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 I would order food by phone, but my coronavirus vaccination certificate is out of date, and now I can’t unlock my smartphone.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