Hope - Levy, Marc (web ebook reader .TXT) 📗

you’re keeping busy, but you could be a bit more polite.”

Luke spun around again.

“Josh is my best friend, and you’re new to the party. If you think I’m going to start talking behind his back, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Why are you heating cells?”

“What’s that got to do with Josh?”

“I thought you were done talking about it, so I’m changing the subject.”

“Excellent news!” Luke said. “I’m trying to wake them up.”

“Did you put them to sleep?”

“Yeah, I refrigerated them.”

“But why?”

Luke realized she would be harder to shake off than he’d thought. He was so tired, and he still had hours of research ahead of him. He fumbled in the pocket of his lab coat, pulling out two quarters and handing them to Hope.

“The coffee machine is in the corridor. Latte, two sugars. You can buy your own.”

Hope smiled at him, hands on her hips.

“Such generosity.”

Luke stared at her in silence.

“Shame on you,” she said, and began walking toward the machine, returning a few moments later with a cup of coffee she placed on the lab bench.

“So? What are you working on?”

“Okay. First, promise me you won’t tell Josh.”

The thought of having a secret to share with Luke, any kind of secret so long as it was kept from Josh, filled Hope with delight. She nodded, fixing her eyes on Luke.

“Have you ever heard of biostasis?”

“Is that like hibernation?”

“Almost. It’s a similar state to hibernation, but one step further. It’s like pressing the pause button on life.”

Hope grabbed a chair and sat down.

“Some mammals are capable of slowing their metabolism down to a deathlike state. To do this, they gradually lower their body temperature to almost zero. They reach this lethargic state, where the animal drastically cuts back on how much oxygen it consumes. Its heart rate is a hundred times slower, its blood circulation so sluggish, you can barely make out a pulse. To survive, the organism produces these powerful anticoagulants that prevent clotting. Basically, cellular processes are brought to a standstill. Isn’t that fascinating?” Luke paused. “What I want to know is whether other mammals are capable of doing this without knowing how to trigger it. You’ve probably heard of these rare cases where people fall into icy water or get lost on a mountain somewhere? They’re eventually rescued, and they manage to survive severe extended hypothermia with no neurological damage. Their organs react in a similar way, going into a kind of extreme standby mode to protect their vital functions, just like the animals I told you about.”

“Okay, okay. I know all that. But why are you interested in biostasis?”

“Let me finish. In theory, this state of biostasis should allow us to freeze an organism and keep it alive indefinitely. Note the ‘in theory’ part.”

“Sure,” said Hope. “I mean, isn’t that what we do with sperm for IVF?”

“Yeah, and with early-stage embryo splitting too. No more than eight cells, but these are the only organisms we’re currently able to store and bring back to life at will. Storing something is one thing; bringing it back to life is an entirely different matter. As things stand, the science behind it is obstructed by a physical problem. When you get into extreme low temperatures, ice crystals form within the tissue and destroy or damage cells.”

“What are you saying?”

“Nothing. I’m just researching. It’s a field that fascinates me. Cryonics is a mix of so many different fields. Medicine, obviously, but cold engineering, too, as well as chemistry and physics. The trick is finding someone who can intertwine all these different skills, like a scientific-orchestra conductor.”

“You want to conduct orchestras?”

“Hey, a guy can dream, right?” Luke smiled.

“Why keep it a secret from Josh?”

“I have my reasons. And you made me a promise. I hope you keep it.”

“Honestly? Spending your night observing frozen cells isn’t exactly the headline of the century. Don’t worry; you can trust me.”

“Just think of me as a visionary.” Luke bent over his microscope. “I need to get back to work.”

Hope stared at him. She couldn’t shrug off the uneasy sense that Josh wasn’t the only one Luke was keeping secrets from.

“You know why I chose to study what I study?” she said after a while.

“No. And I’m not sure I care . . .”

“To develop a molecule that can prevent neurodegenerative diseases,” she continued.

“Wow! You mean, you’re going to eradicate Alzheimer’s and stuff?”

“And stuff. So you’re not the only visionary here.”

Luke turned to Hope, fixing her with an uncomfortably steady stare.

“One day, I’ll explain. But not tonight. Now if you don’t mind, it would be good if you could leave me to work. You must have things to do, otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”

Hope sensed she wouldn’t get anything more from him. She walked over to another table and sat down, her mind racing. She skimmed through everything she had learned in her freshman year, grappling for a hint of how cryonics could feed back into medicine. She had read an article about an experiment currently underway at a hospital in Pittsburgh. Wounded patients in critical condition had been put into a state of deep hypothermia to save surgeons precious time in repairing their injuries. During the process, their body temperature was lowered by 10°C, plunging them into a state of near-clinical death before being reanimated. Maybe low temperatures could be harnessed to pave the way for major medical breakthroughs, she thought. She needed to find out what exactly was driving Luke to spend his nights working on secret projects.

She looked up. He was still hunched over his microscope.

“Could low temperatures be used to target cancerous cells?” Hope called out. “Before chemotherapy, body temperatures could be lowered. Malignant cells would inevitably be put to sleep, making them more vulnerable.”

“But that would affect healthy cells too,” Luke replied. “Anyway, you can discuss it in class tomorrow. See what the professor says.”

“Um, no? If I’ve had an ingenious idea, I’m keeping it to myself to research first.”

“So ingenious, nobody ever thought of it before you,” he drawled. “Next time a world-shattering idea