Free Reanimators by Peter Rawlik

Meaning that out of every hundred rats I treated, only one seemed to have a positive reaction and develop an increased metabolism, resistance to disease and injury. Also, by treating some of my older individuals, I had found that my treatment appeared to effectively increase longevity, and had several individuals that had surpassed the control group average lifespan of three years and were now approaching almost four.
    In May I received a brief missive from Peaslee, who had relocated to Barcelona, Spain. He was preparing for a summer expedition into the Arabian Desert, to be followed by an exploration of the Congo with the Baronet Arthur Jermyn sometime in the early part of 1912. More importantly, Peaslee informed me that he had encountered a gentleman, a physician, whose work was particularly relevant to the path of research that I was pursuing. What was more, the political situation in Spain following the disastrous Rif War was such that the learned gentleman had good reason to fear for his continued well-being. According to Peaslee, Spain, particularly Barcelona, was a powder keg waiting to explode. Consequently, Peaslee was making arrangements for the individual to be spirited out of the country and to the safety of the United States. Such plans were not as straightforward as they seemed. The man in question suffered from a condition that required specialized medical equipment and attention. Such equipment would arrive shortly, and I was authorized to withdraw what funds I needed to install it in the upper basement where Peaslee himself had once spent so many of his hours. A slight pang of distress welled up in my chest as I realized that I was still Peaslee’s to command, but it was overwhelmed by the hope that Peaslee had found for me an ally in my war against death and the men who had caused the death of my parents, my rivals in the science of reanimation Doctors West and Cain.
    It was high summer when the first truck arrived and unloaded its cargo of oddly shaped crates and boxes. I had to hire several men to help me move them into the basement, and then begin the prodigious task of opening, unpacking and then disposing of each crate. The contents were staggering, consisting mostly of vast amounts of insulation, large metallic cylinders, radiators, pistons, and valves. Flabbergasted, I quickly accessed the funds needed and hired the firm of Upton and Klein to handle the installation.
    The foreman on the project was a young man named Truman who explained to me the actual function of the equipment, which was a modified reverse heat engine. Normally, heat engines convert heat energy into mechanical energy by exploiting the gradient between a heat source and a cold sink to drive a piston. As a byproduct of this process, energy is also transferred from one area to another, creating a cooling effect in one and a heating effect in another. In a reverse heat engine, mechanical energy is applied by a motor and the resultant transfer of energy is used to cool or heat a room. In the case of the current installation, the engine was going to be driven by a small electric motor, and the result would be to cool the basement to under sixty degrees. The transferred heat would be passed to a series of coils, which could be used to provide hot water for the house, but mostly would be sent to a copper pipe buried in the back yard where it would then dissipate into the ground. The insulation, which was to be applied to the walls, floor and ceiling, would help keep the temperature constant.
    Installation of the insulation and equipment began in September and continued through October. During this time Wilson and I, along with our patients and staff, endured a barrage of hammering, sawing and digging that made the cabinets rattle and our teeth ache. At one point the construction became so distracting that we stopped receiving patients and began making house calls. Through it all I had to placate Dr. Wilson with the promise that the new