#3: Anthropolis One: The Never Clock

4:30pm

Nathan and Jonah returned to the cavernous garage as the winter sun was setting behind the mountains. Removing their parkas and pants, they proceeded into a large brightly lit mudroom. There they tossed their gear into the cleaning system, before grabbing their lab kits; a mostly improvised mix of surgical scrubs and intricately pocketed lab coats. After exchanging their field goggles for regular day glasses, they proceeded to a large building adjacent to the garage which served as the research lab.

They were greeted with a busy room full of willowy-looking lab mechs. Each busily working at their stations, or shuffling between their various tasks, their operators hired and working remotely from their various locations in the cities. They each turned to silently acknowledge Jonah and Nathan as they made their way through a complex of tall steel-sided boxes toward their primary diagnostics room, closing the doors behind them.

Nathan took his seat at his desk and immediately began moving his hands about in gestures Jonah recognized as the login process to his private research system. Jonah switched his glasses to share the same interface as his grandfather, something no one was able to do outside of the room they were in. Nathan was now all business, “Alright. As you can see Jonah, there are several aspects of my nano containment field unit that, well, I frankly have no damn idea how to operate, let alone troubleshoot.”

Nathan grasped a glowing orb of virtual information that had risen from his desk, spun it with a quick gesture, and a new set of diagnostic charts and figures hung in the air between them. Highlighted in red, was a twelve-digit number that was on a rapid countdown. A parabolic waveform chart was directly below, something Jonah knew to be a probability curve. It gently wobbled back and forth over the top of a soft-edged circle. “All I know is that this represents the probability that my mobile containment field is directly in control of the nano re-constructors. And, this count here, well that’s how many of them are reporting in as operational. I don’t know why the count is dropping so quickly. We can hopefully get an idea from my next urine sample.”

Jonah nodded, “Nothing too abnormal here though right? Isn’t this basically just a good indicator that you need to run a full transfusion again?” Jonah grabbed a file from his folder and snapped it open, “Let’s see when you last changed your oil… oh. Damn, yesterday.” Jonah narrowed his eyes at his grandfather, “Why didn’t you mention this? You know it’s not a good idea to run a full transfusion on your own, plus this was off schedule. You weren’t due to run a full flush until next week.”

Nathan looked sheepish. “I know, but I wanted to try out the new gene sequence for my cartilage matrix.” He shrugged, “Knees’ve been bugging me.”

Jonah scowled, “Hey you can do what you like with your genes, you know what you’re doing there, but how’d you program the nano-matrix to even apply your changes? We haven’t met with Dr. Chang in at least a month and he was the only one who even remotely managed to pick up where Dr. Sun left off.”

Nathan scoffed, “I’m beginning to think he’s just pushing buttons. His last three applications had no effect, at least no more than I’ve been able to replicate myself, so what’s the harm? I documented everything right here, you can --”

“What’s the harm? Oh, I dunno, freaky time-lapse mental breakdowns maybe? Come on Gramps, since when do you fly so fast and loose like this? We don’t really have any idea how Dr. Sun’s nano bio-replicators actually even manage to avoid pattern mutation in the first place. Keeping everything balanced is really the best we can hope for. Mess with it, all our work could be for nothing. Just an impossible to repeat fluke, akin to nothing more than magic or just dumb luck.”

Nathan sighed, “You’re right. You’re right of course Jonah it’s just that, well I’ve grown impatient. I’ve not heard a word from Zhou for years, and no one has. Not since that damned… ‘Singularity’ or whatever you kids are calling it these days started skulking around in the shadows.”

“The singularity?” Jonah smirked, “Uh, oh ya that little thing! Right, right. So now we get to have this conspiracy theory discussion again. Look, millions of people have been trying to isolate the singularity for decades now, long before we lost contact with Dr. Sun. There’s no definite date when the evidence became strong. It did not really coincide with the last time you spoke with him either, that’s just when you happened to pay any attention to it.”

Nathan looked at his grandson with a resigned and tired face and sighed. “So long to live Jonah. 129 years is, so long. In truth, it seems to me like Zhou’s just been off on a longer lunch break than usual. You can’t possibly understand Jonah. I’ve lived an entire lifetime separate from this place we call home. I was already a very old man when you were born!” He looked around the lab, suddenly looking uncomfortable. “Let’s get out of here and head back to the house. Lunch?” With a gesture, he closed their shared displays and smacked his hands on his desk while standing quickly and scooting Jonah forward like he was a child again.

“Alright let’s go then, but we need to keep an eye on this.” Jonah removed his lab coat and exited the office with Nathan, where they both took a side door directly out to the broad courtyard between the residence and the outbuildings which comprised the garage and laboratories. They both walked briskly through the cold mid-day air, feet crunching on the snow, before entering the main mudroom and the comfortable warmth of the house. The automated kitchen welcomed them with the warm smell of a hearty lunch. Nathan grabbed two mugs and poured fresh coffee for them both before they both took stools at the large wooden top island that dominated the open kitchen and living areas.

Nathan’s regarded his grandson through the steam from his mug for what felt like a moment too long to Jonah. “What? Gramps, what’s up with you today. You’re acting weird.”

“Jonah, do you know I never really knew your mother? Not in person anyway. I had met her in person, in real life, just briefly after she gave birth to you.” Jonah raised an eyebrow and nodded “Ya? I guess that makes sense given their work and distance from here. You must have spent a lot of time with them virtually though?”

“Oh, not so much as you might think. My research was everything to me at that time.” Nathan said with a sigh and a thousand yard stare out the windows. “The attention of the medical world had taken over most of my time then. Demands for interviews and peer reviews and such.” Nathan breathed in through his nose deeply and rubbed his face in his hand, a gesture Jonah recognized as pensive and doubtful. Jonah had also learned to remain quiet and listen when his grandfather was like this.

Nathan continued, “You know, your parents broke with convention when they conceived you. They didn’t submit their profiles for optimization. None of that. They rolled the genetic dice and conceived you the old-fashioned way, refusing any of the standard genetic screens and modifications during pregnancy. Your mother carried you to full gestation to boot! A real diversion from what everyone they knew expected of them, including me.”

Nathan shook his head slowly as he returned his gaze to Jonah, “Not that I was upset or angry, I naturally understood the reality of things. Of course, it wasn’t anymore perilous than any of our ancestors ever faced. But, in our circles, especially during that time, it was considered…” Nathan paused as he grasped for the right word, “pretentious? Perhaps? I don’t know exactly what it was, but to not take advantage of the certainty they could afford, seemed idealistic and spoiled. Anyway, it didn’t matter much to them, but at the time I think it paved the way for some alienation between myself and your father after your birth. I think he also was shunned by many of his peers too. Judged for being reckless, or perhaps worse, being judged for taking a pointless risk that many less fortunate people had no way to avoid. I greatly regret that I never had the opportunity to address this with him before your parents died.”

Jonah regarded his mug for a moment with an unfocused gaze, “I wish I’d met them too. They seemed so aware. So visionary.”

Nathan’s eyes lit up, “They were Jonah. Just amazing what they were working on. Paved the way for so many things I hope I can live to see, come to pass.” With that he smiled, “And I suppose that’s it isn’t it? That’s the reason I’m keeping up with this… crazy idea.”

“You think it’s crazy to attempt to extend the human lifespan? To slow or even halt the effects of aging? Gramps - you inspire me, and millions. What we’re doing here it -”

Nathan cut Jonah off with a gentle gesture of a raised hand, “I know Jonah. You’ve dedicated yourself to my research in ways I could only have dreamed of. But, I think the time has come for me to recognize that I am also holding you back. I am keeping you from the world Jonah, such as it is. There’s something I can’t give you; that none of this, can really give you,” Nathan gestured to their surroundings with a shrug. “If you stay here with me, you’ll be what we used to call book smart, but not truly world-wise. You know that we live an incredibly sheltered life here Jonah, there’s a whole world to see, and you can’t just see it through these things.” Nathan tapped the frame of Jonah’s glasses for emphasis.

Jonah raised his eyes to his grandfather, “Gramps, are you… uh… kicking me out of the house?”

Nathan smiled broadly, “Yes Jonah, I think I am.”