Aeterna

How long do you want to live? At what age do you want to die? This is a hard question to answer. Think about it.

Jonathan was 95 years old. He smoked a pack of cigarettes every day since he was 18. He smoked cigars every time he was out with “The Boys.” He drank like a camel since he was 16. Now he was bedridden. He was limited to a liquid diet since he could no longer digest solid food. He ate through a tube since he no longer had the ability to swallow. A machine breathed for him since one of his lungs was removed due to cancer and the other just didn’t work. Another machine kept his heart pumping.

Nancy Gill was only 25. She was driving down the street with both hands on the wheel. She followed all traffic signs and lights. She stopped while the light was still yellow. She waited a few seconds before driving when the light turned green. Gregory Fields, age 19, was fleeing from the police traveling at 120 Miles Per Hour. She never saw him coming. The crash was heard miles away. She survived but she was left paralyzed from the neck down. She will never walk again. She will never hold her baby boy again. She will eat her food through a straw for the rest of her life. Gregory went to jail with no more than a broken arm.

Both of them had very sharp minds. Both were ready for their suffering to end. But when asked these two questions, neither could not give an answer. After all, who wants to die?

The Veindorf Company has the answer to everybody’s problem. We call it Aeterna. That’s ay-TER-nah. It will change the world.

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Jonathan Knorr was the first person to try Aeterna. It took an hour to get him out of the bed and safety to the office of Dr. Geffory Veindorf. He was placed in a comfortable looking chair while still connected to the tubes and wires that was keeping him alive. The helmet that was placed on his head made it look more like an electric chair. Despite his condition, Jonathan had a smile on his face. He was thinking that if this was his last day, at least his suffering would be over.

As the machine was turned on, nothing spectacular happened. There was a low humming sound. A few lights flashed. Then it was over. They took the helmet off his head, and he did not look any different than he did at first.

Shawn, his grandson, was annoyed. He knew that his grandfather was a sick man and that this all seemed to be a big waste of time. Dr. Veindorf assured him that this was just the first treatment. Before he could finish talking, Jonathan started to cough. A medical team on standby came in quickly to adjust his breathing tube. They were all in shock. They preceded to remove the tubes because Jonathan was breathing on his one.

Jonathan continued to get these treatments, and he soon no longer needed machines to keep him alive. He started to look younger, feel younger.

Nancy Gill was the next to try Aeterna. To walk again was such a great joy. After her, many others began to use Aeterna to treat almost every ailment know to man. True to the company’s promise, it was changing the world.

At the age of 150, Jonathan was still in perfect health. He looked more like a teenager or at most 21. His addiction to tobacco and alcohol was gone. He was stronger than he was in the days of his youth. His wife of 120 years was pregnant again.

Nancy, now 100 years old, was running track. She was one of the greatest sports stars of the time. Her husband, only 27 years old, had no idea how old she was. Everybody looked young. Everybody was strong and healthy. Nobody cared. The term old age was a thing of the past. All of this was thanks to Aeterna.

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Of all the things that Aeterna could do, the one thing that it could no help with was crime. But the Veindorf Company had an answer to that as well. This, however, was kept top secret. It was strictly on a need-to-know basis. The device was known as SOL or Source of Life.

For the harm caused to Nancy, Gregory Fields was facing as much as 25 years in prison. He was told of a new experimental project that could reduce his time to 1 year. On top of that, it could purge the criminal tendencies from his brain. In just 5 daily treatments, he would be completely reformed life. He would spend the remainder of the year in a low security prison. This is what they told him that SOL could do for him. Give him a new life.

Like Aeterna, This, too, looked like a chair, just not as comfortable. Like Aeterna, it, too, had a helmet that made it look more like an electric chair. Gregory was a bit nervous at seeing it. As the strapped him in, he asked, “What are the straps for?”

“There for your protection.”, the answer came.

As they placed the helmet on his head, he asked, “Will it hurt?”

They hesitated just for a moment. About one or two seconds before throwing the switch, the answer came.

“Yes.”

Gregory let out a gut-wrenching scream that could have shattered the ear drums of everybody in the prison, if it wasn’t for the sound proofing in the walls. When the treatment was over, he felt a little weakened by it, but he felt a peace of mind that he never felt before. It didn’t take him that long to bounce back.

A week later, treatment 2 hurt a little more and it weakened him even more. It took him a little longer to bounce back.

After treatment 3, his silky black hair was grey. He realized that something was wrong, but he was too weak to stop it.

Treatment 4 left this 19-year-old boy looking like a 91-year-old man. After treatment 5, Gregory was moved to the Veindorf home for the criminal geriatric. He died of old age a year later at the ripe old age of 20.

After each treatment, the next prisoner walked into the room to receive theirs. After each treatment, a container was taken off the back of the SOL chair and attached to the Aeterna chair. Unknown to those sitting in the Aeterna chair, the youth of prisoners were being transferred to them.