IMMORTAL
By A. M. McNALLY
Immortal
Copyright 2014 A. M. McNally
Cover image by Olivia Gabrielle Addison
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For my husband, Stevie,
who always believes in me.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
EPILOGUE
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
‘You should go home, Amari,’ Ambrose said with a smile, as he tapped new data into his computer. ‘Get some sleep before the big night.’
‘I don’t need sleep. I just need tomorrow to go exactly according to plan.’
‘This is so like you. If you weren’t immortal, I’d worry you may die of exhaustion,’ he glanced at her, smiling again, and confirmed changes in the simulation.
‘Well, you needn’t worry about me, do you, as I certainly am immortal. Just got my annual shot today, as a matter of fact.’
‘What? It’s your immortali day and you didn’t say a word? We must celebrate!’
‘We’ll celebrate when this is over. Right now all I want is to make sure The Universe gets launched in style.’
‘It will. Ok, that’s done. Is there anything else?’
‘Just one other thing in the Sun. I think we need an extra second between the dimming of the lights and the walls going transparent. Four seconds isn’t enough, people will need more time to adjust and fully appreciate it.’
‘Ok, no problem. Give me a minute.’
She watched his hologram as he worked, fast and competent as always. It took her weeks of interviewing to find the right man for the job, but it was time well spent.
‘How’s your new idatron, by the way?’ Ambrose asked her, still busy adjusting the simulation.
‘It’s brilliant, actually,’ she said, glancing at the small, trapezoid-shaped device lying in front of her. Ambrose’s hologram was beaming from the slit cutting across its top. ‘Thanks for helping me configure it.’
‘No problem. Is it more accurate, then?’
‘By a hundred light years. I don’t know what I would’ve done without it these last few weeks. The old one only complicated my work if I wasn’t fully focused, but the new one reads me perfectly even when I’m shattered.’
‘Glad to hear that. Okey-dokey,’ he announced, ‘that’s done now as well. Will madam be requiring anything else this evening?’ she couldn’t help but smile back at him, despite stress and exhaustion.
‘No, that should be perfect now. Thanks a lot, Ambie.’
‘My pleasure.’
His hologram shrunk into a green line and disappeared as if sucked into her idatron. Ten years ago, she thought, making a couple of adjustments like that would have taken hours. Life without idatrons seemed almost as distant as cars running on fossil fuels.
Amaranthine sent another mental signal to her idatron, ordering it to connect her with Perenelle. The device read her will perfectly, and a couple of seconds later her PA’s slim figure, dressed in a skirt suit, appeared in the middle of her office. Amaranthine could see the main bar of The Universe in the background. Perenelle was in Ground Zero, seeing to last-minute details.
‘Hi Penny. How is it going down there?’
‘Hey boss. It’s all under control.’
‘Have you checked the guest list? Has everyone confirmed?’
‘Yes, they have. Apart from Dr. Life, of course, but I have a sneaky feeling he might turn up for this one, Amari. Wouldn’t it be something?’ excitement lit up her eyes.
‘I wouldn’t count on it.’ Amaranthine was not surprised at her PA’s high hopes, but refused to give in to them. Dr. Life, the inventor of the Cure, was naturally on everyone’s A list, and few could say they were personally acquainted with him. But Amari was a professional and she never mixed business with emotions. And as far as Dr. Life was concerned, she knew this: ever since she started in PR, she has invited him to at least 30 top events and he’s only turned up once, for a party that was in honor of one of his best friends.
‘He does have to go out sometimes!’ Perenelle persisted. ‘And The Universe’s opening night will be amazing.’
‘Let’s stop speculating,’ Amaranthine cut her off. ‘Have all the media people confirmed as well?’
‘Yes, even Constantine Spencer! I can’t believe you managed to get him on board. I mean, he’s the top reporter of The Immortal Times! How did you do it?’ there was a note of jealous admiration in her voice.
‘That’s good, thanks.’ Again, Amaranthine remained businesslike. ‘Could you make sure that the caterers have got everything ready, please, and then I suppose you can go home. Be there tomorrow at 5 pm, ok? I’m going to need you in case something comes up.’
‘Sure, no problem. See you on the big night, then!’
The projection disappeared. Amaranthine glanced at the time – it was one-thirty in the morning. Deciding that there was nothing else she could perfect tonight, she stood up and put on her shawl and coat, summoning her hovercar at the same time via a mental signal.
Waiting for her vehicle, she admired the spectacular cityscape of New York City, something she hadn’t had a chance to do all night. Recent nights had been freezing, but the air was so clear, not a speck of dust or vapor blurring the city lights that stretched for miles ahead.
It’s already December 25th, 2105, she thought. My immortali day came and passed without me even noticing. But The Universe project is far more important. After all, it’s not every day one gets to work on the launch of the first ever hovering nightclub in the world, the venue that’s on the lips of every trendy Immortal not only in New York, but all of the United States and half the planet. We’re making history here, so my immortali day drinks can wait. Not to mention I’ve spent 6 months on this project and it’s all coming to a head in less than 20 hours.
A sleek, streamlined vehicle approached the transparent wall of her office and hovered patiently outside. The powerful humming of the engines reached her ears as a perfect rectangle of the portal tore itself from the wall and slowly lowered out towards the hovercar. She still felt uneasy stepping on plastglass platforms, despite having them installed in the office as well as at home, for a few years now.
She inhaled fresh, clean air, and glanced at the city stretching below, dozens of skyscrapers girdled with multi-leveled traffic of hovermobiles. It looked like a beehive, only a perfectly organized one, as if the bees sat on invisible ribbons entwining the buildings. Traffic wasn’t heavy at this time of night; only two out of the five hoverways were still fairly busy. 140 floors down a thick white carpet of snow coated the ground.
The platform sealed back into her office wall as h
er hovercar’s hatch closed. She tried to relax in her seat. As usual, she didn’t fully succeed, despite the reassuring gleam of the Safety Panel.
The hovermobile flew down, accelerating gently as it joined the fifth level of New York City’s hover traffic.
Amaranthine was home within a few minutes of leaving the office. Her apartment was on the top floor of a hundred-storey building and offered a superb view of New York, maybe not as overwhelming as her office, but the 50-mile distance let her see the whole of the city as if on the palm of her hand.
The hovermobile dropped her off at the portal and lowered itself down to the charging station located on the fifth floor. She watched the edges of the portal merge into the plastglass wall without a seam, locking her in the warmth of her apartment.
‘Welcome home, Amaranthine. How was your day?’ dulcet, ubiquitous voice welcomed her. ‘You must be tired. Did you have to work late again?’
‘Yeah,’ she said, taking off her shoes and coat. ‘It’s the opening night in less than 20 hours, so I had to make sure every angle is covered.’
She could answer with a mental signal, but she enjoyed communicating with Eiko through voice. Also, the manufacturer recommended it, as it apparently helped the computer tune in better with the user’s mind and interpret her thoughts more precisely. ‘We filter out too much when we speak,’ the engineer had explained to her. ‘But our voice gives away more than we realize. The computer analyzes your tone, timbre and intonation, compares it with the message it’s getting from your brain and guesses what you really want, rather than what you say you want – or what you think you want. After a time, it’ll learn your brain wave patterns so well, it’ll answer a question before you even become aware you want to ask it.’
‘I understand,’ said Eiko. Amari liked the sound of her voice, the product of a few hours spent in a lab, having her brain waves analyzed as she listened to various messages played in different voicefonts to find that most comforting one.
‘Would you like me to fix you a drink?’ asked Eiko, getting her out of the daydream.
‘That would be nice. I’ll have an...’
‘Ambrosia?’ offered Eiko, when it was clear Amaranthine won’t finish her sentence. She was a mind-reading computer, but she had her manners, too.
‘Yes, please.’
Amaranthine took off her jacket as she crossed her spacious, luxuriously yet sparingly furnished living room. She threw the coat onto the big sofa on the way to the bathroom. By the time she returned, her drink was waiting underneath a stain-glass hatch in the middle of the bar area. She picked up the frosted glass and sipped with delight. It was her favorite cocktail and Eiko made it perfectly every time.
Eiko also changed the lighting in her short absence. It was dimmed now, creating quaint shade effects on the walls and windows.
She went over to the sofa and sank into it, enjoying the softness and comfort. She loved her apartment, every piece of furniture, every device, every function being there purely for the purpose of making her comfortable.
‘I had a new relaxation program uploaded today,’ said Eiko. ‘Would you like to try it out?’
‘Sure, why not.’ Amaranthine stretched on the sofa, which immediately bulged up in all the right places to adjust itself to the curves of her body. ‘What have you got?’
‘Let me make it a surprise. Would you like the olfactory effects on?’
‘Mmm. Well, if you recommend them, I’ll try anything. You know my taste better than myself.’
‘Make yourself comfortable.’
Amaranthine took a sip of her drink and put it away, then relaxed in anticipation.
Quickly yet smoothly, her living room transformed. She wasn’t lying on a sofa anymore; she was suspended between the ground and the sky, supported only by a hammock stretched between two giant trees growing in the middle of a tropical rainforest. The jungle was lit up by brilliant sunshine, sunrays beaming through the thick canopy high above her head and reflecting on the huge drops of recent rain that she could smell in the hot, humid air. It was majestically quiet at first, as if it was enjoying the moment as much as she was. Then she started hearing songs of invisible birds, steps of animals on the ground down below and rustling in the treetops. She sat up and looked around her – and then she noticed them. A couple of quetzals, the birds of paradise, displaying their brilliantly colored feathers and long tails. Prompted by a nearby rustling noise, she looked the other way and saw a large orangutan pass so close that she could touch it if she stretched out her arm. She inhaled the smell of the forest, soaking up its beauty and dignity.
‘That was amazing, thanks, Eiko,’ she said when the program ended and she returned to reality, to her sofa and her favorite cocktail standing on the low table. She really did feel relaxed, the tension of the long day that lingered in her muscles miraculously eased and the stress of the day ahead warded off.
How great it is to be able to see all of those amazing places without having to leave the safety and comfort of your apartment, she thought as she picked up the idatron and headed for the bedroom. The living room lights faded away behind her. Especially that half of them are in countries or areas that aren’t yet covered with hovertraffic control systems, so you couldn’t physically go there even if you wanted to, unless you had a hoverpilot’s license.
She placed the idatron on the charging station on the bedside table. As soon as she sank into her big, soft bed, the sateen sheets stroking her skin, her bedroom was wrapped in perfect darkness.
CHAPTER TWO
Amaranthine woke up relaxed and excited about the day ahead. Six months of hard work is about to pay off, she thought as she rolled over in her bed and looked at the time. The digits hovering just above her idatron read 08:12. She looked at the windows that covered the whole east wall of her bedroom. She had a feeling it was a bright day outside. This time she chose to communicate with Eiko non-verbally. As if by touch of a magic wand and in synch with her pupil dilation, the windows brightened up, losing the black-out film and became transparent, revealing the view outside. Just as she’d predicted, the weather was stunning.
‘Morning, Eiko,’ she said.
‘Good morning, Amaranthine. Did you sleep well?’
‘I did, thanks.’
‘Would you like your coffee in bed?’
‘No, I’ll have it in the living room,’ she said, getting up. ‘I want to catch up on some news, otherwise I’ll embarrass myself tonight. I haven’t had a chance to watch anything for two weeks.’
‘Your coffee will be ready as soon as you’ve had your shower.’
‘Great, thanks,’ she said, making her way to the bathroom.
In the shower, she went over the opening ceremony plan in her head, but she didn’t find anything that should be adjusted. Everything was perfect, just as it should be. All she needed to do now was to get herself ready. She wondered what time Phoenix would arrive from Sydney. Hopefully the high-profile duovitaery case he was working on wouldn’t keep him there till late. As far as she remembered, he was to be in court for the last session this week before midnight last night, New York time. Then he’d just need to wrap it up and would be free to get back to the States.
She dried her hair in a towel and began brushing it.
‘Eiko,’ she remembered suddenly, ‘did you get those new designs for my hairstyling machine?’
‘Yes, they came through yesterday. Would you like to try them out?’
‘Yes, show me what you’ve got,’ she said, sitting down on the armchair in the corner of her bathroom. Immediately, Eiko started the projection. Various hair styles, all specially selected to suit the length and type of her hair, appeared in front of her face. She looked through them briefly, letting Eiko read her first, involuntary impressions and shortlist the hairstyles she favored. Mind-reading computers are great, she thought. No more endless wondering, does it match the outfit or not, does it suit me or not, is it appropriate for the occasion? Eiko had all the answers without
her having to even verbalize her doubts.
In the end, she had it narrowed down to two hairstyles that were equally good.
‘Why don’t we try this one,’ she said, looking at an elaborate pin-up surrounded with soft, wavy strands. ‘How long does it take?’
‘Fourteen minutes.’
‘Ok, go ahead.’
The projection disappeared. As she sat back, the seat slid backwards and positioned itself at the wall, Amari’s head directly underneath the hull of the hairstyling machine. As it started to lower itself, hiding her head completely, she relaxed and closed her eyes.
It started with a head massage as usual, the synthetic hands soft, yet firm and competent on her scalp. Then she felt the brushes moving through the whole length of her hair, sorting out all tangles with gentle pulls. At the same time, the dryers kicked in, humming steadily. She knew by the slight wet sensation and the smell that the hair volumizer was also being applied through the bristles.
After a few minutes of gentle tugging and pulling, the machine lifted itself up back to the original position, and the seat turned to the left, letting Amari assess the result in the mirror.
She smiled, happy with the result.
‘That’s good, Eiko, but we may try the other one out later,’ she announced. ‘Depends on which gown I go for.’
She went over to the living room, sat down on her sofa and reached out for the big steaming cup of coffee waiting for her on the low table.
‘Ok, Eiko, show me what’s been happening in the world.’
Eiko dimmed the light a little for better contrast, and started playing the news. It was a compilation of the most recent events, material sourced from a few media reports to provide the most concise information.
The first item was dated December 9th. Fourteen days ago.
‘A group of teenagers, majority of them female, are protesting this morning in front of The Immortality Institute, demanding yet again the lowering of the age from which the Cure can be administered to humans,’ the presenter said. ‘Constantine has the story.’
The camera showed the famous reporter standing outside the entrance to an octagonal skyscraper in the heart of Manhattan – the best-known building in the world. Amaranthine knew that if the camera zoomed out, she’d see her own office building just two hundred yards to the right.