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I was gaining consciousness, I began hearing voices. They were talking about a body. The conversation went as:-
1st Person: “The subject is put under CT Scan. The instant diagnosis depicts major organs as absent. MRI reports show that skeletal structure is damaged. At ribs, the continuous vitrification and reverse vitrification processes have contributed to a brittle rib structure. The lungs have collapsed, under the protrusion of broken ribs and cannot be revived for breathing process. A transplant of the lungs is an option. But for that, we entirely depend on the success of reanimation procedure, till then we have to put the body under artificial breathing, but it must be done after the successful transplant of heart post successful reverse vitrification of veins and arteries. The success rate is largely depending on the level of toxification of the Cryoprotectant which in turn entirely depends on Dr. Shelly’s observations. We have also to keep a close watch on the slightest crystallizations caused by failures of some tissues to vitrify successfully, handing over to you Dr. Shelly.”
2nd Person: “Thank you, Dr. Von! The endoscopic analysis says that the initial vitrification did not take place well in the right side of the body, hence the limbs on the right side may not be reanimatable . In the right leg, although the Cryoprotectant has managed to reach all the capillary endings, but it seems like inferior technology of the previous period combined with the body’s incapability to accept the Cryoprotectant as de-crystallizing agent was compromised, giving way thereby to vast crystallization of up to 72% of body tissues in the right limbs . Substantial tissue replacement procedures have to be carried out in the right leg and local tissue replacement at places in arm and fingers in the hand. So the approach if any has to be carried out first by transplantation of vital organs and then removal of damaged tissues and subsequent replacement thereof with lab-cultured tissues. But simultaneously the reverse-vitrification has to be carried out so that lifeblood can be transfused to the transplanted organs and tissues. The level of cytotoxicity is also considerate. The abdomen, large intestines, left kidney and left foot has suffered serious cytotoxicity. On the cellular level, we have lost the cell membranes; nucleic acid and osmotic fluid are largely lost to toxicity. The toxicity levels are irreparable, even if major transplants and replacements are carried out. The other alternative is to amputate useless limbs and focus on the vital organs only. Furthermore, the amputated limbs can be replaced with artificial limbs. But that feat can be achieved only post successful revival of the vital organs, for chemical analysis, over to your Dr. Kirkrick A1!”
When I opened my eyes, I could see only two persons in light blue robes, so who was the third?
An electronic gurgling robotic voice emerged: “Doctors! Our chemical analysis has shown the life of the body to being 462, Female, Death at 32 years in the pre-apocalyptic earth. Reasons of death, under palliative care, cause terminal cancer and subsequent deprivation of oxygen. The Corpse was preserved by severing the head from the body. The Cryoprotective solution used initially was Glycerol. Local use of Ethyl Glycol and Fluorocarbons was also made. This probably was done to avoid the possibility of crystallization of local areas whose response to Glycerol was not satisfactory. Tissue damage on the right side seems to be resulting from this error. To correct the failed vitrification earlier due to incorrect use of only Glycerol in all areas they reversed the initial vitrification, in 6 months post reviews and tried to correct this mistake with subsequent use of Ethyl Glycol and Fluorocarbons . The extent of up to 72% of crystallization of the right side of the body was a result of this failure. Plus, our carbon dating, suggests, that the body was attempted to be awakened 201 years post first preservation in 2231 by transfusion of blood substitute such as Flusol DA20, a perfluorocarbon based product as oxygen carrying therapeutic and later Hemepure, Poly heme. But the attempt was unsuccessful because the technology at that time had reached only to the extent of using blood stem cells. The last cryopreservation was satisfactory and the loss on account of tissue damage resulting from cytotoxicity and crystallization is negligible. Also, the heart, liver & aorta were removed to be preserved separately, which we have lost. But lungs and kidneys, intestines and stomach were left as non-vitals.
Then I thought it was a body they were talking about. But why was I left unattended? I wanted to shout out but I could not. But exactly then the body they were talking about was rotated perpendicular to the floor and I could see it from the glass. The body looked normal to me except it did not have a head. So was it my head they were going to fit atop it? I think my Blood Pressure and heart beat went high, then I saw ZA-vi stepping into the room from the door at right.
ZA-vi: “Hello case! You look awake!”
Hearing this, the doctors who woke me up by this conversation turned back to look at me. One was bald; the other had a little pony. The bald doctor was short and fat and the one with a pony was tall and skinny. Both wore glasses.
I replied: “Yes I am fine. Who are these gentlemen and this body and what about the body they are talking about?”
One said “Hello Madam! I am Aesetrick Shelly and this is Yvonnelex Von. We both are doctors. And this is your body that you had before cryosleep. We are here for trying to reanimate your body and conjoin it with your brain. I mean you.”
I said: “OK, I had this part figured out by myself. And sorry, but I overheard the conversation you were having when I woke up. You were talking about its bad condition, but it looks all fine to me. Plus I also do not appreciate pessimism. So I don’t want to hear that it cannot be done.”
Dr. Von: “No madam, we don’t say it cannot be done. But it’s the medical science that we are taking into account so it is not about being more optimistic than we can be. Science is what can really be achieved given the circumstances which cannot be extended to any theoretical fiction. We try our best with the present technology. But at the same time, we have to be practical and consider the other viable options available to us. So we have to also consider that if, just saying if we fail and cannot revive your body, we will have to use another body. I know your emotional construct and that you want just your body, but we have been directed to reanimate to the next best option available to us. And we have to stick to the plan we have reached.”
“Fair words, these are!” said I. “But let us just be optimistic.”
Electronic voice: “The optimism level is 13.73% being practical.”
“Who just spoke?” I said burnt out a bit more.
“It is your robotic surgeon who we call Doctor Kirkrick A1,” said ZA-vi
A1: “Doctors! We can begin in 32 minutes precisely. Let us prepare it all right away. All doctors ready?”
Von: “Ready on 3.”
Shelly: “Ready”
Von: “3, 2, 1 Go “
The robotic surgeon slices off portions of damaged tissues in the right limbs, first the right foot, then the arms small sharp knives do things very quickly, slicing tissues from various portions. Then it brings chunks of tissues and bones from a nearby placed freezer/Tray and fits it in the opened up spaces. It pulls out a few again, cuts in shapes and fits again. A red beam of some light strikes and probably accomplishes the task of suturing. Then it does the same with all the opened up wounds. First right leg, then right arm. Although quickly done, still it took a couple of minutes.
“Will it work now?” I asked.
Nobody cared! I understood the irrelevance of the question so chose silence and patience over anxiety and curiosity.
I observed the benefits of one machine-doctor with many robotic hands from this safe distance. One hand with driller like appearance went up and drove through the broken bones, it sliced them up and the powder was puffed away.
A1: “Making incision for the heart transplant.”
Dr. Shelly took over to the area, and carried out more of a traditional type of surgery, he used a sponge to wipe clear the liquefying preservative. An artificial
shapeless muscle; apparently heart was ready to be placed inside the opened up the cavity. The chunks of tissues and muscles were carefully tucked in the place they should be put. Shelly got it fixed in the position and A1 sutured it with a laser beam.
A1: “Doctor Von! Ready to go?”
Von:” Ready!” Said Von, as he warmed up the toxified left leg and suctioned out the liquids. Though warm up of the body as reverse-vitrification has been discarded during the first 500 years of the history of medical sciences. But Von was drawing out the toxicity by liquefaction and prepping up the limbs for tissue replacement. He cleared the passages microscopically, capillary by capillary.
I could understand that they were trying to salvage whatever they could of my ‘Rotten’ body and absolutely discard what they couldn’t. While Shelly was busy with fixing the heart, Von and A1 focused on the left side limbs. Suctioning out the toxicity, and replacing the emptied out spaces by cultured tissues.
As the objects of what they did, were achieved Dr. Von came up and with the help of Shelly they began digging through the ribs to make space for arteries and veins and aorta. Slowly the whole chest was cut open and the portions of ribs were placed in a tray. When the lungs were being removed, then A1 moved up a pump towards the chest. He would use it to pump Blue-blood substitute after suturing the newly placed organs.
As the suturing neared the end-
A1 said: “Ready for therapeutic (artificial blood) transfusion in 3!”
A1,”1-2-3!!!”
The heart didn’t beat at all. Then the pump was fitted to Aorta, and the blue life blood started filling up the arteries in the chest.
A1: “Reverse vitrification commenced at 12:30 pm” He registered. The blue liquid started filling up the pale frozen body.
Von: “The limbs are not accepting the blood flow!” Everybody including me starts staring at the limbs, and to me as well, it appears to be true.
Shelly: “Dr. Kirkrick! Suspend the reverse-vitrification for 5 minutes, till then we will have the status reassessed.”
A1 stops the machines with immediate effect.
ZA-vi: “Case DS! The first phase of waking you up seems to have failed!”
“Shut up!” I said. But I was, rephrasing, my head was a bit disappointed as well, I confessed. Yes, I was not exactly happy then.
Von then gave a hand to Shelly in placing in the correct hollows, something looking baggy; perhaps it would be my synthetic lungs. After they were fitted in their proper place, Von began to reassess the problem with the limbs and may be chalked out a better-designed strategy.
Shelly, who was staring the right leg: “Dr. Von! Should you run a chemical test again? Could it be so that the toxicity could have spread more than what was analyzed initially? Could it have so happened in the intermediary period of analysis and surgical procedure?
Von “Can’t reject the point at all Dr. Shelly!”
Looking at the screen, he sent a voice command, “Run chemical testing, commencing at the time 1:00 pm.”
Then Von looked at the instant reports and says, “Yes the cytotoxicity has still shown its presence. Though the replacement can be termed as successful, traces of preservative are still doing the damage at a continuum, as we speak. The spread is so dangerously widespread…..” And they all looked at my head.
Disheartening! Are they giving up already?
A1: “No we are not giving up yet. There are many stages to be cleared before we chose to give up actually.”
What! The robotic-surgeon has heard my thoughts? It cannot be! My thoughts are not safe here. I am puzzled and they resume working again.
Shelly: ”Dr. Von! We may discard the point in restoring the limbs at this point of time and work on the reanimation of the vital organs, heart, lungs etc. It could be much easier post successful reanimation that we assess the cellular damage; right?”
Von: “Right doctor!”
A1: ”Leaping into 2nd stage of the reanimation, ‘Restarting the functioning of the vital organs’. The mode of the procedure will consist of administering current to the body through the Heart.”
Really? I thought; it is barbarianism. All this sophisticated technology could barely reach to the point of giving shock therapy? This isn’t much relieving.
Shelly: “Pump start to transfuse the blood into the heart again, A1!”
A1 turns a machine on and starts pumping blue blood into the heart.
Shelly: ” Go with 25 milliAmpere….”
A1,”Ready for the current flow in 3.”
A1: “3…2…1…GO!!”
The whole body shook up with the effect of the electric shock.
Shelly:”It didn’t start the heart. A1! Pull up by 10.”
A1: “Go on 3! 1, 2, 3, Go!”
But no! The heart didn’t start beating at all. They tried several times, but they got no movement, not even the slightest.
Everybody was disappointed by the initial failures. Don’t ask about my head’s state of mind!
A1: ”The last trial for reanimation begins in 30 minutes precise from now on. Doctors! Start prepping up for the final trial.”
Von: ”Madam! Now we have to connect your body to the brain and let it pass on to the final round. It involves conjoining of your head to the body and then testing it with electric current. So please be mentally prepared.”
“Will it hurt me a lot?” I asked with fear in my voice.
Said Shelly with a smile, ”We can’t be any happier if it does! That’s what we want. But isn’t that what you want as well? If it hurts, then it means that our trial went successfully. That means your brain is joined to your body. This would entail that the physical systems of Heartbeat, Breathing and blood circulation could be carried out naturally in your body with brain monitoring it all, by itself.”
“OK, now I am beginning to wish that it would have hurt me,....” I said.
ZA-vi:”We have to sedate you for a little while Case DS!” He tapped a screen nearby my side to administer a sedative drug for this purpose. And soon it all; a;; before me faded away into oblivion.
When I regained consciousness, I saw a body fixed to my head with long tubular structures and I could see it lying perpendicular to my head.
Shelly: “Madam! Now to begin with the animation procedure, we’ll administer electrical current shocks through your body, which might hurt you a lot. Although you are heavily sedated but still if the reanimation is successful, it is going to be hurting you. But in other words, if it will hurt, then it will be successful as well.”
Von:”The basic purpose is to connect your brain to the body so that it controls all the body functions by itself. And not to mention it’s our only chance at the final phase of the trial.”
All I managed to say was a ‘buzzing’ yes. Though I was a little disheartened at the initial failures and the knowledge of the fact that it was going to be my last chance to have my body back, it all sent a shudder down my spine; something that held value; something from the past life; something to which I could feel a strong connection to; something endearing. That something could be lost forever, it scared me again.
I knew that I was ready to take all that would come this way. Any pain was worth the hopes. But the emotional connection I had to the feeling of having my body back was real in my soul. I wanted the body I had before and had the guts to face anything to have it back. I could feel a strong sense of emotional capacity. Yes, may be, my brain was developing in all the areas. It felt real and seemed so.
What would I do without my body? In a world utterly unfamiliar and new to me, that I was born into……I couldn’t essentially possess to cope up with the novelty of the circumstances without my whole self.
A1: “readying the body affixed to the brain for the final Reanimation Trial, starting the shock with 60 milliamperes. Go on 3.”
The doctors Von and Shelly pulled their hands away from the body. The trick was to kick start the heart and respiratory and circulatory systems with the administration of th
e shock.
A1: “1---2---3….GO!”
I could see the sparks flying through the body, my body. The body jumps up in the shock. The doctors stare at me once all together once again.
A1: “Feel any shock?”
I was taken aback! I had to feel the shock! I looked at it going into the body. But ……..
“No!!!” I cried in despair!
A1: “OK. Here we go again. On 3.”
A1: “1---2---3. GO!!!”
Two electrodes connect across the heart and the body jumps up in shock, but I still felt ‘NOTHING’.
Shelly: “Still? No pain? Shock? Tingling or anything?”
“No!” I cried. “I think you are not trying hard enough!”
Shelly: “OK! Let us go up 100 mAmps. Go on 3.”
A1: “1---2---3! GO!!!”
I baffled, “I still feel nothing! Why don’t you guys try to check the wires or tubes? Couldn’t they be weak for connection?”
Von: “The apparatus couldn’t be wrong. We have done this many times to make sure of this…..”
“OK”, A1 said. “One last time, raised to 250 milliamps. On 3. GO!!”
“No, No! Nothing! I feel nothing at all! I just don’t feel the shock. The procedure must be erroneous. You people must not be doing it right!” I shouted out loud in disbelief and dismay.
“It just can’t be” Von: “Madam, we are sorry! You know we have tried our best…………………”
“But it wasn’t enough! Try more shock, higher current……………………try something; something new.” I said.
Von: “If we tried again with higher current, it will only damage your already feeble body furthermore. Higher current will cause respiratory arrest, nerve damage, severe muscle contractions, and fibrillation. We can control these only to a fixed degree beyond which we will only lose any hope of any further reanimation of your body. Also, it is not the shock, it is the damage caused to your body which is hindering the reanimation process from being successful. With much more prudent processes and salvage devices, we can hope for a chance to revive your body in the future as we register progress in technology.”
I quipped: “But why don’t you instead administer shock directly to the brain?”
“It is not a psychological case madam. Your brain is healthy. We are trying to kick start the vital systems by giving a shock, as in defibrillation. We could revive it through shock therapy.” Shelly said.
A1: “We can still revive your body in future till then we can put your body under ‘Chemical Squeezing’ a strict observation in cryo-suspension. We can revive your toxic tissues on a cellular lever and by employing tissue culture for the lost tissues. It will take time and we are not sure of actual future possibility and plausibility. But it is like generating newer cells and tissues using stem cells in the local areas. It will be a wait and watch situation till then we will conjoin you to another healthier male body we have in this facility. It is basically a non-gender body, but we call it male because it is not particularly a female body. But it is quite possible that it might be your body forever in case we fail the reanimation in future trials too.”
Chapter 3: A new body for me - A male body!