He stretched and felt muscles that had disappeared before he had his last erection. "God, I feel good," he said aloud. The voice was strong and sounded youthful, not shaky and old as it had become.
Charlie glanced around the room. It was nothing like the hospital rooms in the states where his first rejuvenation had failed. Anger flashed through him. In the states, you were given only one chance at the reclamation of youth. Lily had found the Caribbean facility that would offer him the second chance that his own country would deny him. Lily had not needed the second chance. She had taken the first time. Charlie sighed, wishing Lily was with him.
He gazed out the window to the sea. Greens and blues intermingled and alternated in the waters denoting shallow and deep waters. A boat sailed calmly in the distance. A Caribbean breeze filled the sails. Waves lapped the beach rhythmically. The sun illuminated both water and sand. He watched people lying on beach towels. Others dove into the waves as they broke near the shore. One couple, young and vigorous, strolled hand-in-hand down the sand. Occasionally, they would bump into one another. He could almost feel the contact. Charlie reached between his legs. He wished Lily was with him.
"Oh good, you're awake." Charlie removed his hand from beneath the covers with a start. He felt his face flush. One of the nurses walked into the room carrying something in her hands. "I need some blood, Mr. Lee. Just a little, I promise." She smiled at him. He found himself smiling back. Charlie judged her age to be around thirty, but who knew anymore.
The nurse took his left arm at the wrist and pulled his arm out straight. She placed a small instrument with a vial attached to the soft area inside the elbow. She moved the device until she saw a green light. He felt no stick, but the vial began filling with blood. When it was full, the nurse removed the instrument. She smiled at him and squeezed his hand before letting go. Charlie glanced at his arm. There was no blood and no indication of a needlestick.
"Thank you, Mr. Lee," she said as she started for the door.
"Nurse?"
She turned and stopped just before the closed door. "Do you need anything, Mr. Lee? Are you hungry?"
He shook his head. Charlie was too nervous to eat. "Did I take this time?" He almost forced the question out of his mouth quickly adding, "When I woke, I had an erection." Charlie felt another blush.
She smiled, flashing dimples under her cheekbones at him. "Mr. Lee, I can't tell you that you took, but ..." she glanced toward the closed door and then back at Charlie, "... I'd say that was a good sign." She turned and opened the door, glancing back at him. "Let's wait and see what Dr. Alvarez has to tell you. She was waiting on the results of a few tests, but I'm sure she'll be here in a little while." The nurse left.
Did I take this time? He knew he could not judge by the way he felt. Last year, he had felt just as good, but for some reason his body completely rejected the procedure. The doctors had some long name for it, but he just didn't take. But Lily did take. He reached across the bed and picked up the picture of his wife. Lily turned ninety this past week. In the photograph, taken just before she left for her training last year, long brown hair tumbled to her shoulders, a look of surprise in her eyes as the flash went off. Her face was smooth and young unlike the wrinkled contour he had memorized through time.
Tears rolled down his face. Lily grew younger each day. He remained old, wrinkled, and bent. Did I take this time? The thought echoed again in his mind as he studied the picture of his wife. If he took, then Lily would be waiting for him. If he did not take, well that only left dying. The possibility of his not taking was why Lily was not here with him. They made an agreement.
Six years ago on Lily's eight-fourth birthday, she broached the subject of taking the procedure. Charlie had researched it on the web and by talking to medical doctors. He knew the chances of both of them taking was less than fifty percent. He told her so. Lily ignored him. Charlie knew he would give Lily what she wanted. He usually did.
The procedure was open to everyone, but with a catch: to accept meant an out-migration to the colonies. Charlie and Lily discussed the options: the Moon, the terraforming of Mars, or mining the asteroids. Mars won out. But rather than take the procedure immediately, Lily insisted they train for new careers which would help them be accepted for the Mars Project at professional levels. Charlie became a genetics engineer, specializing in oxygen-generating plants. Lily studied Martian meteorology. After earning doctoral degrees by computer, they flew to Boulder for the procedure.
Lily took. He did not take.
Charlie wanted to die. He saw his wife of seventy-one years regain her youthful appearance. He stayed a decaying old man. He encouraged her to start a new life without him. Depression took hold. Lily insisted on his following the letter of their agreement.
"Charlie Lee, we've been together for too long for you to give up, now." She scolded him. Her voice which cracked with age two weeks before had become the warm contralto of her youth. Charlie had loved that voice once. Now it filled him with loneliness.
"You knew the chances of both of us taking on the first try was iffy, but we agreed," she continued. "If one of us took and the other didn't, then the one who took would pave the way for the one who didn't take. That's why we saved the money for the second chance procedure in Jamaica." She smiled at him. Perfect natural teeth had regenerated and replaced porcelain teeth. Her voice softened as she caressed his wrinkled, old face. "Besides, you'd do it for me. I love you, Charlie."
Two weeks later, the night before she left for training, Lily excitedly discussed the prospect of reconditioning a planet for future generations. The complete terraformation of Mars would take hundreds of years. Neither Charlie nor Lily would likely see the end of it. But Lily was convinced of the project's import.
"Honey, this is something we must do." She kissed his forehead. "Next year, when you take, I'll have a new home ready for us. One big enough for you, me, and the children."
Charlie looked puzzled. "Children? Now, Lily, Charles and Jan are grown with children and grandchildren of their own. They won't be ..." The look on her face stopped him.
She laughed, then kissed him. "Charlie Lee, you've always been fairly dense. We can start a new family now."
A new family, he thought. He had watched her transform before his eyes for the last three weeks. Her hair changed from white to light brown within two days. Her eyes had been sightless for years, but since the procedure, he watched them clear. He nodded at his wife. "I guess I accepted the outward signs, but I never thought of the regeneration of organs." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Children, huh? We'll see."
"`We'll see,' my foot." That settled it as far as Lily was concerned. He sighed. They didn't speak for a long time. Tears welled up inside him. Charlie tried to hide them from her. He was afraid he would never see her again. He held her all night long, just touches and tears. In the morning, Charlie told her good-bye like it was the last time he would ever see her.
Lily's first six months were on the moon for additional training in the project. Letters were written, emails sent, and phone calls multiplied. Charlie loved seeing her and hearing her, but the calls were devastating. He would look at the screen and tell her how much he loved and missed her. To himself, he made the necessary plans. If the procedure did not take this time, he would have to let her go. Lily's youth and vibrancy screamed at him through the screen, so much like the Lily he had married. He knew he may never be the man she married. After her training, she would come home for a week. He would prepare her then.
"Mr. Lee?" Charlie awoke with a jump. Had he been dreaming? He felt for the erection. It was gone. "Mr. Lee?" He turned toward the voice and saw Dr. Alvarez standing over the bed. She smiled at him. "How do you feel, Mr. Lee?" She's too damn young to be a doctor, he thought.
He grunted and frowned. "Why don't you tell me?"
She nodded at him. "Well, the blood tests are extremely encouraging. Muscle mass appears to be returning on an hourly basis." Alvarez consulted the clipboard she carried in her right hand. "Your appearance has modified greatly since the regenerative procedure last week."
She looked up at him and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Charlie noticed a slight frown upon her face. She seemed to be debating herself. Uh-oh, he thought. Bad news. Thoughts of Lily filled his mind. Charlie banished them. "Spill it, young lady," he said. "What's the problem?"
"I wouldn't call it a problem, Mr. Lee," Alvarez said. "It is more of a concern. The labs have noted a slight degeneration in your cells that may affect the outcome of the procedure."
Charlie closed his eyes. A sinking, cold feeling shot down his midsection. "`A slight degeneration,' what does that mean, Doctor?"
Alvarez put her hand over his. Charlie noticed the smoothness of his hands against hers. "It means that a small, but significant number of your cells are rejecting the regenerative process," Alvarez said with seriousness. "I am not alarmed at the moment, but it bears our attention."
Charlie thought of Lily waiting for his call. "Did I take or not?"
"I believe the procedure was most probably a success, but there have been instances-," Alvarez caught her words and swallowed the rest of the statement. Charlie knew that she was more concerned than she let on. He had failed the procedure before. Alvarez continued.
"We need to continue to monitor this degeneration," she said, removing her hand from the top of his. "Of course, you'll continue to receive the adjunct immunosuppressant therapy to slow your cells' resistance to the daily doses of regenerative compounds."
Charlie opened his eyes and sat up on the bed. "Why is this happening?"
Alvarez shook her head before saying, "Your old cells are fighting the regenerated cells in your body. Everything depends on how fast the regenerated cells are multiplying. Given your experience last year in the States, we want to err on the side of caution, Mr. Lee. You appear to be in the final stages of the regenerative phase, but some of your cells have arrested their regenerative efforts prematurely. I need the blood work up to make a final determination of your outcome."
Charlie digested her words and felt his insides churn. "How long before we know if I took this time?"
"The definitive test will be finished in a couple of hours," she said, glancing at the pad in her hand. Alvarez changed the subject. "Mr. Lee, about your wife. Don't you think she has the right-" Charlie interrupted her.
"Not just yet, Doctor," he blurted. Lily! "Not until we know one way or another." He saw Alvarez open her mouth, hesitate, then close it. As she turned to leave, Charlie asked if he could see a mirror.
"There's one in the bathroom," she said over her shoulder. She turned and smiled at him. "I'd rather you stayed in bed, but I know you won't. Sit on the side of the bed and dangle your feet for a couple of moments before you get up. I don't want you busting your head." Alvarez left.
Reaching across the bed, Charlie hit at the button to lower the rails, but locked the door by mistake. He unlocked the door to his room and hit the correct button. The rails lowered and Charlie threw back the covers and swung his legs off the side of the bed. He saw nice, pink-colored feet. He saw feet getting the right amount of blood. After a moment, he stood slowly. The hospital gown opened in the back, exposing him to the air conditioning. He ambled to the bathroom holding onto objects as he could. It was the first time he had been out of bed in a week. His legs did not hurt him. Best I've been able to walk in years, he thought.
He reached the sink and glared into the mirror. A face forty years younger than the one he had seen last week glared back. He smiled. The face smiled. Good Lord, he thought, I've got hair. Sparse bristles stood straight up off the top of his head. "Except for a five day growth of beard," Charlie said to himself, "I look good." He searched the cabinet behind the mirror and found a no-soap-no-nick razor. After shaving, he carefully made his way back to bed.
"Just what is it you're trying to say, Charlie?" He could tell from the derisive tone in her voice that she was mad. She had been gone for six months and all he wanted to talk about was what she should do id he did not take. Charlie remembered every aching morning he crawled out of bed. He would not accept her taking care of him until he died of old age. She needed to get on with her life.
"Lily, be reasonable," his old man voice croaked at his young wife. "I'm just trying to do what's best for you."
She pouted and grabbed his old face and stared into his eyes. God, he loved the feel of her touch. "Charlie Lee, I'm ninety years old and I will decide what is best for me."
"Lily, don't scream. Remember your blood pressure."
She could not help herself. Angry as she was she laughed. They both knew that her blood pressure was no longer a problem. She sighed at him. "Charlie, you are going through the procedure and this time you will take." She put her arms around him and kissed his forehead. He felt more like her great-grandfather than her husband. He knew he looked the part.
"I leave for the last of my training tomorrow," she said. "After that, I'll be back for the procedure and we'll go to Mars together."
Charlie frowned. "I do not want you at the procedure until we know for sure." They fought the rest of the night and into the morning, but Charlie held his ground. Finally, they reached an agreement. Lily would not come back to Earth until he called for her. They both knew that if he did not take, then he would not call. Finally, she made love to him. With tears and no other angry words they parted. Charlie felt a part of his life had died.
He stirred as he felt a gentle shaking on his shoulder. "Mr. Lee," Doctor Alvarez said to him. He rubbed his eyes and wondered aloud about his sleeping so much. "It's a natural part of the healing process," she said. Alvarez took a step back from the bed. Charlie sat up and looked at her. His stomach churned.
"Mr. Lee," Alvarez began. "We have the results of the last test." She paused.
"Well, did I take?"
"The procedure was a ninety percent success," she said. Charlie opened his mouth to speak, but Alvarez held a hand up. "No, let me finish. I was worried about your physical appearance. You should have looked much younger than you do." Alvarez smiled at him. "But the degeneration that we found is definitely confined to the integumentary system. To be precise, your skin is as young as it is going to get."
Charlie nodded. He could accept that. He wasn't sure he wanted to look much younger than fifty, anyway. Maybe a bit more hair, he thought as he rubbed his head. "Does that mean that everything else-"
Alvarez grinned as she interrupted him. "Yes, Mr. Lee, you took this time, as the popular saying goes. You'll find that your prostate and your appendix-" Charlie cut her off.
"Never mind the details, Doctor," he said. All of his thoughts were on Lily. "I'm sure I'll note the other changes. Right at this moment, I want a phone with visual circuits."
Alvarez said something to him and left. Charlie barely noticed. His mind raced with possibilities and plans that he had been putting off for a year. It was time to get on with life. He would be leaving for Mars soon. Lily would be waiting. A sudden thought hit him. "Children! I forgot to ask about children." Oh well, he thought. I'll get with the good doctor before I leave. "Lily, I wish you were here." A knock sounded at the door. He waited for someone to enter with the phone he requested. The knock sounded again. Gruffly, he yelled at the door, "Come in!"
A young woman with long, brown hair entered the room and stood staring at him. Charlie did not see a phone in her hands, and then recognition. "Lily!" Warmth flooded his body. Charlie felt like the young man he had once been and, on the inside at least, he had become again. Lily stared at him, not saying a word. She seemed to be waiting for him to do something. A crease of consternation furrowed his brow. "What in hell are you doing here, young lady," he said to her. "I thought you were preparing our new home. Besides, we had an agreement."
"Charlie Lee, you didn't really think I would honor a stupid agreement like that," she said, tears streaming down her face. "I've been waiting here the whole time, but I wasn't coming in until you asked for me. You're a stubborn old coot, but so am I." She stomped her foot and glared at him. She ran across the room and jumped into his bed. He caught and enveloped her with his arms. "Charlie, I thought I'd lost you." She gazed into his eyes. "I love you."
Charlie caressed her hair. "I love you, too, Lily. God, how I've missed you." He kissed her. Charlie felt familiar stirring in his body. Hormones long inactive rushed through his veins. Her smell, her touch awakened almost forgotten memories. He could feel the erection between his legs. Charlie guided her head away from him, so he could gaze at her young face. "Lily, don't I remember you saying something about children?" He watched her smile grow. Charlie pushed a button on the console of the bed. The door locked, automatically.
Terry Bramlett writes science fiction. His first novel, Formidable Enemy, is available at www.electricpublishing.com. The Elfland Affair is scheduled for publication in 2001 from Starlight Writers Publications. Terry grew up reading Heinlein, Asimov, and Clark, indicating a strong predilection toward hard SF. Other shorts have appeared in Fables.org and will appear in Anotherealm.com.
E-mail: TBRAMLETT@aol.com
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