The Prisoner Read Online Free Page A

appalled at his tactless choice of example. He could have chosen chipmunks or raccoons among scores of hibernating animals rather than a squirrel, which was almost impossible to disassociate from one of their creations: Bernard, a squirrel decked out in a black-and-white-checkered waistcoat. “Our technology mimics such natural mechanisms.”
    She reached for her sleeping husband and covered his hand with hers. John, her squirrel. Sarah’s lips didn’t move, but Floyd could have sworn he spotted the words flashing across her irises.
    “After that, we immerse the patient into a capsule, holding fluid slightly above the freezing point, and lower his core temperature to between five and ten degrees Celsius—say forty to fifty degrees Fahrenheit. We use a harness and wires to handle his body. Once in the fluid, the wires relax, since the hibernation liquid has a precise density to guarantee the patient’s weightlessness. He’s ventilated through a tracheal cord and supplied regularly with lipids, minerals, and whatever else he may need. This stage we term
torpor
, as opposed to
arousal
.“
    “Why do you wake them up every so often?”
    Floyd didn’t answer at once. It had just occurred to him thegarters were a gift to her squirrel, perhaps for the last time, and the thought left him speechless.
    “We must periodically carry out repair and maintenance of organs, tissues, and cells. Chemical degradation of macro-molecules increases over time, and each patient needs conditioning and dialysis regularly. From torpor, we promote an endocrine reaction and hyperventilate the patient to increase the oxygen in his blood. And to reduce carbon dioxide concentration, we must raise the body temperature from a non-shivering stage. Shivering begins above twenty degrees Celsius. We then increase the rate of warming until the patient reaches normothermy.” Floyd bit his lip; he was lapsing into jargon. “I meant normal temperature.”
    Sarah blinked and her eyes smiled. “Will he wake up?”
    “Of course not!” Floyd’s voice raised a fraction. Consciousness between the stages of torpor and arousal had almost doomed hibernating technology, until scientists understood its effects. Back in the thirties, during the first clinical trials, a few of those hibernated for extended periods suffered acute mental imbalances, paranoia, and dementia. Dr. Nemecio Chavez and his team at Caltech had discovered that, before the onset of hibernation, technicians should sedate patients with a carefully metered mixture of gases to guarantee a gradual loss of consciousness. The patient would then sink into torpor with a smooth brain-wave signature. Otherwise, after arousal, the gases dissolved in the patient’s bloodstream would interfere with the chemical equation. As a result, the patient entered torpor excited, his brain signature choppy and riddled with spikes. This triggered nightmares. “During periodic arousal and return to torpor, we change the mix of gases the patient breathes to ensure he doesn’t come out of his placid slumber. The issue shouldn’t concern you, Mrs. Ward. From the beginning to the end of hibernation, your husband will be in deep, tranquil sleep.”
    Sarah Ward closed her eyes and breathed deeply, as if gathering strength. Then she caressed John’s hand for an instant, just a flicker of fingers, before straightening.
    Floyd peered into her eyes and felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. There was uneasiness to her expression, andsomething else he once saw on a little girl’s face when she couldn’t find her mom.
    “Please, tell me where I should sign.”
    She was giving her squirrel away.

chapter 4
     

     
    17:34
    Awareness didn’t return at once. At least, it didn’t feel like consciousness but rather the distant sensation of being in a long tunnel. Laurel shied away to slip back into nothingness, but beeps of increasing volume prevented her. It took her a few slow heartbeats to realize the sound was in