Elixir Stone (Kendrick & Harte book No.1) by Rex Grainger

Author:Rex Grainger [Grainger, Rex]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: rexgraingerbooks
Published: 2016-01-26T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty-nine

Dr Harrods brought over the steel canister containing the mineral, despite Dr Johns’ protestations. He laid it on a table top and ignited further wrath as he started to unscrew the lid. Dr Johns tried to stop him, but Harte grabbed his arm, dragging him back, while Kendrick and Kruger drew closer to the table top. Dr Harrods removed the lid, and slightly tilted the canister sideways for them to see the mass of white powder inside.

‘As you can see it’s safe.’ Contrary to Dr Johns, the young scientist trusted these strangers.

‘Not for long,’ said Kruger.

‘I don’t blame anyone stealing it.’ Dr Harrods ignored the seething Dr Johns. ‘It’s a goldmine – we’ve tested it thoroughly over the past few days - it has fascinating properties, and isn’t toxic; it seems to have renewing abilities, and more -’

‘What about the cadaver? Did you test it as well?’ asked Kendrick.

Dr Harrods nodded. ‘Firstly, the cadaver, like the others we’d examined, is from the BC era, and like the one found in Antalya, it’s a great example of a cadaver retaining the slightly dried connective tissue. They had better skin tissue preservation - but the ones found submerged in the sea, such as the one found in the Mediterranean, were poor examples. Which isn’t surprising, as sea scavengers can complete the job of decomposition, especially if a corpse rises to the surface. The one in the Mediterranean was half a skeleton with its legs and limbs missing, and the preserved skin tissue was mainly on the skull – it was found inside an ancient ship. Scientifically, it shouldn’t have been preserved considering that, thanks to global warming, the temperature in the Mediterranean is getting warmer each year. However, salinity is also rising. Salt is known to slow decomposition down, but the cadaver still has to be embalmed for an excellent preservation.’

‘What’s making the skeleton still retain that texture?’ asked Kendrick.

‘We cut a piece of the skin, placed it under the microscope, and,’ Dr Harrods couldn’t choke down the rising excitement in his voice, ‘it matched the properties we saw in the white powder, you know, flashes of colourful light constantly morphing into different shapes, and the properties were fluctuating, like a living organism in a plant, but greater. It’s so active, as if it has a life of its own.’

‘Eureka!’ Kendrick said out loud, though Harte wasn’t showing any signs of being anymore impressed. ‘The mineral’s the source of this dead bloke’s renewal – so it does exist. I mean, the elixir of life.’

‘We have to do more tests,’ said Dr Harrods, avoiding eye contact with Dr Johns, who was still seething. ‘But yes, it’s a big discovery – something that helps one retain some skin tissue well after death is a miracle. The decomposition process has five stages – with this cadaver, the decomposition rate doesn’t merely get arrested between stage four and five, where the corpse begins to look like a dried out husk, the organs are gone and the connective tissue rots, rejuvenation has occurred.

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