Live Wired (on indefinite hold)

Chapter VII, Danger is Now

The Gates to Hel was the one and only exit out of the safe zone. The name stems from the 3 huge, heavily armored gates you must pass through in order to enter or leave. It would also seem, funnily enough, that the inhabitants of District 17 are fairly pious. Even though they don't even know how to write their names, they know all about God, Avalon, Hel, and the Holy Bible. Pathetic really. They have been reduced to animals who only know how to pray to some fictional being for salvation. 

Unsurprisingly, the churches are all in control of the Elder Senate. They are an effective way to keep the masses under control. That is the reason why they are allowed to exist. If you supposedly have a perfect second life, then you won't really care about your present situation so much. It's sad but true.

I probably shouldn't look down on them too much. I'm aware that I am a very lucky person; If I had been born a human in their situation, then I would probably be another devout fool or dead revolutionary. But, I also know that it wasn't all thanks to luck. I doubt many people would have what it takes to come as far as I have. 

I'm so close to success, that I can almost taste it in the air...

I decide to unmute V.V. since I will need her to check the gatekeeper's system. Wouldn't want them sending any warning to the C.D.F. 

"Ughhh, you goddam geezer! You did it again! You actually dared to mute me again!" 

V.V. sometimes calls me a geezer because she believes me to be at least 40 years old. She (I think it's a she because of her girly voice and speech pattern. V.V. is quite paranoid and gives me very little personal information.) says I saved her a long time ago when she was around 5 years old. Honestly, I don't even remember saving her. She reasons that since I looked like I was in my high 20s when I saved her, then I must be at least 40 years old because she is 20 now. I find that hard to believe when she has a voice that sounds like she is 12.

Anyways, she doesn't know how much of a geezer I really am. V.V. believes I am a regular High Human. They age normally until their 30s, then they stop aging until they are 85, when they will start aging again becoming old and withered. 

By the way, the average life expectancy of a High Human is around 105 years old. About half longer than that of humans in the old world (70). Now, humans don't have it nearly as good. As slaves, they live about 36 miserable years. 

Luckily, or unluckily depending on who you ask, I am not your average High Human. I have lived about 187 years. Pretty impressive, huh? Well, I had to work myself to the bone researching human cells to achieve it. You see, I have always been a realistic person. I knew that if I died, that was it, Game Over. So I did the only thing I could do, work on a way to build my very own Fountain of Youth. 

They say that geniuses are often nonconformists; They couldn't have been more on point. The people around me thought it was madness. "Immortality is unachievable, you should give up and pursue more realistic projects before you ruin your reputation as a scientist." they would say. I just didn't care. I was consumed with that singular goal.

In my quest to live forever I ended up becoming an expert in human cells and published many articles on them. As a result, something I could have never predicted happened. The human king of Elysium at the time, Timothy Ray Brown, was suffering from HIV. Some terrorist infected his Grand Father with it and it was passed down along with the throne to Timothy. He came to me desperately seeking a cure and all but threatened me into doing it. I did say the poor guy was desperate. 

Even if HIV wasn't my forte, I was able to somehow cure him by killing his defective immune cells with a mix of radiotherapy and chemotherapy and then regrowing them with healthy stem cells. This succeeded only because I got help from some experts in those fields. His Highness had brought, at my request, Wilhelm Röntgen and Sidney Farber into the fold, they were the very best on those areas.