Chapter 5.0 "The Ripley Scroll"

Note: IPO is a novel blogged in-progress.

"And all so the stone to quicken the dead
All and some without fable."
-- The Ripley Scroll

Martin hung up the phone and put his head down on the desk. His suspicions had been correct; none of the angels were biting.

"I don't care if you can bring back woolly freakin' mammoths," one surly investor had told him. "Show me paying customers."

He looked at the calendar; There were only 25 days left and this company was little more than the laughable prospectus that was sitting on his desk. Sure, the twins' prospectus had come up with some astounding market data on longevity spending, but this was no wrinkle cream. All those dollars were about postponing the inevitable or just looking a little better on the way down.

Culper rapped on his door and Culper barely looked up as he entered the office.

"That bad, huh?"

"It would seem that way," Martin grumbled. "Ito tells me they depleted their resources with Jennifer. It's a true miracle, but sleeping beauty is not exactly the success story that we need right now."

"And without funding, you're in a bit of a code freeze, aren't you?"

"What's that you just said?"

"Only that your stuck without the money, you know?"

"No, not that. The code freeze. Like cryogenics cold freeze. Maybe I've been talking to the wrong people."

"You lost me, Martin. Where are you going with this?"

"VCs are the kinds of guys who would sell their mothers--not bring them back from the dead. No. If there is any pre-money out there for the New Life process, maybe it's the with people who froze themselves waiting for it to be possible!"