The Twelve Month Challenge: January Everlasting

Note: This is getting posted a day late, but I finished before the deadline…barely. It’s only month one and this project is already reminding me of university. However, this month has been a special case. I traveled to Hong Kong to renew my visa and also had to do an apartment search and move because my lease was up on the 31st. So no, I’m not entirely happy with the final results of my first story, and I would like to make some more edits. But, I am very proud of myself for not allowing for any excuses and getting it finished. A younger version of me would have given up.

All that being said, I’m reserving the right to do some edits on this story later, due to all of the extenuating circumstances involved. I know that’s technically breaking one of the rules I set for myself, but when it comes to writing exercises, rules are made to be broken, as long as it’s not out of laziness.

Also, each of the twelve stories will be set in a fictional universe that will be the setting of a future series of novels. I’m using this experiment to help me with the world-building. Hopefully it will get you interested in reading more.

Please let me know if you see any typos. I have not had the chance to proofread this the way I would have wanted.

JanuaryEverlasting

January Everlasting

I was hired by the Company to perform a straightforward task: the impossible. Failure, while not unexpected, was never going to be tolerated forever.

The Company treats its executives as aristocracy. We are pampered, trotted out on public occasions, and segregated from the masses. Our progeny are provided for in perpetuity. But, also like aristocracy, should the day come when we no longer serve the pleasure of the King, we are in danger of having our heads cut off. Or worse yet, our pensions.

______

Please state your name and title for the record.

“My name is Dr. Thomas Patrick. Until a few minutes ago, I was the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Life Sciences at Wong Industries.”

Those are still your titles, Dr. Patrick, until a decision as to your future is made.

______

My day of reckoning has finally come.

I stand at my window and see a peaceful sunset on the horizon, with the black silhouettes of cranes and geese flying in front of pink and orange clouds. To the east, an ancient lighthouse stands atop a hill, a beacon that once warned ships during a storm. Perhaps it is meant to conjure up some form of nostalgia, but I can see it only for what it is: a projection.

I wonder what the bay truly looks like these days. It has been more than forty years since I have actually seen outside. I remember my last glimpse, through the window of one of the old jetliners. There was still some green then, and a trickle of water that used to be the Colorado River. Now I imagine it has dried up like everything else, and all that’s left are stones and deadwood.

______

What is your educational background?

Many people find the asking of questions when the answer is right there on a screen to be an example of our era’s Kafkian dystopia. I find it soothing. There’s a ritual to it, a releasing of dopamine every time I’m able to answer correctly. It also represents a prolonging of questions I won’t be able to answer to HR’s satisfaction.

“I was educated in America. I have advanced degrees in bioengineering, medicine, and gerontology. I graduated top of my class from the Sony Institute in seventy-seven. I am what is known as a high-functioning autistic, meaning I am a genius, but I’m also a real shit to be around.”

Tell me about your work before you came to the Company.

“I previously worked at Huawei Technologies for thirty years. I was recruited right out of University. My main research project was looking at oxidative stress in mammals. My supervisor and mentor was Dr. Munisai Kimura.”

Why did you leave Huawei Technologies?

“We had a disagreement about the direction of my research. That’s when Wong Industries offered to let me supervise the labs here without any restrictions.”

What was the nature of your disagreement?

“Dr. Kimura adheres to a strict ethical code and believes that some things should not be studied lest we subvert the natural balance. I felt differently, that everything should and must be studied. Once we know what is and isn’t possible, then we can make a decision about right or wrong.”

And how old are you today?

“I am 107 years old.”

______

We aren’t given much notice prior to termination. An executive assistant shows up at our office and asks us to meet with HR. Though they happen often enough not to rouse suspicion, these meetings are never pleasant. HR is an impenetrable branch of the Network that follows her own set of protocols, and her intrusions into all other departments are met with frustrated protests that are always ignored.

Once your crimes have been explained in a polite but straightforward manner, two security officers escort you back to your office, where you’ll be carefully supervised as you clean out your belongings. You’re not allowed to take even the smallest bit of Company property as a souvenir, not a packet of sweetener, not a single byte of information.

I’ve worked at the Company long enough that none of this process is a surprise. I have nothing at the office that I would consider precious, other than the quaint photographic print of my son I keep framed on my desk. Everything else of value is stored on the Company network, which I’ve already lost access to.

An awkward silence hangs in the air as I stand at my window with nothing to do, the security officers watching me with their kindly expressions. They’ve been well-trained, but their faux empathy does not sit well with a man who’s about to be fired. I’d rather they were outside the room so that I could await my sentence in private.

______

Please explain what your main tasks with the Company are.

“Those fancy titles I mentioned earlier don’t mean much, not to me anyway. There was only one essential task I was charged with as an executive to the Company. For the past forty-four years, I’ve overseen the Company’s life extension program. It was my job to find a cure to aging.

“You probably haven’t realized this, but it was 98 years ago today that Chief Executive Lee declared that humanity had defeated aging.”

I am well aware of the anniversary.

“Yes, well then as you know, those breakthroughs were expected to have finally overcome the damage caused by telomere shortening and, theoretically, extend animal life indefinitely. The celebration, as we later learned, was premature. Although aging was severely interrupted by the new technologies, they did not work indefinitely. It was several decades before we realized that there was a biological barrier that caused the body to stop working right about when a person reached age 150. Wang Mei died at age 152 in the year 2088. She is still the oldest living person in recorded history.

“My job, for the better part of two decades, has been to discover why all of our anti-senescence techniques are failing to work beyond the 150-year barrier–and to find a cure. The fact that I am here with you today means that, in the eye of the Company, it’s time to finally replace me with someone younger and, most likely, more aggressive in their research techniques.”

How would you grade your research efforts at the Company?

“If we’re grading pass-fail, then I have failed.”

_______

I turn away from the window and eye my escorts. The pair of them, Mr. Morin and Ms. Ortiz, stare straight ahead, refusing to make eye-contact unless I engage them. They are high-level, clad in the casual teambuilder colors rather than a security uniform, and their stunners are discretely hidden beneath their shirts.

My communicator buzzes. Morin and Ortiz both turn their eyes in my direction before glancing away. As well-trained as the security detail is, I see that they are nervous. It’s not often a vice-president gets fired.

“Hullo,” I answer.

“Hi. Is now a good time to talk?” It’s Aubrey. She knows that it must be, otherwise I wouldn’t have answered. But this is part of our agreed upon code.

“I have a few minutes.” In other words, it’s happening.

“I just wanted to check in on when you’re going to be home.”

“You shouldn’t wait up for me.” There is a silence.

Morin and Ortiz are pretending not to listen, though it doesn’t matter if they are. They can only hear my end of the conversation with my ear bud in. But we all know that someone in the Company is listening. They have all my access points on active surveillance at the moment, rather than leave it to the regular supervisory network. I turn back to the window. I don’t want my escorts to see my face.

“Really?” Aubrey is trying to stay neutral, but I can hear the sadness in her voice.

“Is Jack there?”

“He doesn’t get home from academy for another two hours.” That means he is safe.

“Tell him that I love him.”

“You can tell him yourself when you get home.” This isn’t part of the code. Aubrey is supposed to hang up now and leave the house as quickly as she can. As long as she’s under surveillance, she won’t be safe, not if the exit interview goes the way I expect it to. But we can’t bring ourselves to say goodbye.

“I wish things had happened differently.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Tom. I know everything there is to say.”

“I know. You better go.”

“I don’t want to.”

The silence returns. I can hear her crying. There’s a part of me crying too, but I hold back the tears. There’s still hope. I choose to believe that I will see Aubrey and Jack again.

I hear my door open behind me. I turn around and see Mr. Wong enter. It’s hard to say who is more surprised, me or the security officers.

“Aubrey, I have to go. The Chief Executive is here.”

______

What is your relationship with the Chief Executive like?

“There was a time when I looked up to Mr. Wong.”

You’re reputation for bluntness is well-earned.

“I think that’s why Mr. Wong hired me. Very few people dare to tell him the truth when they know it will displease him. I’m hard-wired so I can only tell the truth. People have always said that I have no filter. I guess in this instance, it has served me well.”

Please continue with what you were going to say. You once admired Mr. Wong.

“I wouldn’t say that I aspired to be like him. That’s never been the way I think. But mention the word greatness to me, and a picture of Mr. Wong appeared in my mind.

“I have always understood the shortcomings of intellect. I know that people look at me and see a shepherd. It’s just that instead of sheep, I’m in charge of corralling the network. There’s so much more to it of course, but even at that young age, I knew that perception often mattered more than reality in this world of ours. I may find everyone stupid for doing so, but I couldn’t help but envy the way they fawned over Mr. Wong.

“I can recall an early conversation with him. I realize now that Mr. Wong was feeling me out for the position, but I was in a way doing the same thing with him. I had begun to question why I would work for the Company, whether the security, and the access to the labs and network, were really worth it.

“Even then it was unusual that Mr. Wong was conducting this interview himself. He’d ceded most of the day-to-day supervision to HR. But this project was always most important to him, so there I was in his office, the words of warning that I had received from every single person who knew Mr. Wong flashing in my mind, ‘Don’t say anything that might anger him.’

“But when he asked me if I had any questions for him, my curiosity got the better of my judgment.

“‘Do you believe in a higher power, sir?’

“‘Of course,’ he answered.

“‘You do?’

“‘That’s why I work so hard. To make sure that I am the highest power.’

“That was the moment I decided Mr. Wong was the type of Chief Executive I could work for.”

Why did that moment leave such an impression on you?

“Because it made so much sense, was so blatantly true. Everyone else was bogged down by politics and entertainment. No one cared about the things that really mattered. No one believed in honesty. If we were going to do something that could profoundly alter the nature of what it meant to be human, I wanted us to be able to tell the truth about why we were doing it.”

______

I close my connection and greet Mr. Wong. He is dressed casually, in dark blue slacks and a light blue blazer, both immaculately pressed. Mr. Wong is short but very strong. He grips my hand tightly in a warm greeting and I recall the videos of his workout regimens that he’s circulated on the Company net, swinging 40 kg kettle bells or holding a plank for more than 30 minutes.

When he smiles, I notice the crow’s feet—I can’t help calling them that now, thanks to one of Aubrey’s colloquialisms I’ve always found so endearing—around his eyes. They are the only signal that Mr. Wong is nearly 120 years old. He doesn’t look a day over seventy.

The security officers are visibly flustered. He’s not supposed to roam the Company unannounced, and if he has an escort, they are waiting outside. They immediately flank him on either side, shooting me especially dark looks that suggest the Chief Executive’s presence is somehow my fault.

“You two can wait outside.”

“Yessir.” They immediately turn around and exit the office.

“What would bring you to my end of campus, Mr. Wong.”

“The Chief Executive doesn’t need a reason, Thomas. I wouldn’t let my top researcher leave without personally saying goodbye.”

“That’s very kind of you. Please, sit down.”

“I prefer to stand. I can’t stay long.”

“Of course.”

Mr. Wong takes a quick circuit of the office, surveying the sparse furnishings before stopping before the window. He gazes at the scene for several moments, contradicting the stated need for brevity.

“This office never suited you. You haven’t even changed the projection from the default setting.”

“I was rarely ever here, sir. I spent most of my time in the labs.”

“It’s not just the office. I think the job never suited you.”

“I’ve always done my best sir.”

“I’m disappointed that it’s come to this.” All pretense of friendliness has been removed. Mr. Wong has never been one for pretense, another reason I admired him. “There was a time when we all saw great promise in your research.”

“Perhaps it was just never meant to be.”

“Do you remember what I said to you after you were first appointed? You asked me whether what we were doing was right.”

“Yes, sir. You said that it didn’t matter what we thought. Someone was going to develop this technology regardless. Every corporation in the world was working on it.”

“Yes, but that’s not what I’m talking about. And it seems our enthusiasm has been misguided. No one has made a significant breakthrough in twenty years, not since Monsanto eliminated cancer. But I’m referring to what I said later.”

“I don’t recall what you mean, sir.”

“We run the company, Thomas. We decide what is meant to be.”

I’d like to say that Mr. Wong has changed. That the power—nearly limitless power—has corrupted him. But I know that isn’t the case. Mr. Wong has always been the same, governed by his ambition, willing to do anything to get what he wants.

It’s me that has changed. I wish I hadn’t taken more than a century to figure out the type of man I wanted to be. I know it’s too late for me now. I only hope I can protect Aubrey and Jack from what’s coming.

______

Tell me about your family.

My parents were both from America, on the East Coast. They were of the old economy. My dad was a school teacher and my mom was a lawyer. I was the youngest of three children, a big family even at the time.

And how did your parents die?

My father died of leukemia when he was 58. My mother lived to be 108. She died of complications from senescence. My older brother died in a plane crash when he was in his thirties, and my sister died last year, from organ failure.

She chose against life support?

Yes.

And what about your current family?

I got married a little later than average. My wife Aubrey was a design engineer with the Company, but she retired when our son was born. John is 8 years old.

________

Before he leaves my office, Mr. Wong picks up the photo of Jack. Seeing the picture in his hand makes me anxious.

“That’s my son.”

“He’s very handsome. You waited very late to have him.”

“I was always so obsessed with work. Aubrey wanted children, but I kept putting it off, to the point where I honestly think she’d given up on me ever coming around. I always thought I’d have plenty of time.”

“What changed your mind?”

“I finally realized we weren’t going to live forever.”

Mr. Wong puts the picture down and looks up at me. For just a second, I see an anger flash across his face, and all the stories of his temper, and the unfortunate accidents that follow after it are called to mind. He’s about to say something, but he hesitates. When he finally turns toward the door, I feel like I’ve been given a reprieve, if only for a few more hours.

“I won’t keep you any longer. I know you’re waiting for your exit interview. These are usually a formality, but yours will be a very important one. Your entire future could depend on the answers that you give.”

“Thank you, sir.”

______

The exit interview determines whether you’ll be allowed to stay within the auspices of the Company, or if you’ll be forced to go ronin. It’s the difference between having your entire livelihood provided for or your family being forced to live on the outside.

It should be a simple process. If you answer all the questions to HR’s satisfaction, you and your family will be secure. But in my case, I know that my fate depends on which questions they ask.

HR is civil, articulate, and cold. She has played out the interview 10 million times in order to project the most likeliest outcomes, and so she’s prepared for pretty much any scenario. It’s very unlikely I could surprise her with one of my answers.

Mr. Morin and Ms. Ortiz are inside the room as well, standing by the doorway. I’ve played out the scenario a few times myself, and in one of them, I snatch a stunner and make my escape. But I’ve been an old man too long to try something like that. I will await my fate stoically.

I wonder if that’s a scenario in HR’s database. Most likely. That’s why the security officers are present in the first place.

_______

Tell us about the security breach last year.

It’s the line of questioning that I’ve been dreading.

“Someone got into the system–we still don’t know how or who–and deleted the information on several hard drives.”

Was this sensitive information?

“Yes, it included the data on our Alpha subjects, all of whom have been undergoing the trials since before I joined the Company. And although we haven’t had the major breakthrough that we’ve wanted, we’ve had a number of minor successes that have pushed up the average lifespan in out test subjects significantly.”

So you’re saying that this research might be compromised?

“We think this was an act of vandalism, that’s why the information was deleted, but we can’t rule out theft, no. The hacker may have been covering up her tracks.”

Was any information lost?

“No. Everything was safely backed up on numerous secure servers. The attack did happen during a routine reformatting and upgrade, which we think was probably just a coincidence, but all security protocols were followed and no research was lost. Only the temporary caches and that hour’s communications and surveillance data for the lab.”

________

I know how this will play out if things go wrong. I have clung to optimism, more for their sake than for my own, but the reality is that it’s very hard to fool the Company. If HR knows what I’ve done, there will be no escaping.

She won’t let me leave until she is satisfied I don’t have what they are looking for. If there’s any doubt, they’ll take whatever measures necessary. They’ll have had Aubrey under surveillance long before they approached me with my termination. The Company will apprehend her as soon as they realize I’m unwilling to cooperate.

Aubrey knows what we are facing and agrees we have no other choice. She only cares that Jack is safe. He was taken to the Kimura’s after I left for work this morning, rather than to school. They have agreed to raise him should anything happen to us.

The Company will want Jack too, more so even than Aubrey. They would use him as leverage against me. They won’t be able to get to him, however. The Kimuras have the full protection of Huawei on their side.

They’ll interrogate me. Past generations would refer to this as torture, but the word has fallen out of use. The network has perfected the techniques to the point where it is no longer considered inhumane. There’s no actual physical pain, just the illusion of it. Of course, it’s all semantics. The pain feels the same whether its real or not.

But HR also knows me well enough to know no amount of pain will be enough to make me give up what I refuse her. Because I would no longer have it. It’s been deleted. The test subject has been eliminated and all records of his existence erased. It would be illogical of me to have kept any trace of the breakthrough. If I’m willing to risk my life and the lives of my family to keep it away from the Company, then I’d be crazy to keep any traces of it anywhere. There’s no place where I could put it that the company would ever find it.

The interrogation is therefore perfunctory, just another one of the Company protocols we’re all forced to live with.

_______

What are your plans for retirement?

“I want to spend time with my family.”

No plans to continue your research? Or go back to your old firm?

“No. I would be available as a consultant for the new research head, but I believe in letting the next generation look at the problem with a fresh set of eyes.”

After devoting your life to finding a cure for aging, won’t it be difficult to give it up and walk away?

“I’ve come to peace with what’s to come.”

What do you mean, Mr. Patrick?

“I mean that I’m tired of questing after the impossible for the sake of Mr. Wong’s obsession. What difference does it make if we prolong death by a few more years, a few more decades, or even for centuries. Death is still waiting at the end.”

And you are willing to accept oblivion?

“Better that than to work for the Company any longer.”

I see. I’m sorry that you feel that way.

If I thought HR were really capable of such emotions, I’d say that I have hurt her feelings. She certainly sounds disappointed.

________

The interrogation might be pointless, but Mr. Wong will be there to watch. I doubt he’s actually capable of self-analysis at this point in his life, yet if he were, he might rationalize the torture by saying that he has to be thorough. It’s possible I’ve made a mistake after all.

In reality, he’ll want to punish me for daring to act against him.

Yet though I may be old, I have not entered this fight without a weapon of my own. I did not destroy every record of the breakthrough. There’s one copy of the subject’s DNA left, and I’ve placed it somewhere that Mr. Wong and the company will never be able to get it.

I left a clue in my office. Mr. Wong had it in his hands. I willed him to open the frame and look at the back of the photograph, just so I could see his face when he saw the combination of numbers and letters written in ink on the back. In any case, I’ll reveal the code at some point while I’m being interrogated. I won’t be able to hold out forever. And they’ll want to know what the code means, and I’ll keep telling them that it’s meaningless, and they’ll believe I am lying and it will drive them crazy that they can’t crack the code. But I won’t be lying. It really is just a string of random numbers and letters.

I suspect that it will be Mr. Wong who will figure out the truth. The code isn’t hidden in the picture. It’s hidden inside Jack himself. Jack of course doesn’t know I’ve put it there. He’s too young to understand. But I’ll leave the choice up to him of whether to destroy my breakthrough. Aubrey thinks it isn’t fair to place the burden on him like that, but it’s no greater burden than life itself. We don’t get to choose our destinies. We only choose whether to follow them or to fight against them.

As badly as Wong will want the breakthrough once he’s learned of its existence, he won’t risk starting a war to get it back. Not because he’s scared of what a battle might do to the Company, but because he won’t want anyone from outside to know how important the boy is.

And so I will be the one to have the ultimate revenge. He’ll know that the breakthrough exists, but he won’t be able to get his hands on it.

______

This is all just my conjectures. Perhaps I’ve been worried for nothing.

That’s it, Mr. Patrick. Everything seems in order. Thank you for your time.

Perhaps the company doesn’t know. Perhaps I’ll be able to retire and they will allow me my pension. Perhaps Aubrey will evade capture and be reunited with Jack.

Perhaps I will be able to stand up and walk out of HR and go to them. Perhaps I will be free.

Oh, there is one last thing I’m curious about.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Do you know anything about an Alpha test subject known as January?

“January?”

I have an old screenshot of the test results, it’s dated 2120. It was located on one of your labs’ networks. I almost missed it, but it got flagged while I was doing a routine background check for the interview.

“What’s important about it?”

Probably nothing. It’s just that when we compared it to the current database, we found there was an extra subject, code-named January. An asian male, born 1980 in Guangzhou, China. The data isn’t included in the screenshot, but there is a note. It says he’s responding well to treatment.

“I don’t know of any subject with that code name. Do you have any other references to him anywhere?”

Nope, just the one. Probably just a mistake. But it’s curious. I don’t know how that could have happened, unless someone went in and changed the list of subjects.

Or he was deleted. But if that had happened, Mr. Patrick, you certainly would have remembered. Everyone knows what kind of memory you have.

“Who’s network did you find it on?”

That’s the weirdest part. It was your network, Mr. Patrick.

Perhaps.

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