Sally Holmes was reading the list of questions when the director shouted, “Be ready in ten.” She put the paper down on the coffee table in front of her and straightened her spine. As the cameraman counted with his fingers held high above his head, she smiled at Robert sitting at her right and then faced the camera.
“Action,” shouted the director.
“Welcome,” she said. “Tonight on the show, we have with us the famous theologian, Robert Wilson. He’s written ten best-selling books and has helped millions through his motivational workshops all over the country. He’s been an advisor to various past presidents, business tycoons, actors, artists, and athletes. Countless people have benefitted from his ideas about faith, grief, addiction and tough personal choices.”
(applause from the audience)
The camera panned and zoomed out to include Robert Wilson in the frame. Sally Holmes turned her upper body a little in his direction and spoke, “Welcome, Mister Wilson, thank you for being here tonight.”
“My pleasure.”
“Your latest book Encounters of the Afterlife, is set to hit the bookshelves next week. Tell us a little bit about it.”
“Well, we’ve all heard about the Hamilton catastrophe that shook our country last year. A total of seventeen hundred and eighty-two people lost their lives and were subsequently brought back from the dead. This book contains a firsthand account of my interviews with many of these survivors.”
“Did you have to do a lot of research for it?”
“More than I had imagined. Many survivors had relocated or weren’t willing to talk about what had happened. I met and interviewed more than five hundred of the resurrected survivors. It was overwhelming at times, but something that I felt compelled to do.”
“What did you conclude from all the research?”
“The more I researched, the clearer it became to me that the afterlife is more or less dependent upon a person’s subconscious during one’s life. For example, if one has led a life full of guilt about one’s actions, the afterlife is quite hellish but, on the other hand, if one perceives that one has led an honorable life, the afterlife is pretty heavenly.”
“A lot of the resurrected ones have given television interviews or written books, and it has strengthened people’s belief of heaven and hell in the afterlife. Do you agree with that?”
“I don’t think it’s that simple. The afterlife is way too complex to be painted either black or white. I came across many people who were confused by their personal afterlife experience. They couldn’t tell if they were being punished or being rewarded.”
“Most religions have pointed out that the Hamilton catastrophe is just the beginning of the prophesied resurrection and the Judgment Day is near.”
“I think all that talk is fear-mongering. I know for a fact that it was a mechanical failure that lead to the release of harmful radiation. It’s always easy to point to a current scenario and connect it with a prediction from the past, but most of the times it’s wrong to do that.”
“It has lead to people having renewed faith,” said Sally. “There have been record attendances at churches across the country.”
“I’m very happy about that, but I find it a bit disturbing that it took such a catastrophe for people to find faith again. I mean, look at how small we are compared to the universe. It baffles me when people ignore the existence of the creator. But then, I guess a theologian can never understand the ideology of an atheist.”
“My last question to you today is, what is your personal view about resurrection?”
“When the Age-Reversal therapy first came out, I supported people’s free will to accept it or to avoid it. To be fully honest with you, I have been afraid of death just as most people are at some point in their lives. I ‘went young’ because I felt I had a lot more to do in my life, and I needed more time. The discovery of resurrection opens a door for people to see what’s on the other side of death. It’s going to take the fear out of death. I most definitely want to be resurrected, at least once, and take a peek on the other side. What scares me now, is the never ending cycle of life. Ultimately, I will accept death, be cremated, never to be resurrected again, and move on, but just not yet.”
“Thank you so much for sharing your views and time with us, and I look forward to reading your new book,” said Sally.
“Thank you,” said Robert.
The camera panned and zoomed in on Sally.
“People all over the country are divided on how to deal with the issue of resurrection. A few state governments have given Phoenix the green light to market resurrection as a service to the public, while many conservative states have banned it. Most states are considering putting the legality issue up to the people to vote on in the next election. The president has openly criticized making resurrection available to the public, but recently he said he honors the free will of people who want it. Talking about politics, next up on the show we have Richmond Spader, the right-wing spokesman. See you after a short break.”
(applause from the audience)
From Conrad Hayley’s Diary-
October 11, 2052
The world has changed. Wait, that’s not true. The world is the same. The people have changed.
A few years ago, the Gene Therapy ignited that change. I was the source of the change, or at least I like to believe so. The nerdy boys had called me up to see if I wanted to be a guinea pig for them once more.
I accepted.
To my surprise and relief, this time there was no pain involved. After a simple injection, I slept for a few hours and woke up as a new man.
The experiment was a success.
I felt as if I had been sleepwalking my entire life, and had finally woken up. I saw everything clearly. After that day, my instincts guided me to always do the right thing. Time, to me, became a treasure, and I spent each second wisely. As I understand now, the serum has changed my DNA to eliminate the negative feelings of anger, rage, jealousy, envy, selfishness, cowardice, laziness and fear. It has also strengthened my qualities of discipline, responsibility, and fairness. The changes to my DNA are irreversible. Millions of years of evolution took place in my cells within hours. Initially, the media criticized the Gene Therapy and said that it was evolving people into something other than humans, but soon it became apparent to all that the therapy converted people to be the best they could be. I call people like me, Evolved Life Forms, or in short, ELFs.
I have simply evolved. To me, humans appear to be as stupid as the monkeys appear to them. The government has made it mandatory for all adults to be administered the Gene Therapy. The religious establishments slowly softened their stance against the therapy as the latest research data suggested that humans were responsible for all the crime and corruption. Today, only less than three percent of the world population is human. Poverty doesn’t exist anymore, and world hunger is a thing of the past. I wish we could make the humans go extinct faster, but we have to wait for the young ones to be adults before converting them into ELFs, because Gene therapy administered to non-adults can be fatal. Within this decade, the humans will cease to exist.
It’s common knowledge now that resurrecting a hundred-year-old, well-preserved corpse is possible. The nerdy boys tried hard to fool people into believing that resurrection of a corpse dead for longer than seven days wasn’t possible, but it was only humans who fell for that lie. The evolved one’s, the ELFs, soon found out the truth—the buried corpses are a threat to evolution. If someone was to resurrect one of the buried human corpses, and if that resurrected person was to interbreed with the evolved ones, it would be a huge blow to evolution. Consequently, graveyards are disappearing fast. The coffins are being dug up and burned. We can use the extra space.
THE END