The Leaves in Winter Read Free Page B

NovoSenectus finally produced such that only the rich could afford it.
    At first, Mass had responded on a website created to handle public relations. According to company literature, the corporate name said it all – NovoSenectus –Latin for new old age . The crafted message on the company website satisfied many but not everyone. In time, even the most stubborn of lingering doubts began to dissipate. After interviews of his polished spokespersons, strategically-timed press releases, and feel-good commercials fronted by darling celebrities, Mass’ intentions had been made clear to all – by targeted repetition.
    In the end, there was no mystery why Mass had a curiosity about everything biotech. It was obviously rooted in a nagging question shared by all. Here was a man in his seventies with an acute and very personal interest in understanding how and why we got old.
    Was the unavoidable decline of aging simply another disease to be cured? What if anything could be learned that might improve our later years? These were questions that no one had tackled quite so generously or with such concentrated resources. The concept of creating a “new old age” was noble enough to calm the most wary of speculation.
    To sweeten its corporate image, NovoSenectus devoted a branch of itself to the development and free distribution of “many-in-one” vaccines. These were known by their NovoSenectus name MIOVAC. Eugene Mass continued to give away all of them to needy areas of the world. Accolades for his charity work followed in abundance. The gesture was so philanthropic that no one seemed to care that it was the only public thing he ever did. His MIOVAC program had become so extensive that even the World Health Organization noted how unprofitable it had become for any other company to have a substantial presence in the vaccine market.
    A larger question remained and it fueled the latest and most virulent of speculations. Would Mass be as generous with GenLET ? Many hoped so but few suspected it. Some feared the result of any such charity would be explosive overpopulation. Others had darker fears rooted in consideration of who Mass might deem worthy of receiving his coveted life extension therapy. Unless everyone received it, the end-game could easily be a two-tiered society, a new class order.
    What-if scenarios abounded. Those who could afford GenLET might enjoy an extended life estimated to be more than five times average – up to 300 years. They and their children would rule the world with dynasties only dreamt of in fanciful mythology. The rest of humanity would live lives as before – but not quite.
    What would it be like to know that your great-great-great-grandchildren would face the same individuals of an Olympian ruling class who were on the scene today? Some dreaded a future where extended life would become more than an advantage – it would create a new type of society with a new type of human as masters.
    The fearful had taken to the streets. Such a new class order had to be stopped.
    The riotous disruption was embarrassing to the Nobel Committee but police commanders promised containment. Dr. Basu’s lecture would take no more than an hour. During that time the authorities expected to see the worst of the disturbance. That is, until the actual award ceremony in three days.
    Staring out the car’s other backseat window was Riya’s colleague Janis Insworth. A decade younger but a professional equal, Janis was lost in thought. She struggled with a jumble of emotion, the intensity of which surprised her. She had told herself this trip wouldn’t bother her. Now she felt overdressed and out of place. She brushed a self-comforting hand through her long auburn hair.
    Sitting between the two of them on pins and needles was Janis’ thirteen-year-old daughter Alyssa. At first uninspired to accompany her mother on the trip, the excitable teenager was now over-stimulated if not overwhelmed by the upheaval around them.
    Janis