“Hello, my lovely friend. What are you up to?”

“Just out and about with Churchie at the moment . . . how are you feeling?”

“Good, Aaron. The funeral yesterday helped with some closure, God’s doing the rest. When are you going to come visit? I’d like you to meet Joshua. I think you two would get on well.” Aaron felt a twinge of jealousy.

“How about I come around this evening, say six?”

“That sounds good. Why don’t you bring your friend Churchie? I think he’d find what we experienced interesting. Mum’s been telling me about him.”

“I’ll try and do that . . . and look forward to seeing you and meeting Joshua.” The call ended, and Aaron placed the phone back in his pocket. Mackenzie needed to be busy at the moment—it would help keep her mind off things.

Aaron looked at the picture on the business card. It was that man again. He should have guessed. There would have been a motive for him to be at church last Sunday. Aaron wondered what it was.

Churchie walked back in.

“The Rev had a meeting with the Minister of Urban Movement,” Aaron said.

“Who’s that?” Churchie asked.

“Someone who has been cropping up in my life a bit too often. We have his number. The question is, should we ring him?” Aaron didn’t want to put the Rev in any danger.

Chapter 26

GRANT WINDSOR STARED OUT the window as the vehicle cruised along the Ipswich Motorway. He felt exposed. He was starting to think what he had done was too risky.

He assumed that the Rev was at the location. He knew there would be no visitors—no one else had access to the building. It was all remotely monitored and Windsor had ‘visitor rights’. Cryonics Inc. didn’t have any other clients at present, although he was told they were getting more enquiries, so that might change. But for now, the facility only stored his son.

Having access allowed him to place the switching device where it needed to be.

What was he to do with the Rev after he did what Windsor hoped he would do. He thought that sounded like something from what the Apostle Paul said in the Bible. What was it he thought, something like, “I don’t understand what I do. For what I want to do I don’t do, but what I hate I do.” And then he thought about the sin that was living in him. What a wretched man he was. Windsor smiled, and knew God would forgive him.

Only a few knew about the technology. A few he could control. But now another person would know how it all worked. Gaps were starting to appear. Maybe the question isn’t what to do with the Rev, but the appropriate time to make a run for it. Yes, things were starting to get out of hand. He would work out what to do once his son had been brought back to life.

<°)))><

The Rev paced the room. He preferred not to look in the cylinder.

Something was reflected in the ambient light in the corner of the room. The Rev walked over and found an aluminium briefcase on the floor. He bent down for a closer look, expecting to see a combination lock but instead saw a couple of unsecured latches, and what must be ventilation grilles. What was inside? He flicked the latches open and lifted the lid.

It was some kind of electronic device, cushioned in grey spongy material. The device was plugged into a power point. He touched the screen, expecting it to prompt him for a password, but it didn’t. He saw a video image of himself on the screen. At the bottom of the screen were two buttons, labelled Transfer and Receive. The Receive button was pressed down. There were two toggle switches under the Transfer button. He could probably use this interface if he had to. He may need to explore that further.

There was a CCTV monitor above the exit door, showing an empty car park.

He looked at his watch. He found a cheap black folding chair, and sat there watching the monitor. After a period of nothingness a car pulled up. He stood up and moved closer to the monitor. It was only a few young people—it must be lunchtime, as it looked like they were eating. He sat down again and thought about food; he was hungry. Food wrappings and drink cartons came sailing out of the car windows as the car departed. The Rev shook his head.

The monitor showed an empty car park again. The Rev looked away from the monitor and thought about the environment and what options he had to get out of this place. Movement on the monitor caught his attention. Just some crows jumping around in the car park, happy to investigate the mess.

Maybe it was time to experiment. He walked over to the briefcase, and flicked the first toggle switch under the Transfer button. A green light came on next to it and the transfer button lit up—he had an idea what might happen if he pressed that button, but wasn’t sure if he wanted to risk it.

What was going to happen next? Was he going to be forced to bring this person back to life? He didn’t believe that would happen—God hadn’t put that on his heart. So what would be the consequences of that?

This man, Windsor, wasn’t in his right mind. Maybe he was still grieving, maybe even depressed. Windsor had exposed himself as the person behind the transfers, technology that had already left at least one person dead. He looked up at the cylinder and thought about post-traumatic stress disorder. Maybe that was driving the man.

He again looked at the Transfer button. “Help me here, Lord.”

<°)))><

The crows scattered as the car turned into the parking bay. Lucas pulled up the hand brake and they all sat, motionless, staring towards the building.

“Why are we here, boss?” asked Lucas.

“Just a piece of technology I need to check.” Windsor opened his door and then turned to Lucas. “Lucas, could you come in with me. Tag, you stay in the car.”

Lucas nodded and got out of the car.

They stood outside the car. “Lucas, I’m expecting the pastor I went to visit to be inside here. He may not be a happy man. So you may need to manage the situation.”

Lucas walked with Windsor towards the entrance to the building. “I’ve been here before. What is this place?”

“It’s a storage facility, Lucas. You may have heard about it in the media. Have you heard of cryonics?”

“Doesn’t ring any bells.” Lucas had been here before. He wasn’t sure why he wasn’t thinking straight.

“Cryonics is the practice of preserving a dead person for future revival when medicine, science, and technology can provide a cure or solution. My son’s in here.” Windsor scanned his ID card and the door opened.

Lucas felt uneasy. They walked in. His mind was assailed by voices as he stood staring at the tall cylinders. What were those big things? But the voices in his head disturbed him more. Why were the voices in his head now? He moved closer and saw a body floating upside down. He will do this to you soon. “Who said that?”

“Are you okay, Lucas?” Windsor asked. “Who are you talking to? Did you see the Rev?”

Lucas shook his head.

“Hi Rev, are you there?” Windsor asked, his voice just above a whisper.

Silence.

Lucas thought he saw a shadow move behind the cylinder. He pointed. “Behind that cylinder.” He walked up slowly and looked behind it. Nothing there. He turned to Windsor and shrugged. “Nothing.” Strange. He was sure he saw something, something with a robe flowing behind it.

Lucas stared at the cylinder. The voice spoke again. He’s going to kill you—that’s why you’re here. He doesn’t like you.

“Well, no place to hide except in the cylinders and they’re empty except for my son’s one.”

Empty at the moment. Lucas heard the voice again and shuddered. “Maybe the transfer didn’t work.”

“Maybe.” Lucas watched Windsor looking around the room. He saw him looking towards something in the corner and walked over to it. 

“Hey, Lucas, come over here.”

Lucas walked over.