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At the end of the film we discover:

The autodoc can put a patient into a statis state which is explained to be equivalent to hibernation. The name difference is why they didn't find it before. However, only one of the two conscious passengers could use this device to survive to see Homestead 2.

Why could only one person do this? My wife and I both thought the answer was obvious but had differing explanations. I am curious what the writers intended.

  1. She thought external access was required for operation.

  2. I thought transfer to an equivalent long term storage device was impossible and it was a singular piece of equipment.

  3. While discussing it, we realized such a transfer could be necessary but require manual operation.

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    The dialogue indicates that the device is designed for a single occupant; "But there's only one autodoc".
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 18:48
  • @Valorum That would do nicely as an answer. I didn't remember that. Yay I was right.
    – kaine
    Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 18:52
  • Why didn't they just take turns in the auto doc? One sleeps and one remains awake for a term. Not ideal but they would have been about age 70 each upon arrival.
    – user85815
    Commented Jul 9, 2017 at 22:44
  • @user85815 - Good question and not one that's answered in the film or either version of the script. Perhaps the doc lacks the supplies needed for 40 separate procedures. Perhaps being repeatedly re-woken is bad for your health
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 9, 2017 at 23:26

1 Answer 1

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The dialogue indicates that the autodoc is designed for a single occupant

Jim: Inside the autodoc, you can go back to sleep.

Aurora: But there's only one autodoc

No explanation is given why this would be the case (nor why they couldn't jerry-rig the autodoc to manage two hibernation sequences) but I think we can assume that Jim investigated the possibility and ruled it out.

Note that it's Aurora who brings up the objection to it being used for two people, strongly implying that it's common knowledge that an autodoc can only be used on one person at a time.

As an aside, it should be noted that this isn't the same sort of hibernation that we see the other passengers enjoying, it's actually a different procedure that actively uses the autodoc to suspend the patient's metabolic activity, a distinction without a difference as far as Jim and Aurora are concerned.

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    This was, of course, the alternate ending. In the original script, there was no hibernation option and the fate of the other passengers was much more grisly.
    – Valorum
    Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 18:57
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    Note: we both understood that the autodoc could only be used by one person at a time. The implication of her statement is that the autodoc is necessary to keep the person in stasis and not just put the person in stasis. They had be searching for something to put them in stasis so they could be loaded back into the hibernation pods. She would not have raised the objection if option 2 above was not the culprit.
    – kaine
    Commented Jan 9, 2017 at 19:01

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