The Methuselarity Transformation

by Rick Moskovitz

  When Marcus rolled onto his stomach and began to swim, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that his new body seemed up to the task. Perhaps it was the strength of his will together with his experience and skill that enabled him to muster the strength. He was just grateful to have found it.

  Halfway to shore, Marcus spotted a boat a few hundred yards away and parallel to the shore. He considered whether to make for the beach or to turn and swim for the boat, which was considerably closer. He was tiring fast and headed for the boat. As he got closer, it appeared to be some sort of patrol boat. For the first time, it seemed that he might survive this strange ordeal, whatever that would mean.

  As he got within hailing distance of the boat, he noticed the gun mounted to the bow. Suddenly there were bursts of gunfire. Bullets chopped at the water surrounding his body. He dove and turned, but when he broke the surface, the boat was bearing down on him and the bullets kept coming. He felt a bullet rip through his right shoulder, burning along its track. Another tore through the back of his left thigh and exited at his groin. And he felt three more in rapid succession tear a hole through the middle of his back and explode through the front of his chest. The water surrounding his inert form turned crimson as blood pumped for an instant, then oozed to blanket the sea around him. The boat swung around and sped away, leaving his body to the sharks.

  23

  CORINNE FELT MARCUS’S body rising and falling rhythmically to penetrate her depths as she straddled him. He was moving more slowly and driving more forcefully than she was accustomed to and she found herself responding to the novel cadence with a level of arousal reminiscent of their first time together. His expression was intent, seeming to trace her face with his eyes as if he were trying to memorize it. She met his gaze and bent down for a lingering kiss.

  She rose again astride him. Their pace quickened and her arousal peaked and hung just at the edge of climax when something else remarkable happened. The muscles in Marcus’s face contorted into a grimace that bespoke more agony than ecstasy. His upper body lurched sharply forward, then dropped back to the bed. She felt the contractions as he ejaculated, but the disturbance had rattled her and interrupted her momentum, preventing her from coming, too. By the time she rolled off him, he was sound asleep, tears streaming down his face.

  Corinne opened her eyes as daylight began filtering through the shuttered windows. She saw Marcus standing naked in front of the full-length mirror staring at his own reflection, touching his face, and running his hands over the prominent muscles of his abdomen and thighs. The bull’s image glowed faintly on his chest, then faded away. His hands formed tight fists, relaxed, and clenched again. He shook his head. Then she saw his body shake ever so slightly. He was laughing.

  As Ray peered into the bedroom mirror, he was oblivious that anyone else was in the room. A cauldron of conflicting emotions washed over him: relief, exultation, disappointment, sadness, elation again. What was clearest to him was that he had never felt so intensely, had never been so alive. He reached up to his face and ran a hand over the crown of his head.

  “Honey...” came the tentative voice behind him.

  He turned toward the voice and saw in Lena’s face the same boldface question mark that had punctuated every one of his thoughts since he’d awakened that morning. He looked down at the strands of black and gray hair on his fingers, then back at Lena. She looked as exhausted as he felt. She hesitated another moment to be sure she had his attention before speaking again.

  “There’s a woman here to see you, Ray...a very young and very attractive woman. She insists on talking with you right away...says it’s urgent.” Every statement bore another question mark. Her voice was imploring. “Ray, who is she?”

  He threw on some clothes and descended the stairs to find a familiar redhead waiting in the foyer. He’d not seen her in nearly two decades, but she looked exactly as he remembered her. Unlike him and Lena, she’d not aged a day.

  “Hello, Terra,” Ray said.

  “Hello, Ray.” she replied. “As you are surely already aware, there’s been a terrible accident. We must talk.” She glanced toward Lena, reminding Ray wordlessly that what they had to say to each other had to be private.

  “It’s OK, honey. This is business and it’s urgent. I’ll explain later.” He had no idea what he would tell her later. He would assure her that his relationship with Terra wasn’t romantic, but it would be all the harder to be convincing having made passionate love to another ravishing woman just hours before.

  Lena was already running Terra’s image through the Universal Data Base and came up empty. Terra was a ghost on the grid.

  “I know this was awkward,” Terra apologized once they were alone outside, “but given what’s happened, I figured I owed you an explanation face to face.”

  “Explain away, Terra. I’ve probably got lots more questions than you have answers.”

  “Nothing like this has ever happened before in the history of the program. We have so many safeguards and we’re constantly upgrading our security.” She hesitated, searching for words. Ray didn’t offer any help.

  “Someone hacked into our system. They found a vulnerability, accessed several of our clients through their MELD chips, and corrupted their perceptual fields with virtual scripts. When it first came to our attention, we could only monitor the scripts. It took a while before we found a way to terminate them. We stopped yours just in time. Another few seconds and we wouldn’t have gotten you back.”

  “What were they after?”

  “It’s not clear. But in each case, they created a scenario that was so terrifying that the subject’s heart stopped, triggering the exchange. When the...surrogates took over, the programmed scripts maintained their hold and the scenes played out. Until we regained control, we were unable to abort the exchange.”

  “It was that close?”

  “You were one of the lucky ones. We lost two other clients. Their surrogates were terminated virtually before we could get back in and their hearts stopped permanently.”

  “So they were trying to kill us all?”

  “We’re not sure. They may have been after one target and attacked the others as a diversion to keep us off balance. Any one of you could have been the primary target, or the program itself. Our technology is priceless. We have competitors hot on our trail.”

  “What happened to my surrogate after the exchange?”

  “His survival skills were strong. He managed to escape from the car after it sunk to the ocean floor, but he was shot while trying to swim to safety and was barely alive when we interrupted the script.”

  “And reversed the exchange?”

  “Yes, he’s back in his own body, at least for now. He’ll remember for a time what happened, but then it should fade and seem like a dream.”

  “What about the ones that didn’t make it?” asked Ray.

  “The exchanges had taken place, so our clients assumed their new lives when their surrogates...perished.”

  “So who were really the lucky ones?” wondered Ray. He’d tasted youth, power, perfection and the joy of an exceptionally sensual and energetic sexual partner. And he’d momentarily gone from being one of the most despised men on the planet to standing before an adoring throng. Did he really want to be back in an aging body leading a plodding life?

  “We are so very sorry this happened,” Terra continued. “We understand that what you’ve been through has been traumatic and...confusing. You’ve seen things that you weren’t supposed to see or know yet. And now you can’t unknow those things or forget where you’ve been.”

  “And if I want to go back?”

  “You know the rules. You’re not allowed to do anything to hasten your demise or the contract becomes void.” Terra moved a step closer and looked directly into his eyes. “And I’m sure that when you’ve had some time to think about it, it’s for the best that you’ve returned. It wasn’t yet your time...or his.”

  “You mean Marcus...Marcus Taka
na. That’s who I was...he is. That’s whose life I have to look forward to.”

  “You’d do best to forget that for now. Nothing good can come of dwelling on it,” said Terra. “Now I must go. I have lots of damage control to attend to.”

  When Ray returned to the house, Lena was sitting and waiting for him. She looked small and fragile in the oversized chair. He scoured her face, but her mouth formed a straight line without any hint of curvature that would signify either pleasure or displeasure. Her eyes were clear and followed him into the room. Her hands rested softly on the arms of the chair.

  “It’s not what you think,” he began.

  “I haven’t any idea what to think,” Lena replied, her voice as even as the line of her mouth. “Nothing’s made any sense since the morning began and I found you examining yourself in the mirror like a cadaver on a dissecting table.”

  Ray was almost relieved to hear the faint tremor in the last few words that hinted at the rage that she was struggling to contain.

  “Who the hell is she, Ray?” Lena exploded before he could get a word in. “Where did she come from? She’s not even in the UDB.”

  “Terra deals in...final arrangements. What happens after I die.” Ray stayed within the broad outlines of truth.

  “She doesn’t look like a funeral director,” Lena said. “More like a spy. Since when do funeral planners have emergencies?”

  “It’s not about my body,” Ray began straying from the truth. “She handles the future. You know our lives are complicated.”

  “You mean the money?”

  “That’s part of it. It’s important to plan ahead.” He had no idea where to go from there. It suddenly occurred to him that he should have bought a contract for Lena, too. He wondered what it would be like for them to reunite in youthful bodies. Would any tension that remained between them persist in their new incarnations or would the cynicism of age yield to the promise of youth and permit them a fresh start? More likely, they’d never meet in their new lives. And then there was Corinne…

  “Marcus?” Corinne said softly behind him. He turned to face her.

  “What are you doing? You’re acting so strangely...You haven’t been yourself since last night.”

  Marcus flushed from head to toe. He’d been unaware that she’d been watching him while his thoughts were in another world.

  “It’s a beautiful morning, sweetheart. It just feels good to be alive.”

  “No, Marcus. Things started getting weird last night... in bed.” Corinne scanned his body with her eyes, lingering a moment at his genitals. “You were so incredibly passionate,” she continued, “it was like we were making love for the first time.” She took a long breath. “But for just a moment I had the odd feeling that you were a stranger.”

  Marcus held his breath and felt his heart skip a beat. He was focused intently on her words.

  “And then, just before you came, your face screwed up like you were in excruciating pain and your whole body convulsed. It looked like you’d just been shot. After that you were gone, like I wasn’t even there anymore. You left me high and dry.”

  Marcus opened his mouth to begin an apology. Corinne placed a finger on his lips before any words could come out.

  “I was angry last night,” she said, “but this morning I’m just worried. I want my husband back. I need you to be OK.” For the second time in a matter of weeks, she feared she was losing him.

  Marcus’s thoughts returned to the night before. While he’d been lost in someone else’s nightmare, they’d been living his dream and making love to his wife. And she’d apparently enjoyed it. He felt the muscles tense in his temples and neck. Damn! It wasn’t supposed to be like that. Not just his body, but his life and everything he held dear. He’d always believed that Corinne was faithful. Now she’d been screwed by another man and she felt it even if she didn’t know it.

  That afternoon while he was on his daily run in the park, a woman ran up beside him and kept pace. It was unusual for anyone to keep up with him. She was barely breaking a sweat when he caught his first look at her.

  “Hello, Terra,” Marcus said. “I was expecting you’d show up, given what happened.”

  “Hello, Marcus,” said Terra. “You’ve been next on my list.”

  “I want out,” blurted Marcus before she could say anything else. “I’ll give back the money. I just want my life back.” By now they’d stopped running and were standing by the side of the trail facing each other.

  “Which life, Marcus? The pathetic one you had when I found you or the one you’ve been enjoying for these past seventeen years?” She waited for her words to sink in. The corners of his mouth were twitching and tears welled in his eyes.

  “The money wasn’t a loan, Marcus. It was an investment in everything that’s changed in your life since the contract began. We...he owns you. You can’t turn back the clock and make it go away. If you could, there would be no knowledge, no fame or fortune, and definitely no Corinne. Your body would be slowly deteriorating in an inexorable crawl toward death. And the planet would probably still be overrun with HibernaTurf, growing hotter and more barren by the day.”

  Marcus’s shoulders fell. For that moment, his body felt as decrepit as Terra’s description and it seemed like he was carrying the whole weight of the world with no way to shrug it off.

  “Isn’t there any way out?”

  “The contract is irrevocable. You can’t go back. And the secrecy of our operation is of paramount importance to us. If you tried to escape from your agreement, we’d be forced to terminate your identity.” The glow in Terra’s emerald eyes and her fiery red hair made her look almost demonic. Marcus had had no idea what forces were set in play when he’d first agreed to the arrangement.

  “You mean you’d have to kill me?”

  “Not kill, Marcus, not your body, anyway. We would just wipe out those parts of your memory that are essential to who you’ve become since the Transformation. You’d continue to live, but your memory would pick up where you left off when we first met. You’d have no knowledge of your accomplishments, of the position you’ve attained, of me, or of Corinne. And we would amend the Universal Data Base so that the world would forget you, too.”

  “That’s impossible!”

  “You wouldn’t believe the power we wield,” Terra’s voice resounded. “Our capabilities can work for you or against you. It’s up to you.”

  “Will you at least explain what just happened to me?”

  “Let’s just say there was a glitch in the system. It’s been patched and we’re pretty sure it won’t happen again.” She blinked and the glare was gone from her eyes. She put a hand on his forearm. “Look, we’re...I’m very sorry about what you had to go through. It was never supposed to happen. Go back to your life. Try to forget it. With any luck, you’ll live another 30 or 40 years without ever having to think about us again.”

  “Yeah, right. You’re asking me to just forget that I nearly died while my wife spent the night with some son of a bitch that she’ll eventually spend the rest of her life with. How the hell am I supposed to forget something like that?”

  “That’s your problem, Marcus.” She pulled back her hand. “Either you make peace with it or it’ll take over your life a lot sooner than the transfer will. There’s nothing else I can do.” She turned, began running back down the trail, and was soon out of sight.

  24

  THE HEADLINE CAUGHT Lena’s attention as she lay in bed and scanned through the database updates for the day: “Man disappears. Wife claims imposter.”

  Lena opened her eyes and sat up. What was it about this story that seemed to resonate with her? She closed her eyes again and let the full content of the story flow into her consciousness.

  The missing man, now in his mid-thirties, had been a world class competitive skier in his early twenties when he’d come into a small fortune, apparently an inheritance from a long lost relative. Around the same time, he’d abandoned skiing and begun satis
fying his appetite for rigorous competition by training for triathlons, a less risky endeavor. Much of his time and the majority of his fortune was invested in a foundation devoted to the pursuit of life extension.

  His wife told the authorities that she’d noticed changes in him a couple of months earlier that left her wondering whether he could be an imposter. It had been hard for her to put her finger on it, but there were subtle changes in his mannerisms and behavior. She was sufficiently disturbed to see a psychiatrist, who suggested that she was suffering from a delusional syndrome and recommended medication. She refused treatment and didn’t go back.

  The detail that most grabbed Lena, though, was a visitor who’d come to their home the day before the man disappeared. The man’s wife described a striking redhead with piercing green eyes. She’d been certain that her husband had been having an affair with this woman and guessed that he’d probably run off with her. But when she’d scanned the UDB for facial recognition, the search had come up blank. A redheaded ghost. Could this be the same ghost that had visited Ray?

  Lena was on the vacuum tube transport to Phoenix that afternoon to interview the missing man’s wife. She introduced herself ahead of time as a journalist with a special interest in missing persons.

  “I’m Katrina,” said the woman greeting her at the door. “Please come in.” She seemed surprisingly calm, given her husband’s recent, abrupt disappearance.

  “Thank you. I’m Lena. I’m sorry for what you must be going through.”

  “The worst part is everyone thinks I’m crazy. Even my closest friends. It’s a relief to talk to someone who might take me seriously.”

  “You told the reporter that something had changed about your husband a couple of months ago. Can you tell me more about that?”