***

The old adage goes that it never rains but it pours and that’s exactly how it torrented down the following week. Before it happened, it was apparent that prisoners were being exchanged on a regular basis according to the scheduled programme., The numbers were increasing day by day and all seemed to be going well. However Fate had a way of changing things in an instant. As everything was going to plan, Jordan decided to take a day off to drive to a golf course and play a round with one of his colleague. He had just struck his golf ball off the tee, dropping it no less than six inches from the flag some one-hundred-and-eighty yards away when a man could be seen racing across the greens holding an envelope in his hand. He reached Jordan puffing and panting leaning forward to pass the message to the government agent.

‘This just came through for you on the telephone,’ he managed to say, his chest heaving with the effort.

Jordan placed his club into the golf bag, took the envelope, and tore it open with a frown appearing on his face. It turned out to be a message from the scientist Wilson asking him to make contact immediately. Jordan made his apologies to the other golf player and sped to the Club House wondering what could be so urgent.

‘There’s been another mishap, Mr. Jordan,’ the scientist told him point-blank.

‘What is it now?’ demanded the government agent tiredly. He had been so set on enjoying a day playing golf and now it was clearly being spoilt.

‘There’s been another death,’ explained Wilson flatly.

‘What’s so important about that?’ snapped Jordan with an element of anger in his voice. ‘It’s not the first time. There’s been a number of them so far!’

‘You don’t understand,’ continued the scientist apprehensively. ‘This time it wasn’t a prisoner. Cosmo James was once an Olympic discus champion. He was eighty-two. We placed him in the cubicle as usual with the metal coat around him but after we turned on the current, he passed away. This time, it wasn’t the prisoner who died but the recipient.’

Jordan paused at the other end of the line trying to absorb the information. ‘Maybe it was his turn to die before the exchange took place. After all, he was eighty-two.’

‘I don’t believe that,’ retorted the scientist. ‘He was medically examined before the exchange and passed fit. I think there’s a flaw in the operation.’

‘I’m not going to suspend the programme on a hunch like that, Wilson,’ commented Jordan bluntly. ‘Every day the programme isn’t working will work very much against us. You see it’s my belief that word of the programme will eventually become public. The more people we can pass through until that happens the better. As long as medical examinations take place before the participants go into the cubicles we’re in the clear.’

There was a long pause before Wilson continued. ‘There’s chaos in the laboratory,’ he revealed hesitatingly. ‘I think you ought to come here to sort it out as soon as possible.’

The government agent screwed up his face in ostensible anger. With a request of that nature, there was no means by which he could continue playing golf that day. He rued the fact that his day had been entirely undermined by the news. Without delay, he parked his golf club in his car and drove to ASA Headquarters to sort out the mess. When he arrived there, he discovered that all exchanges had been suspended pending an enquiry into the reason why the old athlete had died.

‘Why has everything stopped?’ asked Jordan with grave concern.

‘We’re not certain whether the equipment caused the death,’ stated Wilson solemnly. ‘If so, many more recipients will die while being processed.’

‘How long will this enquiry take?’ demanded the government agent fearing the worst.

‘I’ve arranged for a complete overhaul of the system but you need to understand that it’s very complex It could take days... maybe weeks.’

‘Surely this was a one-off situation,’ muttered Jordan irritated by the delay. ‘Other than the prisoners, everyone is old. They’re all old men! Death is bound to happen before and after the exchange takes place.’

‘We can’t take changes, Mr. Jordan,’ remarked the scientist.

‘Why not?’ came the question. ‘On the one hand we have prisoners serving life sentences. There’s no hardship if they die. Their lives were forfeit anyway. On the other hand we have dignitaries and famous people who would die within a short tie anyway. What difference does it make if there’s a few hiccups with the programme?’

‘It’s far too risky to press on ahead hoping that everything will work out all right. It’s necessary to take every precaution available.’

The government agent stood quite still thinking through the dilemma. ‘My God!’ he exclaimed suddenly. ‘I’ll have to inform every Governor to stop sending prisoners here for the exchange to take place.’ He turned sharply to the scientist. ‘Wait here. I’ll be back shortly!‘

He left Wilson to go to one of the offices in the building, heading directly to a fax machine. He typed out a short message which he sent to all the Governors involved in the exchange programme. However before he pressed the key to send the message to them all, he hesitated to reflect the situation. If he sent the message, they would immediately halt all transfers of the prisoners to the Headquarters. He suddenly realised that he was reacting far too quickly to the issue. He needed time to think... time to consider all the options... time to establish whether on not the old Olympic athlete had died as a result of the exchange process. Subsequently, he removed the message from the machine without sending it and returned to Wilson who was sitting down drinking a cup of coffee.

‘Mr. Wilson,’ he began. ‘I want an autopsy carried out on Cosmo James... and I want it done now! We need to find out the reason why he died. I want to see his medical records as soon as possible because it may be that he was dying before he came here. If that’s the case, the equipment’s in perfect order and we can continue accordingly.’

‘Right,’ returned the scientist, making a note of the orders. First, the autopsy. Second, the medical records.’ He turned on his heel, still holding the cup of coffee, and he disappeared from the room.

Jordan sat down on a chair deep in thought. There was every chance that the old Olympic athlete had been dying long before he arrived at the Headquarters. A dose of the highly-charged current would have finished off his weakened body. He considered it to be correct for every participant to be medically examined before undertaking the process. Normally, any ailments to one of the bodies would be switched to the other body. In this particular case, death occurred before the transfer could take place.

‘What rotten luck!’ he thought to himself. ‘It would have been only a matter of a few minutes before the exchange took place, in which case it would have been the prisoner who died in the cubicle.’ He shook his head slowly at the fickle finger of Fate. Sometimes it worked in favour of a person; sometimes it failed to do so. He remained in the laboratory for a period of half-an-hour, staring bleakly at the two empty cubicles before Wilson returned with a file in his hands.

‘Here’s the medical note of the dead man plus those of the pathologist,’ he said, passing the file to the other man.

Jordan opened the cover to read the contents, nodding his head as he did. ‘He had cancer of the lungs,’ he muttered bitterly. ‘He died of a pulmonary embolism while being placed into the cubicle which had nothing to do with the exchange process.’ He stood up as though he had grown wings and he handed the file back to the scientist. ‘Right!’ he uttered firmly. ‘The process can continue without delay!’

‘Do you really want to take responsibility for any adverse situations that may occur?’ challenged the scientist.

‘I’m already responsible!’ came the stern reply. ‘Get the system operating again and make it fast. We’ve already wasted enough time.’

Wilson shrugged his shoulders in dismay, unhappy with the decision. It seemed to him the most appropriate thing to do but he was being overridden by the government agent. They would continue sailing close to the edge in the hope that everything would work out right. It was a dangerous ploy to take when safety was the real consideration, but those in charge deemed otherwise!