The penultimate trumpEttinger, R. C. W. (Robert C. W.)
Science
The penultimate trump
Ettinger, R. C. W. (Robert C. W.)
Cryonics -- Fiction; Rich people -- Fiction; Science fiction
"Good, good!" Garry boomed, rubbing his hands briskly. "I knew Dr.
Stevens would see the point. He has a head on his shoulders.
"Now, as I was saying, Mr. Haworth, we'll have space in the vault
for a hundred or so. That should be enough, I think, but we'll rush
yours through first, of course, and have it ready in jig time, just in
_case_.... And after that...."
And so their plans were laid and something new was born under that sun
which shone with such ridiculous indiscrimination on H.D. Haworth and
on the common people.
According to the outline sketched that afternoon, the vault was
to be safeguarded and the sleepers' interests looked after by the
establishment of a Haworth Trust, with Garibaldi Jones the first
Administrator. Only one person in each generation, the Administrator,
would know all about the vault.
Of each generation the Administrator and one or two of his closest
relatives would join the ranks of the sleepers. The Administrator's
responsibilities and discretion would include all measures necessary
for the safety of the sleepers and the trust funds would be ample, to
allow for unforeseen future contingencies.
A number of experimental animals closely duplicating H.D.'s condition
would be included for the future biologists first to try their skill
on--because if Stevens should not perfect a practicable method of
suspending animation in time, and H.D. should actually die, his
resuscitation would be a ticklish matter.
H.D. did not want to wake up blind, for instance, or with an altered
personality--although Stevens, for one, thought _any_ change in the
old pirate's personality would be a step in the right direction.
The blasted Washington administration wouldn't let a citizen buy
radioactives without a lot of busybody questions, but Garry had an idea
for a reliable source of power for the coolers.
An improvement on the new "heat pumps," his design dispensed entirely
with moving parts, providing a large safety factor. Successfully
reversing the refrigeration cycle, the device utilized the heat
potential between sub-frost level ground and surface to produce power,
using buried coils of a common refrigerant gas.
Caches of treasure were to be tucked away in unlikely places, the key
to their location securely hidden in H.D.'s mind. No Tut-ankh-amen he,
to invite grave-robbers by foolish ostentation.
And so it came to pass, and H.D.'s last months, despite the physical
pain his increasing debilitation caused him, were light-hearted ones.
He was sustained by the bubbling knowledge that he tottered down life's
highway toward--not that great, silent abyss that the common folk's
imagination called Heaven or Hell and peopled with childish gods and
demons anxiously waiting to take him to task for his many "sins"--but
merely a bend in the road beyond which lay unknown, but surely
friendly, lands.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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