Each word hit Adamarus like the blow from a sledge hammer. In his mind’s eye, he watched Grace growing old and then dying of old age as he followed twenty years behind her. Yet he treasured his newfound youth. He bowed his head in confusion and a single word escaped his lips; it was spoken softly, “No.” And just like that he made a decision. He looked up, “Bugs, you have given me a remarkable and astounding gift, and yet your gift puts me in an impossible situation.” Adamarus paused and Bugs seemed to lean forward, “How difficult is it to…treat another person, to turn back their age as you did with me?”
The Loud’s tentacles came up and he tapped something into a device he wore on one of his tentacles. A few seconds passed as he appeared to read something on the same device. “As easy as drinking a small amount of liquid. The person will get slightly sick for several days, then they will sleep a lot for about a week. Then it is done.”
Adamarus’ frown turned into a tight smile. Then he described his situation to the alien, how his wife—his soul mate—would grow old without him and how it would tear both of them apart. When he was done he asked, “How much danger is there in this treatment? What are the risks?”
“None that we are aware of,” Bugs said. The Loud seemed to lean forward, “Adamarus, I would like very much to meet your family. Kindly inform your superiors that I have asked. Inform them that it has been many hundreds of years since we’ve had family units and we are most interested in observing one. Also tell them this will represent a symbol of trust between you and I as well as between our species. This visit should take place sometime within the next month. I can have the treatment waiting at that time.”
Adamarus heard himself say, “Thank you, Bugs. I’ll request the meeting but I, as well as my wife, must give some thought to giving her an alien de-aging treatment. It is certainly what I want but it is a big step.”
“I understand.”
Adamarus decided to be blunt, “Bugs, how did you get the beer for yesterday’s meeting?”
“We know that you have detected the tunnel from our ship to the vacant structure on the other side of the hill. I presume you wish to know how one of us could fit through the tunnel. A robot we are testing performed this. We hope the robot will allow us to interact with your species in a fuller and more intimate way.”
“Can you tell me how many of your kind there are in the landing craft and also how many are in all your ships?”
“There are four of us within the landing craft. Each large ship carries sixty-two of us and there are three large ships for a total of 186.”
“Why did you contact us?”
“Although we have detected seven intelligent civilizations, most are too far away or too warlike. We contacted you because you are the closest. We are tired of being alone and wish to establish friendly relations with your world as well as trade.”
They spent the rest of the day talking about inconsequential matters and learning more about each other.
---
The debriefing team had grown. Five additional people had been added: a psychologist, two scientists, the secretary of trade and a presidential advisor. Ten people sat across from Adamarus for the second daily debriefing.
First Adamarus told them the answers to the questions they had wanted him to get. They discussed these for a while, then Adamarus said, “We also discussed family, which reminds me, it asked if I could bring my wife and son in sometime over the next month.”
They looked at each other at this. Adamarus held his breath. Finally, Leewood, the one who still seemed to be the leader, said, “I don’t know about that one.”
Adamarus’ heart sank but then he remembered how he was supposed to present this, “I think it is a matter of meeting a family unit—the Loud have not had these in hundreds of years, family has become foreign to them—but also, this would be a way of establishing more trust with the Loud. I think it is important. Probably they would just be in with me long enough to meet Bugs and perhaps for it to ask them a few questions.”
Leewood thought a moment, then, “I guess it would go a long way…not only in their learning about us but also for relationships with them in general. I guess I don’t see any harm.” He looked around for support and got nodding heads. “It shouldn’t be a problem as long as nothing unexpected comes along. Let me think about when we should do this.”
They discussed the other things Adamarus had learned and finally the debriefing wound down. “Okay,” Leewood said, “tomorrow we think you should attempt to discuss more cultural issues. We need to know more about them.”
---
Adamarus rode home in the limo wondering how Grace would feel about taking an alien youth treatment.
He looked at his reflection in the limo’s tinted window. He was doing that so much lately. The impossibly young face stared back. And he felt so good. He wanted badly to share this with his Grace and the situation had left him little choice. Irreversible, what else was he supposed to do?
The limo dropped him off at the curb. When he entered the mansion’s large entry doors, he could smell dinner cooking. He found Grace sitting on the floor with Nero, helping him with his homework. He went over to them, “Hi, love.” He looked at Nero, “How’s my boy?”
“Hi, sweetie.” Grace turned and he leaned over and hugged and kissed her.
Nero was always excited when Adamarus came home, wanting to know all about the “space alien” Daddy talked to all day. “Daddy! Daddy! Did you do what I asked you to do? Did you tell Bugs I said hello? Did you?”
Adamarus had forgotten all about that, but what luck—this was the perfect opening. He sat down on the floor with them. “Yes, I did,” he lied, “and do you know what happened then?”
“No! What happened?”
Grace got up whispering, “I’ll check dinner.” But Adamarus caught her arm, “Wait just a second, babe. You need to hear this.”
Grace sat back down, “Well…make it quick or you’ll be eating burned casserole.”
Adamarus smiled and looked back at Nero, “Bugs asked if I could bring you and your mother in to meet him sometime.” Nero’s mouth opened and he looked at Adamarus with complete wonder. Grace looked at him in utter shock. He continued, “I got it approved by my boss and everything is set. It will happen sometime within the next few weeks.”
Grace was trying to interrupt him, “Wait just a minute, honey…”
Adamarus held up his hand and, still looking at Nero, continued, “And, guess what?”
“What?” it came out as a whisper.
“You get two and only two questions you can ask Bugs, and I think tomorrow at school you can get the class to help you choose one and one you can decide on all by yourself.”
“No way!” Nero exclaimed.
“Way, little buddy! Now go and wash up for dinner.” Nero shot down the hall as Adamarus turned and faced Grace.
“I don’t believe this!” she hissed. “Don’t you think you should have discussed this with me first?” She put her hands on her hips.
Adamarus groaned and rubbed his head then looked up at her. “Grace, this is much more than you think, so please, let’s discuss this later. So much happened today, and there is so much I need to tell you.”
She stared at him a moment longer then just turned and went in the kitchen.
Later after dinner, Nero raced to the entertainment screen to watch his favorite show before bed, Super Secret Agent—Swing Fist. While Swing performed daring deeds, Adamarus helped Grace with the dishes. Grace had asked him to explain but he insisted on waiting until Nero was in bed so they cleaned up from dinner in silence. After Nero was asleep, he explained everything to her.
Grace’s hands went to her mouth and her eyes went wide, “Oh my God! You really asked them to make you old again? For me?”
“Well...yes. This youth I've gotten would be a curse if it meant watching you grow older before I do...then, losing you to old age. But, in any case, it's not possible and anyway, making you young is
far better.”
“I can't believe that Bugs has offered to make me young too!” Fear crept into her face. “Adamarus, this is very scary. How safe is it?”
He took her hand, “Bugs says it is totally safe...”
She interrupted, “Do you really trust Bugs?”
Adamarus looked away and thought for a moment, then he turned back and looked her in the eyes and nodded, “Yes...I do. Somehow...I do. But, I know...I know,” he rubbed his temples. “Well, it won't happen for several weeks. We have time to think about it, talk it over. See...what we want to happen.”
She squeezed his hand and said with an ironic little laugh, her eyes twinkling, “What we want to happen isn't in doubt. It's the road there that's scary.”
---
The next day the family visit was scheduled—it would be done in three weeks.
The daily meetings with Bugs continued. Among the more significant things they learned was that, other than dying from an injury from some accident, the Loud were immortal. They discussed in detail each other’s physiology and anatomy as well as each other’s evolution and development.
Radin had to go off-planet to oversee the ongoing asteroid project, but was in touch with Sky-eye every day, promising Adamarus that he’d be contacted with any new information. But outside of a few minor issues, there was nothing new to tell.
A major question the human’s had been putting off—how much of their advanced technology and scientific knowledge were the Loud willing to share—was finally answered, all of it.
Adamarus had not forgotten the questions the doctors had wanted answered and he discussed this with the debriefing team. It was decided that Adamarus was not qualified to discuss these issues and that a team of doctors and scientists would need to question the Loud directly. It was decided that the question of allowing this would be put to Bugs after the family visit.
It was the day before Grace and Nero were to visit when finally Adamarus and Bugs got to the subject of trade. Bugs was saying, “We wish to deal primarily through you, Adamarus, although there will also be a small team that you and I will decide upon. The reason for this is that it will take, on average, two hundred and fifty years to travel to our star system and back again and many things can change between visits. Dealing with you each time will help maintain consistency with our relations.” The Loud immediately rose again, sucking in air to continue speaking.
The meaning of what Bugs had just said dawned on Adamarus. He stood and walked towards the green window shaking his head and almost laughing, “Ah…we have a little problem…,” but Bugs was already descending with ear splitting sounds.
“Besides ourselves, the team should include a backup for yourself and myself in case anything happens to either of us…”
Adamarus tried again to interrupt, “Excuse me Bugs, but…”
“…plus twenty of your people who can serve to clarify issues and details on what will be traded,” the translator continued.
“…this isn’t going to work,” Adamarus waved his arms to get Bugs’ attention.
“They will work with twenty of my staff. I will only deal directly with you and…” Bugs had started on his way back up but now stopped midway and looked at Adamarus.
Adamarus took a deep breath and wondered how the Loud had missed such a basic fact in all their studies. “Bugs, we…” he gestured to himself, “only live for about ninety years. I’m sorry, I thought you knew.”
At this point, Adamarus noticed that Bug’s eyes, the cream-colored mushrooms within the oblong green strips, did… something. Adamarus would have sworn that Bugs had rolled his eyes before continuing back up and immediately coming back down, screeching out a response. Adamarus sat back down and watched the indicator on the translator climb to 100 percent. “No Adamarus, it is I who is sorry. When we repaired you, we took care of that defect. And we will take care of it for the team we select and, of course, for your family.”
Adamarus stared at Bugs in total confusion. “I… I don’t understand. You took care of what defect?”
“Adamarus, we removed the timer from your DNA. A timer that all planet bound life must have, and we made other adjustments to your DNA.”
Adamarus’ brows compressed, “Please explain. What does all that mean?”
“It means that unless you suffer an accident that terminates your life, you will still be alive when we return two hundred and thirty years from now, and in fact, you will be here for all of our returns.”
Adamarus sat there for many minutes trying to comprehend what the Loud had said. The Loud seemed to realize this and waited patiently. Finally Adamarus spoke, “You mean that you’ve done something to make me live longer?” He shook his head as a flood of strange emotions surged through him. “How much longer?” he asked. He looked down at the floor and tried to think as the Loud replied and the translator did its job. The happiness, wonder and shock he felt…this he could understand, but the primary emotions hitting him were sadness, anger and fear…slowly the full impact of what the Loud was saying started falling into place.
The voice finally came from the translator, “How much longer will you live? No one can know that. All that can be said is that your body has stopped aging—physically you will not get any older than you are now. Also, your health will always be excellent. If no injury takes your life, well, theoretically, you would live forever except that someday this universe will come to an end.”
Adamarus looked up. His eyes were watering and he had turned pale. “And…this is part of the treatment you will have waiting for my wife tomorrow,” he asked?
“And your son.” Bugs replied.
‘My son?’ Adamarus thought. “My son is only five years old, Bugs. How much younger can he get?”
“The treatment allows normal development and growth up to a person’s prime age—the age where normally life takes the turn towards death. Or it brings you back to that point as in your case and then it keeps you at that age. So your son will continue to grow and develop normally until he reaches his prime, and then he will be held there.”
Adamarus’ mind spun with the implications and possibilities. This was…what? Immortality? Yes, that’s exactly what it was, immortality! And he knew immediately how something like this might go…no, he corrected himself…not “might”, how it “would” go. How this would impact and change everything.
Bugs apologized again, then said, “We assumed that you knew. We felt sure that the medical exams and tests done by your doctors would reveal this.”
It was then that it hit Adamarus. Of course they had known! They had just kept it a secret. But why? It didn’t take long for the pieces to fall together.
The fact that he was 20 years younger had been kept secret from the general population, but it could not be hidden from him and his family. The immortality part could and had been. If the fountain of youth were made public, everyone on the planet would want it. However if the Loud gift of immortality got out, most would kill for it. Would some try to grab and control it—try to profit from it? Of course! It would have to be given to everyone freely. But that would not work. In fact, the government would be forced to go to any lengths to keep it secret. Why? Because if everyone got the treatment, people would stop dying and in no time the population would explode beyond the resources to support it They'd soon run out of food, energy, living space…perhaps even air!
He dropped into a chair and put his head in his hands. And, what of himself and his family, he thought? The second the special team and the government found out that he knew he'd been made immortal, everything around him would be locked down, contained, silenced. The risk he and his family posed would be a serious loose end that would have to be dealt with. Dozens of scenarios played out in his head, all of them bad. At the very least, he and his family would be effectively imprisoned. And despite the impossibility of treating everyone, the fountain of youth and immortality would be too desirable to just give up. If the Loud refused to release the key to this,
he and his family could be forced to undergo a lifetime of tests to discover how his DNA had been changed – reverse engineer the process.
He would have to play this one ever so carefully. It was a good thing the meeting chamber was controlled by the Loud—a good thing the meetings could not be listened to or recorded. And a good thing that he had been able to dodge the truth serum!
The translator interrupted his thoughts, “Adamarus, is something wrong?”
Adamarus looked up and realized that many minutes had elapsed in silence. He leaned forward in his chair, wondering how to explain, “Bugs, you live forever, yes?”
“Our cells regenerate perfectly—we do not age. We have a highly evolved immune system—we don’t get sick. Accidents may kill us but we will never die of old age or sickness. Just like you. Space is vast, Adamarus. Those who travel beyond their own star system must have very long lives.”
“Yes...I see that,” Adamarus said realizing the fact for the first time. “But the transition…” He went on to explain everything he had been thinking about, the problems and scenarios he saw. Because it was almost certain that testing done while he was in the hospital had revealed that his cells were no longer aging, they had to assume that people already knew and that this knowledge was already being kept secret from him and his family. This was not a good sign and supported Adamarus’ fears.
When Adamarus was done expressing his concerns, the Loud summarized the issues as he saw them to make sure he understood them all. He did this by using solutions to each.
To avoid anyone trying to keep the treatment a secret and/or attempting to control it, just as Adamarus had concluded, everyone on the planet would have to find out about it at the same time.
To minimize riots and mayhem in the general public, the treatment would have to be delivered to everyone on the planet in masse within one to two days, and would need to be readily available to anyone who missed out on the first delivery days. This would alleviate fears of being left out and would keep the public too busy to riot or freak out in any way.
Encounters (The Spiral Slayers Book 1) Page 10