The penultimate trump
"The Penultimate Trump" by R. C. W. Ettinger is a science fiction novel written in the late 1940s. The story explores themes of mortality, technology, and the potential future of humanity through the lens of suspended animation. It revolves around the last days of the billionaire Harley D. Haworth, who, in his old age, desires to escape death by being placed in a state of suspended animation until humanity has advanced enough to revive him. The narrative follows Haworth's desperate quest to preserve his life through a revolutionary scientific project involving a new type of suspended animation. Along with Garibaldi Jones, an engineer, and Dr. Ellsworth Stevens, a bio-chemist, Haworth establishes a secret vault designed to house himself and select others for future revival. Haworth eventually awakens in a vastly changed world, where an oppressive Ascension Code mandates punishment for past wrongdoings, leading him to confront the consequences of his historical actions. As he grapples with his new reality and the suffocating moral framework of this future society, Haworth struggles against a predestined fate that condemns him to experience the suffering he previously inflicted on others.