Instead of being awakened 3 years later in 1994 as planned, they wake up in the year 2044, in a post-nuclear world. Both are 86 years old, but haven't aged a day outwardly. When they wake up, they believe that they are in a clinic following their hibernation. They are being taken care of by women, which they enjoy at the beginning, especially Max, who becomes attracted to Lamia Reno. However they gradually realize that everything going on around them is odd. After explicitly asking to meet professor Kuppelweiser, they are informed by Lamia and Dr. Berna that he "doesn't exist". They explain that there was a war long ago, that all males have long been extinct, and that it is actually the 8th of March 2044 (Women's Day). Max and Albert think that these must be hallucinations as a side-effect of hibernation and try to leave the room, but receive an electric shock from the closed door. The men are under constant surveillance after this. Lamia informs them their society reproduces without males through parthenogenesis. During a briefing, Max kisses Lamia, for which she knocks him down and threatens both men with euthanasia if there is another attempt at sexual assault. However, the kiss causes Lamia's drug-inhibited passions to resurface, making her both confused and fascinated. Due to her internal feelings she goes on a search for the oldest living woman to find out anything she can about the men before the war. She finds 74-year old Julia Novack, who fondly remembers her fiancé and tells Lamia that the old world with two sexes should be restored. She also guesses that Lamia fell in love with one of the men.