Chapter 01 - Unintended Consequences
Aeryn Rayner stared up at the young man who had just thrown her hard against the floor. The suddenness of the attack as well as his brute strength had caught her unprepared and it was taking a visible effort to breathe after having her breath knocked out. She could also feel a pain in her lower back despite the padded floors.
"Aeryn, how many times do I have to tell you, you can not go up against a physically larger and stronger opponent muscle against muscle? You are faster and more agile than he is; use more of your throwing techniques against him." Her martial arts instructor told her again.
"Yes Sensei." Aeryn replied as she got off the floor and rubbed the small of her back.
"If you were to actually engage a larger opponent in a real world scenario, you would need to do one of two things. You could either use his own weight and force to throw him to the ground so you can escape or you would have to disable him within the first few seconds of conflict. You are black belt in multiple disciplines; it is within your capabilities." Her Sensei continued.
"Yes Sensei, I will try and do better." Aeryn replied. She knew he was right. She was an average height for a female at five feet seven inches tall. Weighing only a hundred and eight pounds she had been sixty pounds lighter than her opponent.
The martial arts instructor then turned from Aeryn and addressed the class. "Alright students, everyone grab a shinai off the wall and we will practice kendo."
Aeryn approached her martial arts instructor before he walked towards the wall. "Sensei, I will be unable to finish the class today. I have an appointment with the doctor this afternoon."
"It is nothing serious I hope"
"No Sensei, I have finally saved up enough money for the longevity therapy."
"Ah yes, you have just reached your twenty first birthday. Congratulations, I hope to be seeing you for many decades to come."
"As do I Sensei." Aeryn replied. She then bowed to her Sensei, grabbed her things and headed for the showers.
*****
Aeryn walked into the human enhancement clinic. She was excited to be there. It had taken her six years to save the twenty thousand dollars for the anti-aging therapy. With the perfection of nanotechnology, medical scientists were able to introduce microscopic machines into the human body to assist in cell regeneration.
Scientist had discovered in 2019 the cause of human aging. It turned out there were two causes. The first cause is called the Telomere Effect. The structures at the end of chromosomes are called Telomeres. Each time a cell would divide the Telomere would shorten. When enough damage to a cell occurred due to the shortening Telomere a mechanism within the cell would activate and prevent any further cell division.
The second cause turned out to be a genetic limitation. This limitation is called the Hayflick Limit Effect. First noticed in the 1960s and later proven in the early twenty first century, the Hayflick Limit Effect is a biological kill switch that allows cell to divide a certain number of times before a built-in genetic program tells the cells to stop reproduction.
Nanotechnology allowed scientist to replace the missing information in the shortened Telomere and thereby circumvent the normal damage and eventual death of cells. The microscopic machines also reprogrammed the cells so that there were no longer a set number of times it could reproduce. The result being that since the year 2023, humans no longer had to die because of old age. Scientist had discovered that when introducing the anti-aging therapy to older people it would revert there appearance to a time in there mid-twenties. When introduced to younger people, it would stop the aging process at the time of introduction. The end result was a series of laws that prohibited people under the age of twenty-one from receiving the anti-aging therapy.
"Aeryn Rayner," called the woman at the front desk.
"Yes, that's me." Aeryn responded. She got up and went to the desk and showed her ident card. Once her identity had been verified the nurse buzzed her in. Aeryn was greeted on the other side of the door by an office assistant and escorted down a series of corridors to a medical office.
"Dr. Edwards, you're two o'clock appointment is here." The office assistant said to the doctor sitting behind a large marble desk.
"Thank you," said the doctor dismissing the assistant. "Aeryn, please come in and have a seat."
"Thank you." Aeryn replied as she walked into the lavish office and took the offered chair.
The doctor typed a few strokes on his keyboard and pulled up Aeryn's file. "I see you are here to get the anti-aging therapy. Are you sure that's all you want to do. We do offer a wide range of human enhancement treatments."
"I wish I could, I am a full time student at Cal Tech and only work part time. It took me six years just to save enough money to get this." Aeryn replied wishing she could get some of the other treatments.
She immediately felt Dr. Edwards's eyes examining her entire body. She was pretty sure it was not entirely a professional appraisal of a client. She knew she was beautiful by any standard of the definition. She had shoulder length raven black hair and a perfectly sculpted face reminiscent of many models. With an Asian mother and white father she had gotten the best of both worlds. She had a light olive skin color that gave her the appearance of having a perpetual tan. A combination of eastern and western heritage gave her slightly raised eyes and an exotic look that was difficult to place unless you knew her parentage. Her pouty lips and flawless features had brought the attention of many want-to-be suitors.
"Let me tell you a little about what we can offer and maybe we can come to some sort of arrangement." Dr. Edwards started to say.
"Dr. Edwards, I know my financial situation. I assure you this is all I am able to afford at this time." Aeryn said before he could go into more detail.
Dr. Edwards looked at Aeryn for nearly a minute before he spoke. "It doesn't necessarily have to be money."
Aeryn shot to her feet, indignation clearly showing on her face as she made ready to walk out of his office.
"Wait, give me a couple of minutes to talk to you and if you don't like what I have to say then you can either have the treatment you came in for or you can leave and get another doctor."
"You want me to have sex with you for a boob-job. You can't be serious." Aeryn said still standing up.
"Normally that is all I would offer a woman, as I am one of the best enhancement surgeons in California and the procedure is not cheap. For a chance to be with you, I would gladly offer you an Entire Enhancement Package." Dr. Edwards said quickly.
"What exactly is an Entire Enhancement Package?" Aeryn asked, blinking a couple of times because she could not believe she just said that.
Dr. Edwards typed on his keyboard and pulled up a list of the procedures that entailed an entire enhancement package. "First, you get what you came in for, anti-aging therapy. Also included is a breast augmentation which most people are familiar with. You can also get a follicle removal therapy. This is where we introduce a specialized biochemical over the body you don't want hair on. It completely stops the follicle growth and does not affect any area that is not treated, like your scalp. You wouldn't ever have to shave again. You can also receive the Human Defensive Nanobot Therapy. This is where we introduce a small amount of nanobots into your system. These nanobots serve two functions, the first is rapid cell regeneration, which can heal cuts, scrapes and bruises up to 100 times faster than the natural healing process. Please be advised this does not make you invincible. If the damage to your body is too extensive you can die before the nanobots can heal you. The second function is as a back up to your immune system. It can fight off disease and infections that your body would normally require antibiotics or vaccines to handle."
"You told me you're a student at Cal Tech. I will even through in the latest generation of interactive ocular lenses and an Information Bio Pack complete with the latest and most complete encyclopedia. The ocular lenses fit just like the contact lenses people use to wear twenty years ago with a few minor differences. First they don't ever have to be removed, second they cover enough of your eye so that they can not be accidentally knocked out and the information the lenses display are visible only to you. The Information Bio Pack is implanted subcutaneously and is connected to your brain stem. All information is pulled up by focusing on a small icon in your field of vision and thinking a certain way to open the file."