A moment before immortality

Cassandra’s Hell

No sounds, no smells, just blinding light and an endless twisting staircase. She had already taken a thousand steps, but thousands of steps flowed from above. An hour has passed? Day? Century? It seemed like there was no time here. For the first time in her life, the future was hidden from her by an unknown curtain.

The long-awaited peak! She wanted to catch her breath, but a fair-haired man of about thirty with white wings and a halo above his head looked at her unfriendly.

– Don’t hold up the line. Your name.

– Cassandra.

– Well, well… Now let’s see.

The entire visible space is covered with an endless stream of letters and numbers, in different languages, large and small. Sometimes the symbols were interspersed with images. Not even a minute had passed before the chaotic movement ended. In front of the girl shone her own portrait and a short dossier written in Trojan.

– So-so. So she’s a soothsayer. Law 2, Article 18, Part 10. Does the Fifth Cauldron suit you?

– What?

– At the moment, Boilers Five, Three and Fourteen are vacant. Most of your compatriots chose the Fifth, so I recommend it to you.

– Yes, that will suit me perfectly.

Cassandra glanced fearfully at the stairs.

– Do not worry. It’s always easier to go down than to go up. It doesn’t take much effort to get to the bottom.

The elevator doors opened, and a few moments later the girl fearfully crossed the gates of her new home for the next eternity.

The shelves rushed into the sky (at a minimum, the heavens should have framed the blackness above). At the mahogany table sat a devil: typical. With horns, a pig’s snout, but in a tailcoat and tie. He looked at the girl over her horn-rimmed glasses.

– Your personal business.

Cassandra handed over a plastic card.

– So, Cassandra of Troy. Welcome to Cauldron Five.

The girl looked around uncertainly.

– Yes, that’s exactly him. Don’t worry, after the Age of Enlightenment and the Great Tartar Revolution, we no longer burn sulfur. Of course, the historical names have been preserved. But we now use more sophisticated torture on our prisoners. We give them another life. Would you like to become a scientist, doctor or teacher? Although, the profession of a scientist is most suitable for soothsayers.

– Thank you!

– Don’t rush to thank. There’s a lot you don’t know. Few people are able to look beyond the horizon. Among them are some who are brave enough to change the future. They are the ones who move our civilization forward in time. But the majority moves in the opposite direction, a kind of «flow of anti-time.» The higher the achievements of progress, the more opponents of moving forward, the more ordinary people degrade. But why, in fact, develop if you just stretch out your hand and all the benefits will fall into your palm? So, you will now become one of the Atlanteans, whose muscles hold the sky at a constant height, and whose will tries to move it as far as possible from people.

With a snap of her fingers, Cassandra disappeared into thin air. At that very moment, a girl was born in one of the maternity hospitals.

***

– Sash, bring dinner! I’m home from work, hungry and angry.

Light fumes: apparently, I didn’t go home straight away from work.

In the evening, Ilya habitually began clicking the buttons on the TV remote control.

– Maybe give up this science of yours? What does she give us? Maybe your theory of relativity will help you raise a mortgage? Or will superstring theory allow you to save up for a new phone? It would be nice if they did something useful. So who will refute their heresy about a twin sent into space at the speed of light? No one. First, we would learn to build high-quality rockets. Better yet, they would learn how to make gasoline cheaply. Who saw your superstrings? You can’t even clamp the barre on them like you’re supposed to.

– So you’ve never been to America. Maybe you think that on the far side of the planet, elephants stand on a turtle and hold a flat disk? If we follow your logic, then we can come to this conclusion.

– Maybe elephants keep a turtle. By the way, I found this video about turtles…

This is how every conversation between Alexandra Apollonovna Kassandrava and her husband (and not only with him) ended. During the day, she is a world-famous scientist, in her hands are the secrets of the Universe and the distant future is before her eyes. And in the evening there is talk about the low salary and the emptiness of her research. If Alexandra believed in karma, wouldn’t this be a manifestation of it?

Graveyard of the Immortals

The photographs are arranged in a row. People smile on them, as if nothing had happened: they broke up for a couple of days. They will return and say again: «Hello.» Who will say that all that remains of them is this photograph, name and date of birth? The candle smells like soot. Slavik decided not to turn on the electric light; a dim light on a moonless night would be enough. Just not to scare off the one who can put her hand on her shoulder. He will no longer see her, he can only feel her. Slavik examined Marina’s profile for the hundredth time and left a bouquet of roses on the wall. Red ones, just the way she loved them.

Previously, only the talented remained immortal. You can still leaf through the pages of the books of great writers of the past and plunge into their dreams and passions. Artists live in their paintings, and composers come to life in operas. But these days, immortality has become cheap. Next to a piece of the poet’s soul in his imperishable poem there may be a part of the one who shot the video of the dance near a moving car. Next to the opera diva’s track is the edited voice of a beauty who doesn’t hit even a few notes. They will all remain to rot in the digital world until the end of internet times. But in the real world, all that was left of them was ashes scattered to the wind. Only the richest can afford a place in the cemetery. But why do they need this in the era of biotechnology, when they can remain forever young and live until they get tired of it? A short life is only for the poor.

There was a rustling sound in the silence. Slavik is sure it’s her. Maybe now she will respond to the painted roses that he left in her profile on the «Cemetery of the Immortals» website?

«Thank you! I love you!» – as always, a short message. She is always concise. Friends have been trying for years to prove that a chatbot is answering him. They don’t understand anything – Marina is now immortal, in this digital world. One day Slavik will join her. One day, all pages that have not been deleted on social networks will become part of digital immortality.

Cells. Revelation of the Immortal

The showers are over, and now it’s an impossible heat – a steam room, and that’s all. But this is outside, and now imagine what’s going on on the bus in the morning. Some of you may be wondering: why doesn’t the driver turn on the air conditioning? Neon signs and commercials depict beautiful metropolitan life, which will not come to our region soon. Maybe when 3D traffic of gravity cars is launched in the capital, they will give us their old air-conditioned buses?

You stand on the last step, but seven more people are pushing you from behind. In the indistinct mooing one can barely guess:

– Come on in, the middle is empty!

Hundreds of emotionless faces, buried in small boxes, from which short videos flow in a continuous stream, who know better how to live and what to do. They say that a couple of centuries ago people blinked like animals. They’re probably lying: in a moment, while you’re blinking, you can accidentally skip a couple of videos, and then nothing is clear.

«Look, I shared! Here they say that the Americans have again used meteorological weapons,» a guy of about twenty years old types with a long, mobile thumb. They say that a couple of centuries ago, thumbs were a finger that was thicker than others, but not longer; now the thumb is the thinnest, but also the longest of all.

«Yes, it’s all their fault! It’s Jon Petrowitz and Paul Bashirson again! We started our car, all the fruits first rotted under the downpours, which is why bananas are now cheaper than potatoes, and now we turned up the heat.»

«Or maybe it was the locals who decided to raise prices and profit from the weather on the sly? And the Africans are great, the prices for their bananas depend little on the dollar exchange rate, unlike the prices for potatoes and carrots.»

«No, ours have nothing to do with it. I watch videos all the time.»

«They’re lying! Where is the proof?»

«I don’t watch official videos. They say this in an underground channel, they won’t lie right away?»

«Both official and underground channels lead from the same office!»

I wonder what these two are chatting about so animatedly? Old films showed that people used to talk more often. Moreover, their speech was rich, their voices were sonorous and expressive. And now only specially trained people can speak normally; in the mooing of others it is hardly possible to recognize understandable words. Although, this is a logical course of evolution: why do we need a voice when we can correspond with friends and neighbors? Is it possible to transmit several megabytes of text information by voice in a second? Scientists suggest that our children will already be able to perceive a hundred megabytes per second.

The bald man, about forty years old, smiled. The only emotion I could discern among this crowd today. He also blinked frequently – once every two or three seconds, while everyone else could not look away from the monitor for even a second. I smiled back.

No correspondence – the rule is unshakable: all chats are carefully monitored. Only live speech in places where there is definitely no wiretapping. Although, recently, fewer and fewer people prefer oral speech, so the era of total wiretapping is also coming to an end.

We met Andrey a couple of years ago. For some reason, the people around me always seemed somehow insipid and emotionless. They are interested in a piece of fresh bread and a fresh spectacle – bright news or a new crazy short video on the Internet. But Andrey could recite Shakespeare’s poems by heart without an electronic translator! Tell me, who else is studying foreign languages now? There are electronic systems for transfers, but after the Great Division of Nations no one will be able to get abroad anyway.

Of course, I have always been different from other people; what is served instead of breakfast in the morning news report was not enough for me. I had difficulty finding forbidden old books. But after Andrei’s injection, it became even more sad:

– What happened to humanity? Where did our dream go?

Andrey looked into my eyes with a sad smile:

«But there are only a few people left – no more than a couple of thousand on the entire planet.»

– So now there are more than ten billion people!

– Are they still people? There are currently three intelligent species on the planet. You are familiar with people – you yourself are a representative of this species, and others would envy you. The second species absorbed the others. I call them in the old fashioned way – countries, because each of the forty currently existing states is a whole species, and the people in it are just cells. At birth, cells have the same set of chromosomes, only from birth they are placed in front of their eyes with a tablet that forms clip thinking. Cells are no longer people. They have not developed critical and analytical thinking. Cells perform monotonous work throughout their lives, taking care of the survival of the whole organism – the state.

– But each of us chooses the path to follow.

«Each of them,» Andrey made a significant pause, saying, «we are not them,» «chooses the same profession to which their parents dedicated their lives. There are transport workers, there are workers, there are even heads of state – but even they are just cells.

– As I understand it, you don’t consider yourself to be in cages?

«Unfortunately, I have no relation to people now either.» I am a representative of the third intelligent species – demons. From the word «immortals»

It seems that after these words I said something obscene and began to back away towards the exit. Meanwhile, Andrei silently took a knife in his hand (an ordinary knife – not an electronic slicer, not a computer bread slicer – an ordinary knife, imagine!) and ran the tip along his wrist. Blood gushed out, but at some point it was again «retracted» into the body, and the wound healed before our eyes.

– You can touch it. There is no scar left.

***

– My name is Andrei Ivanovich Bessmertny. It’s really ironic, isn’t it? A person with a different surname is unlikely to engage in such research. During the first American-Russian war, I was mobilized and served as a military paramedic. The guys called me Bes. I was captured. But soon someone from high management caught the eye of my developments. They ransomed me from captivity and made me the head of the research center «Regenerative Medicine». Even my name was classified; according to all documents, I went by the code name Koschey.

– Koschey the Immortal – what a fantasy your boss has.

– Fantasy – don’t spoil it. As soon as the research bore fruit, the big shots wanted to get an injection containing nanorobots. Killing a demon is almost impossible. Even the head grows back to replace the severed one. But there is also a downside to immortality; nothing comes for free. We can’t have children. The moment the «medicine» is taken, the body freezes in an instant and no longer develops. No new thoughts or ideas, no impressions. One moment in life that will last forever.

– It’s not for nothing that you are called demons: this is hell on Earth, not life.

– You are right. After the first wave of those infected with nanorobots, we conducted a series of studies on «distraction», but this did not give direct results, only indirect ones. It was my research that led to the possibility of turning countries into superorganisms. At the end of the Third World War, the forty major powers united the rest. And each of the states became a being-country. And at the head are immortal rulers.

– Stop! What about the elections? We elect a new ruler every five years!

– Yes, but from those proposed. They replace each other, the unelected ones rule without showing their real faces. And in 50—60 years, who will remember the face of the president who was already in power once? Cells don’t study history; how would they know about it?

– It’s just… some kind of bummer!

– It’s even worse. I have already said that demons are not capable of developing. There have been no changes in the last 200 years, and there will be no changes in the coming years. Same foreign policy. Immortals are like cancer cells. Imagine, our body has been controlled by a tumor for several hundred years!

During my research, I used Henrietta Lacks cells, code-named HeLa. I really wanted to invent a cure for all diseases, but what good can happen if you try to cure people by injecting them with modified tumor cells?

People in power have no idea that one day all of humanity will come to an end, and all because of their shortsightedness. Outwardly, everything is fine: enterprises are working, people are buying something. But isn’t it noticeable that there are almost no people left on Earth?

– You gave me an injection, after which I disconnected from this system and became an ordinary person. What if we cure everyone with this medicine?

– You were human even before the injection. It so happens that the system does not work for some people, apparently there is some kind of mutation that prevents you from turning into a cell. My medicine just pushed you. But you are rather an exception to the rule.

Now the cells are part of the system. But if they all suddenly become human: by the way, helpless, without formed critical thinking, unable to take a single step without dictation from above, then the system will collapse, and everyone will be swallowed up by the neighboring country. Those who will survive. I envy you: you people can enjoy your emotions and clear thinking. But now you shouldn’t think about the fact that all the factories will stop at once and all the engines will stall while each part of the system enjoys freedom.

– And you propose to just watch as the world slides into the abyss?

– No, not just watch. We will overthrow the demonic rulers and take their place.

– Do you just want to become in power? But you yourself are not a person, but a cancerous tumor! How do you want to save us?

«We will be in power for some time.» Then there will be a new coup, and we will be replaced. Although, I hoped to transfer the supreme power to you, as one of the few who were lucky enough to be born such an unusual «ordinary person.»

– I have to refuse. Power is not for me.

***

Until today I have not met Andrey.

– Well, have you changed your mind? Today we have «X-Day.» Decide whether you are with us or against us?

– I would prefer the third way.

– You won’t like him. There are people striving for power – this is the first way. To ensure the system, gears are needed. Can you really become a cell again? After everything you saw and felt? Or do you want to do nothing, not think about how others can live, but simply enjoy the results of their labors? But that’s what parasites do. This is a glorious destiny for you – just a parasite on the body of our society.

– There is another way. I read about a small island that has not been touched by civilization. There are no cages and no demons. Only people. If you don’t kill me, I’ll go there. and no one will know what I learned from you. Make a revolution by injecting people: I don’t want to know anything else.

Andrei smiled meaningfully, but remained silent.

Ending station. The main thing is to get to the airport faster than the cartridges. And then – a free island. A new life awaits me there.

Faith of Pygmalion

The hood hums steadily, but it does not completely eliminate the smell of reagents. A fluorescent lamp illuminates a granite tabletop, on which conical flasks and test tubes in racks containing liquids of different shades of blue stand in a row.

– Do you remember our wedding? A bouquet of white roses, matching the color of the dress. We are young and happy. The priest then asked: «Do you agree to be together in sorrow and in joy, until death do you part?» And I stubbornly answered him: «No.» You should have seen your facial expression! But I immediately added: «Even death will not separate us.» Do you remember?

In response there is silence, only the monitor makes sounds in rhythm with the heartbeat. The girl is on the bed, a tube is sticking out of her mouth, and several more are connected to IVs.

– Are you silent? You are always silent, but I believe that you hear every word. It seems to me that you could not forget that day.

How many years would you give this man? Days of stubble, unwashed hair falling in long, unkempt tufts to the shoulders, bags under the eyes, a hoarse, ragged voice. The snow-white medical robe contrasted with the appearance of the young-aged man.

– Which goddess should I pray to wake you up? I don’t know any other than Science. As you can see, I’m not much of a Pygmalion. But I believe that I’m not crazy, even though I’m talking to myself. Your relatives abandoned you, but I believe that you can still be saved. Faith is the only thing that makes me hold on to life.

He walked up to the bed and stroked the girl’s hand.

– Faith. Verochka. My Sleeping Princess. I’m so sorry that we quarreled before…» I swallowed the lump in my throat. «Your mother and sister signed permission to take you off life support.» They have lost their faith. They felt that they had lost their Faith. But I don’t agree with them. I have often preferred science to you. He spent days and nights in the laboratory. With my last name, another fate was simply impossible. But when I found out about you, I…» His voice often disappeared, and some words were impossible to understand. «I didn’t let them turn you off.» I’m sorry, but I had to kidnap you from your relatives. For the whole world I am a criminal. Do you know what they called the article about me? «Crazy Pygmalion kidnapped Sleeping Beauty.» But I believe I’m not crazy.

With a shaking hand, he removed the mouse from its cage to take a blood sample.

– I rarely leave the house: I’m afraid that they will recognize me. I would order food by phone, but my coronavirus vaccination certificate is out of date, and now I can’t unlock my smartphone. He constantly writes: «Bring a code confirming a recent vaccination.» And they still think I’m crazy? Spend so many resources on producing gadgets instead of investing this money in medicine.

A drop of blood on a watch glass. The man bent over the microscope eyepiece.

«I want to confess to you that I spent all those nights in the laboratory with a woman named Henrietta Lacks. Of course, not with herself: she died in the mid-twentieth century. But not completely: her cancer cells are still wandering from one laboratory to another.

Sparks flashed for a moment in his colorless eyes, and his voice sounded louder and more confident.

– This can’t be! Does Vera-2307 actually work?

The man made notes in the laboratory journal. Then he made a neat cut on the mouse’s body. The wound immediately began to heal, after a few seconds only a scar remained, which after a couple of minutes healed without a trace. Another cut, and another – the result is still the same.

– The time has come for the main experiment. I can’t wait any longer.

He injected the drug into his wife. The job was done, and now fatigue took over, and the man fell asleep with his head on the granite countertop, next to the flasks and test tubes containing the precious drug.

***

The unknown is nearby, but it passes behind a closed door, so few ordinary people have any idea what is happening. Hundreds of worker ants are huddled in the subway, and some are stuck in traffic again. The students, still carefree, with a bottle of beer in one hand and a girl’s hand in the other, were discussing the theory of superstrings, on which there was a test tomorrow. Anti-vaxxers and flat-earthers once again gathered a parade in defense of the rights to freedom to manage their own health and against the introduction of chips to their children. Perhaps everything will end with a peaceful demonstration, but most likely it will again not happen without the destruction of 7g cell towers. Meanwhile, the fate of humanity has changed radically forever, in the small basement laboratory of a still little-known scientist.

***

A small room without windows. A table and two chairs at which two men are sitting. The only source of light is a lamp near the ceiling.

– Full Name? – said a man in a military uniform with colonel’s shoulder straps, clean-shaven, with a small bald spot on his head and strictly knitted eyebrows.

– You know. I’ve already been interrogated a good hundred times.

– But not me. Don’t make it worse. Your affairs are already bad.

– Immortal Andrei Ivanovich.

– Okay, Mr. Immortal. Do you mind if I smoke?

– Certainly.

– Do you admit that an underground laboratory developed a drug called Vera, which helps increase tissue regeneration?

– Not certainly in that way. This drug makes mammals immortal.

– Thanks for the clarification. Scientists will still have time to figure this out. If you are right, then I can smoke without fear of lung cancer anymore. Do you confirm that you contributed to the spraying of the drug on the territory occupied by five settlements?

– Yes.

– Do you repent of what you did?

– I do not regret anything.

– But you were offered cooperation. You would be the richest and most famous scientist. And instead of fame and fortune,» the investigator looked around the room, «here is this little room.»

– Yes. I was offered a contract to produce a drug that would sell for a billion dollars per serving. Who could afford this? Immortality for a couple of dozen people? Who should decide who lives and who dies? Sorry, it’s not for me.

– But you certainly won’t decide who lives and who doesn’t. You must develop an antidote against the Genie you awakened. Today you will go to the laboratory.

– No.

– I’m sorry, what?

– You probably rarely hear this word? I’ll say it again. No! No! No! I don’t think I committed a crime. I saved hundreds of people in cities where a new coronavirus outbreak began. These people are no longer afraid of any disease.

– But have you even thought about the consequences? Pharmaceutical and insurance companies went bankrupt. Thousands of people were left without work. The ruble, the global currency on which the economies of hundreds of countries depend, is jumping. And the resources – who will restore them? The children will grow up – and who will give them a job? Where should they live? Food and oil will also run out one day, and only billions of immortal barbarians will remain who will eat each other for breakfast. Do you want that?

The investigator took out a tablet from his briefcase, and a three-dimensional image of the morning newspaper appeared in the air.

– Read the newspaper headlines! «Immortals are the cancer of the planet,» «The mad professor sprayed cancer cells into the air,» «The Immortal is the killer of humanity.»

– I don’t know, maybe this is connected with my love for a woman named Vera, but when everyone sees the future in gray tones, I continue to believe in people. We can find a way out of this situation. But death has been our greatest enemy since the dawn of humanity. One of us had to win. We were lucky that the winners were people, and not an old woman with a scythe. You can take me back to the cell. I will not be developing an anti-immortal drug.

***

They walked along the sand holding hands. Two suns were rolling towards the ocean horizon: one blue, slightly smaller in diameter, the other red, larger.

– What a beautiful double sunset. This planet is so romantic! – a woman of about thirty looked into the eyes of a fair-haired young man.

– Yes, I like it here too. Do you remember, some two or three thousand years ago we lived on the same planet. Well, how did they live: is a hundred years a life?

– Do you remember how I was accused of genocide for my invention?

– Yes, people then thought in too narrow a framework.

– And now we own two galaxies, and who knows how many more will be conquered? We are just seeds with which humanity will spread throughout the entire Universe, visible and that which is hidden from the eyes of modern science.

– Eh, Andrey, your faith in progress is immortal.

– I hear from Vera Immortal.

They smiled and joined in a passionate kiss.

«I promise, you and I will be together forever.» And even death will not separate us.

***

Andrey opened his eyes. It was lying on the granite countertop. The contents of the flask spilled over the laboratory journal. His head was pounding: I wondered how many hours he slept? This is not surprising: after so many nights when he slept for three or four hours. He approached the bed hopefully.

Vera opened her eyes.

Let’s remain mortal?

At the foot of this high-rise building you feel like a small ant. Plastic, glass and metal. The lenses project thousands of images onto the retina, and it seems to you that the arrow in front of your eyes points exactly to the entrance. And around there is a noisy stream of three-dimensional traffic of cars. Fortunately, the earphone allows you to temporarily turn off all unnecessary noise using audio filters. A three-dimensional image of a blonde in a strict black suit appeared on the wall. «Space real estate agency» X; A-12» Lowest prices for Martian real estate. It’s profitable with us!»

Ilya will nervously brush away the annoying advertising, in the hope that augmented reality will no longer be needed today.

«Why are you trying to turn off advertising? Are you not interested in this product, or should you change to another advertiser?»

He can’t afford to buy licensed lenses (and who, besides the heads of the Corporation, can afford this?), and in the pirated copy, every couple of minutes, unexpected advertisements pop up every now and then: add a six to the name of the casino – and you’ll get the opportunity to win a million! Great-grandfather told Ilya that previously advertisements were shown only every ten minutes, and then it was possible to change the TV channel. Although, everything was better for him: robots didn’t take up jobs, the grass was greener, the sun was shining brighter, and carrots cost only two hundred rubles, and you could buy them in any supermarket, instead of waiting for delivery from the agricultural reserve, and go out You could leave the house at any time, without a curfew or two-hour exit permits. These old people are storytellers, living in the past, and meanwhile the world is moving by leaps and bounds towards progress. And how did they live well? The ruble was not their international currency, and the world spoke this strange English, not Russian. And you can eat carrots that are printed. It tastes no worse.

Ilya pulled the medical mask first on himself, and then on Marina, and carried her in his arms into the building.

There is a bright fluorescent light inside. Absolute sterility: the nose seems to be able to detect this absolute absence of smells here, and sometimes it seems that you are sick with the Martian flu. I walked in and two robotic nurses immediately ran up.

– Sir, how can we be of assistance?

– Take her to Doctor Flerovsky’s room.

Three-dimensional images of awards replaced each other on the walls in the doctor’s office.

– Semyon Karlovich, it was I who called you. My wife… She also became infected with this Martian infection.

– Calm down, darling. Have a seat. I’ll look at the patient.

The lens magnified the image of Marina’s throat many times over. The doctor put his ear to his chest so that the earphone amplified the sound of breathing. The doctor blinked, apparently carefully examining the lungs in the X-ray range. Any medical equipment these days is implanted as an organ of the doctor’s body.