A scientist and her colleagues find a way to unfreeze a man who is one of many Titanic victims. Little does she know, that man and her family have a lot of history. More than she bargained for.
[ based on the 1997 movie Titanic ]
Note: I am currentl...
Breakthroughs had been occurring all over America. Enlightenment filled the minds of the curious all across the nation from sea to sea. And I was lucky enough to be part of the most important scientific discovery of the decade.
A well-acclaimed and brilliant scientist named Dr. Johnson and owner of Johnson Labs had developed a passion for defying the laws of nature. An article that I read in ninth grade about the legendary man described his pursuit of immortality by cryogenics. As foolish as it may sound, Dr. Johnson's hypotheses and discoveries earned him a Nobel Prize. He managed to prove that aging can be avoided with low temperatures, but he just couldn't find any subjects to test his theories on.
After no luck, Dr. Johnson gave up the unrealistic idea and instead pursued discovering artifacts and treasures in various parts of the world. The multi-millionaire had a dream about exploring the Titanic. But his health told him otherwise. Doctors advised the man that he would not be able to withstand the high-pressure levels of the deep North Atlantic Ocean. So in response, he assembled a team. A team that included his thirty-three-year-old son named Joe Johnson Jr. and I. The two of us were sent to the depths of the Atlantic Sea, to retrieve whatever possible from the rusted wreckage. Dr. Johnson expected money, jewelry, utensils... even parts of the ship itself. The last thing he expected a report about was the finding of an actual passenger.
Hours later, when we finally returned to the surface, a block of ice had been wedged between the clamps of the deep-ocean research submersible's robotic arm. Within the block of ice was the unidentifiable corpse of a young male, undoubtedly a third-class passenger. The release of this information to the public was banned, and it was labeled "too confidential". Joe Johnson Jr. and I were taken into Johnson Labs' custody to avoid leakage of information.
• • •
Mid-spring, 1999
New York City
I swung my legs over the edge of my mattress, standing up and stretching my body as my stiff bones cracked and popped in various places. Running errands for Dr. Johnson took a toll on my bones and joints, but I was in no position to complain. I was lucky to even be there, fetching him coffee from the laboratory kitchen. All coffee-grabbing skills aside, for once I finally got to use my skills and knowledge of physics.
After freshening up in the bathroom of my living quarters, I quickly slipped on my typical white labcoat baring my Johnson Labs ID card.
Dr. Johnson had a secure facility with which he can run any private experiment he'd wish to. The location was confidential, and anyone who worked for him is obligated to take an oath of secrecy which guaranteed that no employee shall relay confidential information to anyone outside the laboratory.
I made my way through the infinite corridors lined with white walls that twisted and turned throughout the complex structure. The lack of color was quite unsettling. After turning a few corners, walking the route I've traveled every day, I finally made it to the Primary Lab, where the main experimental trials were being held. Dr. Johnson had many experiments going at once within his lab, but fortunately for me, I happened to be stationed where the best one was being completed.
I placed my hand on the palm-scanning device situated on the wall next to the shut doors. After a green light flickered against my skin, I was granted entry before the doors slid shut once again behind me.
"Good morning, Dr. Johnson." I greeted politely, nodding to my boss as he sat at his desk, pen in hand as it danced across a lined page with vigor. Usually, he was eating breakfast, and I would sometimes join him. But that day he seemed particularly anxious. The untouched bagel and coffee made this obvious.
"This is it," he muttered, dropping the pen and beginning to quickly shuffle through various notes and documents.
I looked at him in a confused manner. "Pardon?" I asked, a slim eyebrow cocked in his direction.
"I've done the calculations. I've ordered the equipment. I've completed the required testing...." He stood up from his desk chair, his glasses hanging off his labcoats breast pocket. His eyes were wide with both excitement and adrenaline. "Today is the day we unfreeze that man, and the world will recognize me as the legend who defied nature. I've been- I mean... we've been waiting for this breakthrough ever since you first retrieved him from his resting spot. This whole thing is truly remarkable, and with undoubtedly go down in history as the day I, Dr. Johnson, discovered the secret to immortality..." the man rambled. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a loud beep coming from the intercom on his desk. Dr. Johnson was quick to answer it, pressing the main button as he listened. "We are ready, Dr. Johnson." The hoarse voice told him from the other side of the line.
The scientist didn't even bother to waste his time answering. He rushed over to a set of eevator doors on the other side of his office, pressing a finger-scanning button before he was granted access. The two doors instantly slid open, like the ones I had entered moments before. I entered the elevator with my boss before the doors slid shut and the elevator instantly began to move downwards.
About a minute later, we both stepped out into the large room which was busy with other labcoat-wearing men and women who had been going about their duties. In the center of the room, was a horizontal steel capsule that contained the frozen man. His eyes and lips almost seemed glued together, and the paleness of his skin was rather stomach-churning. I could barely see him through the small glass window of the capsule, and the thick layer of ice that surrounded him.
Dr. Johnson and I approached the capsule, eyeing in carefully before the older man nodded at his son who stood by a control panel. Johnson Jr. seemed to know what the signal meant and began to flip various switches and press multiple buttons.
"This is it!" Dr. Johnson rubbed his hands together in excitement.
The capsule began to fill with a clear liquid, which I guessed was water.
"More heat. Come on..." Dr. Johnson muttered, causing his son to flip another switch.
Suddenly, the water began to heat up, and it soon boiled. I watched in anticipation as the ice began to grow thinner and thinner, and the young man became more and more visible. Dr. Johnson ordered his son to cool down the liquid so that it did not burn the body of the subject, and Johnson Jr. did as told. The water was soon drained from the steel capsule once all the ice liquified, and all that was left was the man. We then watched intensely, waiting for some sort of sign that he was alive.
"Monitor!" Dr. Johnson called out before his son began to type away at a keyboard.
Suddenly, on a monitor above the capsule, showed a line where a heartbeat pattern should be. There was no heartbeat.
I walked closer to the small glass window and looked closely at his features. He was young. Around nineteen or twenty when he went down with the wreckage. About my age. He was probably over a hundred years old in reality, though, but the ice clearly did a good job at preserving him.
"Come on..." Dr. Johnson urged desperately. "Come on..."
We watched wide-eyed, our hues darting between the small window of the horizontal capsule and the heart monitor stationed above it. Suddenly, to our surprise, a single beep was heard from the monitor, followed by the familiar heartbeat pattern on the monitor.
He was alive.
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