Strange Future: A 23rd Century Guide for the 21st Century Cynic by Josh Smith
Chapter 6:
Thomas awoke that morning to the sound of traffic, just like every other morning. He lay there for a time, attempting to figure out what he did the night before. He couldn't remember anything except walking into his house, entering the bedroom, and collapsing onto his bed. It all seemed very anticlimactic after the previous day's events. His mind leapt momentarily, then settled back down. The mere thought of the previous day still seemed to instill angst, but after getting up, stumbling to the kitchen, and having a fresh cup of coffee he felt more prepared to tackle the matter.
Despite all of his excitement over the prospect of time travel, he couldn't seem to focus on the strange encounter at the library. All he could think about was that detestable Caroline Tharpe and her sudden, rash personality change that was accompanied with an iron grip. However, part of him couldn't help but feel that she was right. Perhaps more research, maybe even a trip to the country was in order after all. He dug around in his pockets and pulled out a card that simply said "Frank" and a number. Thomas pondered. He came to the conclusion that this whole affair must be some elaborate scam. He paused and thought again, then came to the conclusion that it couldn't possibly be a scam: not once was an exchange of money mentioned. Perhaps instead it was part of some larger sociological or psychological experiment these people were running. Perhaps they wanted to see just how long a person will believe something seemingly outlandish--masked with the guise of science--will actually solve their problems.
Either way, even if it was a scam--Thomas was now relatively convinced that it was in some way--it certainly wouldn't be any harm to him so long as he didn't pay into anything. He decided to take the leap and call the number: he had absolutely nothing to lose. A few rings later and Frank answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Yes, Frank? This is Thomas."
"Oh good, glad you decided to call Tom. I suppose you want to come down and see the lab now, eh?"
"Actually, yes, that's exactly what I'd like to do. When can I come down? For that matter, where would I be coming to?"
"Well that's easy, just head on down to 625 East 68th Street. Can you come right now? We're about to start a test on a lab rat, but we can wait till you get here if you'd like."
"Oh. Sure, as long as that lab rat isn't me!" Thomas laughed. Frank didn't. "OK ... so yeah, I'll be right down."
"OK, see you in a bit."
Thomas hung up the phone and walked out of his condo, turned right, and went up the street to the subway station. This was one of the rituals of day-to-day life he found fascinating. Masses of humanity would pile down stairs, swipe cards and go through gates (or, alternatively, go through gates without swiping cards). After that, they would pile down more stairs and stand on hot, crowded platforms to wait for one of the elusive trains to arrive. Once it did, everyone would push and shove in an attempt to gain the privilege of sitting down on one of the benches contained within. Everyone who wasn't close enough to get a seat would pile in and pick an armpit to stand next to for duration of their ride. This particular day, Thomas was fortunate enough to get next to someone who ranked as a "mild" on his mental stink-o-meter.
After a few stops, Thomas finally arrived on 68th Street and began walking towards his destination. It was quite a long walk, but something he was used to, having never owned a car. He knew how to drive, but living in a city with a fantastic public transportation system had spoiled him. As far as he was concerned, there was no point in owning a car if there was no one outside of the city you ever go to visit. Finally, he arrived at his destination. It was an inconspicuous looking building, nothing out of the ordinary about it at all. Thomas approached the door and peeked in the window. The door seemed to simply lead to a foyer that was the gateway to the rest of the building. He imagined living quarters, an office or two, and the actual lab--if there really was one--all connected through this main entryway. Painted on the glass were the words "Cryotech, Inc." in a dark blue color. He rang the bell and waited, turning around to view the other buildings on the street, all of which looked just as innocent as this one. Thomas began to wonder who it was that had built all of these buildings, but his musing was interrupted by the arrival of someone in the foyer coming towards the door. He turned back around, expecting to see Frank or someone else he had met yesterday, but was instead greeted by someone new.
"Hey, you actually came," Doug said.
"Oh, errr," Thomas muttered. This was definitely the same Doug, but he looked completely different than the person from the day before. Doug motioned him to step in, and he did so, then stood back as Doug secured the door again. It was the same person all right, but Thomas realized that he had never seen Doug standing the day before, only sitting in a slouched position. Now Doug was wearing completely different clothes. The bulky looking sweatshirt from the day before was gone. Instead, he now sported a standard looking t-shirt and shorts. As Doug stood in front of him, he seemed at least four or five inches taller than Thomas, and appeared very athletic. Doug finished fiddling with the door and turned around.
"Something wrong? You didn't seem like you knew who I was." Doug smirked.
"Oh, well, nothing, it's just that I never saw you standing yesterday so I didn't realize how tall and, well, big you were, that's all. I mean what with talking about all that computer stuff you didn't seem to be the type of person who worked out or anything."
Doug laughed. "Well, let's just say I got tired of being the neighborhood punching bag, but never got tired of being a geek. Come on, Frank and the rest are waiting."
They walked through a door on the right side of the foyer and down into the basement. Thomas marveled as they entered a wide, open room. It was much bigger than one would ever imagine the building containing simply from seeing it from the outside. The floors were covered with checkered tile, and the walls were painted a nice, clean white. The whole environment seemed exactly like the stereotypical lab seen in most Hollywood B-movies, except that the contents of the lab actually seemed organized, sterile, and there were no dead animals in jars on the shelves. Computers and other scientific looking instruments were scattered throughout the room: some mounted on walls, some on tables, others were free standing. Frank poked his head around the back of a row of strange looking machines and beckoned them to come over. Doug walked that direction and joined Flo and Ervin. Ervin was, once again, asleep. Before Thomas could get to the group, however, he caught sight of the machines that Frank was working on and stopped dead in his tracks. He stared in awe at three large, cylindrical tubes about three feet wide and seven feet tall.
"Wow..." he gasped.
"Heh," chuckled Frank, "yeah, those are the freezing tubes. Right now one of them is occupied by a guinea pig--and has been for about a week--and the other two are free, though we're about to put Bob the rat into one of them now."
Thomas was not very inclined to understand all of this. Sure, he could use a computer, knew how to email, surf the web, download music, all the things typical of his generation. He was certainly not computer illiterate, nor was he completely science illiterate, but the things he saw went straight over his head. First Frank injected something into Bob, hooked up some wires and tubes ("For monitoring and supporting bodily systems you see!"), and finally stuck the little guy onto a platform inside the tube.
"When we have humans in here, we won't need any platforms or chairs or anything aside from a few restraints, they'll just stand and freeze in place." Frank closed the door, punched a few buttons and turned a few knobs off to the side of the tube, and finally turned around to face them. "Ready?" he grinned like a kid who knew a present was coming. "Here we go!" He pulled a lever and Thomas watched as the rat, who was sniffing at the air in his strange new environment, became still and frozen in the blink of an eye.
"Heehee!" blurted Frank, nearly giddy. "Do you see now?"
"I see," said Thomas, "but how do I know the rat will come back to life, perfectly normal and healthy?"
"Well that's w
Thomas glanced back at Doug, Flo, and Ervin, all of whom were simply smiling, seeming to enjoy watching Frank get a kick out of his work. Even Ervin seemed to have a smirk on his face, though Thomas couldn't be sure whether he was still sleeping or not as his head was still angled downward. He turned back towards Frank who was punching more buttons.
"This," he explained, "takes a bit longer, as we have to restart the body's systems, perfectly safe if you're healthy of course." Time was definitely passing at a normal speed, and though aware of this fact, things seemed to be moving extremely fast for Thomas. Frank was explaining what he was doing, but it all went in one ear and out the other as Thomas stared at Kiki with deep anticipation, waiting for her to suddenly resume life.
"Here we are!" Frank said. "Time to start up the body's systems again and she should be good to go!" He pushed a button and Kiki--who had during the process of thawing become limp appearing--suddenly straightened up and began smelling the air around her much like Bob had moments before. Thomas gaped. Frank laughed, opened the door, picked up little Kiki, and began petting her.
"See? Perfectly fine!" Thomas boggled more, started to ask for a detailed explanation of the workings and mechanisms of the machine, but decided against it. Instead, he decided to take a safer, easier to understand path.
"That's incredible..." he said. "I don't know how you did it, but I don't think I want to know. But, well, I do want to know when you're going to test it on humans. I'd like to be here for that. Who are you testing it on anyhow?"
Frank smirked. "You know how there are beauty product companies that do testing of their new products on people? These people are given a very small sum of money for testing a product they could react very negatively to, but they're willing to do it simply for the token amount of money and the small amount of adrenaline they get from trying something new and exciting. We basically offer the same thing: something new and exciting for the test subjects to try. We had to offer a substantially larger sum of money though, but the people were more than happy to sign the required waivers and agreements. They'll be here next week on Wednesday morning at 10 AM sharp. We'll freeze them for a week, and then, if all goes according to plan, we'll be sending you off on your fantastic voyage shortly thereafter! Provided you're still interested of course..."
Thomas was caught off guard by the question and shifted his weight a few times. He glanced back at the others, but they, even Ervin, who seemed to awaken for the occasion, were simply watching him, waiting to see what he'd say.
"Well, honestly, I'm not sure yet. I'm really impressed by what I've seen, but I still have some concerns, and I'm in the middle of selling my condo. Well," Thomas hesitated, remembering that horrible Caroline, "I’m trying to anyhow. Would it be OK if I got some things settled before I let you know for sure?"
Frank was silent for a while. "That should be fine I think, yes, you can let me know when you come to see the human test subjects going in next week, but no later than that. We'll have to find someone else if you don't want to do it you see."
Thomas said he understood, thanked them, and walked back to the front of the lab with Doug trailing behind. They went back up the same stairs and arrived in the foyer. Thomas and Doug exchanged formalities and Thomas was back out in the world. His mind was still boggling, unsure of how such a thing would work, but he shoved the thought aside and focused on the unfinished business now at hand.