The day after the final results were in, the men were told to report to the laboratory building immediately after reveille. They were shown the equipment for the first time—large white coffins with thickly insulated walls. Hawker had expected to see tangles of wires leading from each coffin, as in the original videos, but the machinery was much too sophisticated for that. These boxes were designed to be shipped anywhere in the world within thirty-six hours, if an emergency arose; they couldn’t be entangled with needless spaghetti.
When Captain Dukakis announced they were all to be prepped for the “final phase” of the experiment, there was a low rumbling through the group. None of the men had expected things to be this abrupt. “Don’t we even get a last meal?” someone asked nervously. “Even
