Free Bastion Science Fiction Magazine - Issue 4, July 2014 by Alex Hernandez George S. Walker Eleanor R. Wood Robert Quinlivan Peter Medeiros Hannah Goodwin R. Leigh Hennig Page B

little park opposite. Anna didn’t smile back.
    They walked in silence for several minutes. Damian decided to break the tension. “What did you want to talk about?”
    Anna stopped beside a park bench and they sat down.
    “Damian.” Her voice cracked. “I have a brain tumour.”
    The sounds of the city faded. Damian shook his head to comprehend her words. “What? Anna…When did you find out? How bad is it?”
    “Bad. Two days ago. The doctor said it was too advanced for conventional treatments to have a reasonable chance. It’s inoperable.”
    No. No, he’d just got back! He wasn’t ready to say goodbye again.
    “So–they’re referring you to the Institute?”
    She nodded.
    His mind was a whirl of questions and denials. “When do you go?” How much time do we have left?
    “Next week. Supposedly.”
    He knew that tone of voice, laced with cynicism and mistrust. “Wait. You are going?”
    Her breath caught in what might have been a sob. “I don’t know. Every nerve in my body is screaming ‘no’. I don’t want to die…but I don’t want to live forever. If this is it, if this is meant to be my time, then maybe…”
    He interrupted her. “Don’t be foolish, Anna. It doesn’t have to be your time! Technology gives you the option to survive–why would you even think of rejecting that?”
    “But I don’t want to just survive!” Tears flowed down her cheeks now. “Whatever I choose, I won’t be living. I’ll be unconscious in a dark chamber until who-knows-what century, or I’ll be gradually losing pieces of my mind until I can no longer function. Either way, living isn’t an option.”
    “Look at me, Anna. No, really, look at me!” She turned her distraught face to him. “I had the same choice. Exactly the same choice. Are you telling me I’m not living now? That I made the wrong decision?”
    “You knew your cure wasn’t far off. But what if they never find mine? What if a future society decides there are too many frozen people and starts putting time limits on us? Or the Anticry Brigade finally manages to blow up branches of the Institute, killing all the people they’re housing?” She took a breath. “Maybe it’s time we all stopped running from death.”
    He was angry at her now. It had been one thing holding her staunch views from a safe, healthy standpoint, but now she was talking about throwing away her life for them. He was damned if he was going to let her do that. She was upset; she wasn’t thinking straight. He took a deep breath to center himself before he spoke again.
    “You still have time to think about this. I’ll be here for you, Anna. I can answer your questions about the process. I’ll help you make the financial arrangements with your insurance company, deal with your outstanding affairs so you don’t have to worry about anything–whatever you need. Just promise me you’ll continue to think about it?”
    She nodded miserably.
    “Come on. Let me drive you home.”
    They had to drive past the local branch of the Cryonics Institute on their way out of the city. Damian wished there was a different route. He didn’t want to see the groups of anti-cryonic demonstrators, gathered as always, chanting and waving their placards. Anna stared at them as they passed, though she’d seen them hundreds of times.
    “LIVE YOUR LIFE–EMBRACE YOUR DEATH”, the placards read, alongside others such as “CRYONICS: SPITTING ON GOD’S WILL” and the classic overpopulation argument: “MAKE ROOM, ACCEPT YOUR DOOM”.
    He had heard new trials were seeking to address the issue of population expansion, but the latest, incentives for sterilisation, was already being decried as a waste of public money. Apparently, the vast majority of applicants had already produced children, so the scheme looked to be failing as a preventative measure.
    As they turned a corner, Damian was forced to slow by a group of demonstrators blocking the street. He craned his neck to see what was going on