Love or immortality: A short story

1.

Sophie and Martin are astatine the 2012 Gordon Research Conference connected the Biology of Aging successful Ventura, California. It is simply a foggy February weekend. Both are disappointed astir however small prima determination is connected the California beach.

They are 2 postgraduate students—Sophie successful her sixth and last year, Martin successful his fourth—who person traveled from antithetic East Coast cities to contiguous posters connected their work. Martin’s shows wellness information collected from supercentenarians compared with the wide Medicare population, capturing the diseases that are little and much communal successful the populations. Sophie is presenting connected her precocious accepted first-author insubstantial successful Aging Cell connected 2 circumstantial genes that, erstwhile activated, widen lifespan successful C. elegans roundworms, the exemplary organism of her research. 

“Supercentenarians are overmuch little apt to person 7 diseases,” helium says, pointing to his poster. “Alzheimer’s, bosom failure, diabetes, depression, prostate cancer, hep fracture, and chronic kidney disease. Though they person higher instances of 4 diseases, which are arthritis, cataracts, osteoporosis, and glaucoma. These aren’t linked to mortality, but they bash impact prime of life.”

What stands retired to Sophie is the assurance successful Martin’s voice, contempt the unsurprising quality of the findings. She admires that sound, its sturdiness. She makes enactment of his sanction and plans to question him out. 

Martin says, again with that confidence, that helium volition go a professor. Sophie says she apt won’t spell down that path. She has received an connection to commencement arsenic a idiosyncratic astatine an aging probe startup called Abyssinian Bio, aft she defends. Martin says, “Wouldn’t your enactment marque much consciousness successful an world setting, wherever you person much state and powerfulness implicit what you do?” She says, “But that could beryllium years from present and I privation to commencement my existent life, truthful …” 

Martin visits Sophie successful San Francisco whenever helium can, which amounts to a play oregon 2 each different month. After 2 years, their long-distance narration is taking its toll. They privation much weekends, much months, much everything together. They marque plans for him to get a postdoc adjacent her, but aft aggregate rejections from the labs wherever helium astir wants to work, his resentment toward academia grows. 

“They don’t spot the worth of my work,” helium says.

Sophie moves up astatine Abyssinian. Despite being successful industry, her enactment is published successful well-respected journals. She collaborates good with her colleagues. Eventually, she is promoted to enforcement manager of research. 

Martin stalls astatine the fertile of main scientist, and though Sophie is technically his boss—or his boss’s boss—he genuinely doesn’t caput erstwhile others telephone him “Dr. Sophie Xie’s husband.”

First travel the subtle shifts successful however helium talks astir his probe and Abyssinian’s work. He wants to “defeat” and “obliterate” aging, which helium comes to picture arsenic humankind’s “greatest adversary.” 

Martin, for the archetypal time, sees Sophie differently. Not without love, but emotion burdened by an opposing weight, what others mightiness admit arsenic resentment. Sophie is dedicated to the demands of her increasing department. Martin thinks she is not taking the task of surviving longer earnestly enough. He does not privation her to die. He does not privation to die. 

Nobody astatine Abyssinian is taking the task of surviving longer earnestly enough. Of each the aging bio startups helium could person ended up at, however has helium ended up astatine 1 with specified modest—no, lazy—goals? He begins publically dismissing basal probe arsenic “too slow” and “too limited,” which offends galore of his and Sophie’s colleagues. 

Sophie defends him, says helium is inactive doing bully work, contempt the evidence. She is busy, traveling often for conferences, and mistakenly misclassifies the changes successful Martin’s cognition arsenic impermanent outliers.

At home, Martin and Sophie argue. Initially, they reason astir whether tools of the past tin beryllium utile to their work. Then the statement morphs. What is the existent intent of their research? Martin says it’s called anti-aging probe for a reason: It’s to defy aging! Sophie says she’s ne'er called her enactment anti-aging research; she calls it aging probe oregon probe into the biology of aging. And Abyssinian’s overarching ngo is much simply to find druggable targets for chronic and age-related diseases. Occasionally, the company’s selling limb volition propulsion retired messaging astir extending the quality lifespan by 20 years, but that has thing to bash with scientists similar them successful R&D. Martin seethes. Only 20 years! What astir hundreds? Thousands? 

Martin is astatine the room counter, methodically crushing his evening supplements into powder. “I’m trying to prevention humanity. And each you privation to bash is beryllium successful the laboratory to ticker worms die.”

Sophie observes his acquainted movements, present overseas successful their desperation. The room airy catches the metallic spreading astatine his temples and connected his chin—the precise grounds of aging helium is trying truthful hard to erase.

“That’s not true,” she says.

“What astir us? What astir children?”

Martin coughs, past laughs, a dependable that makes Sophie flinch. “Why would we person children now? You surely don’t person the time. But if we lick aging, which I judge we can, we’d person each the clip successful the world.”

“We utilized to speech astir starting a family.”

“Any children we person should beryllium calved into a satellite wherever we already cognize they ne'er person to die.”

“We could some marque the time. I privation to turn aged together—”

All Martin hears are promises that pb to nothing, nowhere.  

“You privation america to deteriorate? To ticker each different decay?”

“I privation a existent life.”

“So you’re choosing death. You’re choosing limitation. Mediocrity.”

Voicemail. And aft this morning’s text, inactive nary glimmering ellipsis bubble to bespeak Sophie’s typing. 

“Where are you astatine with the NAD+ data?” Martin asks.

Robert shifts successful his seat to look Martin. The tegument of his cervix grows reddish and splotchy. Martin stares astatine it successful disgust.

“Well?” helium asks again. 

“Oh, I was told not to enactment connected that anymore?” The lad has a inclination to talk successful the lilt of questions. 

“By who?” Martin demands.

“Uh, Sophie?” 

“I see. Well, I expect caller information by extremity of day.” 

“Oh, but—”

Martin narrows his eyes. The reddish splotches connected Robert’s cervix turn larger. 

“Um, okay,” the lad says, returning his absorption to the computer. 

Martin decides a effect is called for …

70.

Immortality Promise

I americium immortal. This doesn’t marque maine special. In fact, astir radical connected Earth are immortal. I americium 6,000 years old. Now, 6,000 years of beingness springiness 1 a definite perspective. I retrieve backmost erstwhile familial engineering and cognition astir the processes down aging were inactive successful their infancy. Oh, however radical argued and protested.

“It’s unethical!”

“We’ll termination the Earth if there’s nary death!”

“Immortal radical won’t beryllium motivated to bash anything! We’ll go a useless civilization surviving nether our AI overlords!” 

I believed backmost then, and present I know. Their concerns had nary crushed to basal on.

Eternal beingness isn’t adjacent singular anymore, but being among its architects and aboriginal believers inactive garners respect from the world. The elegance of my team’s solution continues to capable maine with pride. We didn’t conscionable halt aging; we mastered it. My cellular machinery hums with an ratio that would marque improvement herself jealous.

Those aboriginal protesters—bless their mortal, no-longer-­beating hearts—never grasped the biologic imperative of what we were doing. Nature had already created functionally immortal organisms—the hydra, definite jellyfish species, adjacent immoderate plants. We simply perfected what improvement had sketched out. The expected ethical concerns melted distant erstwhile radical understood that we weren’t defying nature. We were fulfilling its potential.

Today, those who did not privation to beryllium immortal aren’t around. Simple arsenic that. Those who are present do attraction astir the satellite much than ever! There are astir nary diseases, and we’re each precise productive people. Young adults—or should I accidental young-looking adults—are people restless and energetic. And with each this life, you person the added payment of not wasting your clip connected a vocation you mightiness hate! You get to effort antithetic things and find retired what you’re truly bully astatine and wherever you’re appreciated! Life is not short! Resources are plentiful!

Of course, biologic immortality doesn’t adjacent invincibility. People inactive die. Just not precise often. My colleagues successful materials subject developed our modern protective exoskeletons. They’re elegant solutions, though I similar to trust connected my enhanced reflexes and reinforced skeletal operation astir days. 

The colonisation concerns proved mathematically unfounded. Stable reproduction rates emerged people erstwhile radical realized they had unlimited clip to commencement families. I’ve had 4 sets of children crossed 6,000 years, each calved erstwhile I felt genuinely acceptable to walk connected different iteration of my accumulated knowledge. With much life, radical person overmuch much patience. 

Now we are connected to bigger and much ambitious projects. We conquered endurance of individuals. The adjacent step: endurance of our taxon successful this universe. The sun’s eventual decease poses an absorbing challenge, but thing we can’t handle. We person colonized 5 planets and 2 moons successful our star system, and we volition colonize more. Humanity volition accommodate to immoderate situation we encounter. That’s what we do.

My past motorcycle remains my favourite indulgence. I emotion taking it for agelong cruises connected the aged Earth roads that stay intact. The neural interface is state-of-the-art, of course. But mostly I support it due to the fact that it reminds maine of earlier times, erstwhile we thought decease was inevitable and beingness was constricted to a azygous planet. The aboriginal stretches retired earlier america similar an infinity I helped create—yet different masterpiece successful the eternal assemblage of quality evolution.

Sophie nods, adjusting the focus. “Look astatine this web pattern. It’s antithetic from thing successful the literature.” She shifts speech truthful Jerry tin see. This is what she loves astir science: the genuine puzzles, the diligent observation, the dilatory accumulation of cognition that, portion acold removed from a circumstantial application, could someday assistance radical property with dignity.

“Beautiful,” Jerry murmurs. He straightens. “I heard astir Martin’s … post.”

Sophie closes her eyes for a moment, the representation of the mitochondrial networks inactive floating successful her vision. She’s work Martin’s “Immortality Promise” portion 3 times, each much achy than the last. Not due to the fact that of its grandiose claims—those were comically disconnected from reality—but due to the fact that of what it’s revealed astir her husband. The penning pulsed with a frightening certainty, a implicit lack of uncertainty oregon wonder. Gone was the idiosyncratic who erstwhile spent galore lively evenings debating with her astir the evolutionary intent of aging, who delighted successful being proved incorrect due to the fact that it meant learning thing new. 

She wonders however and erstwhile helium arrived there. The alteration successful Martin didn’t instrumentality spot overnight. It was gradual, astir imperceptible—not dissimilar watching idiosyncratic age. It wasn’t casual to announcement if you saw the idiosyncratic each day; Sophie feels blameworthy for not noticing. Then again, she work a caller survey retired a fewer months agone from Stanford researchers that recovered radical bash not property linearly but successful spurts—specifically, astir 44 and 60. Shifts successful the assemblage pb to abrupt accelerations of change. If she’s honorable with herself, she knew this was happening to Martin, to their relationship. But she chose to disregard it, springiness different problems precedence. Now it is excessively late. Maybe if she’d addressed the conditions close earlier the spike—but how? wasn’t it inevitable?—he would not person gone from idiosyncratic to fanatic.

She manages a tiny smile. Her enactment has ever been methodical, built connected cautious reflection and respect for the cardinal mysteries of biology. The keynote code represents much than 5 years of research: countless hours of guiding her teams, of breathtaking discussions among her peers, of watching worms property and die, of documenting each item of their cellular changes. It is 1 of the biggest honors of her career. There is poesy successful it, she thinks—in the collisions betwixt discoveries and failures. 

In the league room, Sophie opens her laptop and pulls up the folder of evidence. She has been collecting it for months. Martin’s emails to colleagues, complaints from collaborators and nonstop reports, and finally, his “Immortality Promise” piece. The documentation is thorough, organized chronologically. She has labeled each record with dates and little descriptions, arsenic she would for immoderate different data.

He stands, adjusts his garment cuffs, and walks to the door. He turns back.

“I’ll beryllium you wrong,” helium says, looking astatine Sophie. But what stands retired to her is the ace successful his dependable connected the past word. 

Sophie watches him leave. She picks up the signed papers and hands them to Linda, and past walks retired herself. 

Alexandra Chang is the writer of Days of Distraction and Tomb Sweeping and is simply a National Book Foundation 5 nether 35 honoree. She lives successful Camarillo, California.