The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) Read online

  Chapter 9

  He just stared at the notepad for a few minutes while Teague patiently waited. “I think I need some time alone to... absorb this.” He felt like he was going to puke.

  Teague didn’t even hesitate. “Most certainly,” he said, “I will give you some time to rest. Let me show you how to adjust your bed.” He showed Jack how to manipulate the bed so he could lay it flat or sit it up. “When you are ready, just touch the box on the bottom left of the monitor next to your bed and I, or someone else, will be in here shortly to assist you. I will have more answers for you later.” Jack looked over at the square sheet of glass on the stand next to his bed and just nodded, still speechless.

  Upon close examination he saw that it had all sorts of medical information on it, including his blood pressure, heart rate, and a bunch of other readouts that probably meant something to Teague.

  Teague went on without prompting, “It is monitoring all your body functions. It is a touch screen like the one on my datapad here. Just touch that square on the bottom left corner if you need anything. Can I get you some water before I leave? I realize it’s not the best tasting stuff but you won’t get sick from it, and your body could probably use the hydration.” Jack nodded again.

  After bringing in a glass of water, Teague left the room for the ‘evening’. There were no windows in this room so it was impossible to say whether it was night or day. The conversation had not lasted more than an hour, but he felt tired and was as mentally drained as he would be if he had spent the whole day filing requisition papers for the military. He lowered the bed and stared at the monitor for a while, watching the lights bounce around in an almost hypnotizing pattern. Finally he drifted off to sleep, dreaming about Jenny and Ally, and crazy Dr. Jekyll type doctors creating people in little glass beakers.

  * * *

  “So tell me, Teague, how is he coming?”

  “Very well. Very well indeed considering the age of the material we had to work with. His mind is working very well, and despite the potential errors in his memory it is accepting his biology perfectly. I can already tell he is an exceptionally intelligent man with a gift for being very perceptive. At first I thought his technology background would be a roadblock on his path to accepting his situation, but it appears it worked in my favor. As soon as he saw technology that couldn’t possibly exist in his time he was convinced. I think we have a very viable candidate here.”

  “Good. Do you think he will be able to do what we need? And if so will he be ready in time?”

  “God willing, yes.”

  “Good, good. Carry on.”

  Chapter 10

  Consciousness came quickly for the first time in years. Sleep didn’t linger and try to draw him back in – he simply went from a deep, dreamless slumber he hadn’t thought possible a few hours before to not just being awake, but alert as well. And it wasn’t just the rapid transition to consciousness that surprised him, it was the fact that he was at complete peace when it happened. By all rights he should be a mess right now. He was in a foreign place, with only an impossible explanation for why he was here. But the cancer, the grief, the stress from work all felt distant and disconnected, as if they were someone else’s problems and not his own. Even reflecting on his wife’s passing did not stir the pain in his heart he should expect.

  In this state of relaxation, thoughts, memories, and reasoning flowed effortlessly through his mind. There wasn’t much to distract him, the only source of light was the dim glow from the medical monitor that cast a slight blue aura on barely half the room. The rest of the room was as much as mystery as how he got here. It was irrelevant, there was no desire to explore. He closed his eyes and just let the thoughts and feelings flow.

  He started at the beginning, his first thoughts upon waking the previous day. Pain, or rather its absence, was the first thing he recalled. Why was that? At first he decided he hadn’t felt this good in years. Then he decided he hadn’t felt this good ever. As he pondered it, he came to the realization that he didn’t really remember how he felt when he was younger. It was like the difference between two friends, one you see every day and one only every couple of years. They may have aged equally over time, but you don’t notice it on the one you see every day, only on the one you haven’t seen for a long time. One day you wake up and feel miserable but you don’t know if it’s because you are getting sick or if it’s just normal since you felt almost as miserable the day before. Your frame of reference is only the day before, or maybe the week before; you can’t really compare how you feel now to how you felt a year ago. In fact, the stark difference in how he felt when he first went to the hospital with Mabel and when he first woke up here the day before was already starting to fade. He was getting used to it and couldn’t frame a reference point to when he had felt this good.

  Thinking about Mabel and the hospital shifted his focus. This was a troubling train of thought. The trip to the hospital, the preparation for whatever might come of his surgery, and even the few hours he had spent reconnecting with Mabel were all fresh in his mind. For him they happened yesterday, or perhaps a couple days ago. It was clear, however, that some amount of time had passed. The technology alone was proof positive that it wasn’t 1966 anymore. It was surprisingly easy to accept that. The rest, not so much. He wasn’t sure what to believe. The simple biopsy could have gone awry, and he could have slipped into a coma for a number of years. He recalled the article he had read about the woman waking from her coma after nearly twenty years. It took her months of extensive physical therapy before she was able to perform the simplest of physical tasks. She couldn’t even talk for weeks, and walking again was probably unlikely. They had called it muscular atrophy in the article. But he felt like he could get out of the bed and dance a jig right now.

  He supposed if the technology to make a television the thickness of a sheet of glass existed, then medical advances could explain his physical condition. However, if thirty years had passed while he played sleeping beauty, he would be well into his sixties, or even seventies. He felt like he was a new man, even younger than his nearly forty year old body should feel. There was no way he was in his seventies, and what he had seen of his body so far in no way suggested he was any older. Despite how good he felt, he found it hard to believe that medical science would ever have the cure for aging, and certainly not within the span of his life. Try as he could though, he wasn’t ready to accept that hundreds of years had passed or that he had died. It was far beyond his capability to reason and even outside the scope of his imagination. This train of thought led to a pile of questions that he could barely form into coherent thoughts let alone try to reason out. The sheer volume of unanswered questions shattered his feeling of utter relaxation and the tension, frustration, and anxiety began to build at an uncontrollable pace. He suddenly felt an uncompromising need to learn more about his situation.

  In effort to regain the sense of serenity he had held only moments before, he shifted his thoughts again, this time to what had just happened. When he was younger, he was a bit of a hothead, quick to lose his temper. It had led to some bad decisions and more than one fight. Simply growing up, along with twenty years of military discipline, had burned out that youthful spirit. It was confusing that he had been hot tempered in his earlier conversation with Teague. Every time the doc said something he didn’t like or didn’t comprehend, he got seriously angry. That was simply not like him. He was “battle hardened” and even devastating news like the death of his wife and child or learning he had cancer had not gotten him too riled up. Ironically though, just thinking about this uncontrolled temper triggered another jolt of anxiety over his situation and his tension grew. The last bit clarity and peacefulness was now gone, replaced by the overwhelming need to know.

  Perhaps it was his sudden desire to explore his surroundings, or maybe he heard the faintest sound. Whatever triggered it, he was abruptly aware of another presence in the room. He stopped breathing, held perfectly still, and even tri
ed to will his heart, which had started beating harder when the wave of anxiety washed over him, to be still. A second passed, two, then three. Another sound – the slightest rustle of fabric or maybe the intake of a quiet breath.

  “Is someone there? Teague is that you?”

  There was a hesitation and then, softly, a female voice spoke up. “No.” It came out a little choked, like she hadn’t expected to suddenly have to talk. She cleared her throat and said, “Would you like me to wake the doctor for you?”

  “Uh… no, I… Who are you?” Jack had been half convinced his mind had been playing tricks on him so the response startled him. He wasn’t prepared to reply. “What are… were you watching me sleep?”

  There was a long pause, as if the person were contemplating whether or not to answer the question. “Um... Yes actually, I was.” Jack could hear guilt and embarrassment in the voice, and it almost felt like he could feel her blushing. “I’m sorry if I woke you, I was just...” She was obviously uncomfortable trying to explain, probably not expecting to have been caught.

  Her voice sounded vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it. She hadn’t offered any more, and he got the feeling she couldn’t come up with a good excuse for being here. He broke the uncomfortable pause with, “Who are you?”

  Her voice became more confident. “Um, my name is Wendy. I’m a technician here, among other things.” Again, she left it hanging like there was much more to say but wasn’t sure quite how to proceed.

  As she spoke, he probed the dark room with his senses, trying to focus in on her voice. He located the source behind him, probably in the corner of the room. As much as his vision had improved she was completely hidden in the dark. “Can you come over here so I can see you? I don’t like talking to people when I can’t see them.” Actually he didn’t really mind it, he was just curious to see her and it sounded like a good excuse.

  There was the sound of wheels running on a smooth floor, and Wendy materialized out of the darkness pushing an office type chair. As she stepped into the pale blue light of the monitor, Jack felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. She moved like someone who was very in tune with their body, no wasted movement and every step filled with confidence that it would land exactly where it was supposed to. Her five foot six inch frame was noticeably athletic, even in the dim light. The attraction he felt was electric.

  She rolled the chair next to the bed, near the foot, facing him, and sat down gracefully. He had only caught a glimpse of her face when the first jolt hit him, and now that she was sitting here facing him, it was a good thing he was already lying down. She was stunningly attractive. Her straight dark hair was cut fairly short, almost like a woman’s military cut, and framed her face perfectly. Her cheekbones were just high enough to anchor her strong jaw line without making her face look masculine. Full lips, a short slender nose, and eyebrows angled just right completed a look that made it difficult for Jack to speak. He put her at twenty-something years old, a little young for someone like him. Nevertheless, he felt the need to say something witty, something impressive. “So, can I ask why you’re in my room watching me sleep?” Wow, impressive. To cover up his underwhelming attempt to dazzle her, he manipulated the bed controls to sit up then fixed her with what he hoped was a smoldering gaze.

  She looked down at her knees in embarrassment, not seeming to notice the effect she had on him. This time Jack could literally feel the heat radiating from her body. “I, uh, guess I wanted to meet you. You know, like without Doc or anyone around.”

  The sound of her voice was electricity running up his spine. He didn’t recall having this kind of attraction to anyone, ever. Not even seeing Jenny for the first time had triggered a reaction like this. It sent his mind ablaze and made it hard to even form a coherent thought. He was starting to get a grip on it though, and he chastised himself for his lack of ability to control his attraction. He fumbled on through the conversation, trying to regain his composure. There were questions still burning in his mind and he wanted to keep her talking. “Are you... um… not supposed to meet me or something?”

  “Oh no, nothing like that,” she answered quickly. “It would be… difficult to explain.” She looked like she wanted to say more but left it at that. Her answer was frustrating, but she was now staring at him. He felt another rush from the attention. It had been a long time since such an attractive woman, okay, any woman at all, had shown him this kind of attention, and he felt himself getting a bit aroused. He shifted in the bed a bit, surprised to find that he could move a lot better than before he slept. “Am I making you uncomfortable?” she asked.

  “No. Well, not really. I uh... well I... you see, I think you are very attractive, and uh... well...” Now he was the one blushing, not only because he was aroused by this complete stranger, but because he was finding himself blubbering like a teenager who was trying to ask his dream girl to the prom.

  She was smiling at him, seeming to almost enjoy his discomfort. “Relax. I’m not so attractive that you should be uncomfortable around me, and besides, you have nothing to be worried about; you’re not so ugly yourself.” She was trying to put him at ease, but once again Jack was having a hard time controlling his emotions. He couldn’t seem to get comfortable in his bed, and it felt like the temperature in the room had gone up about twenty degrees. In his mind he was struggling to come to terms with his behavior, but it was getting more and more difficult to think clearly.

  He had never been a smooth talker around women, relying mostly on decent looks and a steady confidence to help him score points with the ladies. Even that confidence seemed to have failed at the moment. “Thanks,” he said “but I don’t know what’s gotten into me lately. Oh, and by the way, you are that attractive.” He smiled nervously.

  She still hadn’t stopped staring at him, but now her confidence seemed to slip a little. She didn’t look quite as relaxed as she had a moment ago. “The… uh… reason you are feeling so out of sorts is a side effect of the whole growth process you have gone through the last seven weeks. Your body went through puberty just recently, and the hormones that triggered the changes are still raging in your system. You have this young body, and your mind and memories don’t quite match. Being,” she seemed to search for a word “emotional, is a perfectly normal response to the situation.”

  The words took a moment to settle past the chemistry he was feeling. Despite the maelstrom of emotion, anxiety, arousal, and confusion, his curiosity grabbed hold of her words and the gears started turning at a furious pace. “I’m not quite following you.” His mind raced, running back over his earlier conversation. “You make it sound like I’m a teenager instead of a forty year old man.” He had not seen himself in a mirror since, well, since before he went in for surgery. Despite his earlier conviction that reversing the aging process was simply not possible, he had to suppress the urge to look under the covers at his body or even to just touch his face. Just a simple statement from this complete stranger about hormones and puberty rang true and brought a thread of doubt into his mind regarding what he knew couldn’t be possible.

  Wendy sort of giggled, and in automatic reaction Jack grinned like an infatuated schoolboy then caught himself and straightened out his face, somewhat embarrassed both by his reaction and to his lack of understanding. He tentatively asked, “You aren’t suggesting that what Teague told me earlier about dying and being remade is really true, are you?”

  She frowned, “I’m sorry, I was under the impression that you understood. Perhaps I should go and leave this to Doc. I don’t want to cause you problems and he is much better than me at explaining it…”

  “NO! Um, I mean, please, don’t go.”

  Wendy had tensed like she was going to stand up, but at his quick outburst she paused and then settled back into the chair. The look of concern on her face was more sincere than warranted. She seemed to struggle with something in her mind before speaking next. “Look, I’m not a doctor, and I sure as hell am no scientist. I can, how
ever, tell you that I watched you grow from a few chemicals in a jar to a full grown man. Whether you understand it or not, Doc wasn’t lying to you.”

  They sat in silence as minutes passed. The chemistry he felt at first sight of her was still there but now it was mixed with the tension of disbelief warring with his desire to believe that she would not be dishonest. He wasn’t ready to accept or dismiss what she had said. Some part of his mind knew that if didn’t put this issue aside for the moment it might all start to come apart. He had reached his limit in understanding and accepting, at least for the moment. He tried to just clear his mind, filing away the issue for another time. The tension eased and he visibly settled back into his bed, unsure of whether he wanted to continue talking to Wendy or if he should just go back to sleep.

  By the time he let his eyes meet hers again, she tensed as if to get up. She was clearly distraught over his reaction to her words. He decided quickly that he didn’t want her to go quite yet. “Wait, it isn’t that I don’t believe you, I just don’t understand it. My emotions are all over the place, and it doesn’t let me think clearly enough to process something like this. I… I can’t think about this right now but...” He paused to consider what he might say to keep her here a little longer, and decided to just keep it simple. “Please stay.”