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Nov.
15, 2142
IMMORTALS
AMONG US?
They first came to public attention almost
a hundred years ago, and stories about them have surfaced on and off through
the decades since. A family possessing the unique genetic attributes to resist
most diseases and to cease aging once reaching maturity, living for the most
part in obscurity among ordinary folk. Now on the verge of adding its 1000th
member, the Family has consented to grant us interviews with the original First
Five, and we'll look at the impact this phenomenon has on the world today.
In a sense it all began in the dark days of
the early 21st Century, after the destruction of the original World Trade
Center. In the aftermath of terrorism, a virulent form of anthrax was loosed on
the world, the ancestor of the mild childhood disease now, but then a deadly
killer. For a short time, it looked like every member of the Family was in
danger, but all survived, and indeed thrived afterward.
It wasn't until the 2040's that they began
to suspect something unusual had happened, and they were right. All were
remarkably healthy and well-preserved, as were their children and
grandchildren. Analysis indicated that in reaction to the anthrax, an unusual
dormant gene sequence had activated, giving their immune systems and
regenerative cycles extreme vigor. This condition has been inherited by all
their genetic heirs, but, of course, not by their spouses, a melancholy
condition that affects One, the eldest, deeply.
"Yes, I've had three wives," said
One, who, at 180 years, is the oldest human alive today. "All in all, I've
had five children, and the doctors say there's no reason why I couldn't father
more. But it's just too sad; I've had to watch three very good women grow old
and die. Nowadays I have relationships, but they don't last very long. Most of
my time is spent on my writing."
One has written over 200 books over the
years, with over 40 on the Universal Bestseller Lists and 80 made into films.
He is a lecturer on Popular Culture at several universities in the area.
Two, who has had only one wife and two
children, has been the least procreative of the Five. "I think people who
think that we're going to breed like rabbits and take over the world are quite
wrong. I'm proof. The personal angle is greatly misunderstood." Indeed,
fate has had its way with a percentage of the Family, although the First Five
still all survive. "There have been seven suicides; two at least I know
did it because they 'couldn't take' the longevity," says Two. "Twenty-five
were killed in combat, a real tragedy. There has been a scattering of
accidents: hit by cars, drowning, falling downstairs; about seventeen in all.
So, Nature still has its way of pruning us back."
Two runs his own church, Mere Christendom.
Over the front door is the text, "If this one shall tarry until I come
again, what is that to you? Follow Me." It expresses his basic philosophy.
"No matter how long or short a life is, it's only experienced in the Now,
in the instant. That's when we have to act, to decide."
Three has been married twice and has four
children. He deals with his virtual immortality with art, using skills he has
honed for over a century. "There's an old saying that to learn art takes a
long time, and life is brief," he chuckles. "But I'm working on it."
He makes incredibly detailed, fanciful works of art, using methods from the
latest computer-generated imaging to traditional paint and canvas. He has had
several shows, and some of his paintings are acknowledged masterpieces, but he
still prefers producing popular art and keeping favorite classics alive.
"Why should Schulz and Disney be relegated to dusty corners of
history?" Three asked. "They are new to each generation."
Four is probably the most famous of the
Five, however. He had already starred in fifteen movies before he realized his
condition. "It certainly prolonged my professional life," he states.
"Fifty years of leading man's roles, and ten Oscars. Then they stopped
giving me any, to give everyone else a chance." Four retired from film,
but still does theater, and is a historical consultant on many pictures. He has
been married seven times and has 26 children, with one--"the 1000th family
member"--on the way.
Five is a businesswoman, and easily the
richest of the lot. She, too, has been married twice, but has had only three
children. "I'd have to bake 'em, not just put 'em in the oven," she
wryly quips. She handles most of the Family business as well as her own
personal empire, which has grown over the years. She is the one who organizes
the reunion on her 20,000 acre ranch every year, when the clan gathers to
celebrate. At 169 she still looks like a beautiful woman in her 20's.
Although science has studied the Family's
condition and to a certain extent understands it, it has come no closer to
duplicating it than it did 100 years ago, when genetics was in its youth.
"It just happened to happen, and doesn't seem likely to happen
again," says one gene doctor, a third-generation member of the Family who
has studied it for almost a century now. "Go figure."
Notes
This little fragment exemplifies a little genre I self-indulgently putter around with now and then, where I put myself or my family into speculative situations and ponder what it would be like. An alternate biography. I try to give us the best outcomes while adhering to the probable circumstances; even so, there's a certain amount of wishful thinking that creeps in. Go figure.
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