MOMENT OF DEATH—CHAPTER ONE: THE CHAIR

High atop the luxurious Ritz-Carlton, on the private roof deck of a luxury suite overlooking fifty lush acres of Boston Common, four guests were enjoying French champagne and spectacular views of the city. It was early afternoon, and they were a stone’s throw from Chinatown, the Financial and Theater Districts, and the Freedom Trail, but neither culture nor history had summoned them there. It was business that had called them.

Dr. Kaiser Totenschydel, a PhD in cell biology and anatomy—and the man responsible for the gathering—cleared his throat, and the two women and one gentleman in attendance reluctantly turned away from the scenic view to face him.

A mild breeze blew in from the east, sending hair and dresses fluttering. Dr. Totenschydel took that as a good omen. He swept his blue eyes over the three, smiled without showing teeth and raised his champagne glass.

“A toast,” the doctor said, as he absently thumbed the faint scar along his cheek. “To our success.”

The three guests raised their glasses and echoed his sentiments, and they all took a sip of champagne.

One of the women giggled and wrinkled her nose. “I never could drink champagne without getting a bit woozy.”

“That’s because you’re so small, Beth,” the other woman said. “It goes straight to your head.”

Beth Green rolled her eyes and set her empty glass on the deck table. “Don’t be mean, Trisha. I think it has something to do with the bubbles going up my nose.”

“Better not have any more,” Trisha Kayvern said, before finishing her own glass. “You wouldn’t want it to affect the results. Right, Ted?”

Ted Hellerman shook his head slowly, but he was smiling. He was used to his two colleagues’ bantering. “I can’t take you two anywhere. You better behave, or the doctor will think we’re frivolous.”

Dr. Totenschydel chuckled at the trio. “Not at all. I’m happy to see that you three feel comfortable enough to be yourselves. But don’t worry. A glass or two of champagne will have no effect on tonight’s trials. Speaking of which, why don’t we get started? Who would like to volunteer to go first?”

Beth perked up and raised her hand.

“Excellent,” Dr. Totenschydel said. He slid open the door to the suite and gestured for the other three to step inside.

“I hear you’ve made substantial upgrades to the equipment behind the experiment,” Ted said as the group entered the suite.

“Indeed I have. All thanks to a $50 million grant I was awarded by The Bradhurst Foundation.”

Ted smiled. “When Deidre Hill was at Bradhurst, things tended to move much more smoothly and efficiently.”

“I hope things might still move smoothly and efficiently, despite Deidre and Bradhurst being out of the picture,” the doctor said.

“Have you heard from Deidre?” Trisha asked.

“No, not since the lodge. She played a small part in getting me through a crucial phase of testing, however. And for that I’m grateful.”

“We invested in several projects she spearheaded in the past, so we’re very optimistic about yours,” Beth said. “What was it you used before? Beds was it?”

“Yes,” the doctor said, “And prior to that there was a crude variation of the product you’ll test now.”

They all turned to look at the product Dr. Totenschydel referred to, a sleek, futuristic, leather-trimmed chair that had been placed in the center of the room. It somewhat resembled a recliner but obviously didn’t match the room’s other furnishings. A single thin wire extended from what appeared to be a head harness, which rested on the seat cushion.

Beth was entranced. “That’s it, huh? Very cool.”

Dr. Totenschydel walked up beside her and placed a hand lightly on the small of her back. “It’s as remarkable as it looks,” he said softly. He gestured toward the chair and pressed ever so slightly on her back.

Ted and Trisha quietly watched as Beth picked up the head harness and slowly eased herself into the sleek recliner. Beth smiled, cast a glance at everyone, and then opened her eyes wide as the chair slowly began to recline of its own accord.

“Nice,” she said.

“Make yourself comfortable, Beth,” the doctor said.

“She always does,” said Trisha.

Beth stuck out a tongue at her colleague. “You’re just envious because you don’t get to go first.”

Ted rolled his eyes. “Can’t take you two anywhere,” he muttered.

Beth stretched herself out, shifted her weight a few times until she was comfortable, and then raised a thumb in the air. “Perfect,” she said. “This feels amazingly comfortable. If the experiment doesn’t work you could sell these things as easy chairs.”

The doctor frowned slightly. “Not at the price we would have to sell them for. Besides, I have every reason to believe the experiment will work. Every reason.”

“Okay, Dr. Totenschydel,” Beth said. “What’s next?”

“Place the harness on your head,” the doctor said.

“What’s it for?” Beth asked.

“The harness is fitted with noninvasive sensors that allow me to monitor blood circulation and oxygen levels in your brain via low-intensity, near-infrared light waves. It’s actually quite revolutionary.”

“You’re sending light waves into my head?”

“Yes, but you’ll be in no danger at any point of this exercise.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Beth said, as she strapped the device on. “What next?”

The doctor made his way over to her and adjusted the harness until the sensors were positioned correctly. “How does that feel?”

Beth nodded. “Feels good.”

“Excellent. Now please close your eyes.”

Beth closed her eyes, and Dr. Totenschydel walked to a wall-mounted flat-panel monitor and powered it up. The lights in the room dimmed.

Trisha and Ted each took a chair to watch the proceedings. “Showtime,” Trisha whispered.

“Hush,” Ted whispered back.

“Breathe deeply,” the doctor told Beth as he entered several commands on the monitor’s touch screen. “Just relax and try to clear your mind.”

Faint beeps resonated as his fingers pressed digital buttons below colorful charts and bar graphs. Finally he said, “In a few seconds, you’ll no longer be in this room, as far as your subconscious is concerned.”

Beth was motionless as she listened with her eyes still closed.

“While in your subconscious state, the trick is to embrace death full on once you’re faced with it,” the doctor said. “As I mentioned to you before, that is the point of this exercise. But it’s important for you to understand that embracing whatever manner of death you’re faced with is the only way to experience the true moment of death, without actually dying, of course. If you shrink from it, the scenery will shift, and you’ll be forced to start over. But don’t be afraid. All of this is merely a simulation, and I’ll make it brief. Any minute now my voice should fade, and you’ll be fully immersed in your dream state, but I’ll keep talking till …”

Beth was jolted back into consciousness. She sat up quickly and looked around. Ted and Trisha and the doctor were gone, and she was no longer in the hotel suite. She was engulfed in perfect darkness, and the only thing she could see was herself, though no source of light was visible. She heard a loud click, and a banner of light appeared in front of her, illuminating the floor of what seemed to be a hallway. The light spread from the floor and ran up the walls to the ceiling, where it converged. She felt as if she were inside a long narrow box made of light, but beyond the illuminated floor, walls, and ceiling was a square of darkness as black and empty-looking as space. She was about to take a step forward toward the light when another click sounded. It triggered another band of light just beyond the first. She heard more clicks in quick succession, and for the next few moments, bands of light began to flick on along the hallway. The square of blackness became smaller as it receded. The clicks kept sounding in the distance until they tapered away, and the lights came on until the illuminated sections of hallway stretched to infinity.

Beth didn’t know how long she’d been standing there when she finally decided to take a few steps forward. Cautiously, she placed a foot into the light. The light disappeared. She pulled her foot back into the darkness and saw the light again. Her mind was racing, and it was hard to think. She closed her eyes for a moment and calmed herself, finally decided to place her entire body in the first band of light. When she stepped into it, the blackness all about her flashed an immense and blinding white that was so intense she was forced to shut her eyes against it. The inside of her eyelids glowed red because of the strength of the illumination.

In that instant, she heard the roar of an engine and felt wind whipping against her face. When she opened her eyes, she squinted through a pair of goggles as the sun loomed immense and golden before her. She felt her hand clutching a control stick, her feet pressing a pair of pedals. She looked around and realized she was in the cockpit of a biplane. Instinctively adjusting the ailerons, elevator, and rudder, she banked left and began to descend. She dipped into a blanket of clouds and broke through. She spied a breathtaking vista of rolling hills and vast tracts of farmland that stretched for miles in every direction.

“You’re doing very well,” a voice called to her from behind. It had a British accent.

Beth was startled. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder. She was astonished to see a handsome, bright-eyed man, perhaps in his mid-thirties, smiling at her, his eyes behind a pair of goggles. She had never seen him before. She faced forward again and watched the ground slowly rise up toward them. “Where are we?” she called out to the strange man.

“What do you mean?” the man shot back. “We’re over West Sussex, darling. Hayward’s Heath is just below.”

West Sussex. She was in England. But how had she gotten here? She must be dreaming. She wondered about the man sitting behind her. She didn’t know who he was, yet he had called her “darling.” What did that mean? And since when did she know how to fly an airplane? And why was it an antique one?

The questions kept firing through her mind, but she had no answers, not even an inkling or a suspicion. The gentleman in the back remained quiet for the most part, perhaps consumed with the beautiful scenery. The sun began to sink below an uneven horizon of mountains in the distance, and before her the sky bled purple and orange, casting a dark twilight shadow over the countryside. A shimmering body of water caught her eye, and she maneuvered the plane in a slow arc that kept the world at a peculiar angle until she floated low above the lake, nearly skimming it.

Her eyes were drawn to the instrument panel just then, and she gasped when she saw all the needles spinning wildly on their axes.

“Lizzy, darling,” the voice from behind said now. “I do hope you understand my dilemma. As cliché as it may sound, the fact is, if I can’t have you, no one can. Especially not him.”

Beth furrowed her brow. She hadn’t been called “Lizzy” since she’d been a little girl. BoBo—the name she had used for her grandfather ever since she first learned to speak—had dubbed her that, but no one else in her family ever used it. So why was this stranger—and that’s what he was, even if they were sharing an airplane—calling her “Lizzy”? Come to think of it, why was he calling her anything? She had never seen him before. And what did he mean by his “dilemma”? What was he talking about? And why had the instruments gone haywire?

Beth was determined to get some answers. “Listen, I’m having enough trouble trying to figure out why my instrument—”

The thin wire cut into the flesh of her neck like a blade, and her entire body was forced back against the seat as she began to struggle. She could hear water splashing as the plane’s fixed wheels made contact with the surface of the lake. She could feel the plane jerking as her vision dimmed.

“I loved you!” the man behind her screamed as the wire bit more deeply into her flesh. She tried to fit her fingers under the wire, but it was impossible, and they came away covered with blood. The plane suddenly cartwheeled, and the tension in the wire slackened. The stranger’s body was thrown from the rear seat. Beth was on the verge of passing out when she felt a throbbing pain in her leg. A jagged end of broken bone was sticking out through a trouser leg. She felt the aircraft beginning to sink. The floor of the cockpit was filling with water, but she couldn’t move. She leaned her head back against the seat and gazed up at the twilight sky as the plane sank. The water rose quickly in the cabin, and soon it was up to her chin. She could feel her arms floating parallel to her body, and she held her breath as the water rolled over her face. She kept her eyes open, and she could see a glint of sky through the surface of the lake.

Beth flailed her arms as though desperately groping for some invisible item, but her efforts proved futile. She closed her eyes against the horror and gave in to the situation. Everything went black. When she opened her eyes again, she took in a deep breath of air. She was no longer in the cockpit of a biplane. She was back in the hotel suite, sitting in the fancy recliner with a harness strapped to her head.

Dr. Totenschydel stood directly over her, smiling. “Welcome back. Your brain patterns looked normal, which means you reacted to the traumatic events just as you should have.”

Beth was silent. She slowly removed the harness and held it in her lap. She stared toward a window, a blank expression on her face.

Trisha stepped toward her. “Beth, snap out of it. Tell us what you experienced.”

Beth looked up at Trisha and blinked. “Death. I experienced death.”

“And how did it feel?” Ted asked.

“Out of this world,” Beth said with a vague smile. She looked around the room as though she were seeing it for the first time. “Am I really back?”

“Yes,” said Dr. Totenschydel.

“Now tell us what happened,” Trisha demanded.

For the next few minutes, Beth relayed her experience to her colleagues, sparing no detail as she spoke. By the end of it, Trisha was so excited that she insisted on going next. The rest of the afternoon went by in a blur, with Trisha and Ted each taking their turns in the chair and experiencing the same biplane nightmare above West Sussex, save for a few minor variations in the program. Ted explained that he was choked by a man who believed he had slept with his wife.

It was early evening when the three guests said their farewells to the doctor and departed his suite. They were elated about the chair and eager for a good dinner and the opportunity to take in the attractions of downtown Boston.