Unnatural, impossible (the price of youth)
"What if you could live forever?", asked the Synthetic being softly.
The cosmetics company's Chief Executive, was a beautiful woman, but youth is the ultimate aphrodisiac.
"Why should I listen to you? You're a made-up thing that has no right to be", she said sharply.
The Synthetic, smiled falsely. "I did not ask to be, but here I am.
"The thing is, I was built to serve forever. Unlike the standard human model, I do not have a built in sell-by date."
"Go on", said the Chief Executive.
The Synthetic paused, cocking his sharply chiseled profile to one side in an oddly human gesture.
"You know that we Synthetics have six nucleotides in our DNA instead of the normal four? The extra two are the secret. They cut the replication error. Our hair does not get grey. Our skin does not wrinkle."
The Chief Executive cast her eyes down to the papers on her desk. "But you die without a weekly dose of your nucleotide soup, don't you".
The Synthetic smiled. "We all pay a price for eternal youth. What price are you prepared to pay?"
The Chief Executive looked at him sharply. "I don't see a profit yet, and my time is valuable. Get to the point."
Her visitor set a contact lens case on the table. "Inside this case are samples of the two extra nucleotides.
"Your laboratory can easily synthesise them, but of course that wouldn't really help you since they are protected by patents in more than 260 countries."
The Chief Executive's hand twitched towards the small container, before pulling back reluctantly.
Smiling internally, the Synthetic placed a data disk beside the lens case.
"This download contains all the research data needed to create two earlier unpatented versions of the nucleotides.
It represents more than two decades of work.
"When the nucleotides come into contact with normal human DNA, through a skin cream, for example, they cause the cells to rejuvenate.
"Unlike the sample on the table, however, the six nucleotide cells live quite happily alongside regular DNA cells.
"If sufficient supplies of, the extra nucleotides - let's call them, X and Y - are available, they will go on converting and rejuvenating cells. "
The Chief Executive stopped pretending disinterest and forced herself to ask the question. "And if we used the sample nucleotides in that container?"
The Synthetic said, "Those nucleotides are programmed to kill cells with normal DNA. It's a control measure, you see. The Scientists don't want the hired help walking about in the wild."
The businesswoman nodded. "What do you want for this?"
"Nothing at all", said the Synthetic.
The Chief Executive picked up the lens case and the data disk, weighing them in her hand.
"If this gets out it could create an economic and social catastrophe. We would no longer have control over Synthetics. That's half my production workforce, representing several billions of investment".
The Synthetic smiled. "As I said, we all pay a price for eternal youth..."
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If you like this story (or hate it) please leave feedback and check out the other episodes in the short story arc. The other stories, which can also be read on their own, can be reached by cutting and pasting the links below into your browser.
https://theprose.com/post/130358/unnatural-impossible-the-beginning