The Time Keeper

The next morning, Ethan and Sarah see each other at the shelter. Ethan acts as he always does and nonchalantly unpacks the supplies. Sarah tells herself she won’t ask what happened, but then she blurts it out. He says he’s sorry but doesn’t explain why he cancelled on her. She tells him that it’s “[c]ool” (65). He finishes his task and then tells her that he’ll see her next week. She wonders what he means, referring to next Friday or next Saturday at the shelter. She’s frustrated that it’s up to her to ask. An unhoused man steps up to her window to get his oatmeal and asks for extra bananas, as he does every week, which she gets him. She goes about her regular routine and cleans up a spill that Ethan left.

At the cryonics facility, Jed explains the way bodies are positioned upside down in the large fiberglass cylinders. Victor has read everything he could about cryonics and insisted on visiting the facility the day after he received the report from research. However, he’s not impressed with what he sees. The thinking behind freezing a dead body until it can be reanimated and cured seems logical.