The woman woke up slowly but remained confused. Twenty minutes after awakening, she developed a fever which rose to 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Intravenous antibiotics were administered, and she was diagnosed with a massive systemic infection. Two days later, she too, was dead.

The subsequent investigation showed the shared supply of SIF had become contaminated with a common and usually harmless bacterium. While in a sleep-like state, the body systems which would typically combat such a minor problem were inactive, and by the time anyone was able to intervene, it had been too late.

Questions were also raised regarding the competence of the medical staff in their handling of the crisis. Due to massive public pressure and the threat of legal action, the private funding for the project rapidly dried up.

While devastated by the failure and loss of life, Sullivan was encouraged because one thing was clear – almost all body processes were suspended during the sleep period.

After a year of failed efforts to obtain new funding, Henry Sullivan was contacted by the Department of Defense and given the opportunity to continue his work under the auspices of the US Army Research Laboratory.

Working for the military wasn't the ideal situation for Sullivan because he'd wanted to avoid the political issues related to working for the government. He'd also been concerned about how much control over the project he would lose. In the end, agreements were made, and he'd accepted. The only demand Sullivan did insist on was that his assistant, James Cowan, be allowed to come along as his partner.

Once arrangements had been finalized, Sullivan and Cowan set to work immediately. Now they were armed with a budget many times larger than what they'd been working with before and they quickly began making improvements to their systems. After a year, they were ready to repeat the test which had gone so terribly wrong.

Four volunteer subjects were placed in the sleep capsules, with the plan of keeping them asleep for a year. It had been decided to continue using a shared source of SIF, purely for manageability reasons –this time, however, it would be better monitored and frequently exposed to specific low doses of radiation to kill any intrusive organisms.

The following night, a large blood vessel in the base of Henry Sullivan's brain ruptured. The hemorrhagic stroke left the brilliant scientist in a vegetative state. A ventilator was needed because the part of his brain which controls respiration was dead from the moment the blood vessel ruptured. Two weeks later, with his children and grandchildren at his bedside, the life support system was disconnected. Henry Sullivan was pronounced dead ten minutes later.

James Cowan suddenly found himself in charge of the project. He was almost as knowledgeable as Sullivan, and after some debate, it was decided the experiment would continue. By the end of the year, all four volunteers were awakened and experienced minimal effects from the SIF. That had been six and a half years ago.