by Aer-ki Jyr
“Come to think of it,” Jason said, “that does seem to be the general superhero motif, and if someone does try to become immortal it’s always the villain.”
Paul glanced over at him. “Do you remember an old movie called Hancock?”
Jason’s eyes widened. “We watched it during downtime like a year ago? Will Smith’s character lost his powers when he was in proximity to his chick?”
“Do you know the reason why?”
“So they could fall in love,” Jason said, remembering, “grow old, and die…to live normal lives.”
“Power Rangers,” Morgan said, glancing at the floor. “Why would you want to give up your powers to go to college? They said it was the next stage of their lives, which is code for growing old.”
Paul and Jason both stared at her.
“What?” she asked defensively. “It may be a cheap kids show, but it’s been on the air for 50 years for a reason.”
Paul and Jason exchanged curious looks and burst out laughing.
4
“I was actually thinking of thinking of Wolverine,” Jason said, pushing the giggles away. “He supposedly could live forever because of his advanced healing ability.”
“That’s not really a negative example,” Morgan pointed out.
“Except for him being a chronic loner,” Paul added.
“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Jason said, leaving behind the last traces of mirth. “You’re saying our bodies really work like that, minus the extremeness of it?”
“That’s actually a good example,” Wilson credited him. “Except for us it has to be earned through training.”
“Or by reducing the attrition,” Davis interjected. “People are living twice as long today than they did centuries ago for reasons as simple as access to clean drinking water. Primitive cultures, some of which even exist to this day, sad as that is, rarely live to see 30. Nowadays in mainstream society you’re hard pressed to tell the difference from a 15 year old model and a 40 year old one, but then again you have some people beginning to show signs of age at 20. Civilization offers people options, whether you make use of them or not is up to the individual.”
“I get the feeling that’s one of your pet peeves,” Morgan deftly noticed.
“It is,” Davis confirmed. “If and when Star Force is in a position to do so, we’re going to rescue the primitive populations on our planet from their naturalistic existence. No one gets to choose where they are born, and no one should be forced to live a degenerate lifestyle for the sake of cultural protection. There are proponents that are actively fighting to keep aid workers away from jungle tribes in order to keep them from contaminating them with our culture…all the while those people are leading miserable, disease-infested, pathetically short lives.”
“The activists don’t care about those people. They’re tools they use to wage a social war. As far as I’m concerned they’re our brothers and sisters, no matter what language they speak or what culture they’re born into and they deserve access to what we have. Civilization isn’t a disease, it’s a cure, and if it kills some cultures good riddance. Sacrificing an individual’s future to preserve a culture is an abomination that I will never tolerate.”
“Agreed,” Jason said, coming back to the subject at hand, “which begs the question, can the attrition be lowered enough to eliminate all aging?”
“Trick question there,” Wilson answered, “because the attrition rate isn’t the only variable. Your healing rate also changes, up or down. So what is sufficient to overcome the environmental attrition one day might not be so a year later.”
Morgan frowned. “If your body learns from illness and grows stronger, shouldn’t the healing rate either stay the same or increase? Why would it go down?”
“Adaptation,” Wilson answered succinctly.
“How is getting weaker a part of adaptation?”
“That’s the gem of it all. Paul, when you’re in the pool, do you sink or float?”
He grimaced unconsciously. “Barely float if I’m on my back and gently kicking my legs. If I’m motionless I sink.”
“Why?”
“Muscle is heavier than water.”
“And your muscle is built primary from what training, swimming?” Wilson asked mockingly.
“Ah, no, most of it would be running and sparring.”
Now Wilson looked at Morgan. “What if he wanted to convert primarily to swimming? How would his leg muscles adapt?”
She thought about it for a moment then had an epiphany. “They’d gradually diminish in size until they met the demands of the swimming kick he was using, which is far less active than running…therefore making his legs weaker.”
“Weaker in one dimension, but more appropriately balanced for another,” Wilson pointed out. “Adaptation isn’t simply a matter of gaining greater strength, but of customization. If you didn’t have the ability to deconstruct tissue and grow weaker, you couldn’t change your customization. You couldn’t adapt to new circumstance and new requirements, which Darwin would have said was a quick route to extinction.”
“A more drastic example would be a swimmer and a weight lifter. One customizes through putting on a massive amount of muscle in their legs and upper body for quick, powerful, short lifts…the other adds a significant amount of muscle in the upper body with very little added in the legs, all of which is designed for light, repetitive, precise motions. The body adapts the muscle tissue to the task at hand, as well as the joints and other parts based on what you are doing currently.”
“Stagnation kills,” Paul thought aloud, “because your body deconstructs the strengths that you’re not using until you have just enough strength to carry out your daily efforts…and if that’s sitting on a couch and watching TV, your body is going to get very, very weak waiting for you to decide which direction you want to go for your next customization.”
“Then when you’re put in another situation,” Jason followed, “that is more difficult, your attrition skyrockets because you no longer have the strength or adaptation that you used to have. The more attrition you take, the weaker you get from wear and tear and then it snowballs.”
“Or you overload,” Morgan finished, “and die of a heart attack or other organ failure,” she said, laughing ironically. “And what are old people expected to do after they finish working?”
“Retire,” Paul answered. “Meaning less activity, which causes a further loss of strength. They claim they’re too old to do what they once did, but by stopping the activity they are in fact making themselves weaker. It’s completely ass-backward,” he said, face palming his forehead in realization.
“Add in systemic damage,” Wilson carried on, “and you have your answer for why someone grows old. The way to reverse the damage is to raise your healing rate above your attrition rate. If you can do that, time becomes your ally, but in order to raise your healing rate and keep it up, you have to train and keep training. Activity isn’t enough, it has to be targeted training, which most people have no clue how to do.”
Paul’s mind suddenly flashed back to his family and their resistance to training or any kind of self improvement…and he realized they were doomed to grow old and die if they didn’t change their ways, and soon.
“I take it this works the same for all races and species?” Morgan asked.
“That’s another social taboo to face,” Davis said, anger evident in his voice. “What constitutes a person? Humans have held that ‘animals’ were less than Human and therefore not people, but again, have you ever thought about what the actual difference is?”
Paul blinked in mild surprise. “With the news of super-intelligent Dinosaurs out there ready to enslave or kill us…yeah, the concept has crossed my mind.”
“I suppose it would,” Davis admitted. “But think of it the other way. How is a dog different from a Human infant? Many dogs are more intelligent and more capable, but society still labels the child a person and the dog as an animal.”
“I’m starting to lose the connection here,” Jason admitted.
Davis steepled his fingers in front of his face, thinking. “What defines a person? What defines a machine? The difference is simple, and can be compared to Wilson’s race car. The car is a machine, but a person is a car with a driver inside. You,” he said, pointing to Paul, “are inside your body. Your pet dog also has a driver inside its body, so does a bird, a chipmunk, a rat, a Dinosaur. How small can you get before there is no driver and only a machine?”
“Can a single celled organism be a person? Is there room enough in there for a driver? I doubt it, but then again since I don’t know for sure what a driver actually is made of, I can’t tell you where the dividing line is or how to physically measure it, but there is a distinct difference. It’s not biological, because a plant is ‘alive’ but there’s no driver onboard, which makes just a very complicated machine…a biological machine, but not a person.”
“I can see that,” Paul said, “but I’m not making the connection either.”
“What is the difference between a dog and a child that has never learned to speak? Neither can communicate with words, but can through other means. Both can learn, both can grow, both can adapt.”
“Training,” Morgan said, almost to herself.
“Exactly,” Davis confirmed.
“Still lost,” Jason said.
“Same here,” Paul added.
“Every race will grow old,” Morgan explained, “unless they can comprehend the concept of training. That’s why animals don’t live forever, barring the whole food chain thing. They don’t know how to train, but if they did, physiologically speaking, they could adapt and customize like we do.”
“Interesting point, but I’m still lacking here,” Jason said.
“A race’s…scratch that, an individual’s intelligence capability has to be sufficient enough to understand and implement the principles of training in order to raise their healing rate high enough to overcome the attrition. Otherwise they ‘grow old’ and die,” she turned to look at Davis. “Unless they can lower the attrition level to match the healing rate, if that’s even possible?”
“Which is a point of interest for me, personally,” Davis admitted. “I don’t know if it’s possible or not, for Humans or other races, but it’s something worth looking into. Even if we can lower the environmental attrition, it would bring marginal individuals into the fold.”
“I see where you’re going,” Paul said, catching on. “Nature isn’t life, it’s death. Civilization is what brings hope, or more pointedly, knowledge does.”
Davis smiled widely. “Well said. I would also add ‘power,’ both for the protection and advancement of oneself, and that of others.”
“Your manifesto for Star Force?” Jason asked.
“Yes, if you take my full meaning…”
Morgan smiled. “For all the races of Earth, not just Humans.”
“You can leave out the Earth bit,” Davis amended, “but correct none the less.”
“Defenders of life throughout the universe?” Paul offered a bit tongue in cheek.
“That’s better,” Davis responded in kind.
“Hold on a second,” Jason said, raising a hand for emphasis. “Does this lead to talking dogs somehow?”
Paul looked over his shoulder at him. “We already have talking dogs. Check YouTube.”
“Not what I meant,” Jason said, glaring at him.
“It is a fair question to ask,” Davis said, obviously having tread this course before. “We know Humans didn’t originate on this planet, but our origin is still a mystery. And while evolving from a single celled organism is quite ridiculous, our recorded history is too short to determine if significant amounts of macroscopic evolution are taking place. Can an entire race advance to our level? Can our race advance to higher levels?”
“Are the V’kit’no’sat at a higher level?” Paul almost interrupted to add.
Davis nodded solemnly. “A scary question that, but one we have to broach none the less.”
“Kind of makes you look at things differently when we’re not at the top of the food chain,” Jason commented.
“The food chain is a function of nature, of the jungle,” Davis said. “It is the antithesis of civilization. We should protect and aid the lesser races, not exploit them.”
Morgan frowned almost sarcastically. “I don’t disagree, but you sound like a conflicted naturalist. Protect nature by destroying it with civilization.”
“Once you start seeing lesser races rather than animals, ‘destruction’ becomes ‘aid…’ but then you realize how little you truly can chance, and have to console yourselves in doing no harm while helping out where you can. Nature has a wonderful side to it, but in truth it is mostly a horrific, chaotic nightmare that we have to fight against as individuals and as a collective. Civilization and nature will always be at war. Like our bodies, civilization also suffers from attrition and must heal the damage, else it will consume and destroy it.”
“The jungle consumes everything,” Morgan quoted.
“Wait a second,” Jason interrupted again. “You’re not just referring to wildlife preserves when you refer to the jungle and nature…you’re talking inside our own society too.”
“Quite right. Roads and buildings don’t hold back the chaos of nature. Look at an out of control soccer game that turns into a deadly riot, or a crime spree that ensues when a city’s power gets knocked out. Good people don’t do such things, but most people are not good. Most are not evil either, but most are followers and will go with the flow, which is why civilization is a means to save people, whereas nature will lead back to their destruction.”
“But back to training,” Jason deferred. “The stupid ones won’t make it, just as sure as the lazy ones won’t unless, as Morgan stated, the attrition levels can be reduced.”
“In this case knowledge is life, and lies kill,” Davis said, coming full circle. “How many people simply give up on their bodies and grow old because they were taught there was nothing they could do about it?”
“Healing rates and attrition levels, check,” Paul said, leaning forward and pointing to the ambrosia. “So how does this change all that?”
5
“And turn us into ass-kicking machines?” Jason added.
“Two ways,” Wilson said, returning to the conversation. “The lesser is by reducing attrition. The synthetic molecules, once ingested, are used by your body to strengthen your tissues. In comparison, you are weak from nutrient deprivation when contrasted with Davis or Vermaire, but healthy when compared to one of his primitive Amazonians. It’s a matter of perspective, but the ambrosia allows your body access to nutrients it’s never had before. In turn you build stronger tissues that are more resistant to damage, thus lowering your attrition levels a moderate amount.”
“Super vitamins,” Paul repeated.
“In this function, yes,” Davis said, “which is where I get most of the benefit. At Wilson’s nagging insistence I’ve also begun training for an hour each morning, mostly running, to take advantage of the second and more powerful attribute.”
“Back to the sugar metaphor,” Wilson continued. “As of right now, your bodies have never had sugar…and that is Dino sugar.”
“An energy boost?” Morgan asked.
“An everything boost,” Wilson said, not exaggerating. “The V’kit’no’sat specifically designed it for multiple functions. Not one thing in the liquid is ambrosia, the total mixture is and each piece is designed to aid your body in a specific way. Some parts act like super sugar molecules for additional energy, others aid in recovery, but most we don’t actually know the function of, but we have seen the results.”
“The Black Knight,” Paul repeated, not yet comfortable with him having a name.
“It took our molecular engineers more than a decade to discover the painstaking process to replicate the substance,” Davis said, “and even today we can’t produc
e very large quantities. It is extremely potent, so we don’t require much, plus we still have significant stores of the original in Antarctica, but large scale distribution is out of the question in the foreseeable future.”
“It’s also extremely expensive,” Wilson added.
“That doesn’t matter,” Davis said, visibly waving away the cost with a flick of his hand. “We have more than enough for experimental purposes, and have increased our production to cover what we expect you to require, though exactly what that will be has been a topic of discussion.”
“You want us to use it then?” Morgan asked, not completely comfortable with the idea.
“No, I’m only making it available to you,” Davis clarified. “If there is to be an advantage found in it, I know you’ll make the most of it. We know very little past what is in the database, save for Vermaire’s experiences.”
“He’s been on the ambrosia for seven years now,” Wilson said, “and has yet to show any side effects, and he’s been more aggressive with its use than anyone else.”
“Aggressive how?” Paul inquired.
“The body will tolerate very little without overloading,” Wilson said uncomfortably. “Vermaire discovered that early on, painfully, but he’s succeeded in upping his dosage gradually in response to intensive training.”
“Sugar rush?” Jason quipped.
“Essentially yes,” Wilson confirmed. “Though much more extreme. Whereas Davis takes this amount every month, Vermaire would consume that in two or three days.”
“Addiction?” Morgan asked.