Simone nodded tiredly, “The sooner the better. I’m feeling pretty grim.”
The door opened behind them and Gunnar’s voice demanded, “Who the hell are all those people outside?” By the time Arya had turned to face him, he’d recognized that something was taking place in front of him. He said, “Oh, sorry. Um, what’s going on here?”
Lee was beside Gunnar. She looked upset. Arya thought she’d already figured out what was going on.
Arya indicated Simone, “This is Simone and her wife Grace. Simone’s got ovarian cancer and wants to be stazed until a new treatment’s available next year.”
Quietly, Lee said, “We can’t do that. Can we?”
The door to the big room opened and Emmanuel—obviously having beaten everyone else to work again—came out. “Can’t do what?”
Arya explained again.
Gunnar said, “Better to ask forgiveness than permission. If we start trying to find out whether we’re allowed to do it, at least a couple of years would pass before some governmental agency stepped up to regulate it and decided we couldn’t do it. Simone’d be long dead.”
Lee elbowed him.
Gunnar looked at Lee, then apparently realized how he’d sounded. “Um, sorry Simone. My wife died of cancer. If stasis had been available back then, I’d have put her in stasis in a heartbeat. And I’d sure as hell would’ve done it before anyone got a chance to tell me I couldn’t.”
Simone grimaced, “I agree. Please, can we do it now?”
Grace took a deep breath, “Sorry. I was startled to realize Simone would be first, but someone has to be at the front of any line. I’d also like her… stazed as soon as you possibly can. We don’t want her to keep getting sicker.” She looked at Arya, “And, yes, I’d love to take her home with me once she’s in stasis.”
Gunnar clapped his hands together as if it were all settled, “Great, let’s do this.”
“Wait!” Arya said, feeling like things were whirling out of control. She turned to Grace and Simone, “Can you give us a minute to go in the other room and discuss the mechanics of how to do this?”
They nodded.
Arya said, “It shouldn’t take long. I think we’ll definitely want you each to record a video message making it clear that this was your idea. Oh, and that you understood that you’d be the first human stazed and that we’re not sure it’s safe, okay?”
“Sure,” Simone said tiredly. “I’ll sign anything you want as well.”
~~~
They moved into the big room. As soon as they were in there, Lee glanced around at the others and said, “We have to wait for Kaem, don’t we?”
Gunnar frowned, “Why? We know how to do it and that girl looks like she’s got one foot in the grave. I wouldn’t put it past her to die before we get the first duck lined up to start our row.”
“But we need Kaem so he can check with Mr. X,” Lee said. We can’t do this without X’s permission can we?!”
Gunnar scoffed, “Ask for forgiveness afterward. Do not ask anyone else for permission or that girl could die while we’re screwing around.”
Arya took a deep breath. “I’d like to talk to Kaem too, but I agree with Gunnar.”
Gunnar snorted, “Well, this agreement stuff’s certainly a new experience for me.”
Arya said, “Gunnar, can you and Emmanuel work up a way to staze Simone? I’ll go have her sign some kind of permission and record a video saying she wants to do it.”
Lee said, “What do you want me to do? Help Gunnar too?”
Giving her an apologetic look, Arya said, “Can you talk to the journalists outside?”
Lee drew back, appalled, “Journalists?! What am I supposed to tell them?!”
“Just answer their questions. Don’t tell them things we don’t want the public to know yet.”
“You’re kidding me! Kaem told them everything the public could know last Friday night.”
“Then rehash those answers. They just want some soundbites of their own.”
Lee sighed. “I’ll do my best.” She turned and trudged toward the front door as if marching to her doom.
Before leaving for the anteroom, Arya turned to Gunnar. “Don’t just wrap her in Mylar and staze her. We don’t want to be carrying something out of here that looks like a body. Find a way to make the Stade look innocuous. Oh, and easy to carry.”
Gunnar said, “I was thinking we’d lay her out in a box and wrap Mylar around that?”
Arya shook her head, “Not something that looks like a coffin either.”
“Oh,” Gunnar said thoughtfully. “Maybe we could staze her sitting in her chair?”
Arya nodded, “But put a box around it, okay? And handles on the sides?”
She left Gunnar and Emmanuel checking some of the big shipping boxes acrylic molds got delivered in.
~~~
Back out in the anteroom, Arya spent a few moments trying to think of a search string for a legal document along the lines of what she needed, then gave it up as hopeless. We’re truly doing something new under the sun, she thought.
Instead, she went over and sat in front of Simone and Grace, setting up her phone to record. She considered asking Simone to sit up, but decided that having her looking too sick to sit would be good if something went wrong. Then she immediately felt guilty for thinking about spin instead of Simone. “Um, Simone. Would you rather be sitting up?”
She listlessly shook her head.
Arya said, “Okay, we’re recording. Can you tell us in your own words what you’re asking us to do?”
“I’m dying of ovarian cancer,” Simone said, sounding so sad that Arya felt her eyes well up. “I came to Staze today after learning over the weekend about their new technology from watching Kaem Seba’s lecture…” she paused, took a breath, and glanced at Grace. “I feel like crap.”
Grace said,
