Before
you feel bad for him, take in mind that James Dawson heard all of the
warnings before he decided to take the pill. He heard the scientists
ramble on and on about how the cons may outweigh the pros; he
listened to the conference as they questioned the morality of taking
him in as a subject for the experiment, even when he had come
willingly. He was there when all of the discretions were advised; he
just chose to forget about them.
You
see, that was the problem with him – he was arrogant. Dr. Kepley
brought it up many times before, saying that the only reason anyone
would still be going along this far in was because they were simply
too naive. The scientists bickered about this for some time, but
eventually decided that the scientific progress involved would be
more worth it than the life of one, remember, volunteer. If he was
arrogant, how could they control it, anyway?
The
test was less to see what an immortality medicine would do, but more
so of a test to see how mankind could deal with immortality. That
being said he might not have been the best choice, but there's
relatively little that can be done of it now. Here is the story of
the immortal man, James Dawson.
Day
after taking the pill
The
initial symptoms, as predicted, happened – fits of coughing,
throwing up, and heart palpitations showed that the pill was being
rejected by the body. Yet by the end of the second day these effects
had faded to show that the process was finally complete.
Many
of the scientists were afraid, especially in Dawson's state, that the
subject might experience delusions of grandeur or megalomania, yet it
seemed to be like James continued to live his life as normal, as if
he had never even taken the pill nor considered its ability. His true
intentions were unknown by the scientists at this point.
25
years later
This
was the first time that the effects of the immortality pill really
showed. While walking away from his Mannheitten apartment, an obvious
drunk driver hit James at roughly 100 mph, enough to kill any man.
The car ended up spiraling out of control and being almost torn in
half by the pole it hit. While the driver himself was killed almost
instantly, James suffered only a few minor bruises and scratches
which healed quickly. To make sure no one was to find that he
survived and wonder about how he did, he made his way out of the area
as fast as possible.
50
years later
It
was at this time, relatively 75 years after he had taken the pill,
that the members of his generation had died. Dawson seemed untroubled
by this, however – his remaining family had died relatively
recently to when he first took the pill (which is the biggest reason
why he chose to volunteer) and Dawson himself seemed to not be
interested in neither man nor woman in a romantic sense. As for the
connection to his generation, the pill granted no age change; so he
stuck with whatever generation was around their early 30s.
It
was also at this time that Dawson had gotten wiser. He no longer
seemed to be effected by the arrogance that plagued him in his early
years. This time, he had a drive – a drive for work, a drive for
learning, a drive for changing the world to be better than what it
was before. This interested the scientists, mostly because they had
expected the exact opposite. Dawson was not only becoming omnipotent
– he was omniscient.
100
years later
After
decades of switching between companies, switching between states and
countries to make sure no one connected that he was the same person,
he was sitting on a fortune of roughly $65 billion. Of course, he had
to hide it, and he did a good job of it too – very little did he
spend in the first place, since he didn't need to buy groceries (he
was no longer hungry or thirsty) or anything else that was required
as a basic human need. Instead, he donated most of the money, seeing
he would not need it himself, privately to organizations all across
the globe.
However,
a storm was coming. Dawson knew it, but no one else did.
He
had lived long enough to know the tell tale signs of a war, and the
tensions were heating up all across the globe. Incredibly there had
been no more massive wars while he still lived, yet at this point in
technology if there was it would easily wipe out all life on the
planet.
And
the leaders; the leaders were just as arrogant as he once was. Their
scientists and advisors dared to tell them the repercussions but none
listened. War was coming, and Dawson could feel it.
2,000
years later
It
was around the 2,000th anniversary of the Third Great War,
yet no one was around but Dawson to remember it. Yes, just as James
predicted, life had been completely annihilated from the planet. The
world's loneliest man wandered across the barrens and wastes as he
thought to himself of the stupid decision he had made over 2,175
years ago. The scientists were right – it was simply not worth
living in this world, experiencing what would happen. It was only a
few more years left until the world itself collapsed, and Dawson
spent the rest of his time doing two things – thinking and waiting.
1,000,000,000
years later
Sure
enough, the world crumbled. Sure enough, all worlds crumbled – at
this point it was simply Dawson and a void. He hated the feeling he
had – a feeling of uselessness in a useless universe. This was it,
the very end – and James Dawson was here to witness it.
No
life, no water, not even a truly formed rock. Just a bunch of debris
shrouded over a black abyss. No matter where James looked, he could
not find anything but dying stars, fine dust, and comets with no
where else to go. It was a lonely place, more lonely than anything
Dawson had witnessed before.
Yet,
with enough years of thinking, James reminded himself of something.
If
there was no more life, why couldn't he create it himself?
Sure,
it took billions of more years, but James found ways to produce
molecules of needed for the things he was used to seeing, and spent
the time to create again all himself. Slowly he began forming it all
together again – the universe, the galaxies, the solar systems, and
finally, in one place, he made a single planet that reminded him of
home. One place where animals could lay and mountains could form and
life could start all over again.
Once
he was finished setting down the basics, he decided to give it a
name. And what better name to be given then the last family that was
in his life before he decided to take the pill. The one that had died
just before he made the decision that would change his life forever –
his mother, Eartha.
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