The future arrived faster than I ever imagined.
It started with genetically altered pigs creating organs compatible for human transplant. Thousands of people on waiting lists for new kidneys or livers were saved from withering away waiting for someone else to die to receive their organs. The researchers then looked into how to reverse or halt aging with little to no progress. A brilliant scientist from Brazil discovered how to rapidly clone a human body, a blank canvas, and with the progression in brain transplantation was able to move a human consciousness from a frail old body into a younger cloned version.
This unique service was only open to the wealthy and obscenely powerful.
Presidents and politicians for life. The same celebrities would swap into a fresh body whenever they started to show signs of aging. Death was a thing of past if you had enough money and clout to make it happen, the same assholes in power who ruined the world could keep on destroying the planet and exploiting the common man like they had for centuries. They became the Immortals.
It was a nightmare. And some of us decided enough was enough.
I met my handler around 2am at the Waffle House in the rough side of town, a place that still had real living servers and cooks making the food. Most places have gone fully automated, but there were still some holdouts like this breakfast spot. They were the best places to hold a little exchange in the wee hours of the morning.
Plus the coffee wasn't half-bad.
"This is a nasty one," Renee said as she handed me a data chip from across the table, "I think you'll recognize this target."
I slotted the data chip into the port behind my ear and sifted through the information. I almost spit out my coffee when I saw the dossier file on my neural network. It was Walter Grissom, a long-time city mayor who renewed every few years to stay youthful, and would continue to fight any raise in the minimum wage and laws pertaining to worker's rights. He owned a few of the franchise fast food restaurants around the city, and wanted to keep paying the existing workers complete shit wages.
Grissom was also a serial pedophile who escaped conviction by using his connections with the Justice Department.
"This one will be my pleasure."
Renee said nothing, but smiled and slid a metal case under the table to me. We went our separate ways after leaving some cash on the table for our coffees. In my car, I opened up the case and found half of my payment in crypto stored on a cold wallet and a 3D printed machine pistol with high powered caseless ammo. There was a neatly typed note stuck on the gun.
It read: "Same drill as usual, full payment will be wired when you destroy the Immortal's brain and send proof."
Photo by cheng feng on Unsplash
Eurgh, that would be a nightmare!!
Such an interesting freewrite! I feel as though the idea presented in this could make a fantastic novel. 🙂
Thank you! I might tuck this one aside in my backlog of ideas to work on. I'm editing my first sci-fi book and partway through writing the second in the series.