Chapter 16
+15 Bonus
“Mr. Townsend, please calm down,” Andre said while wiping the sweat from his brow. “I understand how you feel, but you’ve
misunderstood me. When I mentioned thawing, I didn’t mean it could happen now–I meant many years from now.
“Our current technology can rapidly freeze a person without damaging their cells. But as for thawing… I’m sorry, our capabilities
haven’t advanced that far yet.”
“How is that even possible?” Murphy snapped. “Freezing and thawing should go hand in hand. If you can’t thaw someone, why
offer cryogenic preservation at all?”
“Mr. Townsend, please listen to me carefully,” Andre replied, his tone steady but firm. “Freezing and thawing are not the same
process.
“Freezing is relatively straightforward. As long as the temperature is lowered rapidly enough, a person’s cells remain intact.
Although the body is frozen, the cells are still alive, just inactive. The individual is frozen in that exact moment, suspended in
time, and they’ll stop aging.
“But thawing is much more complicated. Ice melts easily with heat, but what if there’s a hamster trapped inside the ice? How
would you melt the ice without harming the hamster?
“You might think placing the ice in warm water is a gentle approach. But consider this–different parts of the ice melt at different
speeds. The innermost layers melt much slower. This creates a horrifying possibility—the hamster’s brain could thaw, but its
internal organs might still be frozen.
“Humans are even more complex. The moment the surface thaws, blood flow resumes. But if the internal organs or lower body
are still frozen, can you imagine what would happen? Blood circulation would halt abruptly because it can’t flow into the still-
frozen areas. The result would be catastrophic. A person in that condition wouldn’t survive.
“The challenge lies in how to thaw every cell in the human body simultaneously. Current scientific advancements simply can’t
achieve this. But I assure you, every researcher here is working tirelessly to overcome this obstacle. I believe that in the not–too-
distant future, we’ll develop the perfect thawing technique and safely revive all cryogenically preserved individuals.”
Andre paused for a moment, adjusting his gold–rimmed glasses. With a faint, bitter smile, he added, “And even if we step back for a moment, what would thawing Ms. Gemma accomplish right now? She’s been diagnosed with late–stage lymphoma–a
terminal illness that modern medicine can’t cure. Even if you revived her today, you’d only be watching her endure unbearable
