Ageness: A Longevity / Age Engineering Science Fiction Play on Our Imminent Ageless Dystopia: Predictable Paths, #1

By Blade Cort

Ageness [#dystopian #apocalyptic #lifeextension] - A Longevity / Age Engineering Science Fiction Play on our Imminent Ageless Dystopia; Book 1 of 8 in the Predictable Paths series

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Four billionaires conspire to control the availability of a remarkable new longevity drug, hoping to expand their obscene wealth and power through eternity while selectively choosing those deemed 'most worthy' of living immortal lives.  
Mia Seis, a scientist responsible for the breakthrough drug, uncovers their sinister plot. Her billionaire boss just placed a death mark on a co-worker who demanded that the monumental discovery should benefit all humanity, not just the chosen few. Meanwhile, he abusively commands her to finish formulating an easily injectable solution. 
Enraged and desperately seeking refuge from his outrageous ultimatums, a new friend suggests she should do her job and forget the politics. Another offers conditional protection from her colleague's fate. She trembles with rage towards her boss yet can't pull away from the attachment she has to her work. Will she get out safely before the axe falls - literally?

 

PREDICTABLE PATHS episodes, in sequential order:

#1. AGENESS - A Longevity / Age Engineering Science Fiction Play on Our Imminent Ageless Dystopia ; Six Acts, Episodes -22 to -17

#2. CLIMATIC - A Climate and Genetic Engineering Science Fiction Novel; Episodes -16 to -2

#3. AMYGDALA HIJACK - A Genetic Engineering Sci-Fi Novel of Impending Dystopia (a Trilogy) 

  3.1 - Amygdala Hijack - The Waening, Part 1 of 3; Episodes 1 - 9

  3.2 - Amygdala Hijack - The Warning, Part 2 of 3; Episodes 10 - 18

  3.3 - Amygdala Hijack - The Wasting, Part 3 of 3; Episodes 19 - 28

#4. THREE GUYS IN A POST-APOCALYPTIC BAR - A Longevity / Age Engineering and Genetic Engineering Sci-Fi Novella ; Episodes 47 - 54

#5. INFINITY CURVE - Lamentations to Unseen Friends Across the Vastness of Space ; Episodes 56 - 78

#6. PATH TO ENTROPY - An Apocalyptic Climax ; Episodes 79 - 93

#7. SORD IN PROSPERITY - Hope Beyond the Apocalypse ; Episodes 118 - 159

#8. DAISY THE DUMPSTER DOG - A Sordid Tale of Dystopian Hubris and Convenient Canine Rationalizations (But Not a Supreme Court Satire or Parody) ; Episodes 311 - 337

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blade Cort
• Release date: Jan 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201915209

Blade Cort

Blade Cort writes Age Engineering and Longevity Science Fiction as well as Genetic Engineering Science Fiction novels and plays that are mercilessly littered with pedantic discourse, pointless diatribes, and persistent droning about humanity's pervasive derelictions. The pulp drivel exhumed from his keyboard is as terrifying and graceless as overcooked cafeteria peas. Visit https://www.bladecort.com.

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AGENESS – A LONGEVITY / AGE ENGINEERING SCIENCE FICTION PLAY ON OUR IMMINENT AGELESS DYSTOPIA

Copyright © 2022 by Blade Cort

All rights reserved. No part of this publication or any elements from it may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying; recording; digitization or tokenization of characters, scenes, or any other components; or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Permission requests should be provided electronically to the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, dialog, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is coincidental. References to any products or services are not an endorsement and are only intended to develop storyline and context.

First Edition January 2022

AGENESS

A LONGEVITY / AGE ENGINEERING SCIENCE FICTION PLAY ON OUR IMMINENT AGELESS DYSTOPIA

EPISODE -22 ACT 1, SCENE 1: ELIXIR

(Scene: The year is 2031. Four men are in a private executive conference room, one floor beneath Roark Sloane’s penthouse in the tallest building in Austin, Texas. The annual South by Southwest Conference is underway out on the streets. Roark has used this event to draw together three business compatriots for a three-hour, no distractions, no interruptions meeting at his Austin offices.

Consistent with his requirement for complete secrecy, Roark ensured the three men left their electronics and all forms of communication outside the room. The springtime sun is streaming through the privacy curtains on the southwest-facing windows.

All four are multi-billionaires in their own right, having become global tech leaders in the last few decades across Artificial Intelligence, gaming and gambling, decentralized finance, cryptocurrency, fusion energy, and synthetic biology. Three of them are seated at the large oval table, exchanging small talk. Doug is rummaging at the credenza for coffee and pastries.)

DOUG: Before we get started on your topic, Roark, can you fill us in a bit more on why you brought us here? Unlike you partially retired cats, a few of us are still seven by twenty-four working stiffs and have significant M&A underway at the moment. And in my case, this is a critical three-hour window for the future of at least one of my larger companies. This better be fucking good, fellas, and not a waste of breath!

(ROARK nods and signals DOUG to return to the table before he begins. DOUG finally sits down with coffee and pastry in hand.)

ROARK: Three hours max, guys. Should require no more; perhaps even less, depending on your questions. In fact, my news is so important and imminently impactful that I anticipate a series of regular touch points amongst ourselves after this.

BRENDAN: I hope not always face-to-face? Not tough on me, being located in Dallas. These other gents require additional wing time.

ROARK: Depends on the secrecy we seek and risks.

(CHARLIE adds his thoughts)

CHARLIE: Even with our encrypted comms? If it weren’t for me needing to be here for S by SW, I’d like to be doing this today via our normal secure channels.

(Given his brief window of opportunity and the challenges of getting all four in one room again, ROARK needs to put them in listen mode. He frowns and leans forward, stretching his long arms outward in a sign of dominance among equals.)

ROARK: Okay, okay already. I know each of you is as busy as me. Three consecutive hours on any day of any year is much to ask of you. Please, bear with me for the next twenty minutes or so. These are words and concepts I cannot or will not share with you on calls. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust the process in this case and can’t afford the risk. This conversation is of such a global, critical nature that it would’ve been foolish to do it any other way. So, gentlemen, let me have the floor for twenty minutes, then we’ll engage in the normal back and forth.

(ROARK scans across the table, peering at each one individually and getting affirmations.)

ROARK: Great; then I’ll get started. It’s almost impossible to begin on topics so meaningful and important to our futures. The focus is our longevity efforts, of course, as I intimated to you on the invites.

DOUG: Let me guess. You’ve discovered a single dose solution?

ROARK: Doug! Give me a chance here, buddy. But to respond, the short answer is ‘yes’ or will soon be that. It’s multi-dose for now but with major qualifiers about usage and distribution, among other things.

(In unison, the other three stretch back away from the table in disbelief)

ROARK: Of course, you’re right to be skeptical. I’ll give you the technical lowdown in brief, but we shouldn’t waste our time getting into deep details describing what my team has developed.

(BRENDAN challenges ROARK)

BRENDAN: Have you trialed it yet? Lab rats? Monkeys? Humans?

ROARK: Guys! Let me paint the picture first. To begin with, I’ve had a few of my lab rat humans running prototypes through our machine learning processes. In fact, I siphoned off some of my other companies’ server resources to exclusively execute the required calculations. All the inputs and knowledge from our own experiments and those from the institutions. Data we could collect or acquire by legitimate or illegitimate means, including the content we’re getting from our close friends around the globe.

DOUG: And cutting to the chase. You found something that actually works and is marketable?

BRENDAN: Regarding cutting, Doug, cut the poor guy some slack here, will you?

(They laugh briefly, except for DOUG.)

DOUG: Look, we’re all fatigued and disheartened at these various piecemeal efforts. Findings here, findings there. Misreads, misapplications, out-and-out lies, and the seedy and slovenly world of universities, pharma, and private clinics trying to out-message and one-up each other. Years and years have passed and personally, I’m done with it. Tired of hearing we’re almost there. At the end of my rope on participating in these godawful, fucking treatments that most of us are doing. This hyperbaric shit, cold therapy, hot therapy, exercise, virtual starvation and other forms of bodily stress induction. Then there’s the whole fucking pill box of pharmaceuticals and powders. Ageness. For God’s sake, life has gotten a lot less fun and pleasurable trying to keep this regimen going. I want to get back to a life of eating what I want, when I want. Of pleasuring myself in some way rather than living like a fucking ascetic guru. Thank God celibacy isn’t required! Sorry to shoot the shit on this, but I need to spend less time in my gym and more time building my businesses and crushing my rather nasty competitors. Got enough on my plate without worrying about how quickly I’m aging, and this biomarker shot the shit last week while that biomarker is improving, then not knowing what impacted what.

ROARK (visibly frustrated): Okay. We’ve been through the shithouse, I admit. Each of us has suffered. But you asked me to ‘cut to the chase’ and I’ll do that now. Yes, in collecting all this data and running it through millions of regression routines and AI algorithms, we’ve finally developed a viable solution. One that’s easier to administer and more readily replicable than we could have imagined. One that we believe doesn’t mandate these onerous lifestyle modifications.

BRENDAN: Tested?

ROARK (sitting up straight and taking a deep, visible breath): You guys know me well enough to understand I’m not waiting around for FDA approvals. And yes, we’ve reduced this to two or three intravenous doses over eight weeks; soon to become drug-store type injections. I’ve tested intravenous on lab rats at first, then larger mammals to primates. Then on me, the prime primate.

CHARLIE: No fucking way. You’re risking your own health on unproven shit?

ROARK: Fuck yes, and it’s far from shit. This works and does it quickly. I got my first IV treatment four months ago. Twenty minutes of fluid induction from our cocktail. Started feeling better almost instantly, though some of that was undoubtedly psychosomatic. Got my second two months later and felt even better. I’ve regularly checked my biomarkers for changes in my biological age. Any guesses, gentlemen?

CHARLIE: Ten percent improvement?

ROARK (nodding and smiling):  It’s no news to y’all that I’m fifty-five, at least in chrono terms. And despite my personal discipline and body management efforts, my markers were still not going in the right direction. Not by much. Maybe too much tequila and carousing interspersed in there. Either way, I was beyond frustration. But four months and two treatments later, I’m thirty-two according to the markers. And fuck, I feel like a teenager again!

BRENDAN: You’re sure? You checked the markers along the way?

ROARK: Every day. Sometimes hourly.

BRENDAN: It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other face-to-face. I agree you’re looking a bit younger, maybe with even more hair on your head.

(Laughter.)

ROARK: That’s only a side benefit. Male pattern fucking baldness. Talk about a money maker there. Finally! And not to shoot the shit too much on my personal life, but a few weeks ago I picked up a trio of two young women and a dude. No fucking lie here, but I got off seven times in a five-hour period! I don’t recall being that productive even in my raucous college days.

DOUG (incredulous and rolling his head backward to stare at the ceiling): Seven times? Five hours? You son-of-a bitch! Breaks my record.

ROARK: It was one fuck of a consumptive, entertaining evening. But that’s not what I’m here to brag about.

BRENDAN: Pretty impressive. If not that, then what are you here to brag about and how does it involve us?

CHARLIE: Wait. Before going there, please humor me with a high-level technical view of your new magical, sexual elixir.

ROARK: I’ll share the guts of the discovery with you later because that’s not where I want to focus today given our time constraints. Look, we’re some of the richest sons-of-bitches on the planet. We hold in our hands more power and possessions than any regent of old could imagine. So, I didn’t intend for this conversation to cover how we’ll make money from this, at least not directly. It’s about much more than that.

CHARLIE: Again, please humor me for a minute.

ROARK: If you insist. In a sentence or two, we discovered a combination of chemicals and genetic modifications via CRISPR