Bas.e.m.e.nt 10.
I lit a cigarette up and took a puff. Other than the smoke in my lungs, there was a gush of coldness within.
I took another puff before throwing it on the ground and stepping on it.
"I"ll do it but I need a.s.sistance," I said faintly.
"No problem. These people don"t have an A but they"re all talented in their own fields," Professor rea.s.sured.
I nodded, slightly frustrated. "Who"s the best with their hands?"
Only two out of ten people raised their hands.
I nodded again. "Other than them, the rest may leave."
The rest of them looked at each other, clearly not wanting to leave.
Professor waved them away. "Listen to him."
Only then did they withdrew from Bas.e.m.e.nt 10, leaving only me and my a.s.sistants.
I smiled. "What"s the situation?"
One of the a.s.sistants explained, "There"s a total of sixty-three frozen bodies and sixteen are women. After screening them multiple times with X-ray, we found out that only two wombs are suspected to contain ovum cells."
I pointed to the sealed compartment before me. "These two?"
The a.s.sistants nodded.
I looked at the implement beside me. Everything I needed was available.
After some thought, I instructed, "Let"s do it one by one. Disinfect first. I"ll open the compartment and we"ll defrost the bodies. We have about five minutes to extract the ova but don"t be anxious."
I opened a can of sterilizing gas, filling the whole room with it.
A simple sterilization considered complete.
I instructed the a.s.sistants to put the compartment flat on the ground and as they did that, I noticed that its electric power source was still on.
Nuclear energy-powered compartment.
I pressed the activation key and liquid nitrogen poured out from holes on both side.
The sound of a machinery opening up could be heard.
A nude female body appeared before our eyes.
This is a woman?
She looked different from images in scientific books.
The a.s.sistants were stunned, too.
"Alright, let"s do it." I pressed the defrost b.u.t.ton.
Instantly, the compartment started warming up and I aimed the knife at the woman"s lower body.
Since I was extracting ova, I couldn"t preserve her body perfectly.
It was actually a simple procedure.
I made a slit, which was very hard since the body had yet to defrost completely.
I had a full view of her womb.
It was pretty much as depicted on television programs. I started slitting the womb.
"Get an x1000 magnification ready," I shouted.
The a.s.sistant immediately placed a magnifying gla.s.s on my eye. The electrical magnifying gla.s.s recorded and displayed what I saw on the screen.
I started searching for the ova.
Wait. Black cells emerged before my eyes.
I tensed.
"Suction tool," I shouted.
The other a.s.sistant handed it over to me immediately.
I aimed it at the small black lump before activating it.
Looking at the display screen, I declared, "This shouldn"t be ovum cells."
"Yeah, but what exactly is that black thing?" the a.s.sistant asked.
Through the screen, they had seen the black cells that were being sucked out.
"Might be cancer cells," I decided after some thought.
I cut open the whole ovary. Its core was already rotten and diseased.
Of course, the X-ray couldn"t detect this, but upon cutting it open, the situation became clear.
"Anyone has a data cable?" I asked.
"Me. Is your phone out?" one a.s.sistant asked.
"No, but I"d like to see the data in the compartment."
I took the cable and I connected it to my phone. After searching for a long time, I saw a small jack on the compartment.
There was only one doc.u.ment in the compartment.
Written in English.
I translated it on the net.
My name is Anna and I have stage 4 womb cancer. I chose cryonics because my husband and I had been trying for a kid but unfortunately I have cancer. Upon hearing about this, we decided to use this method to preserve our future. As such, we gave up our family fortune for this. I hope that my husband and I will be awakened when medicinal science is advanced enough. Enough to cure my illness and bear a healthy baby for my husband and me.
I quivered, unsure if it was due to the cold or because of the letter.
I sent the operation screen and this doc.u.ment to Professor before writing, "I"ll rest for ten minutes before moving on to the next."
A minute later, he replied, "Continue."
Learning from my mistake, I connected the data cable to the second compartment before anything else.
Similarly, there was only one doc.u.ment.
It started with a UBS, followed by two rows of numbers, one long and the other short.
Below were some English words again.
Is there immortality now? If yes, will this money be sufficient to revive me? If it"s not enough, take it as my deposit. I have more money to offer upon revival, as long as you let me live forever.
I keyed UBS into the search engine and found out that it was the abbreviation of a bank in Switzerland.
The two rows of number are the user and pin?
I tried logging in.
Zero balance.
Looking at the records, I found out that the last withdrawal was 200 years back.
1 zero, 2 zeroes, 3 zeroes...
A whole 20,000,000 dollars had been taken out.
Not only was he cheated of his life, he was also robbed clean of his money.
The a.s.sistants were staring blankly at the freshly operated female corpse.
With a bitter smile, I said, "Let"s start."
We placed the second compartment flat against the floor again and opened it. The woman inside was breathtakingly beautiful.
But no matter how beautiful she was, it was still just a corpse.
Again, I carried out the same procedures, but this time I managed to extract this rich lady"s ovum.
I also knew that there was a slim chance of reviving it.
The ovum was no longer active because even with the current technology, frozen ova could only be preserved for 15 years
There wasn"t any technology to preserve frozen ova from 200 years ago.
It was going to be really difficult to revive it.
I opened the door of Bas.e.m.e.nt 10 and handed the test tube to Professor.
Things ended this way.
Two months later, I got promoted.
I was still idling away in the laboratory.
Plus, I no longer needed to deliver coffee to Professor.
There was no news about the ovum.
The government work contract would always start with the words "strictly confidential".
As such, I kept it from everyone.
It was a Sunday, also my resting day, when my mobile rang.
It was Professor.
"Xiaowei, come to Continent C"s prison. Bring two cups of coffee, one with additional sugar," Professor instructed before hanging up.
I was stunned.
Prison? Why me?
Did the ovum extraction fail? Why is he bringing me to jail?
Why wasn"t he arresting me but asking me to deliver coffees instead?
"I"m clearly already a scientific researcher and not an a.s.sistant. Why me?" I mumbled grudgingly.
There was only one prison, located in Region C, shared among all three continents.
The crime rates in a wealthy era were indeed pathetically low.
However, desperation did drive some to commit errors.
Continent C"s prison was in a desolate area outside town, not far away from me actually.
I arrived there with two cups of coffee and three sugar cubes after a four-minute ride.
There was a huge and impermeable perimeter wall running along Continent C"s suburban district.
This was the world"s last prison.
The safest and most reliable.
I redialed Professor"s number because there wasn"t any way for me to get in.
There were two serious-looking guards standing outside the entrance. The submachine guns in their hands made my hair stand.
There was no answer. A few minutes later, he came out to get his coffees and sugar cubes.
"If there"s nothing else, I"ll leave," I said.
"There"s something. Come with me. One cup is yours," he replied.
I drank a sip before following him in.
"Why are we here, Prof?"
"Because the ovum you extracted has failed."
I quivered and turned back to look at the main entrance.
The guards were slowly closing the doors.