Chapter 4: Off to See the Wizzard, if Ever There Was

“I just don’t feel right leaving you here all by yourself Patty. There has to be something we’ve overlooked, something that ties you to this house. Even when your riding one of the other women your still stuck here. Are you sure you can’t remember who you are, or how you died. For some reason you don’t think your dead? But your a spirit and I can talk to you, so that must mean your dead Patty. That might be true but you still don’t think your dead. OK, I’ll ask the other girls about it they are probably more current on the technology than me anyway.” With that Mark stopped talking to himself and turned to the other girls in the room.

“Is it possible to store a living body in a ... well something like a big shinny silver test tube, and them to still be alive?” Mark asked everyone in the room.

“Are we talking stasis fields, or something like that Mark?” Lynsey de Paul, asked looking at her friend Jessica Bartlett.

“Stasis field as in sci-fi, as in comic books Lynsey?” Mark questioned her.

“Well stasis field as in Fandom Mark. Wikipedia.org defines a stasis field as an imagined to be a region in which a stasis process is in effect. Everything in the field ceases to move ... held motionless. Stasis fields in fiction often have several common characteristics. These include infinite or nearly infinite rigidity, making them “unbreakable objects”, and a perfect or nearly perfect reflective surface. Most science fiction plots rely on a physical device to establish the field, and when the device is turned off, the stasis field collapses, and the stasis effect ends. I guess you could describe it as “a big shinny silver test tube thingee” Mark.” Lynsey giggled.

“Its also associated with Suspended Animation, Mark.” Jessica Bartlett added.

“Stasis fields, Suspended Animation, big shinny silver test tube thingees. I bought this house at auction a couple of years ago. I got it dirt cheap because there was a persistent rumor the place was haunted. The bank couldn’t pay a tenant enough to stay in the place. If the bank hadn’t gotten my offer they were planning to demolish the place.”

“A Doctor Harold Sarkisian defaulted on his mortgage about 10 or 15 years ago. He just mysteriously disappeared one night. He had all kinds of degrees, degrees in medicine, degrees in engineering, degrees in astrophysics, he was some sort of a damn genius, a real Renaissance Man. But when he went missing the spook stories started. I took the open house before the auction and didn’t feel anything. Of course I didn’t have my powers back yet either.” Mark paused and chuckled.

“I say I didn’t feel anything, but that’s not absolutely true. I felt like I’d come home. Like this was where I belonged. I was about to step out onto the third floor balcony when a violent gust of wind literally blew me back into the room. I was suddenly sitting on my butt looking up at Patty, and she was talking to me. There was a hole in the balcony’s floor and somebody had thrown a rug over it to hide it from view. Patty saved my life that day and I got my gift ... or curse ... back that day.” Mark told the group.

“There were research papers on suspended animation on the table that day. What do you’ll know about suspended animation?” Mark asked the room.

“In the 1939 serial, the character Buck Rogers, and his sidekick Buddy Wade, deliberately cryo-preserve themselves by using an experimental “Nirvano Gas”, as they await rescue after their dirigible crashes over the North Pole. Buck is rendered unconscious, and a strange gas preserves him in a suspended animation. In the TV series the Draconian life sciences are nothing short of miraculous. Kane surmises that the perfect balance of the four gasses of oxygen, cryogen, ozone and methalon were responsible for preserving Rogers over all the centuries.” Jessica started, but Beverly took it up.

“Metabolic flexibility has been around for many years and is observed in mammals that hibernate. During hibernation, there is a decrease in respiration, heart rate and body temperature allowing mammals to survive the cold winter and conserve energy sources. There are also, many invertebrates that can hibernate for days, months, and even years before reanimating themselves.” Beverly added.

“There was this Doctor Mark Roth that was interested in harnessing the effect that cold had on the ability of humans to ‘turn themselves off’ and then reanimate. He studied the case files of Erica Nordby, and Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, and became intrigued.” Marilu Macool started then paused.

“Erica Nordby, a toddler in Edmonton Canada had wandered out alone into the frigid night. Before she was resuscitated her heart had stopped beating for two hours and her body temperature had dropped to 61 degrees Fahrenheit. She was brought back to life and had no lasting effects from the experience. In October 2006, a Japanese man, Mitsutaka Uchikoshi, fell asleep on a snowy mountain and was found unconscious by rescuers 23 days later. The doctors who treated him believed his temperature had fallen to 71 degrees Fahrenheit during that period.” Cathy Kelley took up where Marilu Macool had stopped.

“Medical science defines hypothermia as being present within an organism when it’s temperature drops to a point at which normal functions are impaired. Typically, hypothermia results in a decrease in metabolism and cellular activity ultimately causing cell death. In addition, there is a significant decrease in blood flow and oxygen levels which causes the muscles, organs and brain to malfunction.”

“Roth became interested in the idea that humans may have metabolic flexibility, and be able to decrease their respiration and heartbeat and, in effect, “turn themselves off” in response to physical, or environmental stress. Metabolic flexibility has been around for many years and is observed in mammals that hibernate. During hibernation, there is a decrease in respiration, heart rate and body temperature allowing mammals to survive the cold winter and conserve their energy. Additionally, many invertebrates can hibernate for days, months, and even years before reanimating. Roth was interested in harnessing the effect that cold had on the ability of humans to ‘turn themselves off’ and then reanimate.”

“He found hydrogen sulfide binds with iron in cytochrome enzymes, disrupting a critical step in a process called oxidative phosphorylation, in which oxygen is burned to produce energy in the form of a substance called ATP. By blocking oxygen from binding to the iron, hydrogen sulfide stops cellular respiration and energy production completely. When energy production is stopped, body temperature and metabolic rate are reduced. Enzymes exist in the body that can detoxify hydrogen sulfide by oxidation to a harmless sulfate. As a result, low levels of sulfide may be tolerated indefinitely. However, at higher levels it can poison several systems in the body most notably the nervous system.”

“Roth hypothesized that perhaps he could prevent death in low oxygen situations by adding agents such as hydrogen sulfide that decrease metabolic activity there by inhibiting oxygen utilization and induce suspended animation. Suspended animation refers to the state where all observable life processes are stopped but the animal can later resume its normal function.”

“Roth then decided to try low doses of the gas to induce suspended animation in mice. He found that he could reversibly reduce the metabolic rate of mice by first exposing them to 80 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide and then exposing them to low oxygen. In just a matter of minutes, mice entered into what is called a “hibernation-like” state, where their core temperature was reduced to 11 degrees and their respiration dropped from the normal 120 breaths per minute to 10 or less breaths per minute.”

“In his preliminary mammal experiments, Roth kept the animals in this state for 6 hours and they recovered completely. After the gas was removed, normal metabolic function and activity resumed. In both of these studies, he found discrete and lethal oxygen levels exist just above the oxygen level that enables suspended animation. There was another researcher Doctor Harold Sarkisian that took up his work. Could that be the former owner of this house?” Cathy finished with her question to Mark.

“I don’t personally believe in coincidences like that Cathy. If he was your typical Hollywood, “Mad Genius”, he would have to have his “hidden lair” in the house somewhere. Our only problem is this is one big ass house to comb through. The first thing I guess is to get out the building plans and see if anything has changed...” Monica Bellucci butted in.

“Or we go to the basement where all good classic stereotypical villains hang out first. There will also be the classic secret lab and secret escape tunnel and the out building for his escape vehicle.” Monica laughed.

“I’m with Monica.” Almost everyone was agreeing. Hours latter they had the secret door open and entered the “hidden lair of Doctor Sarkisian”.

“Ta Da, mystery solved Mark.” Monica crowed as she entered the lair.

“Well there’s your, “a big shinny silver test tube thingee”, Mark.” Beverly told him pointing to a silver tube contraption in the middle of the room. The tube was about 48 inches in diameter by about 10 feet in length, and both ends appeared rounded. It was mounted on a wheeled base and about 5 foot high off the floor.

“Eu, and there’s the good doctor, or more precisely what’s left of him anyway.” Sue pointed out the cloths on the floor with some desiccated skin and bones still in them.

“Mystery solved ... well one mystery solved, now for the second mystery, or should I say mysteries. Patty why didn’t you know this was here. You can just float through walls.” Mark asked Patty’s ghost ... spirit.

“You couldn’t approach this area. That makes sense in a weird sort of way I guess. OK, girls the next thing we need is the “Mad Doctor’s” notes and diary. Every “Mad Doctor” has got to leave a diary to explain what this thing is, along with how he was misunderstood by society.” Mark said standing before the “big shinny silver test tube thingee”. The only thing he was sure of, well pretty sure of anyway, at the moment was it wasn’t a mythical “force field”. With that said he walked up to the “big shinny silver test tube thingee”, and put his hand on it, and all Hell broke loose for a second.