In a darkened room, a light suddenly came on. 8 tubes about 2 meters tall with glass doors illuminated a blueish glow. The doors opened to reveal 4 men and 4 women wearing underwear and face masks. They began to stir, and eventually, one by one, they emerged out of the stasis pods.
Lockers to one side of the room displayed the name of the individuals.
After dressing, one of the men pressed a lit red button on the side of a large flat monitor attached th the far wall. It blinked into life as the small party sat down around a table.
On the screen, a middle aged balding man sat facing them.
"Greeting comrades. My name is General Commolski. I have brought you out of stasis because the war is over."
He rose a hand
"But before you get excited, I'm afraid this is not good news. In short, we lost. We lost very badly. You eight, are all that remains of our great nation. I'm sorry."
There was a gasp of dis-belief in the room.
"The last thing our great President said, was to instruct you to go ahead with operation `Phoenix`. Rebuild our population and start again. If need be, surrender to our victors. You will not be harmed, that I can assure you.
Go, and be free. Live. Continue our race.
Goodbye my friends."
The screen went blank, except for the message in white lettering at the bottom.
"Message received 19 years, 4 months, 3 days, 12.5 hours ago."
8000 miles outside Earth's orbit, a space station rotated slowly. In big bold letters on the side of the hull: U.S.S. Horizon.
Along side it was the American flag.