Read Online Birth of the Alliance by Alex Albrinck - Free Book Online
Authors: Alex Albrinck
Tags: Science-Fiction, Literature & Fiction, Fantasy, Time travel, Science Fiction & Fantasy, cyberpunk, High Tech, Hard Science Fiction, Metaphysical & Visionary
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effects. He just needed to keep increasing the magnification strength of the microscopes until he reached that point.
Yet, time and again, he’d failed.
He tested the process again today. Ramped up the electrical assistance to his microscope to again increase the magnification, hearing the hum as the electrical power enhanced the lens capability. Opened the container with the cells scraped from the newest recruit, feeling like he was in some type of coroner’s room, sniffing dead cells ripe with the scent of decay. Opened the bottle of ambrosia, enjoying the incredibly sweet aroma. Dropped just a tiny bit of the liquid on the slide with the new cell. Peered with the heightened expectation that this time, he’d see the change happen, recognize with a flash of insight exactly what needed to be done so that his children could one day be born.
Today, again, he saw nothing.
No change.
The results weren’t just disappointing. No, they were devastating.
He walked around the city in a daze for weeks after this latest failure. How could it be possible? How could the juice not have an impact on the cells he'd collected? He had preserved and tested cells before and after the Purge, so the presence of Energy, or lack thereof, couldn't be the issue. He'd considered the idea that the cells must still be alive, and so he'd even scraped a few skin cells from the newest of recruits to the Alliance when they arrived at the Cavern and had immediately taken those cells to his microscopes. He still found nothing.
He tried submerging the cells in the juice, and at one point, in a fit of desperation, scraped cells onto a piece of the fruit he'd cut.
Nothing.
He could see absolutely no change in the cells.
A strange thought struck him. Were the effects no more than a powerful placebo effect?
That would suggest that the effects first experienced by Ambrose were no more than the result of vivid imagination. That the effects that all his myriad scores of children had experienced were an illusion generated by their minds. And all of the Aliomenti, including Will himself, had believed the story at such a deep level that they'd caused the change, whatever it actually was , to occur in their bodies.
He refused to believe that.
A few months later, he started mentioning his own immortality to his friends. He told them that there were side effects the Aliomenti had observed. Even with those warnings, the vast majority were still interested in going through the process, and Will said he’d tell them how a week later. For those who’d expressed interest, he did something he later regretted: slipped ambrosia into their food. The effects were unmistakable. Even those who didn’t know he’d given them the fruit experienced the effects.
It was no placebo effect.
Will told the volunteers about the immortality that came from eating the fruit. And he told them that he'd been trying to figure out how to reverse the process, about the microscopes in his lab at home he’d used to try to find the answers.
“The man who discovered this fruit knew the secret of reversing the symptoms, at least temporarily, and was able to father many children over his long life. Unfortunately, he died a few decades ago, taking his secret to the great beyond. I am trying to figure out how to perform this reversal so that all of us have the option available if we ever choose to go that route. I have not been successful, yet. The Aliomenti require all members to eat this fruit; anything suggesting that you've reversed the process, or a refusal to eat it when offered, is cause for dismissal, possibly even death at this point. It is my belief that each of us should have a choice. I do not know when the answers will come. You may choose to avoid this fruit if you wish. You may take it with the hope that we'll figure out how to reverse the effects in the future. You can wait to make a decision to eat this fruit as long as you'd like, or never. It's your choice, and it has
Yet, time and again, he’d failed.
He tested the process again today. Ramped up the electrical assistance to his microscope to again increase the magnification, hearing the hum as the electrical power enhanced the lens capability. Opened the container with the cells scraped from the newest recruit, feeling like he was in some type of coroner’s room, sniffing dead cells ripe with the scent of decay. Opened the bottle of ambrosia, enjoying the incredibly sweet aroma. Dropped just a tiny bit of the liquid on the slide with the new cell. Peered with the heightened expectation that this time, he’d see the change happen, recognize with a flash of insight exactly what needed to be done so that his children could one day be born.
Today, again, he saw nothing.
No change.
The results weren’t just disappointing. No, they were devastating.
He walked around the city in a daze for weeks after this latest failure. How could it be possible? How could the juice not have an impact on the cells he'd collected? He had preserved and tested cells before and after the Purge, so the presence of Energy, or lack thereof, couldn't be the issue. He'd considered the idea that the cells must still be alive, and so he'd even scraped a few skin cells from the newest of recruits to the Alliance when they arrived at the Cavern and had immediately taken those cells to his microscopes. He still found nothing.
He tried submerging the cells in the juice, and at one point, in a fit of desperation, scraped cells onto a piece of the fruit he'd cut.
Nothing.
He could see absolutely no change in the cells.
A strange thought struck him. Were the effects no more than a powerful placebo effect?
That would suggest that the effects first experienced by Ambrose were no more than the result of vivid imagination. That the effects that all his myriad scores of children had experienced were an illusion generated by their minds. And all of the Aliomenti, including Will himself, had believed the story at such a deep level that they'd caused the change, whatever it actually was , to occur in their bodies.
He refused to believe that.
A few months later, he started mentioning his own immortality to his friends. He told them that there were side effects the Aliomenti had observed. Even with those warnings, the vast majority were still interested in going through the process, and Will said he’d tell them how a week later. For those who’d expressed interest, he did something he later regretted: slipped ambrosia into their food. The effects were unmistakable. Even those who didn’t know he’d given them the fruit experienced the effects.
It was no placebo effect.
Will told the volunteers about the immortality that came from eating the fruit. And he told them that he'd been trying to figure out how to reverse the process, about the microscopes in his lab at home he’d used to try to find the answers.
“The man who discovered this fruit knew the secret of reversing the symptoms, at least temporarily, and was able to father many children over his long life. Unfortunately, he died a few decades ago, taking his secret to the great beyond. I am trying to figure out how to perform this reversal so that all of us have the option available if we ever choose to go that route. I have not been successful, yet. The Aliomenti require all members to eat this fruit; anything suggesting that you've reversed the process, or a refusal to eat it when offered, is cause for dismissal, possibly even death at this point. It is my belief that each of us should have a choice. I do not know when the answers will come. You may choose to avoid this fruit if you wish. You may take it with the hope that we'll figure out how to reverse the effects in the future. You can wait to make a decision to eat this fruit as long as you'd like, or never. It's your choice, and it has
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