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freezing techniques in use at the time properly preserved any of the brain s
nongenetic information. A proven protocol would in-crease each investor s
own odds of identity preservation upon reanimation. Also, once such evidence
existed, they d reasoned, the public would flock to cryonics,
creating both economies--of-scale and political clout, rendering biostasis
cheaper and safer.
Prometheus s goal had been to test and prove the viability of
long-term brain preservation using
vitrification. This tech-nique replaced the water from each organ with
various homo-geneous liquid mixtures. Then the tissue could be made to
behave more like vitrified glass, amenable to cooling without disruptive
crystallization.
In a scientific sense, Prometheus had succeeded quickly. By securing
excellent scientists and state-of-the-art equipment, they d developed an
expedient brain vitrification protocol in 2001, and over the subsequent two
years had proved its efficacy on many varieties of mammalian brains.
To the shareholders astonishment and dismay, however, the Protocol s success
had done little to increase the popularity of cryonics. Since there had yet
to be a successful revival of an en-tire mammal from suspension, the public
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continued to view cryonics as dubious speculation at best, farce at worst.
During the year 2005, fewer than forty thousand persons had undergone
suspension worldwide, and about a third of them had purchased the Protocol. At
$1,700 per suspension, the com-pany had been grossing under $25 million per
year, barely enough to cover operating expenses and interest on its debt.
Wobbling on the edge of insolvency, Prometheus had been forced to sell a sixty
percent interest in its patents to Nobine et Cie, a French biotech outfit
owned by Drs. Claude Noire and Edouard Binette.
Ten days ago, in the city of Aix-en-Provence, under fully ob-served
conditions, Noire and Binette had revived a mouse they d frozen two weeks
earlier at minus 79 degrees Celsius. The scientists had used a slight
modification of the Prometheus Protocol. While this rodent had been the only
survivor out of 1,300
attempts, the feat was nonetheless a majestic achieve-ment, immediately
shifting the scientific paradigm of biostasis.
Most experts now predicted at least 500,000 human suspen-sions per year by
decade s end.
I ve known for thirty-one months, Toby explained, that I have the R17ALZ
gene.
Late-onset, moderated Alzheimer s? Gary offered.
Wow. You still keep up with all this stuff?
Some of it. But you don t have any symptoms, do you?
Not that I can tell, Gary, but then at what point would the loss of memory
become apparent to me?
The first time I forget to flush the toilet or the first time I forget my last
name? I mean, nobody s sure the tests measure everything. Hell, how would you
even define everything as a standardized test? That stuff s
unknowable. Besides, the timing really is ideal. No family, no obligations.
And of course they just revived that mouse! So I have almost everything to
gain by getting on with it, and everything to lose by waiting. Sure, I m
having a good time, but I m eighty-two years old. Why give up my shot at
hundreds, maybe thousands of years over the coming cen-turies, for a few extra
years now? If I lose memory, I ll lose identity, which is the same to me as
losing my life. Every day I procrastinate is a gamble. A deadly gamble.
Cryonics was only a gamble, Gary thought. Toby was alive now
. Gary wanted to beg, to tell his friend: Screw reason, I need you. I love
you. I want you here!
Instead he issued a long, audible exhalation, and then the simple, terrible
truth: Of course you re right.
And I m sure gonna miss you.
July 7, 2010
The FDA issues strong advisories against human heart transplants after
Dupont s Jarvik 410 mechanical heart proves 114 percent safer in field trials.
The 410 is the first to employ two backup self--winding power storage units,
and three separate pumps, rendering simultaneous failure a near
impossi-bility. Some doctors now recommend routine transplan-tation of
the artificial organ to any patient above the age of 60, regardless
of cardiovascular health. The United States and Russian governments announce
joint plans to build four manned space stations within the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter by the year 2020. Presi-dent Travis Hall describes
the project as
a golden op-portunity to study a fascinating and potentially priceless
natural resource that might play a crucial role in the fu-ture of
humankind.
Time and weather, please, Brandon Butters said.
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Five forty-seven
A.M.
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