“Things were at a crisis,” Chris said, interrupting her thoughts. “None of it was simple. Of course from the beginning there were those who abhorred the whole idea on principle, and others who reveled in the possibilities but understood what it would mean for society. A lot of people who couldn’t afford minimally useful resets still didn’t want to see Longevity totally abandoned, even if we could have put the Genie back into the bottle, because then their children would never have the chance or the choice. The protests built into the Riots, and it took the politicians a while to understand that it wasn’t just about radicals who couldn’t stand the concept of Longevity or the hard-core discontented who couldn’t afford it, but rational people who knew what it would mean if it was unchecked… if no compromise made co-existence possible.
“It got so bad that they even tried to outlaw Longevity for a while, but the Riots didn’t stop, they just changed. Everyone, including the civic leaders in the ghettos, knew the black market pressures would be overwhelming and unrelenting. The politicians finally got that they would need to work with what we had, and come up with some workable compromise. They were terrified. They finally had an issue that they couldn’t just endlessly debate.”
“I’ll bet they still tried, for a while,” Livvy said.
Chris smiled slightly again, at some memory. “They called in all kinds of experts. Karen testified and then spent hours with government officials, congressmen, and newsmen, lobbyists, anyone who asked for her help. Educating, explaining… It was the first time in her experience that they really seemed to listen. Before then, Congress had just rushed approvals through, eager to get the benefits for themselves and their families, thinking they were appeasing everyone who mattered.”
There was another, shorter silence. Livvy thought about what it must have meant to him to come through all that, and come out with the Laws functioning as they were meant to, and Karen. Karen, expecting a baby, as Livvy’s research had revealed. No one welcomed a baby unless they had a tenacious grasp on hope.
“I don’t suppose you’ve had much exposure to any natural families?” Chris asked at last. “I don’t anymore, myself, but that’s partly because of what I’ve been doing for the last fifty-odd years. The stable natural families may know what we do, but they almost never encounter LLE. They’re not all religious fanatics, or too poor to afford the resets. Nor do they all hate us and the choice we’ve made. Most choose to live in there, in some cases because they believe it is the right way to live.” He nodded towards the ghetto.”
“But you can remember, can’t you? I mean, you grew up in one. A natural family. Your parents got old before they died?”
Chris hesitated, but then answered simply. “Old? Yes, I suppose so.”
“Someday, no one will remember what it was like, before Longevity,” Livvy said.
“If you are serious about trying to understand, and you stick around LLE after this week, we can arrange for you to spend some time with a family. Agnew’s family is Natural.”
The car pulled up to face a home slot and they climbed out so that it could drive in and elevate out of the way for the next returning vehicle. Louie didn’t wait for them to open the door, but climbed into the front and out before the door slid shut. At the office, other than an occasional excursion to Livvy’s side to glean some attention, he was showing a strong tendency to stay within inches of Chris’ left hand.
“What do you think will happen to her? Marcy?” Livvy asked.
“It’s no different here in D.C. than on the West Coast.”
“Meaning, I suppose, that it probably all depends on whether she gets some media-savvy attorney,” Livvy said. “For once not a bad thing. That bird already hit the window way too hard.”
“Whatever happens, we can probably assume that it will be nothing she would consider worse than what has happened already,” Chris agreed. “At any rate, it’s a Homicide case, not an LLE case, although we still each have to prepare a report. If it were an LLE case, we’d handle it differently. But you’ll find that out soon enough.”
They’d reached the squad room. There was a short pause in the underlying buzz of voices when they walked in but it didn’t last long. By tomorrow, she figured, they’d have moved on, and she and Louie would attract no more attention than a firefly on the Fourth. Chris reached his desk and, hooking his chair with his leg, pulled it in and sat down.
Livvy had hoped for some elaboration of his last comment, but none came. She remembered he wasn’t a training officer.
He took out a muting recorder and started talking into it, and she searched her desk drawers. Whoever had used the desk before her – and it looked like it had been a while – hadn’t left many useable supplies. There was no recorder, for example. There had to be a supply depot, and she looked around for a logical place to begin exploring the room.
Her nominal partner ignored her. Okay, she was a big girl and she could figure out how LLE “handled it differently” by observation. Like Louie, she supposed. Fair enough. She still had over six days. Plenty of time to get into the routine.
Chp. 4 Another Damn Doctor (Tuesday)
Chris considered reset day a pain in the ass. It took up a half a day, played tricks on his short term memory, and gave him significant philosophical qualms on the issue of whether he was living the life he should be living. He continued to go in as scheduled because he was living half the life – or truthfully far less than half the life – he and Karen had planned together. Resets were a benefit of his job, they allowed him to continue to do his work effectively, and after all, he still valued life and a useful level of fitness. That was the whole point of Longevity. It plainly beat the alternative.
The morning after meeting his new partner, he showed up for his quarterly appointment, and as often in the city employees’ facility in massive City Central, he saw a new doctor – new to him that is – for his scan consultation.
Unlike most physicians, this one had chosen to keep the face of a 21 year-old. Chris, never having met him before, had no idea of his true age except to know that he had to be at least a decade younger than Chris was, even if he was from one of the extremely wealthy families that were the only ones able to afford resets before the explosion of technical achievements in 2040 made them affordable for a lot of the upper middle class as well.
“You’re 101 chrono, and what? 33 biol? A pioneer,” the doctor said, slightly surprised.
He had been scanning Chris’ records but at that he looked up and scrutinized Chris more closely, a little like he might examine a lab specimen. “Your BMI and cardiac parameters haven’t changed in the last 6 decades. According to our records, you’ve never had anything but departmental resets,” he glanced inquiringly at Chris, “yet you look a very fit 30-35. How do you feel?”
“Like a 30-35 year old,” Chris said.
“You’ve never had any kind of enhancement? A slight metabolic adjustment? No? That’s a lot of work on your own. Very impressive.” The doctor paused. “Too many people think that resets and enhancements can do it all, even though they must know that enhancements to help increase muscle strength and reflex times are illegal.”
“I’m in LLE,” Chris said.
“Ah, so of course you know. Well, you seem to have a regimen that keeps you fit,” he said, then paused. There was obviously bad news coming.
“Unfortunately, I still need to recommend visits every 2 months from now on.”
“Why?” Chris asked.
“Let me see. To put it in terms you can understand. First of all, it’s a myth that the need for resets increases with a little age – you can reach your allotment without having to adjust your reset interval. Most people, other than nervous types with lots of resources, do just that. So it’s not for the resets.