The physical toll of the real world began to claim its first victims. Among the awakened, whose bodies had endured centuries of stasis, a strange, rapid-onset degenerative condition appeared. It was as if their cellular memory was rejecting the reality their minds had fought so hard to attain. They called it the "Echo."
Lena was one of the first to show symptoms: tremors in her hands, moments of disorientation. The Odyssey's doctors were baffled. Their medicine was advanced, but it was based on human physiology that had continued to evolve in a controlled environment. The awakened were biological relics.
"The Custodian's records indicate this was a predicted, low-probability outcome of long-term stasis," the Oracle stated, almost indifferently, when Elias pleaded for information. "The mind acclimates to reality, but the body remembers the dream. The conflict is fatal. There is no cure in my databases."
Desperation mounted. They had won their freedom only to be killed by it. Elias spent days by Lena's bedside in the new medical center, watching the fierce light in her eyes dim. Their great victory felt like a cruel joke.