few days have been the most hectic of my life. Dozens of greatphysicians, flown in from every sector of the Solar System, haveexamined me. "I'm leaving my body to science," I told one particularlyprodding group, "but you're not giving it a chance to die!" It _is_ easyfor me to die now; when you have truly resigned yourself to deathnothing in life can disturb you. I have at long last reached thatcompletely stoical moment. That is why I have recorded this history withas much objectivity as continuing vitality can permit.
* * * * *
The operating theatre was crowded for my final performance and severalTri-D video cameras stared down at me. Pupils, lights and lenses, allcame to a glittering focus on me. I slowly closed my eyes to blot thehypnotic horror out.
But when I opened them everything was still there as before. Then Erics'head, growing as he inspected my face more closely, covered everythingelse up.
"When are you going to begin?" I demanded.
"We have _finished_," he answered in awe that verged upon reverence."You are the new Adam!"
There was a mounting burst of applause as the viewers learned what I hadsaid. My mind was working more clearly than it had in a long time and,with all the wisdom of hindsight, I wondered how anyone could have everdoubted the outcome. We had known all along that every bit of atomicmatter in each cell is replaced many times in one lifetime, electron byelectron, without the cell's overall form disappearing. Now, by equallygradual steps, it had happened in the vaster arena of Newtonian livingmatter.
I sat up slowly, looking with renewed wonder on everything from themagnetic screw in the light above my head to the nail on the wrigglingtoe of my left foot. I was more than Achilles' Ship. I was a livingbeing at whose center lay a still yet turning point that could neitherbe new nor old but only immortal.
THE END
Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from _Amazing Science Fiction Stories_ January 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.
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