Immortal
Praise for Immortal
"An ingenious medical thriller, suspenseful and cleverly plotted."
--BookPage
"Clem's latest has thrills and chills aplenty, while conveying a sobering--make that
terrifying
--message. Not only is this one heck of a medical thriller, it's a scary wake-up call to what could happen if a few individuals decided to play God, a premise that scared the daylights out of me. Could this happen? Clem makes you think so."
--Mid Atlantic Review
"
Immortal
is a nail-biting thriller you don't want to miss."
--NJ Star Ledger
"Bill Clem delivers a complex plot, fascinating characters, and plenty of action.
Immortal
is a roller-coaster ride that winds its way to a surprise ending."
--Philadelphia Book Review
"From knowledge comes power, and from power, temptation. Bill Clem's Immortal is a tale set at the very edge of our medical knowledge, and of a thrilling hero who confronts a God-playing monster"
--Washington Weekly
"Brilliant storyteller Bill Clem is at the top of his game, and gives us a compelling and thought-provoking tale that will have you looking over your shoulder. It's both realistic and terrifying, and it will keep you up all night!"
--Iris Johansen, author of
On the Run
"There's a compelling truth at the center of this high-octane thriller. The twists keep you reading and the questions Clem poses keep you thinking all night long."
--Orlando Sentinel
"Bill Clem, perhaps the best of our new, medical-thriller writers, has penned an action-packed tale that will have you checking all your body parts for days afterward."
--Harris Faulkner USA Today
IMMORTAL
Bill Clem
Vision Books
Published by Vision Books
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
VISION BOOKS
P.O. Box 9034
New York NY 10020
Copyright a 2008 by Bill Clem
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
ISBN 13: 978-0-9795808-2-6
www.billclem.com
Also by Bill Clem
Novels
Skin Deep
Diencephalon (Holland Carter Detective Seris)
Presidential Donor
Bliss
Microbe
They All Fall Down (Holland Carter Detective Series) (2008)
Immortal
Medicine Cup (2008)
Replica (2009)
The Seventh Day (2009)
The Lazarus Effect (2009)
A Note From Anna (Holland Carter Detective Series) (2009)
Short Fiction
A Brief Interval
(Collection of Short Stories) (2008)
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to John Hertzog for his editorial work; the guys at DPI for their awesome cover; Suzette Hurst for promoting my work in her bookstore; the great folks at Vision for keeping everything straight; and most of all, my wife and children for just being there.
Contents
Introduction
To avoid any confusion for those of you unfamiliar with the science of Cryogenics, let me start by clarifying a couple of definitions.
Cryogenics
is described by Britannica Concise Encyclopedia as the "study and use of low temperature phenomena ... "
Cryonics
is the experimental application of cryogenic principles to freeze and preserve recently deceased humans with the hope of future resuscitation.
For our purposes, you will see both terms used throughout the book, depending on the context intended.
It had been known since the '30s that the human body could be chilled until it slowed down to almost nothing. But it had been a laboratory trick, or a last-resort therapy, until the sixties.
More than 1000 people have been frozen since the first person was placed in "cryonic suspension" in 1967. Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams have found a way to stack people like cordwood and revive them later. Cool them down and hold them precisely at four degrees centigrade; that is to say, at the maximum density of water with no ice crystals. Then wake them up in a hundred years.
Maybe?
"And there was this frozen thing."
Prologue
Norman Klein was dying from cancer.
It had started in his liver and now spread to his pancreas. Neither radiation nor chemotherapy had been able to halt its progress. He had a week to live.
And he knew it.
In his private room, Klein looked at his reflection in the bedside mirror. Bone gaunt, hair thinned to nothing, and his jaundiced eyes were dull with hopeless resignation. All morning, he'd stared out the window at the manicured hospital grounds, wishing he could have just a little longer.
When the door opened, Klein didn't recognize the doctor. Although he'd seen so many, they all looked the same by now. He wore a white lab coat and had a stethoscope draped around his neck.
The doctor pulled up a chair close to the bed. He looked tired and overworked, but had an affable smile that put Klein at ease.
Klein looked up.
The Grim Reaper?
"I'm Dr. Hench," he said. "I'd like to talk to you about your future."
Klein's hollow eyes flashed with anger. "Are you some kind of comedian? Future? Doesn't the word 'terminal' on my chart there mean anything?"
Without answering, Hench opened the folder containing Klein's biographical information.
"I've seen the chart," Klein said. "It says I'm forty-two, married and have two kids. Twelve and thirteen. And it says my case is hopeless. I'm a cancer farm. Is there anything else you want to know? I'm sorry I'm so cynical, but there's been at least ten other doctors in here in the last twenty-four hours. Why can't I just die in peace?"
Hench put the folder on the bedside table. "I'll come right to the point, Mr. Klein. You and I both know how sick you are. It's an undisputable fact. But what would you say if I offered you a chance for a complete cure and restoration to your youthful state?"
Klein gazed back at Hench. "It sounds like you've been working too hard, doc. I'm already as good as dead."
"That depends on how you define dead. Before you say anything else, let me explain." Hench paused and took a deep breath. "I'm part of an organization that believes in the technology of the future. We believe if we can preserve you now, tomorrow's science will allow us to cure you and even restore your youth."
Klein leaned forward. "It sounds like a bunch of medical jargon to me."
"I understand your skepticism, but I assure you, it's quite possible. We've already had remarkable success."
"Well, tell me this. Why me? There are thousands of people with terminal cancer."
Hench smiled. "Two reasons. First, we only accept patients when death is immediately imminent. Second, the expense involved is beyond most people's capability. You are wealthy. Your wealth can benefit you now."
Klein nodded. "And benefit you. How much are we talking about here?"
"They will turn over your estate to the organization. Then they will provide a generous trust for your wife and children. When they resuscitate and restore you to health, whatever funds are left, they return to you. They'd no longer have to maintain you. At that point, they would terminate the contract."
"And just how am I ...
maintained?"
"Cryonic suspension in liquid nitrogen."
"Frozen, right?"
Hench leaned back. "Not in the normal sense. We like to think of it as medical time travel. When technology breaks the boundaries of disease and death, then we resuscitate you. It might be ten years. It might be a hundred. One thing is certain, though. It is your
only
chance to survive."