Chapter 1

After Margaret headed home the afternoon before (her time), I stayed behind to enjoy the warm sunshine and play with my new toy, an iPad. It arrived by UPS that morning and I was anxious to see what it could do.

I'm anything but a computer nerd. In fact, I'm one of those old farts who were dragged kicking and screaming into the computer age when the law firm in which I was a senior partner went digital back in the early 90s. My pathway to some elemental level of computer literacy was made considerably smoother by my grandson who practically grew up speaking the language and went on to earn a Master's in computer science. Now he works as a programmer for a big software company. He's also the one who badgered me into buying the iPad. I'm not one of those people who feel compelled to own the latest gadgetry so I resisted for as long as I could, eventually caving because the tablet's small size and portability made it convenient to haul around; that and it got my grandson to quit bugging me about it.

As I sat on the bench learning to navigate through the various functions, a man sat down at the other end of the bench and watched my trial and error method of discovery. Yes, I'm one of those guys who only consult the instruction booklet as a last resort. I could see him fixed on me out of the corner of my eye and it was beginning to make me feel a bit nervous. I looked up at him and said, "New toy. Are you familiar with them?"

He was a pleasant looking young man of about thirty or so. I took him to be a professional of some sort because of his appearance. He was clean-shaven and wore a nice medium gray suit with a dark blue shirt and a pale blue tie. There was something odd about his eyes, though; the irises were almost gold like a wolf's or a coyote's and they gave me the sense he was analyzing me from the inside out. That made me even more uncomfortable.

With a friendy smile, he said, "Yes, I have one myself. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have about how they work."

"Well, I just got it this morning so I don't even know enough to ask questions yet. I was just looking through the apps that came with it. So far, it's not that much different than my I-MAC at home except for the touch screen. I understand there are literally hundreds of apps you can download although I suppose they're mostly kid's games."

"Not really, there are quite a few very interesting and useful things out there, depending on your tastes. For instance, you can download E-books. I'm a sci-fi nut so I'm always on the lookout to see if anything new has come down the pike in that genre."

"Really? I've always enjoyed good science fiction but most of the stuff I see offered lately is junk. I think Asimov was my favorite but this guy - um, what's his name? – oh yes, Peter Hamilton. He's put out some pretty impressive stuff. Have you read any of his books?"

"Yes, I have. I find his ideas about the rejuvenation of aging bodies fascinating, don't you?"

"Sure do! If only..."

He lifted his eyebrows and asked, "Do you think it's possible?"

"Rejuvenation? Not with today's technology but I don't doubt we'll be able to approach something like that in the future. But even if medical science advances that far, we can't adequately care for the world's current population. We're already overrunning planet Earth and killing it in the process so I don't think living to the age of five hundred would be sustainable unless we either put a cap on population growth or expanded our territory by another world or two."

"You're probably right about that. How do you suppose it would work; rejuvenation, I mean?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm no scientist but my guess is that they'd need to find a way to stop the natural degradation of the telomeres and get the cells to replicate with all their original genetic material in tact." I chuckled, "But whatever it takes, it won't be in time to save me from the crematorium."

"Oh, you never know. Would you do it if you could?"

"What? Live to be five hundred?"

"Or more."

I smiled at that idea. "You know, I used to fantasize about stuff like that when I was a kid but not any more. I can't remember who wrote 'Aging anesthetizes one to the fear of death, ' but he was right. Hell, I wouldn't mind a few more good years but I'll be happy just to stay reasonably healthy through whatever time I have left. I don't fear death but I do fear falling apart one piece at a time, winding up institutionalized in some holding pen for the undertaker that reeks of pee and with someone spooning gruel into my mouth at one end and wiping my ass at the other. We wouldn't let our pets suffer through that kind of indignity."

"But would you?" he insisted, "If you were given a chance to go back to the way you were in your twenties, would you do it?"

"Sure! Who wouldn't? But I don't see any value on dwelling on the impossible."

The guy stuck out his hand and said, "By the way, my name's Hexitor, Hex for short."

"Nice to meet you Hex. I'm Brent." When I took the offered hand, I noticed it had a strange feel to it. "Hexitor is certainly an unusual name. I don't think I've ever heard it before."

"It's a family name. So, are you married, Brent?"

That seemed a bit abrupt, coming from a total stranger but I answered anyway, "Widowed."

"And have you found another person to fill that hole in you life?"

"Look, Hex, I don't feel comfortable talking to a stranger about stuff like this. I hope you're not offended."

"Not at all, Brent. I apologize for being so nosey but I was just curious to know if you had a lot of ties to good old Planet Earth."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"You said you liked science fiction, right? Well, what would you say if I told you it was possible to shift into a different time dimension and restore your body back to the full blush of youth?"

I began to have some doubts about the guy's mental stability and wondered if he was a walk-away from the local loony bin. "I'd say you were lost in one of your sci-fi fantasies. I hope you don't have violent tendencies as well," I added, only half joking.

He kind of snickered as he shook his head. "I'm a total pacifist, Brent, so there's nothing to be concerned about there." He held out his hand again and asked, "May I show you something on your iPad? It's a new app that I think you'll find useful. And it's free."

You know that sense you get when you're talking to a slick salesman; the feeling that he thinks he's got you right where he wants you? Well, I got that 'beware' sense talking to this guy. I really couldn't tell if he was screwing with me or not but I was more curious than fearful so I handed the tablet across. If he bolted with it, I'd feel like a complete idiot and add it to my long list of lessons learned the hard way.

He laid the tablet on his lap and brought up the keyboard. His fingers fairly flew over the screen typing a very long address into the browser. Soon, a little window came up that showed something was downloading. After a few seconds, two icons appeared on the screen; one was an asterisk and the other was an infinity symbol. Hex handed the iPad back and said, "Tap the asterisk first."

It looked harmless enough so I did as he instructed. If you're familiar with iPads you know they have a tiny speaker, hardly audible because they're made to be used with ear phones, but a loud and clear female voice came from the tablet saying, "To activate voice recognition, please say, 'My name is Brent Baum and I live at thirty-two west Alpine Avenue."

I thought that was pretty clever and repeated after the computer. It answered with, 'Thank you, Brent Baum. Voice recognition is now functioning properly. You may access information by simply touching the asterisk icon."

Hex jumped in at that point and said, "Now, if you're ready for a real adventure, tap the infinity icon."

I had no idea what he meant by 'adventure' unless he'd just given me access to the world's best porn site, something that would have been pretty much wasted on and eight-year-old. But, 'curiosity killed the cat' and all that stuff so I tapped the icon. The little clockwork circle spun and spun but nothing else seemed to be happening.

I looked at Hex and arched my eyebrows in question.