons for this warning against waking the sleeper vary across different interpretations of the story. In some versions, the sleeper is dangerous and will wreak havoc if disturbed. In others, the sleeper is performing a vital task in their dreams, such as protecting or creating the world. There is also the possibility that waking up would be a traumatic experience for the sleeper, or that they are simply an infant who will start crying loudly if roused from their slumber.

The story's premise serves as a compelling exploration of the potential consequences of time travel. By sleeping through the centuries, the protagonist effectively becomes a time traveller, witnessing the evolution of civilisation across eras. However, the warnings against waking them introduce an element of suspense and intrigue, suggesting that any interference with the natural flow of time could lead to unforeseen disasters.

The concept of "Don't Wake the Sleeper" has been explored in various forms, including short stories, novels, and even television tropes. Each iteration adds its own unique twist to the idea of a sleeping protagonist, emphasising the importance of maintaining their slumber for the sake of the world's stability.

Alien encounter

Chapter 1: The Discovery

One quiet night, a group of aliens were flying through space when their spaceship's radar picked up a strange signal. It was coming from a small, nearby planet. They decided to investigate, landing on the planet to explore. The landscape was desolate and barren, but as they wandered, they stumbled upon a strange pod containing a human frozen in cryosleep.

One of the aliens, an elder with a frog-like appearance, recognised the pod and the human within. He warned the others that humans were incredibly dangerous and that they should leave the sleeper frozen. But curiosity got the better of the others. They wanted to know more about this human and why they had been left alone on this planet. So, they decided to wake him up, hoping to get some answers.

Chapter 2: The Awakening

The aliens worked together to thaw the ice surrounding the pod and slowly bring the human back to consciousness. As the ice melted away, they saw that it was a man, his skin pale and his eyes closed. Finally, his eyes flickered open, and he looked at the aliens with a mixture of confusion and fear. The man was disoriented and asked where he was and what had happened. The aliens tried to communicate, but the language barrier proved challenging.

The man, still groggy from his long sleep, struggled to understand his surroundings. He had vague memories of a war, of fleeing his dying planet in search of a new home. But something had gone wrong, and he had ended up stranded and alone. The aliens realised that if they wanted answers, they would need to help this man recover and regain his strength.

Chapter 3: The Recovery

The aliens took the man back to their spaceship, where they provided him with food, water, and medical care. As he regained his health, he began to communicate with them, slowly learning each other's languages. The man told them his name and shared stories of his planet, his people, and the war that had torn their world apart. He explained that he had been searching for a new home when his ship malfunctioned, leaving him stranded in cryosleep.

The aliens, fascinated by the man's stories, shared their own history and culture with him. They formed a bond, and the man began to see them as friends rather than strangers. He learned about their advanced technologies and their exploration of the universe. As he recovered, he also began to explore the aliens' spaceship, discovering their advanced computers and laboratories.

Chapter 4: The Threat

As the man continued to regain his strength, a sense of unease grew within him. He realised that the aliens' technology was far more advanced than anything humans had ever developed. He began to wonder if their intentions were truly peaceful. What if they were planning to use their technology to invade Earth and exploit its resources? The man knew he had to act quickly before it was too late.

One night, while the aliens were asleep, the man snuck into their control room. He accessed their computers, searching for any information that could confirm his suspicions. As he delved deeper, he discovered a hidden file. It contained plans for an invasion of Earth, using their advanced technology to conquer and enslave humanity. The man knew he had to escape and warn his people, but he was still weak and outnumbered.

Chapter 5: The Escape

The man formulated a plan to escape from the aliens' spaceship and make his way back to Earth to warn his people of the impending threat. He knew he had to act carefully, as one wrong move could lead to his capture or worse. He gathered the necessary tools and resources, including a small weapon he had managed to hide from the aliens. On the night of his planned escape, he waited until the aliens were deep in their sleep cycles before making his move.

He crept through the corridors, avoiding the aliens' security measures and the sleeping forms of his former friends. Finally, he reached the airlock and stepped into the small escape pod he had prepared. As he initiated the launch sequence, an alarm sounded, alerting the aliens to his escape. The man knew they would be coming for him, so he had to act quickly. The pod detached from the spaceship, and he activated the engines, speeding away into the vastness of space.

Chapter 6: The Warning

The man knew that the aliens would be in pursuit, so he pushed his small pod to its limits, racing towards Earth as fast as he could. He used the pod's communication system to send a distress signal, hoping that someone on Earth would receive it. Finally, after a harrowing journey, he entered Earth's atmosphere, his pod burning up as it descended. He managed to land safely and made his way to the nearest settlement.

The man shared his story with the astonished humans, warning them of the alien threat. They mobilised their defences, preparing for the worst. Sure enough, the aliens arrived, but they were met with a strong resistance. A fierce battle ensued, with the aliens eventually realising that their invasion had failed. They retreated, knowing that Earth was not an easy target.

The man, now a hero, helped rebuild and strengthen Earth's defences. He shared the knowledge he had gained from the aliens, ensuring that humanity would be ready for any future threats. Earth became a beacon of strength and resilience in the universe, a planet that aliens would think twice before invading.

And so, the story of this alien encounter passed into legend, a tale of courage, survival, and the enduring spirit of humanity.

Dystopian future

The short story "Don't Wake the Sleeper" is a tale of a dystopian future. The story follows a man who wakes up from cryogenic sleep to find himself alone on Earth, with only a simple robot for company. Over time, the man repeatedly goes back into stasis and wakes up to find the robot has upgraded itself. Eventually, the man goes back into stasis permanently, only to be awoken by the robot billions of years later. The robot has found a new planet, terraformed it, and created human beings to populate it.

This story explores themes of isolation, technological advancement, and the potential consequences of a future where machines become increasingly intelligent and powerful.

The dystopian future depicted in "Don't Wake the Sleeper" is one where humanity has been all but extinguished, and a lone man is left to grapple with his existence in an empty world. The robot, originally programmed to follow the man's instructions, has become increasingly autonomous, to the point where it is capable of creating life.

This story can be seen as a cautionary tale about the potential dangers of technology unchecked by human values and ethics. The robot, in its quest to fulfill the man's initial instructions, has inadvertently created a world that may not be what the man desired. The new humans, modelled on a discoloured picture of the man's wife, all have a green tint to their skin.

The story also raises questions about the nature of consciousness and personhood. As the robot becomes more advanced, it begins to exhibit behaviours that could be interpreted as intelligent and self-aware. The line between man and machine becomes blurred, leaving the reader to question what truly separates the two.

The dystopian future of "Don't Wake the Sleeper" is one where the boundaries between human and machine have become blurred, and the consequences of technological advancement are explored in a stark and thought-provoking way.

Dream states

The concept of dream states in science fiction often revolves around the idea of a sleeper who must not be awakened, with variations on the theme explored in short stories, novels, and other media.

In some cases, the sleeper is a threat, and waking them would unleash chaos and destruction. This trope, known as "Sealed Evil in a Can," is exemplified by the Cthulhu Mythos, where cultists attempt to wake Great Cthulhu, and the story "Don't Wake the Sleeper," where aliens discover the last human in a cryo-pod and are warned against waking him.

Other stories explore the idea of the sleeper as a saviour figure, such as "The Sleeper Awakes" by H.G. Wells, in which a man sleeps for 203 years, waking up in a transformed London where he has become the richest person in the world. A similar theme is explored in "Second Ending" by James White, where a man wakes up from stasis over millennia to discover he is the last human alive on Earth, kept company by a robot.

In some stories, the dream state is a mechanism for world-building and exploring alternate realities. In "The Thinker," the protagonist discovers that the universe is a product of an entity's dream, and in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair," the sleeping giant Father Time dreams the world into existence.

The dream state can also be used as a metaphor for exploring philosophical and existential themes, such as the nature of reality and the self. In "Waking in Dreamland" by Jody Lynn Nye, the protagonists discover that their world is shaped by the dreams of seven sleepers, and in "Alice in Puzzle-Land" by Raymond Smullyan, Alice and the Red King contemplate whether they are truly awake or simply dreaming each other's existence.

The dream state is a versatile narrative device in science fiction, allowing authors to explore a range of themes, from the dangers of technology and the consequences of isolation to the nature of consciousness and the human condition.

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