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Brian was relaxing in his room. He turned on his laptop computer and checked his investments online. His eyes almost popped out of his head! What he saw blew him away.
A little-known company did an initial public offering awhile ago. It was an obscure Internet company that most people never heard about. Yet Brian learned of this company years ago and grasped its incredible wealth-producing potential. He realized that if this company’s products caught on in the global marketplace, this company’s stock value would soar—making its shareholders rich. So Brian had purchased a lot of stock at the initial public offering. He planned to hold on to it, not paying too much attention to the day-to-day activities of that particular stock.
Sitting in a chair with his laptop in front of him, he understood what happened. The whole time Brian was developing a cure for aging and death, he neglected to follow that company or any of the other companies in which he invested. But that one company ballooned in value, creating millionaires out of many whom bought stocks at the initial public offering. Suddenly, Brian was a multi-millionaire.
Amazingly, Brian’s initial investment of $100,000 exploded to $3,000,000. He felt dizzy at first, unable move. He looked at his other investments and realized that some had lost money while others had earned money. Overall, his other investments produced about a ten percent return—nothing extraordinary. However, this one company soared in value while Brian was conducting his immortality research. To his pleasant surprise, Brian had become a multi-millionaire.
He decided to sell some shares and use the money to throw an elaborate party to celebrate the immortality breakthrough. After considering many locations, Brian decided on central England as the place to hold the party. He would rent one of the palaces he visited during his stay in England. Everyone who was invited would receive an all-expenses-paid vacation to England to celebrate the immortality breakthrough.
Brian called Alex Freeman and Adrienne Jewel.
"Alex, guess what?" Brian said over the phone.
"What?" Alex asked.
"We now have the definitive cure for aging and death!" Brian exclaimed.
Alex laughed and said, "Do you really expect me to believe that? I mean, man has been searching for immortality for thousands of years…and you’re telling me that you’ve discovered the cure?"
"Yes." Brian said.
"Well, you certainly have some radical ideas, but this one tops all of them!" said Alex.
"I’ve got the cure right in my hand. Do you want to see it?" asked Brian.
"Of course. I’m interested in living forever as much as anyone else. I just find this to be, well, unbelievable." Alex added.
"I want to throw a major party, but I want it to be low-key for reasons you’ll learn later. Please put Adrienne on the phone." Brian said.
"Okay," said Alex.
Adrienne picked up the telephone and said, "Hey, is it true? Did you really discover immortality?"
"Would I kid you about something this important? Okay, maybe I would. But this time it’s for real. I’m holding the cure right in front of my eyes." Brian said.
"I want to see it." Adrienne replied.
"You will, soon. Here’s why: I want to hold a celebration in honor of this most remarkable discovery. Can you and Alex help me organize a low-key celebration?" asked Brian.
"Hmm. If you’re willing to go so far as to organize a celebration, you must have something real." Adrienne said.
"I do. And you’ll see it at the celebration. Will you help me organize it? We’ll have a lot of fun there, I’m sure. What do you think?" asked Brian.
Adrienne discussed the matter with Alex for a few moments and said to Brian, "Sure, we’d love to help you. Just make sure you let me see the cure you’re talking about."
Brian said, "You’ll see it soon, I promise. Thanks a million!"
They hung up the phone. Brian felt a surge of adrenaline run through his body. He knew he was going to have a great time with everyone. Brian, Alex, and Adrienne organized the celebration. They contacted people, arranged transportation, rented a palace, and created an itinerary for all the attendees. This celebration would be expensive, but it would be worth every penny.
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Several people flew into England to celebrate the discovery of immortality. The roster of attendees included:
There were also support people who arrived to help with the festivities. They included a photographer, chef, security guards, and musicians. Brian did not invite anyone from the mainstream media, nor did he invite any Establishment-oriented politicians, attorneys, professors, or scientists. He arranged a security system to keep those people out. Brian understood how society worked and knew he would have to keep a low profile for as long as possible.
The celebration took place during the last week of summer. The guests and staff stayed at a majestic palace that was once the home of British royalty. The palace was surrounded by 100 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds. They were in a paradise on earth.
The first day consisted of transporting attendees from the airport to the palace in central England. That evening, Brian gave a brief speech to the attendees, most of which were exhausted from the long flight. Everyone went to bed shortly after the speech.
The next day, people wandered about the gardens outside the palace, just taking in the majestic scenery. During the afternoon, Alex stood on the patio and called out to the attendees, inviting them to witness the immortality breakthrough. This was what everyone had come to see.
Gathered around a table in the grand foyer, Dr. Masters spoke, "I would like to thank all of you for coming here to attend this celebration. We are about to celebrate something that will alter the course of humanity so greatly that no one here can fully envision the long-term results. We only know that humanity is going to take a great leap forward in well-being."
Dr. Masters paused. Then he said, "Innovative ideas move the world. One person brings an innovative idea into society. Several people work to develop the idea. Many people implement the idea. Then almost everyone is affected by it."
Dr. Richard Masters signaled Brian to join him. Brian Storm walked over to Dr. Masters, who continued speaking, "Years ago one man had an innovative idea. He nurtured that idea until it became a compelling vision. He persisted with it. After several years of research and development, this man saw his idea transform from an abstract thought to a tangible product. As one of his coworkers, I speak from direct experience. I observed the commitment and hard work that went into this man’s idea. Today, we have the result of his idea. Now I would like to introduce you to the originator of that idea. His name is Brian Storm."
The audience applauded.
Brian Storm spoke, "Thank you Dr. Masters for that wonderful introduction. And thank you and April Donovan, without whom my idea would still be just an idea."
The audience clapped in gratitude for Dr. Masters and April Donovan.
Brian said, "As far back as I can remember, I always thought of death as something terrible—like a colossal waste. You see, I grew up in an environment where health was promoted constantly. I come from a family of doctors. My father is a doctor, my cousin is a doctor, and several family friends are doctors. I spent the first five years of my life living above a doctor’s office. As you can guess, healing people is as natural to me as eating."
Brian continued to speak, "To see people grow old and die always seemed unnecessary. I thought, if doctors could cure polio or infections or other diseases, why not cure aging and death? The more I thought about that question, the more I realized death was just another problem to be solved. Yet people continued to grow old and die, day after day. I had a hard time attending funerals, seeing corpses laying in caskets and then being lowered into the ground. I always felt like that was such a waste, so devastating to everyone involved."
The young man continued to speak, "As I grew up, I really began questioning the whole institution of human death. That led me to research the fields of aging and death. From there, I formulated a hypothesis, refined it, and tested it over many years. Today, you will see the results."
Brian picked up a bottle from the table. He removed the top and poured a pill into his hand. He held up the pill between his thumb and forefinger, showing it to the audience.
"Ladies and gentleman, what you are witnessing is a small pill. But this will forever alter humanity, causing a shift from mortal man to immortal man." Brian said as he moved his arm so everyone could see it.
The crowd was mesmerized watching Brian’s arm move back and forth—like a person becomes mesmerized watching a hypnotist’s pendulum swing back and forth.
Realizing this, Brian took the bottle filled with pills and slammed it on the table, causing pills to fly out everywhere. The audience was startled. Brian had their attention once again.
"What you see is the immortality pill. I want each of you to hold one. Go ahead, take one into your hands." Brian said.
Hands reached out from the audience and began picking up pills scattered about the table. People looked at the tiny brown pills with curiosity.
Bill Warner looked at the pill and said, "What will it do?"
Brian replied, "Each person who takes the immortality pill will experience two events. The first event is the transmutation of the person’s genome, effectively leaving the person immortal. The second event is the reversal of aging, effectively leaving the person youthful."
"Ooohhh," came from the audience.
Adrienne Jewel said, "How does it work?"
Brian replied, "Scientifically, it’s quite complex. But in layman’s terms, a chemical in the pill enters the nucleus of your cells. It smartly ignores all the chromosomes except one. It targets a specific chromosome, then seeks out a specific gene within that chromosome, and disables it. The targeted gene is responsible for cellular senescence. Once the immortality pill is ingested, that gene becomes deactivated. The result is that your cells continue dividing and replacing older, weaker cells. You never experience the effects of aging because your body perpetually renews itself. And for those of you who’ve already grown old, there’s a biochemical agent in the pill that’ll reverse the aging process."
Tamara Fox said, "I’m still young and show no signs of aging, but I want to become immortal. Would I take the same pill as someone who is old?"
Brian responded by saying, "Good question Tamara. You’ll be able to purchase an immortality pill that’s tailored to your condition. Some pills will contain essentially no reverse-aging treatment; those will be targeted for people under 20 years of age. Other pills will contain small doses of reverse-aging treatment for people between 20 and 30 years of age, and so on."
John Gardner asked, "How much does the pill cost?"
"Another good question. Now that we have a working prototype, the immortality pill will go into production soon. However, I cannot say what the final cost will be without having the production process set up. But you can expect to pay about ninety-nine cents per pill. That’s the target price." Brian replied,
The crowd was in awe. Someone yelled out, "Why so low? You could make a killing with this breakthrough!"
Brian said, "Once the competition figures out what we’re doing, they’ll clone our pill and try to beat our price. So we’re going to stay several steps ahead of our competitors by shrinking the profit margin per pill and compensate for this through high-volume sales. We’re on the forefront of a biological revolution. We’ve got more knowledge than anyone else has in this area. Our pricing strategy is designed to keep us in the leading position of this revolution for decades to come."
Another person yelled out, "What if I take your immortality pill and then get hit by a car and die?"
"That would be a tragedy." Brian replied.
The crowd laughed, as they were expecting a complicated defense of the immortality pill rather than a simple answer.
Brian concluded by saying, "We’ll now breakup into informal discussion groups to field specific questions. Dr. Richard Masters will answer technical questions relating to how the immortality pill interacts with the human genome. April Donovan will answer questions about the research and testing phase of this breakthrough. I’ll answer questions about bringing the immortality pill to market and the impact it’ll have on society. I’ll be available for questions in the library, which is to the right of us through the archway."
Everyone around the table scattered in all directions like a rack of balls scattering across a pool table after being hit by the cue ball. Several people gathered around Dr. Masters to hear him discuss genetics. Some people walked over to April Donovan to learn about specific research processes. Brian Storm walked into the library alone; he sat in a comfortable chair and relaxed.
"Please answer one question," said Christie Bridges, who walked into the library to talk with Brian.
"Sure." Brian said.
"Why the hell don’t you tell the whole world about this? If this were my discovery, I’d make sure it was on television, in the newspapers, and on the radio. Hell, I’d go on the talk shows to tell the world! What the hell are you doing with security guards here trying to keep reporters out? I don’t get it!" Christie said vehemently.
Brian laughed.
"You’re crazy! I’d be telling the whole world right now. But here you are relaxing in a chair in some palace in the middle of nowhere." Christie declared.
"Please, sit down Christie. What I’m about to say might shock you." Brian said.
"I’m not going to sit down. Tell me now; I want to know. Nothing can shock me after meeting the man I thought couldn’t exist," replied Christie.
"Some people will try to imprison me; others will try to assassinate me—all because of my work." Brian said.
"No!" yelled Christie as she broke into tears. She threw herself across the room, landing on Brian. She put her head on Brian’s shoulder and wept for several minutes, unable to speak.