At The End

Dr. Fürböck drove from the airport directly to the clinic. A surprise awaited him there.

Prof. Giese immediately accompanied him to the incubators and absentmindedly asked how the event had been in, well, where, in uh, Paris. Fürböck began his carefully prepared report, but stopped because the professor wasn't listening at all.

"Leo stopped dreaming," Giese said.

"But the recordings continue, I hope?" asked Fürböck, who was worried about his data.

"Of course," Giese replied. "He suddenly stopped dreaming two days ago, the encephalogram shows nothing. Flatline. We've already checked the contacts a hundred times!"

Fürböck only now noticed that he was still in street clothes and had not changed. He said that he needed to change and left. After a few minutes he was back and stood next to his boss.

"If he's not available in four days, we'll have to end it" said the professor, infinitely sad. "He has lasted barely two years," he added, "the laws are clear. After a week, we have to declare him brain dead and turn off the equipment."

They stood in front of the incubator for a long while longer, silent. The equipment hummed almost inaudibly.

Fürböck realized that Giese was turning to leave and followed him.

Someday, some clever boy would develop a program or system to decode and understand and translate the brain waves of coma patients.

Then it would be known what Leo Puchmann had dreamed.