Recalled to life

By Robert Silverberg
Illustrated by BILL BOWMAN
It was the greatest scientific breakthrough of all time: reanimation after death. The trouble was, it created more problems than it solved.
CHAPTER I
That morning James Harker was not expecting anything unusual to happen. He had painstakingly taught himself, these six months since the election, not to expect anything. He had returned to private law practice, and the Governorship and all such things were now bright memories, growing dimmer each month.
Morning of an Ex-Governor. There was plenty to do: the Bryant trust-fund business was due for a hearing next Thursday, and before that time Harker had to get his case in order. A pitiful thing: old Bryant, one of the glorious pioneers of space travel, assailed by greedy heirs in his old age. It was enough to turn a man cynical, Harker thought, unless a man happened to be cynical already.
He reached across his desk for the file-folder labeled Bryant: Hearing 5/16/33. The sound of the outer-office buzz trickled into the room, and Harker realized he had accidentally switched on the inter-office communicator. He started to switch it off; he stopped when he heard a dry, thin voice say, Is the Governor in?
His secretary primly replied, Do you mean Mr. Harker?
That's right.
Oh. He—he doesn't like to be called the Governor, you know. Do you have an appointment with him?
I'm afraid not. Terribly foolish of me—I didn't realize I'd need one. I don't live in New York, you see, and I'm just here for a few hours—
I'm extremely sorry, sir. I cannot permit you to see Mr. Harker without an appointment. He's extremely busy.