Raising the Dead …Part 2 …A Modern Prometheus
@johnjgeddes
Posted 6d ago · 3 min read
Len, Alex Hemmer's young research assistant, looked at the sketch Alex had worked on all night, then tossed it back onto the table.
"Not bad, Alex, but does she exist?"
"In my mind, anyway," Alex sighed. He picked up the sketch, staring at the woman's beauty and mused aloud:
"What if she were someone closely associated with the deceased―a sister, a fiance, a lover? I wonder iof it would be possible to find out?"
Len frowned at the thought.
"Why would you even try? You know the regulations concerning organ donations and privacy laws. I think prying into the donor's affairs is unethical. Besides, the possibility of this being anything more than a bizarre event or a figment of your imagination is highly unlikely."
"Unlikely or not, I've already done some digging on my own."
Alex raised a hand to stifle Len's objection.
"Don't worry," he reassured him, "I'm very discreet."
Len was not convinced.
"Alex, are you insane? You could lose your research grant and maybe even your position at the university. What were you thinking?"
"I've only done some superficial checking―not prying, I assure you," Alex smiled.
Len relaxed a bit but added, "Still, I'd feel a whole lot better if you abandoned this project for the time being―you know, back off for a while and don't obsess, especially about some weird one-time event."
Alex paused a moment before replying, then lowered his voice to a whisper.
"But it's not just a one time event, Len, I replicated the experience twice last night. I had to be sure. And this leads to my next stage―I want you to see if you have the same experience I did."
Len stared open-mouthed at Alex .
You're asking me to risk my professional reputation and my academic future to participate in this bizarre experiment?"
"I know it's a big ask, Len, but I need to see if you have the same experience as I did―it will be a kind of objective verification that this isn't some kind of subjective fantasy on my part or some type of mystical experience."
"No way," Len protested, You've gone far enough already without dragging me into this mess too. What you're proposing is insane, Alex, it sounds like some mad Frankenstein experiment, not a legitimate research endeavour."
Len seemed dead set against participating in what he considered a highly irregular and possibly an unethical experiment.
Nevertheless, the next day he relented and grudgingly admitted that establishing facts was simply good science but he still was dead set against investigating the private life of a deceased donor.
Alex set up the experiment again and reassured Len that he only wanted to verify that the results were not outliers or anomalies and repeating the trials was the only way to verify the results were reliable.
Len had his doubts but was willing to at least try, but had no idea where this project might take him,