This book has been the project of the authors life, and has

taken some 42 years to complete and have accepted.

He also has several pieces of work on Kindle.
As a former Therapist/Counsellor, he created a website
called MINDSFLIGHT. Its a therapy technique for
Relaxation. To date its had 14,500+ hits. Mind you, it is
FREE at source (www.mindsflight.net).

To the men and women of medicine everywhere.

W i l l i a m P. T h o m s o n

PROMETHEUS
ASCENDING

Copyright William P. Thomson (2015)

The right of William P. Thomson to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section
77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the
publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorized act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the
British Library.
ISBN 9781785548055 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781785548062 (Hardback)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2015)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ

Printed and bound in Great Britain

To the author Peter Paget for his encouragement in

the early days of my writing this novel.
WPT

The A & B Question

You stand Mr A and Mr B side by side. You then take Mr
As brain and put it in Mr Bs skull, and put Mr Bs brain in
Mr As skull.
Which one then is Mr A and which one Mr B?
WPT

Never Say Never

We have no need for telephones. We have telegraph

boys.
(Engineer-in-Chief, GPO. 1880s)

No possible combination of known substances can be

united in a practical machine by which Man shall fly long
distances through the air.
(Simon Newcomb Head of the United States Naval
Observatory. 1900)

Space travel is utter bilge.

(Astronomer Royal. 1956)

It is unlikely that we shall witness the advent of human

brain transplant surgery in this century, if at all.
(Sir James Robert Carvel, Cryo Neurosurgeon. 1973)

Experiment. Procedure tried on the chance of success

Oxford Dictionary

9.07am, Wednesday, 12th of April, 1961.

(Yuri Gargarin)
1am to 6am, Sunday, 3rd of December, 1967.
(Christiaan Barnard)
02.56, 15 seconds GMT, Monday, 21st of July, 1969.
(Neil Armstrong)
11.02am to 5.28pm, Sunday, 25th of August, 1985.
(James R Carvel)

On Sunday, 25th of August, 1985, the British

Neurosurgeon, Sir James Robert Carvel, performed his
Experiment.
What follows is an abridged and edited version of an eyewitness account by the American investigative writer,
Alvin Gavaert.
Source
1985

Dramatis Personae
From the beginning to end, with all things in between,
everything about the Experiment began and ended with
Carvel. Whoever or whatever one took time out to look at,
condone or condemn, all roads led back to Carvel.
Alvin Gavaert

JAMES ROBERT CARVEL, creator and instigator of what

was to be termed by Gavaert (after Beckler) as The Carvel
Experiment, was born on the 1st of April 1940. Perhaps his
Makers sense of humour? His father was an engineer and
Master of Science, his mother a teacher in child welfare.
In 1944, by the age of four, a few things had become
abundantly clear. He had an extraordinary mind, and was
possessed of two very special gifts; an almost photographic
memory and the ability of almost total recall. Some even
suggested he was the stuff of which genius is made.
Tragedy befell Carvel fast. In 1946 his parents were
killed in an automobile crash. His grandparents, who lived
in Edinburgh, took on the duties of looking after the boys
welfare and education. His grandfather was Rupert Carvel,
the eminent scientist and astronomer. He too became aware
of the boys inherent gifts; at first hand.
Carvels academic career began fast and got a whole lot
faster. It was enhanced in 1957, when his grandfather
6

arranged for him to visit a renowned man of letters living in

Switzerland, who was both a friend and colleague in
scientific debate on many an occasion. The mans name
was Ernst Kraser.
Alvin Gavaert believed that Kraser was late. Born too
late, recognised too late and a destiny fulfilled too late.
Also, that he was the catalyst for all that followed. There
could be little doubt about his influence on Carvel. He was
to be his friend and mentor, sometimes even a steadying
influence, for many years to come. Whilst were at it, for
the record, it was Kraser who gave Carvel a copy of the
book entitled The Prospects of Immortality, by Robert
Ettinger, regarded by some to be the Father of
Cryogenics. As time progressed, Carvel brought two
strands of his thinking and study together: Neurosurgery
and Cryogenics. Its almost a certainty that Ettingers book
sealed the path Carvel would take.
Back to Kraser.
ERNST KRASER was born in Halsburg, Austria, on
the 30th of June, 1921, of an Austrian mother and a German
father. As with Carvel, Krasers parents died when he was
young, and he went into the care of a man of letters by the
name of Bernard Groust, a teacher and close friend of the
late Krasers. When Hitler arrived on the scene, Groust had
the boy placed into an isolated monastery, famed for its
great learning, situated on the Austro-German border. Such
records that survived the Second World War made it clear
Kraser was an academically gifted child.
As time progressed, Kraser had turned his mind toward
medicine and chemistry, whilst Groust went away to war
and death. In 1940, the Germans stormed into the
monastery and sent Kraser, now growing into a fine young
man, to Berlin to work on germ warfare, amongst other
things. In 1944, he was freed by the resistance forces and
fled Berlin. In the years that followed he achieved much
and garnered awards aplenty, including a couple of Nobel
7

Prizes. When his formal qualifications were dealt with,

Kraser became the first Member of the 85 Team to drop
out of the academic pipeline.
In 1954, Kraser was introduced to a very special
seventeen-year-old: James Robert Carvel.
In 1957 Krasers wife died. Kraser put his work on
hold for the better part of a year. Even so, the following
year, he published his first detailed paper on his earlier
work. It was ignored by some, questioned by many,
accepted by a few. The end of the year also saw Kraser
paying a private visit to Carvel in Cambridge.
In 1962, Kraser joined the World Health Organisation
and moved to Geneva. In so doing, it seems he was at last
enfolded in the silent shroud of anonymity that he seemed
to yearn for. It was whilst with W.H.O. that he completed
the last major part of his work on his Regenertory Drugs
Programme. He also requested that whatever he had done
and would do that resulted in the development of new drugs
was to remain the knowledge of W.H.O. alone. His request
was so honoured. Medicine and people the world over owe
Kraser a debt that it and they will never know and therefore
be unable to either acknowledge or repay.
In 1964, Carvel paid a visit to Kraser. It was on this
visit that the latter suggested the former get in touch with
two other young and exceptionally gifted men of medicine:
Richard Beckler and Anthony Morrow. When he returned
home, Carvel wrote to them both. So, in 1964, as a direct
result of Krasers actions, the first full link-up of what
would become the Experiment Team was established.
On the 23rd of August, 1965, Ernst Kraser joined
Carvel, Beckler and Morrow in a Bayswater hotel in
London. It was the first time the Team had come together.
They were in conference for about three hours. In that time,
they spoke of things past, of things present and of things
that could come to pass. They discussed the possibilities of
man rebuilding man and, in passing, the possibility of
8

human brain transplant surgery, with the essential aid also

of Cryogenics!
On Friday, 16th of May, 1969, the four men met at the
Lespoir (Hope in English), at Orleans, just outside of
Paris, in France. This was the second time the Experiment
Team had met. They stayed until the afternoon of Monday
the 19th of May.
This meeting was probably the most important meeting.
It was later confirmed to Gavaert, in the C.R.E., that each
man confirmed to him that it was then they collectively
agreed to attempt a human brain transplant, if time,
circumstance and wherewithal allowed. One other thing
was agreed at the meeting was that Carvel should handle
and be answerable for managing the whole thing. If ever a
statement condemned!
In October of this same year, Kraser made it known to
the medical establishment that his work on his
Regeneratory Drugs Programme (RDP) was concluded. It
was not well received. In truth, the profession all but
crucified the man although in the main, politely. Amongst
other things, the vague hint, the stage whisper, innuendo,
along with the smoke and mirrors of dark political spin as
regards to the mans work in Berlin . . . for the Nazis. It all
seemed so final. Not even his Nobel prizes were able to
afford him protection. It was reported later that Carvel was
quoted as saying of the whole affair, Stupid. They look,
but dont see. Listen, but dont hear. Understand, but wont
acknowledge. Know, but wont accept.
1959, and Carvel was 19, small, barely making fivefive, but solid with the most striking physical aspect being
his eyes and vitality. The eyes were blue-grey and alive.
They seemed to generate outwards the alertness of his
mind, the sheer power of his brain. He exalted in being
alive and it showed. As to his conversation, it took in a
myriad of topics. When others offered him knowledge he
did not possess, he would listen intently, like a child taking
9

reward. His energy was boundless. He was into just about

anything, especially parties where he was first to arrive and
last to leave, yet still into his books and studies the
following day. Often he would be involved in something
academic deep into the night. His whole approach to life
and living could be summed up in a single word:
ATTACK!
This was the year Carvel hit Cambridge like a cyclone
on speed. It was to be now that his unusual learning ability
would serve most fully, so allowing the young man equal
time to feed from the trough of pleasure and drink from the
reservoir of knowledge.
Carvel arrived in the autumn term and was soon a wellknown addition to the student body, although not all were
taken by his approach to academe. One such man was
George Purcell, a rather self-possessed individual. The first
clashes in the formal arena of debate came in the lazy, hazy
days of spring and summer of 1960.
GEORGE PURCELL was born in Mayfair, London, on
the 16th of February, 1936, into a well-heeled, comfortable
upper middle class environment. He wasnt so much born
with a silver spoon in his mouth as a full silver cutlery set!
In the course of time, he ended up at Eton. Although not
blessed with brains, he was diligent and hard working in his
studies. A sort of tortoise to Carvels supercharged hare. At
Eton it did seem Georges career was to be split into two
directions; medicine of his own choosing, but business for
the family honour. His father was a top ranking civil
servant whilst his mother looked to the home and the social
order of things.
Purcell left Eton in 1954, and thanks to his
grandfathers obsession with the army, having been a
Brigadier himself, was railroaded into the famous British
Military Academy of Sandhurst. It was now that Purcell
revealed a more devious side to his nature when, with some
courage, he feigned asthmatic attacks, so getting himself an
10

honourable discharge. The Academy medics believed it

was all psychosomatic and that he would grow out of it, but
cunning, courage and bravado won the day. Whatever it
was, it meant George was out. Naughty, surprising George.
Purcell didnt get off scot free. His family still managed
to give him a degree of grief by sending him into the
broking firm of Yarrow and Yancy. He was encouraged to
this end as it would add meat to the bone of his often
declared interest in business. Unlike his unfortunate
dalliance in Sandhurst, it wasnt long before Purcell really
took to the facts, figures and balance sheets of business, not
to mention the skills of organisation. Even so, he continued
his medical studies, even to the degree of hiring himself a
private tutor.
At long last, in 1957, Purcell began to sense that
freedom was just around the corner. He again challenged
the family, making plain his intention to try for Cambridge
the following year. The family were not too unhappy about
this, accepting it with a restrained grace. Be that so, it was
nearer to be two years before he made it.
1958 was a frustrating year for Purcell. The one good
thing being that hed made sure of his Cambridge place in
the autumn term of 1959, at the age of 23. A bit long in the
tooth but he didnt mind. He had some genuine working
experience, together with a substantial volume of study
behind him. Best of all, he was to read Economics, with
Medicine as his second subject. The not quite so young
man was on his way. By now, Purcell was tall, slim, with
closely cut and styled blonde hair, and with a bearing and
attitude that not so quietly screamed arrogance. Many of his
contemporaries, with Dons included, remember him as
something of an anal retentive, supercilious snob. One
indiscreet Don suggested that Purcell walked not so much
as though he had a broom stuck up his arse as a full
cleaning cupboard!

11