Death -- Fiction; Immortalism -- Fiction; Science fiction
Harker puffed along behind the lab director, listening to the flow
of unfamiliar terms, dazzled by the array of formidable scientific
devices. He saw kennels where lively dogs bounded joyfully up and down
and struggled to lick his hands through the cage; it was a little
jarring to learn that every dog in the room had been "dead" at least
once, for periods ranging from a few minutes to twenty-eight hours. He
met a grave little rhesus monkey that held the record; it had been dead
thirty-nine hours, two months before.
"We had a pair of them," Raymond said. "We brought this fellow back at
the 39-hour mark, and held the other off for nine more hours in hopes
of hitting a full two days. We didn't make it. The surviving monk moped
for days about it."
Harker nodded. He was swept on; into a large room lined with ledgers,
which Raymond said contained all the records of the Beller Laboratories
since its opening in 2024. White-smocked researchers turned to look up
as Harker and his guide passed through into a long, well-lit lab room,
then out into the afternoon warmth and across to the other building,
for more of the same.
"Well," Harker said finally, after they had returned to Raymond's
office. "It's a busy place."
Raymond nodded. "We keep it moving. And it gets results. Despite
everything, it gets results."
_Despite everything._ Harker didn't like the implications of that. He
was beginning to form a picture of Raymond as an able man surrounded by
stumbling-blocks and obstacles, and bulling his way through none the
less. He wondered how it would be once he got the campaign into full
swing, not too many weeks from now.
Harker leaned back, trying to relax. Raymond said, "Is it too early for
you to give me an outline of the program you're planning?"
Harker hunched his shoulders forward uneasily. "It's still in the
formative stage. I'm seeing Governor Winstead on Friday, as you know,
and early next week I'll go down to Washington and talk to Senator
Thurman. If we get them on our side, the rest is relatively easy."
"And if we don't?"
Harker did not smile. "Then we have a fight."
"Why do you say that? Can't we just set up an instruction center and
start resuscitating?"
"Pardon me, Mart, if I say that your approach's a naive one. We _can't_
do any such thing. Not even if you limit use of the apparatus to fully
qualified M.D.'s. You see, anything as radical as this will have to be
routed through the Federal Health Department, and they'll simply boot
it on up to the President, and he'll refer it to Congress. What we need
is a law making use of your technique legal."
"Is there any law saying it's _illegal_ to reanimate the dead?" Raymond
asked.
"Not yet. But you can bet there'll be an attempt to ram one through,
before long. Which is why we have to put through a law of our own."
Raymond fell silent; his blue-cheeked face looked grave. An idea
occurred to Harker and he said, "Do you have any idea how big our
public-relations budget is?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account