...others are resurrected

11.11.49: THREE MEN who 'died' 30 years ago were this morning having breakfast.

"This is the breakthrough of the century," declared an ecstatic Professor Theodore Cook of Infinity Inc at the Neurogenic Centre, Shanghai University. "We have conquered death."

The project began in 2019 when Cook formulated the Human Hibernation Project: to deep-freeze three volunteers while they are still alive, with the aim of reviving them in the future.

Until China agreed to provide facilities for the project, the 20th century's cryogenics pioneers were compelled to wait until their subjects died naturally before they could be taken to a laboratory to have their bodies treated. The delay meant that the risk of brain damage caused by lack of oxygen was high.

"Those brave old subjects are still frozen," said Cook. "We hope to learn more about how to revive them from the HH Project. But the men we have now resurrected had lost no blood supply to the brain and we had added an antifreeze chemical found in Arctic fish to reduce tissue damage."

Not everyone is convinced that Cook's methods represent a breakthrough.

"We haven't seen the subjects' neuroscans yet," said Professor Barbizan Chomley of the University of London, "so we don't know how their brains are actually functioning. From what I saw on the screen this morning they looked pretty groggy. If they do make it, I'd be concerned about their psychological state."

Cook brushed aside these objections. "We've done it with chimps and one of those has now been back for five years," he said.

"We have the new Mk 4 nanorobots running through the guys' brain tissue at the moment, repairing any damage. Once that is sorted out, we will implant some cyberchips and download their mental and emotional state for the psychiatrists to work on.

"Then there will be several months of high-speed learning while we upload the main news and cultural stories of the past 30 years." JB