Page 45 - 0001
P. 45
said simply. The three doctors had formed a closeness, working to-
.gether so long, often around the clock. They'd seen each other in all
moods-enthusiasm, humor, irritability, industry, and despair. They'd
stuck together and they'd succeeded. It seemed natural, somehow.
With studied casualness, yet unable to keep his pen from shak-
ing, Clark had scribbled in his notebook: Solved problem of man-
kind. NO MORE WILL MAN DIE.
Now he was glad he hadn't driven. He wanted quiet, time to be
alone, time to think. The celebration would come later-the fame,
the sudden barrage of incredulous questions.
Amos Small. The first man to live forever. A slight smile played
"around the corners of the exultant doctor's mouth. What a thing to
tell your grandchildren. Only Small didn't have any grandchildren,
Clark remembered. The last of his family had died several years
ago. Died. That work was now archaic.
Small had said something about all his friends being dead. Clark
sighed. He was a medical doctor, not a psychologist. The old man
would make new friends. Didn't he have a lifetime-an eternity-in
which to do it?
Eternity. To live forever. There hadn't been a war since that
fiasco in the sixties. Murders were a nonentity since the deplanetiza-
tion policy, and accidents-well, accidents were NEWS! Safety had
come a long way, Clark reflected.
The time was just right for his discovery. Over-population was
no problem any more. Birth control had been perfected years ago,
and planetary migrations was three hundred percent over last year.
Was it not man's destiny to populate the universe?
He could see the future unfolding before him. Next science would
find a way to establish a person permanently at his prime of life, the
time at which he would be his most productive, perfect self. Perfec-
tion.
Suddenly he stopped. "Heaven," he breathed in a whisper.
"Heaven!" To live forever in one's perfect form. Through God-given
gifts, man had made-no, "found" was a better word-found Heaven!
It was a strange feeling.
Clark quickened his pace. The realization was monumental, over-
shadowing the scientific discovery, even. Not to fear death-at no
time in history had man ever been confronted with such a develop-
ment. This would revolutionize philosophy-change all ideas of truth!
For wasn't death always the focal point of life?
Gads, but it was hot. Wouldn't that sun ever set? Clark glanced
43