“It’s no good. She’s still getting worse. Can we reverse it?”

The man next to her shook his head. “Not without killing her faster. Her temperature’s down too far already, and she’s below our control on brain activity. I’m afraid we’re going to lose her.” His voice was calm and slow under rigid control. He turned to look at the woman, waiting for an instruction. She took a long, shuddering breath.

“We must not lose her. There must be something else to do. Oh my God.” She stood up, revealing a supple, willowy build that emphasized the thinness of her stooped shoulders. “Jinx might be in the same condition. Did you check on his enclosure, see how he’s doing?”

Wolfgang Gibbs snorted. “Give me credit for something, Charlene. I checked him a few minutes ago. Everything is stable there. I held him four hours behind Dolly here, because I didn’t know if this move was a safe one.” He shrugged. “I guess we know now. Look at Dolly’s EEG. Better accept it, boss woman. We can’t do one thing for her.”

On the screen in front of them, the pattern of electrical signals from the bear’s brain was beginning to flatten. All evidence of spindles was gone, and the residual sinusoid was dropping in amplitude.

The woman shivered, then sighed. “Damn, damn, damn.” She ran her hand through her dark hair. “So what now? I can’t stay here much longer — JN’s meeting starts in less than half an hour. What the hell am I going to tell her? She had such hopes for this one.”

She straightened under the other’s direct gaze. There was a speculative element to his look that always made her uneasy.

He shrugged again and laughed harshly. “Tell her we never promised miracles.” His voice had a flat edge to the vowels that hinted at English as a late-learned second language. “Bears don’t hibernate in the same way as other animals do. Even JN will admit that. They sleep a lot, and the body temperature drops, but it’s a different metabolic process.” There was a beep from the monitor console. “Look out now — she’s going.”