Chapter 9:
Vera woke up, sat up in her bed, and listened. Silence. Wait, no, there was something. It was very faint though… She hopped out of bed and wandered out to the living room, and there was her dad on the computer again, checking his stocks.
"Awww dad, how long have you been up?" Vera whined.
"What? Oh, not too long, no, just watching to see what's going to happen with this company's earnings. I'm selling short, hoping to make a nice profit off of it." Vera just stared blankly. "Well, you see..." Frank said, trying to think of how to explain it. Vera looked bored already. "Ah never mind, it's complicated and I can tell you really aren't interested."
"No, I'm interested in what you do," Vera protested, "I just never understand it, so I don't want you to waste your time with a long explanation. So what're you going to be doing today?"
"Well, assuming this money comes in, we need to take it and buy some more equipment for the lab, and then I've gotta work more on the formula for the--"
"Dad! All you ever do is work on that project of yours! You never take any time for yourself! You can't keep going like this, it's going to kill you eventually! If mom were here, she'd set you straight..."
"Look, dear, I know you miss your mother… I do too ... but the lab is important to me. I just can't bear the loneliness. I need to keep busy. The lab--and you--are the only things I have left..." Vera sighed. This was the umpteenth time they had been over this and it was always the same.
"I know, I know, just take care of yourself, OK?" Frank was silent. And so it went, day after day, Frank would pursue his stocks and then head to the lab, investing his time and money diligently. Then one day, Vera arrived home after a long and miserable day of work. One thing was clear in her mind after that day: the customer is most certainly NOT always right. She took off her shoes in the hallway and started walking towards the living room, taking fleeting glances at some of the family photos lining the walls. She could hear Frank talking excitedly to someone as she entered the room.
"Oh!" She said, surprised to see Flo and Ervin sitting on the couch along with some other man she hadn't seen before. "Sorry dad, I didn't know you had company. Who's this?" She said, looking the man over, noting that he was probably around her age and definitely not the type of person her father would normally be hanging out with.
"Ah, this is--what is your name again--oh right, yes, I remember now, this is Doug! He knows Flo and has been helping us out some with things down at the lab."
"OK, well nice to meet you Doug." She shook his hand. "So what's going on? You seem pretty excited about something."
"Vera, dear! It's done! We've done it!" Vera gaped.
"Wait, what? How can it be done? I thought you still had quite a ways to go?"
"Well we had a few breakthroughs! We just finished testing it out on a lab mouse a little bit ago and it worked splendidly!" Vera then noted the bottle of champagne that was sitting on the coffee table, perched precariously among stacks of books and magazines. Everyone in the room had an empty glass, except Ervin, who seemed to have fallen asleep before he had a chance to drink it. "Oh, yes, let me get you a glass!" Frank ran to the kitchen, fetched a glass, and poured some of the bubbly beverage for her. "Here we are." Vera grabbed the glass extended to her and took a sip.
"So where do you go from here? What are your plans? Are you going to take this public and try to get some government funding for more research and development or something?"
Frank appeared thoughtful, a distant glean in his eye. "Well, no, actually, we want to go the opposite direction. You know how I feel already about the political system we have in place and how everything has been continuously going downhill. We plan on doing something about that, at least for some people, so that quality of life can definitely be improved." Vera didn't understand.
"I don't get it. How does that apply to cryogenics?"
"Well, you see, as I've always said, things have to get worse before they get better, but things show no indication of getting any better anytime soon. Going public and getting government funding is definitely not the way to go. They have too many questions and are likely to pull the plug on the project and remove the funding just as quickly as we attain it. We all know that they're not focused on funding science right now anyhow." The others nodded in affirmation.
"So, how are you going to make things better with this cryogenics stuff? Freeze all the rotten politicians?" Vera chuckled.
"Oh no, not at all, instead we'll freeze some people so that they can effectively travel to the future when things will be much better!"
"You're going to freeze yourself?"
Frank stood up. "Vera, dear, I would love to live in a world where people aren't total idiots... But it would be wasted on me. I want you to go..."
"What? No! This is your project! This is your dream! You have to go!"
"Absolutely not. It was my dream. Had we completed this ten years ago, I would probably take part. I'm simply too old now; it's too late for me. Such a journey would be better for someone who is younger and in better health... Yes, my new dream is for my daughter to be able to live in a world where people aren't total idiots." Frank beamed.
"But what will you do?"
"I'll stay behind of course. I'll continue investing money and turning a profit so that we can keep the lab running, and I'll take the helm of the controls. I'll have to train others to help me of course. We have three chambers we've built that we'll need to monitor."
"Well if you're too old to go, Ervin is definitely too old to go. So you're going to send me, Flo, and..." Vera tried to remember Doug's name but was too flustered to do so. "This guy?"
"Not quite. Flo is going to stay behind to help me with the machines as well."
"So you're just sending me and him?!"
"No, of course not!"
"Then who?"
"Well we have an idea for that. We're planning on trying to get someone from the outside interested. A fresh face if you will, someone who has no familiarity with any of this but who deeply desires to get away from the madness."
"Oh? And how will you find this person?"
"Well we're going to schedule a meeting at one of the local libraries and post flyers. Doug here is going to take care of that."
Vera sat and thought for a while. "I don't know dad. I don't like this very much. What will you do without me when I'm gone?"
"Oh dear, please don't worry about me. I'll survive. The main thing is that you get to experience a new, better life. Before your mother died, she made me promise to give you the best life possible. As far as I'm concerned, this is how I'm going to fulfill that promise."
They hugged.