Project Eternum 2

"So the progress barrier is a function of all of those factors being raised to their maximum efficiency?"

"Correct."

"Then how do we fit in? What did they do to try and break this barrier?"

"The only thing they could do, increase the amount of time someone has."

"Increase the amount of time? How would they do that?"

"Genetic modification.

In the past, the increase in lifespan was brought about by developments in medicine, nutrition, and sanitation, but eventually we reached a point where the human body just gives out. A natural expiration date. Even before this, there are onsets of mental illnesses like schizophrenia and dementia, meaning that the point at which somebody can't contribute to progress comes far earlier.

The only way to get around this is to artificially increase that limit."

"So we're artificial?"

"Modified." Diana was never called 'fake' or 'artificial' by those with knowledge of the project, but she hated being referred to as such. "Theoretically, we could live up to 300 years without mental or physical decay occurring, but we have absolutely no idea what the true number is."

"How are we going to age?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Like, are we going to age like a normal person? Or is it going to spread out? Up to know we have matured at a similar rate to a normal person right? Will that continue?"

Ah, the question of the physical appearance.

"I think we should be fine. If I'm not mistaken, aging is caused in part by decay, though that is not my specialty. Do you know ARC?"

"As far as appearance is concerned, the primary factors are collagen breakdown, sustained ultraviolet light exposure, and oxidation. Most of these can be remedied with operation, caution, and supplements."

"Do you remember if there were implementations in our genes to prevent those?" Diana wanted specifics.

"There should have been, though only the feature will tell if they work properly. Given your current appearances, there seems to be some slight evidence they are." Some flattery from the emotional intelligence?

"So we have to wait..."

The conversation fell off for a moment after this, the only thing hindering total silence was their light breaths.

"Were there others?" Don wanted to get his questions out tonight so he could sleep on the answers.

"None that survived."

"Survived what?"

"Nobody else survived to adolescence. Of 105 specimens, we were the only two to make it past age ten."

"105!?" Don thought that they would have better chances than that.

"In reality you should be thinking of it as two out of 26. There were five potential treatments they came up with. One test embryo for each to prove the initial viability of fertilization, followed by twenty five induced pregnancies with modified embryos."

"A one in thirteen success rate is still horrible!" Don was amazed she could be so calm about this. Perhaps it was due to her having already processed this knowledge, but it violated Donovan's common sense. In his mind, if some risky test didn't have an estimated success rate of AT LEAST 90%, it was not worth doing. This was a hard limit when the threat of death was there.

"I understand it was horrible Donovan. So did everybody else on that project staff. There was nothing they could do though. The field of gene therapy regressed after the Skinnik incident, and we hadn't progressed back to a level where we could get accurate estimates because the more complex equipment was deemed unusable. I was told by my own grandfather that the fact there were two of us was a miracle, they expected one at best."

"And they still went through with it?"

"They did. They were scientists. The only way that procedure could have been refined into something usable was trial and error. The only reason there wasn't a second round was because the Captain made contact. If humanity wouldn't survive the next ten years, there was no reason to plan for development over the course of the next thousand." Diana closed her eyes and pressed their foreheads together.

"What happened to the rest of them then? The rest of us?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes." He felt the desire to know how he could have ended up.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Diana took a deep breath.

"As far as I remember, two of the test groups never made it to birth. One of them never grew passed the first trimester, and the other was universally ejected prematurely from the mothers' wombs. In that case, I believe the test tube baby had its spinal column separate during growth, though that seemed to be a separate failure from the womb ejection.

The third group all made it to term, however they very quickly died outside the womb. The cause was presumed to be the fact that their bodies outgrew their hearts, so they wouldn't get enough blood pumped to keep them alive. There were of course anomalies, a pair of two that made it to three years of age before their hearts gave out.

Our group was a bit different, there was no discernable pattern with the way we died.

All but three made it through pregnancy, their causes of death were their internal organs not developing properly. Four died from similar complications outside the womb.

Two died from internal bleeding as toddlers.

Two had sudden strokes.

Four 'broke' mentally and slowly died from lack of movement and nutrition.

Five went blind at various stages before tumors appeared in their brains and killed them.

Two made it to the ripe old age of seven before going to sleep one day and not waking up, the exact cause uncertain.

When one caught the common cold we found out he didn't have a functional immune system, so he died without ever being able to fight it off.

The last one didn't even die from health defects. She took a tumble down a flight of stairs at nine years old and ended up splitting her head open.

Horrifying isn't it? Our fragility?"