Free This Mortal Coil by Logan Thomas Snyder Page A

stage beneath the spotlight when at last the curtain rose anew.
    At least, that’s how it felt beneath the array of surgical lamps arranged overhead, their lights beaming down upon him theatrically. Technically he hadn’t even opened his eyes. The good doctor had done that for him, peeling apart his lids and granting him a fleeting glimpse of the man in his mask and gloves. Checking each of Willem’s eyes, Dr. Morgenstern nodded. “Subject is catatonic and without response,” he noted with antiseptic detachment. He pulled his fingers away. Even in their absence, Willem’s eyelids remained open. “Per protocol, I shall now begin the antemortem examination.”
    Willem was far from catatonic. He was aware, and he was terrified of what Dr. Morgenstern had in store for him. Yet in spite of that he couldn’t find it within himself to move his limbs or even cry out, not after the disabling pulse he and the others had been subjected to.
    “It is really quite the shame,” Dr. Morgenstern narrated from above, speaking blithely to Willem as he inspected his instruments. “I had hoped to examine you as-is to determine just how much of my consciousness withstood the cloning process.” Willem watched as he wrapped his gloved hands around a bone saw, its notched blade reflecting a shard of light down into his unfocused eyes. As instinctive as the urge to blink was, he simply couldn’t manage it. “Judging from that little scene back in Dr. Valda’s office, though, I would say it was a rousing success.
    “Just imagine the precipice upon which we stand. To possess the capability to duplicate and reconstitute the entirety of a person’s being, the very essence of an individual’s consciousness, into a cultured, scientifically pure body. Why, I dare say it shall rank as the greatest medical discovery in the history of mankind. The notion is obvious, quite frankly. Why cure each and every disease piecemeal, one at a time, when you can eliminate the fragility of the human condition entirely? When you can literally cheat death itself?
    “Pity, though, that so many who began the journey with us are no longer present to witness the fruits of their labor come to pass. Oh, they were helpful enough in the early stages, but as the project advanced their small-mindedness got the better of them. Ethics ,” he huffed. “ Morals. Is there anything ethical about the way a cancer devours the cells of its host? Where is the morality in watching helplessly as a loved one succumbs to the ravages of dementia?” Dr. Morgenstern shook his head with a mixture of disgust and regret. “Alas, by the latter stages, subjects were in such short supply we had no choice but to submit to the procedure ourselves. True, some proved less… stable than others, though they knew the risks. The grand tradition of countless generations of scientists before us demanded nothing less, after all.
    “As for the final stage, that was all Dr. Valda’s doing. Brilliant woman, really. It was she who first posited the need for a powerful external stimulus to jumpstart the test bodies’ newly installed consciousnesses, something so profoundly traumatizing the brain would have no alternative but to link the body and mind together via the basest of human instincts—survival, fight or flight, and what have you—while simultaneously providing a foundation to build higher cognitive functions upon—fine motor skills, learned behavior, personal traits and emotions, et cetera. Admittedly, I found the prospect a bit ghoulish at first blush, though I cannot deny a certain fascination with the results. At best, we expected no more than a handful of you to survive the project’s terminus. Imagine our pleasant surprise when you appeared half a dozen strong, having sought us out after staging an armed coup of Dr. Valda’s mercenaries!” He sounded so flushed with pride as to be on the verge of weeping. Somehow he pulled himself together long enough to compose his closing ode.