I never thought this day would come.  Things have changed in the year 14,580 DD.  Humans no longer age in a mere century.  We’ve changed our diets, medical technology, you can even have your whole muscle system rebuilt if you have a sprain or tear.  The process takes minutes, not days.  And here I am cheating death for 969 years- same age as Methuselah (praise the lord) son of Enoch.  My body and face look like that of a 30 year old. 

 

 

I don’t feel 30 though. 

 

More like a pile of dust that keeps collecting and shaping that pile back into a man. 

 

A call came in the morning from the Preservers; who are more gods than doctors.  They can see when the brain is starting to fail.  A monitor in every person so that they can fix what can be fixed and give you enough notice when it can’t.  

 

“The brain activity, Master Hughes, is showing what we call the final flicker.  You have a dozen hours to live.  Once the brain is gone we cannot issue you a new one lest we chance destroying the soul.” Their voice is threaded with tinny empathy.

 

“I understand, thank you. I will make the arrangements." There's nothing more to say than that.

 

“We ask that your body is not burned or buried so that we can recycle the parts.”

 

“Of course.  The cycle continues for the good of all”

 

“The cycle continue for the good of all."

 

What they don’t tell you is how carrying a millennium worth of memories ravages the mind.  I see all the faces of my past like a flip book.

 

  I’ll start my day in the same routine I always have, espresso, the barber for a flash shave, a cigar while I stare at the tree (each city has one, protected by a small army). 

 

The green on the tree is different today, darker, almost black, it’s surrounded by glass and cleaned religiously. 

 

A relic. 

 

Nature is life, my daughter once said, and here I am staring at the last glimpse of nature and the last glimpse of my life.  I close my eyes and feel the fireworks in my brain.  I try to picture what a flower may look like, I see her face. 

 

Then nothing.