Randy sat alone at the central table of the small living quarters.    Behind him his bed remained unmade.    In front of him a holo generated diversion program danced about, attempting to stimulate him with a challenge of wits.    Pieces flitted on a Kodder board, removing opponent pieces before taking their place.    
Player's Turn.    
Randy touched the images, moving several pieces before ending his turn.    In response, the AI made a single move and a despondent tone chimed.
Player's Shoof Overwhelmed.    You Lose.   
"Bah!"    Randy uttered in disgust.    
Start Another Game?    
"Off."    Randy spoke curtly and the image dissipated.    He finished up his meal of dehydrated eggs and a bland nutrition bar, choking it down with a packet of liquid protein supplements.    Sitting back he turned his attention out the oval window where a large swath of stars spread out beyond.    A chromatic nebula hovered in nearly the same place its been since his shift had begun, a constant reminder of how long this trip was going to take.    He held his paw out at arms length, using his thumb as a gauge between the nebula and the edge of the window.    He sighed.    In the last month it's moved maybe a hair's breadth.    This was his fifth year-long shift of ten, meaning the trip was only at the halfway mark.    The ship wouldn't reach its destination for another 250 years.    
The door slid open and a cube-shaped mechanon with the lettering "B-9" on its side floated in.    Its single eye swung around and fixed on Randy.    
"Good morning, Chief Custodian."    The hoverbot's cheery voice greeted as it went to the bed, fixing the sheets with slender mechanical arms.    "How was your breakfast today?"    
"Dry and barely edible.    Same as yesterday."    
"I apologize the sustenance is not to your liking."    It said without changing its bubbly tone.    
"Bix, you tell me that every day and the food never gets better.    At least a coffee would be nice."
"Regrettably, there is a level 2 ration schedule and there is no further allotment of coffee for this shift. I informed you of that earlier in your shift, but you chose to drink coffee twice a day anyway."    Bix quickly cleared the table, dumping the food packets and drink bag into a slot in the wall.    "It is advisable to partake in physical exercise.    In the past two weeks your weight has increased by 1.3 kilograms and you have lost 0.9% muscle tone."    
"Alright, stop being such a mom.    I'll go to the Activity Center."    
"That is acceptable."    
  
Randy left the living quarters and entered the hallway.    Lights behind him automatically switched off and those in front of him switched on.    The Activity Center was a few doors down, right next to the bathroom.    Pressing the button on the frame the door slid open, revealing a small room completely barren of any furniture.    The only item in the room was a framed, yellowing poster on the wall.    There was an image of a fur standing on a beach, his arms held up in triumph.    The quote "Play hard, work hard" was under the image.    
"Good morning, Chief Custodian."    A voice in the room chimed pleasantly.    "What activity are you interested in today?"    
"Bike."    Randy ordered as he hung his shirt on a hook.    A stationary bike rose up from under the floor in the center of the room.    
"To reduce the chance of injury, it is recommended to stretch before undertaking any physical activity."    The room suggested.
Randy got on the bike.    "I'll risk it."    
"How long will this session be?"
"Sixty minutes." 
"What difficulty rating would you prefer?"
"Five."
"What scenario would you prefer?"    
"Random."    
"Scenario alpine road selected."
All around the walls shimmered and a holographic image took their place. Before him a winding concrete road with a cliff face on one side and a drop-off on the other.    In the distance there were snow capped mountains with a haze of clouds rolling over the top.    A few small patches of the hologram fluttered weakly, disrupting the immersion and indicating some of the projectors were in danger of burning out. The lighting of the room increased to simulate sunlight and the circulation fans buffeted him with a mock breeze.    The hiss of wind through pine trees and the occasional twittering of birds emanated from the room's audio.    Randy started to pedal and the holograph around him moved in response, the sound of fictional tires on a road attempted to enhance the illusion.    
"Would you care for any music?"    The room asked.
"Hush mode."    Randy requested and the room softly beeped, leaving him with the ambiance of the holograph.    The bike altered its angle and pedal difficulty in accordance to the road, becoming easier on the down slope and more difficult going up.    A sequence of numbers floated ahead of him, indicating his speed, distance of travel, heart rate, and wattage output.    Randy tried to maintain his wattage at 220 to get the most out of the workout.    
  
"Good job!    Your distance today was 31.86 kilometers."    The voice praised as Randy stepped off the bike.    "Your 76th best distance."    
Randy walked toward the door and a panel slid open next to it.    Inside was a towel and a water bottle.    He wiped his face off and hydrated before grabbing his shirt off the hook.    The stationary bike lowered back into the floor as he exited the Activity Center.    Stripping off the rest of his clothes he stepped into the bathroom and sealed himself into the narrow lavation chamber.    He put on a pair of small goggles before reaching up and grabbing the overhead bar with both paws.    Nozzles spun around him, spraying cold steam with a light chemical smell.    After 30 seconds, the spray switched to pure steam and rinsed him off, followed by an automatic blow dry.    He unsealed the chamber and stepped out fluffy, clean and refreshed.    Bix was dutifully awaiting him. 
"Care for a brush, Chief Custodian?"    
Randy hung the goggles on a hook.    "Please."    
Bix produced a brush and started to comb through his fur.    Occasionally it would pull a tangle, and Randy would wince as it worked through it.    As a Siberian husky his fur required a deep brushing to pull out any loose undercoat, and in short order there was a pile of fluff around his feet.    
"Rotation itinerary for today is 53-C."    Bix informed him as it swept the fur to the edge of the floor to be sucked into a vacuum vent.    
Randy popped an oral tab into his mouth, which quickly melted, leaving behind a fresh, clean feeling.    "How many in that block?"    
"Ten."    
"Light work day."    Randy put on a fresh pair of shorts, pants and shirt Bix had provided.    "I needed one of those." 
"Unfortunately, 53-C is not responding to retrieval."
Randy groaned.    "I wish you had told me that before I spent an hour in the activity center."    He sighed in resignation.    "I'll head down and pry them loose."        
"That is acceptable."    
  
Randy left the bathroom with Bix hovering closely behind.    He walked down to the end of the hall and opened a locker.    Inside were several padded suits designed for extreme cold.    He pulled out the one that had the least amount of patched repairs and checked that the small oxygen tanks on it were topped off, then slipped his legs in and sat down on the provided bench.    Underneath were a pair of thick boots.    He put those on and fastened buttons to the bottom of the suit's pant legs before cinching everything down with clamps on the front of the boots.    Assisted by Bix, he struggled his way into the top part of the suit, zipping it up and closing the button flap on front.    Just putting the suit on was already starting to overheat him.    He snapped a multi-tool onto the suit before grabbing a face-mask with a long hose dangling from it and a heavy pair of gloves.    Pressing a button for the door to the elevator, it slid open and he stepped into the tight box. 
"Warm up receiving for me, Bix."    
"Of course, Chief Custodian."    The robot assured him as the door closed.
It was noticeably colder inside the elevator, but not cold enough.    Randy left his hood back to keep his body heat regulated.    The elevator slowly started to descend, and in a few moments he felt himself start to go weightless as they crossed under the gravity aid of the living quarters.    The soles of his boots lifted off the floor and he hung onto a rail to keep from hitting his head on the ceiling.    For several minutes the elevator dropped deeper, and there was the noise of temperature change starting to affect the box he was in. Creaking and groaning was accompanied by frost starting to form on the walls.    Thick steams of breath started to billow from his mouth as the temperature plummeted.    He hooked his toe under a bar near the floor and fastened the mask over his face, attaching the long hose to a coupler on his suit.    He pulled up the hood and snugged down the ties around the mask.    It was starting to get comfortable inside the suit, but he knew that wouldn't last.    He put on the gloves and cinched them down at the wrists.   Farther down he went and frost started to form on the edges of the mask's visor.    Eventually the elevator stopped, pressing his feet down onto the floor before he resumed buoyancy.    He steeled himself for the shock of what was to come.    
The door opened and unfathomable cold crushed into the elevator creating a cloud of swirling mist.    The frigidity hit him like slicing knives through the suits worn joints.    His visor instantly frosted over, blinding him until he wiped a glove over the mask to clear it.    His breath felt like it had been pulled from his body, forcing him to take a moment to recover, even though he wanted to spend as little time in there as he had to.    Eventually he reached through the door to find an attachment point on a cable that stretched out into the darkness, clipping a line on his belt to it.    Then he pushed himself out through the door.    
Randy hung in the open air while the mist cleared, floating away from the door until he rebounded on the tether.    It was completely dark and he switched on his mask's light to illuminate where he was looking.    Below him was empty, just open nothingness for levels upon levels further than his light could reach.    On either side were rows of cylindrical containers, each about two meters long, neatly hanging side by side.    Tens of thousands of them.    Opaque panels on the side of the containers allowed his light to pierce inside and highlighted the outline of a frozen body in each.    Above him he could just barely make out the ceiling.    A large, many-armed mechanon's hulk rested there like the frozen guardian of a tomb.    It had stopped functioning over a hundred years prior, inconsiderately passing its job to the custodians.    
Randy grasped a control stick on the cable he was tethered.    Twisting the stick, the cable started to drag him deeper into the ship's hold, slowly passing the expanse of bodies.    Section C was toward the far end.    Once there he had to switch his harness to a vertical cable that led him down to the lowest section to find block 53. The locking mechanism for that block was frozen solid, forcing him to chip away at it with the multi-tool.    He worked slowly and deliberately as his training demanded.    Don't get frustrated, don't raise your heart rate, and don't hurt yourself.    Despite how cold it was and how much he wanted to finish the task, allowing any moisture to build in the suit could kill him.    A sensor in his suit should warn him if his core temperature dropped too low.    If that happened he would flee the hold and try again later, until then suffer the cold.    
Eventually the mechanism turned to snap in place and the row of cylinders came loose.    Once free of the locks holding them they bumped against each other with a clatter, swinging from a hitching point attached to a rail.    The rail was seized up, but a few kicks got things moving.    Slowly the block of cylinders started to roll away round a corner and head toward the forward section of the hold.    Randy spritzed the mechanism and rail with a dry lubricant, which should prevent the issue from reoccurring.    It was likely he would never have to attend to this particular block again and it would be another custodian's problem next time the rotation came around, but some due diligence never hurt anyone.    A warning started to flash in his mask and he realized that might not actually be true.    He started back.
Randy arrived back at the elevator just as the last of the cylinders exited the hold through a doorway far to his left.    Randy grabbed onto the elevator's door frame and detached himself from the cable, getting in and pressing the button to ascend.    The door sealed shut, immediately followed by the din of pumps as the argon atmosphere of the frozen hold was replaced with a breathable one. The lift started to take him up and heat lamps switched on to chase away the cold.    He flexed stiff and numb fingers and wiggled his toes, getting the blood to flow back into them.    Slowly the temperature rose out of the lethal range and he could start to open the suit.    The frost coating him melted, some of it creating floating droplets in the air as he moved, but most of it soaking into the suit.    
The door opened when he was still below the living quarters and outside the range of the gravity aid.    He entered a small recovery room and Bix was waiting for him.    It quickly assisted in removing the suit.    
"How do you feel, Chief Custodian?"    It asked
Randy shivered.    "Peachy."
Bix strapped a monitor band on his arm, which signaled all green and all clear.    "You are indeed "peachy"."    The mechanon affirmed.    "Please rest.    Receiving will not be ready for 48 minutes."    It stuffed the unruly, wet suit into a door marked 'dryer' before floating off.    Randy clipped himself to the wall and enjoyed the comfort of weightlessness as he waited.    
  
Aside from the engine core, the receiving room was warmer than anyplace else on the ship.    Randy stripped down to his shorts before buckling the mobility arm coming out of the ceiling around his waist.    He ran through the arm's functions, letting it twist and turn him in the weightless environment.    Finding everything in order he called to move the first cylinder into the room's workstation.    Bix brought the container into position under the multitude of mechanical arms, and it was locked in place.    There was a heavy fog of droplets built up inside the cylinder, obscuring the glass.    The exterior was a constant dripping of melted ice. 
Randy brought down the seal-breaker arm and locked in under the lid.    The jaw slipped off on the first try, indicating damage to the lid's sear point.    Rotation had to be performed on every cylinder no less than once every fifty years, and the poor case design had been giving difficulty from the very beginning.    Damage to the sear and failure to open was getting common.    A second attempt yielded the same results.    The mechanical pry wasn't going to work.    
"Bix, get me the hammer and bar."    
Randy pounded a long, flat steel bar in between the two halves of the case, being careful not to smash the delicate gasket.    Then he leaned on the bar to try and break the seal.    After a great deal of difficulty there was a hiss as the case popped.    
"This day is determined to kick my ass."    Randy muttered as he let the tools float away to be wrangled by Bix.    He attached pull arms to each end of the cylinder.    There was a squeal of hinges as the top levered open like a casket.    
"Make a note to run a full diagnostic on this pod.    Gasket is discolored and the hinge has corrosion."    
"Note taken, Chief Custodian."    
Strapped inside the pod was a nude male cub.    An otter pup lying flat on his back, his arms at his sides and eyes closed.    Several tubes ran into ports on his arms, and wires were attached to various parts of his body.    Randy tapped a screen in the cub's pod.    It flashed up information on the occupant:
Name:    Ngai, Liem
Sex:    Male
Race:    Aonyx cinereus
Age:    11
Weight: 37.8 kg
Height: 134 cm
Below that was a long series of notations regarding the pup's health prior to cryo plus his condition during earlier rotation checkups.
Randy brought down the scanner arm and positioned the screen over the cub's chest.    It showed a three-dimensional hologram of the internal organs along with a variety of numbers that corresponded with current health information.    Most of it was in the green outside indications of dehydration and slightly depressed blood pressure.    
"Yeah, the gasket needs to be replaced on this pod.    He's shed fluid and I'm seeing some minor damage to the dermis indicating contamination to the internal atmosphere.    We're lucky we didn't lose him."    He raised the scanner out of the way.    "Bring me the medical case."    
Bix brought a large case with an assortment of supplies.    Randy slipped on a pair of rubber gloves before connecting a vitamin/nutrient infused saline line to a port in the pup's arm.    He picked up the arm and inspected the paw.    The pads looked dry with some indication of tissue injury to the webbing.    He slathered a roll-on antiseptic lotion onto the cub's paw and worked it in with his fingers, making sure to work it into everything.    He tested the paw and arm's range of motion, working any stiffness from the joints.    The blood pressure readings slowly climbed into the normal range and the cub groaned.    His eyes fluttered open.
"Good morning, Liem."    He greeted as he flexed the cub's arm.    "My name is Randy, I'm going to be giving you a little checkup today.    How are you feeling?"    
The cub's dazed, bloodshot eyes searched around, not focusing on anything.    "Cold.    Thirsty."    
"Yeah, I bet you are."    Randy took the cub's other paw, applied more ointment and massaged it in. "I'll get you warmed up and I have you on an IV.    If you can be patient with me for a little while we'll get you something to drink, okay?"    
"Okay."    
"Let me know if anything hurts."    
Liem scratched weakly at his snout.    "Nose itches.    Everything is foggy."    
"You have a bit of frost injury on your skin, but it's nothing to worry about."    Randy explained as he applied the ointment to Liem's nose.    "This will make the itching stop."    Randy flashed a light into the cub's eyes, finding slow iris response.
"I'm putting a little something in your eyes.    It's going to feel cold and might sting for a minute, but it will clear things up and get your eyes working right again."    He held the cub's eyes opened and treated each with a spritz.    Liem flinched and blinked rapidly after each.    Randy continued, checking the ears and mouth, looking at the teeth and back of the throat.    
He took the cub by both paws.    "Liem, I want you to squeeze my paws as hard as you can.    Can you do that for me?"    
"Yeah."    The cub gripped his paws firmly.
"Keep going.    Keep going.    Okay!    Good.    Wow!    You're strong!"    Randy made some notes on the tablet.    A touch of weakness in Liem's left paw.    Concerning if it persists and something that needs to be monitored.    He'll check again before putting the pup back to sleep.    He started pulling electrodes off, revealing small shaved patches of fur. 
"I'm going to be looking for any sores, testing your range of motion and a few other body functions.    That means I'm going to move you around and I might touch you in places that are embarrassing, but try to relax.    Just shout if anything I do causes pain."    
"Okay, but... I have to get back to my team."
"Your team?"
Liem nodded.    "I'm the sorcerer, they need me to fight the dragon lord."    
"Ah, running the fantasy dream sequence?    I've done that one a couple of times.    Don't worry, I'll get you back to your team as soon as I can."    Randy assured him.    Coming out of extended cryo is a slow process.    The body can be thawed and recover in a matter of hours, but it takes longer for the mind to accept that it's not still dreaming.    Sometimes several weeks are needed to fully acclimate to being awake, but thawing for a rotation check-up is only for a short time.    On the off-chance that Liem has any recollection of being awake, he will consider the entire experience as part of a dream to be lost in a haze of all the other dreams over the centuries.    
Randy flexed Liem's legs and ankles, then treated both of his feet for frost injuries.    The restraining straps were removed from the cub's body and Randy carefully checked for any contact sores, turning him over to go over his neck, back, tail, and buttocks.    Then he lifted the tail to examine the rectum.    Liem was turned onto his back again and positioned with his knees apart.    Randy put a dab of gel lubricant on his paws and rubbed them together.
"Here comes the fun part, Liem."        
Randy ran his paw over the cub's crotch and the otter grunted.    He gently kneaded the scrotum, checking the position of the testicles and feeling for abnormalities.    He then stroked the sheath, encouraging the penis to emerge.    Randy examined the little pink member once full erection was achieved and found everything to look healthy.    
"One last thing and then I'll let you out of the pod to give you some time to stretch your legs."    Randy pulled down an arm from the ceiling.    This one had a device on the end that he lined up with Liem's penis.    It centered itself with the cub's groin and hummed as it started to work.    The pup squirmed as Randy inserted a lubed finger into the pup's rectum to probe the prostate.    To check its health as well as speed things along.
Liem grunted and gasped, arching his back.    "It's... it feels... " He tried reaching for his crotch but Randy stopped him.    
"It'll just take a minute or two, relax and let it do its thing.    We'll see how much of the bag you can fill up."    
The otter grabbed Randy's paw and clutched it tightly to his chest.    His hips twitched and bucked, but the mechanical arm kept the device firmly in place, suckling him relentlessly as Randy tickled his insides.    The tween's breath was rapid interspersed with sporadic shudders and gasps.    Liem let out a twittering whine as he pressed his feet into the pod and pushed his hips against the arm.    Spurts of white fluid appeared in a clear packet on top of the device.    
Randy withdrew his finger.    "4.1 milliliters."    He read off a series of numbers that flashed on the device when Liem's orgasm was finished.    "Not bad.    Not bad at all.    Sperm count is low normal, and it looks like everything is still working.    You are good to go."    
"T-that was s-so..."    The cub shut his eyes and gave a heavy sigh.
"It's something else, isn't it?"    
Liem was still hugging Randy's paw.    "Y-yeah."
"I hate to tell you this, but you only get one ride per checkup, and I'm gonna need my arm back."
Liem released him.    "Sorry."    
Randy disconnected the mechanical onahole and wiped the pup's groin and under his tail.    Liem twitched involuntarily from aftereffect spasms.    Randy removed the packet filled with ejaculate and passed it to Bix to label and put into storage.    Everything taken is kept in cryo as a precaution.    If anyone arrived at the destination infertile, or worse, deceased, they would still have access to stored sperm.    
Randy removed the gloves and stuffed them into a receptacle.    "Nan, come in here please."    
A second hoverbot entered receiving.    This one was larger than Bix, and painted with bright, lively colors.    "Yes, Chief Custodian?"    The robot spoke with a gentle feminine voice.    
"This is Liem."    Randy removed the IV from the pup and helped him out of the pod, holding him so he wouldn't drift away.    " I treated him for epidermis wounds so don't give him a shower for at least thirty minutes, and I want you to keep a close eye on his mobility and balance.    According to his records he hasn't had a bowel movement in the last two rotations. I'd like him to try to have one before we put him back to bed.    He's a little dehydrated so I don't want him to have any laxatives, just let him have as much juice as he'll drink.    Ration protocol medical override: code Alpha 956."        
"Understood." 
"Go with Nan and she'll take care of you."    Randy assured Liem.    "Do what she says and she'll get you some clothes and something to eat then let you run around in the play room.    In a little while there will be more cubs in there to play with, alright?"   
"Alright."    The pup took the robot's spindly hand.    "Um... bye."    He floated out of receiving with Nan.    
"Catch you later, Liem, and don't worry, I'll get you back to your team so you can kick the crap out of that dragon lord."    Randy turned on the sterilization cycle for the equipment and shut the lid of the pod.    
"Put this one in the repair bay and bring in the next, Bix."