At last it crowded down to a single desperate option. He would have liked to discuss it with Ana, but he could not do so. If she knew what he had in mind, she would veto it. She would make him promise, on her dying body, that he would abandon the idea.

So. She must not know, must never even suspect.

When he had done all that he could and was ready for the final step, he called Tom Lambert and asked him to come over to the house.

Tom arrived after dinner. It was fantastic weather for early April, with daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths bursting into blossom after a cool spring. Life and energy seemed everywhere except inside the darkened house. Ana was sleeping in the front bedroom. Tom gave her a brief examination and led Drake into the living room. He shook his head.

“It’s going faster than I thought. At this rate Anastasia will pass into a final coma in the next three or four days. You ought to let me take her to a hospital now. There’s nothing you can do for her, and you need the rest. You look as though you’ve had no sleep for the past month.”

“There’ll be time enough for sleep. I want her to stay here with me. In fact, it will be necessary.” Drake placed Tom in the window seat and sat himself down opposite, knee to knee. He explained what he had been doing for the past week, and what he wanted Tom to do in the next few days.

Lambert heard him out without a word. Then he shrugged his shoulders.

“If that’s what the two of you want to do, Drake, it’s your call.” There was a pitying look in his eyes. “I’ll help you, of course I will. And I agree, Anastasia has nothing at all to lose. But you realize, don’t you, that they’ve never done a successful freeze and thaw?”

“On fish, and amphibians—”

“Don’t kid yourselves, Drake. Fish and amphibians mean next to nothing. We’re talking humans here. I have to tell you, in my opinion you are wasting your time and money. Just making the whole thing harder for yourself, too. What does Ana have to say about it?”

“Not much.” It was a direct lie. The idea had never been discussed with her. But how could he make a decision, this one above all, without telling Ana? Drake forced himself away from that thought and went on. “She’s willing. Maybe more for my sake than hers. She thinks it won’t work, but she agrees that she has nothing to lose. Look, I’d rather you don’t mention this to her. It’s like — like assuming she’s already dead. I’ll prepare the papers. And I’ll get Ana’s signature.”

“Better not wait too long.” Tom’s face was grim. “If you’re going to do this, she has to be able to hold a pen.”

“I know. I told you, I’ll get her signature.”

After Tom left, Drake wandered out into the backyard. It was still warm outside, with the promise of summer. But spring was a mockery, an unkind and cruel joke. He roamed from one flowering border to the next. They had created this garden with their own hands. When they moved into the house, seven years ago, the yard had been badly

neglected. It had been nothing but weeds and bare earth. He had done most of the work, but it had been according to Ana’s design and under her direction. These were her walkways and flower beds, not his. How could he bear to look at them, if she was gone?

After five minutes he went inside. He had to check all the legal procedures one more time. •

•

• Three days later Drake called Tom Lambert again to the house. The doctor went to the bedroom, felt Ana’s pulse, and took blood pressure and brain-wave readings.

He emerged stone-faced. “I’m afraid this is it, Drake. I’ll be very surprised if she regains consciousness. If you are still set on this thing, it has to be done while she has some normal body functions. Another three days… it will be a waste of time.”

The two men went together into the bedroom. Drake took a last look at Ana’s calm, ravaged face. He told himself that this was not a last farewell. At last he nodded to Tom.

“Go ahead.” He could not tear his gaze away from her face. “Any time.”

Time, time. A waste of time. To the end of time. Time heals all wounds. 0! call back yesterday, bid time return.

“Drake? Drake? Are you all right?”

“Sorry. I’m all right.” Again he nodded. “Go on, Tom. There’s no point in waiting.”

The physician made the injection. Working together, they lifted Ana from the bed and removed her clothes. Drake wheeled in the prepared thermal tank. He laid her gently into it. She was so light, it was as though part of her was already lost to him.

While Tom filled out the death certificate, Drake placed the call to Second Chance. He told them to come at once to the house. He set the tank at three degrees above freezing, as instructed. Tom inserted the catheters and the IVs. The next stages were automatic, controlled by the tank’s own programs. Blood was withdrawn through a large hollow needle in the main external iliac artery, cooled a precise amount, and returned to the femoral vein.

In ten minutes Ana’s body temperature had dropped thirty degrees. All life signs had vanished. Ana was now legally dead. To an earlier generation, Drake Merlin and Tom Lambert would have been judged murderers. It was hard not to feel that way as they sat in the silence of the bedroom, awaiting the arrival of the Second Chance team. Tom was filled with pity — for Drake. Ana was now beyond pity.

Drake’s thoughts and plans were fortunately beyond his friend’s imaginings.

He had a hard time with Tom Lambert and the three women who arrived from Second Chance. Not one of them could see a reason for Drake to go over to the Second Chance preparation facility with Ana’s body.

Tom thought that Drake couldn’t face the idea that it was all over. He urged his friend to come home with him and have a drink. Drake refused. The preparation team didn’t know what to make of it as he hovered close by them. He seemed like a ghoul or some sort of necrophiliac, yet the look on his face showed he was clearly suffering. They carefully explained that the procedures were very unpleasant to watch, especially for someone so personally involved. They agreed with Dr. Lambert. Drake would be much better off leaving everything in their experienced hands and going home with his friend. They would make sure that everything was all right. If he was worried, they would be sure to call him as soon as the work was finished.

Drake couldn’t tell them the real reason he wanted to see the whole preparation procedure, down to the last grisly detail. But by simply refusing to take no for an answer, he at last had his way.

The head of the team then decided that Drake wanted to come along because he was afraid that some element of the job would be botched. She explained the whole procedure to him, kindly and carefully, on the one-hour drive to the facility. They were sitting together in the rear of the van, next to the temperature-controlled casket.

“Most of the revivables — we much prefer that term to cryocorpses — are stored at liquid nitrogen temperatures. That’s about minus two hundred degrees Celsius. It’s almost certainly cold enough. But it’s still about seventy-five degrees above absolute zero. All measurable biological processes become imperceptible long before that. However, there are still some chemical reactions going on. The laws of statistics guarantee that a few atoms will have enough energy to

induce biological changes. And mind and memory are very delicate things. So for people who are worried about that, we make available a deluxe version. That’s what you bought. Your wife will be stored at liquid helium temperatures, just a few degrees above absolute zero. That’s supersafe. When it’s so cold, the chance of change — physical or mental — goes way down.”

And the cost, although she did not mention the fact, went way up. But cost was not even a variable to be considered from Drake’s perspective. When they arrived at the Second Chance facility he hung around the preparation room, ignoring all hints that he should wait outside; and he watched closely.