Chapter 4: Switched Off

“What Joey called, win-win, Lilli calls tit for tat, the preachers call eye for an eye, Cindy calls justice and Cindy sighed with relief when Elaine’s fake escape caper was finished and justice is done. According to official records of the two nations, Elaine flew home to Florida from Tortola. Then nothing, she just vanished.

Didn’t do Joey any good whatsoever. Officially still listed among the living, Joey is a stiff, frozen stiff in a cryogenic deep freeze. Immediately after Cindy’s Reconstructionist doctors were notified by Cindy, the pair boarded a plane with a cryo-engineer accompanying them and flew to Tortola. Then by boat from Tortola to the island, and within eight hours, Joey had the bullets extracted from his wounds and was being maintained in a kitchen box freezer hastily converted on-site to sub-sub-zero cryo-freezer.

An opportunity for a legitimate doctor pair to obtain a fresh young corpse, one authority isn’t aware of, fortunately completely devoid of records, is rarer than you might think. A diseased corpse isn’t good. Nor an ancient worn-out body. Grave robbing is illegal. Many laws exist regarding the proper processing of the dead. Often embalming is a requirement even if the body will be cremated immediately after. Death certificates are quickly issued. The families insist, in a hurry to begin the inheritance process. Not often does a suitable subject for reanimation experiments become available.

Joey Peppers is perfect for their project’s needs.

Young, only twenty-six, athletic, well-nourished, neither a smoker nor a frequent drinker, in excellent health, and died without major trauma, just a simple internal hemorrhage. He could have lived, been quickly repaired had prompt medical attention been available in time. He bled out. Drained his life away. Soon after the death, his body temperature was quickly lowered. Great news!

Easy to get him on his feet again. Thaw him out, warm him up, suture the damaged artery and veins, fill him up with four quarts of the correct best grade blood, and jump-start him. Clear, bzzzt!

“Hello, how are we feeling today? Not so good? What’s wrong? Speak to me. Answer me when I scream at you. What’s the matter? What’s your fucking problem, Joey? Are you deaf? Dead from the neck up? To Hell with you! Don’t you dare ever ask me for another favor! Drop-dead, why don’t you get out of here? Numb skull!”

Something is missing. Something obvious. Something elusive and unquantifiable. A certain unidentifiable, inexplicable spark.

Some call it consciousness, mind, the soul, or the spirit. To deny it exists is ridiculous. For twenty-six years it definitely resided in and motivated Joey Pepper’s brain and body and now it’s even more conspicuous by its absence.

Never mind where it went. That’s a topic suitable only for religion.

“Where was it kept, located, when it was here? That question has long been a great interest of mine” replied Dr. Asky the brain surgeon. “It’s my belief the human brain is comparable to a supercomputer. One day, I expect to model the brain within a computer.”

“We argue about that nearly constantly” added endocrinologist Dr. Zman. “Dr. Asky oversimplifies the mind, confining it exclusively to the brain. He completely ignores the roles that outside stimulus, autonomous reactions, and hormones production contribute to our conscious decision responses. I perceive the mind as a holistic aspect of our entire being. My colleague insists it’s pure brain function.”

“It is precisely that!” Dr. Asky belligerently affirms. “I’m the brain expert. You’re behaving foolishly crossing swords with me. Your rapier-like wit is quite dull and pointless!”

“My esteemed colleague advances his argument as though it were his erect penis he brandishes in his hand.”

“Some are endowed with greater capacity for understanding than others. I am fortunate to possess a prodigious intellect.”

“And great natural humility, too. Don’t forget to mention how humble you are.”

“False humility bores me. So do you.”

“Can you help Joey? Isn’t that the purpose of your visit? You’ve discovered something to cheer about?” Cindy hopes.