The Happier Dead Read Online Free PDF Page B

understood then the extraordinary usefulness of Charles to this institution. How would his men be likely to behave if it had been Miranda who had given them their welcome?
    Despite his satisfaction, Oates felt a fraud. Miranda had chosen the one academic area of which he had a passing knowledge. When he was a kid he had loved classical myths the way some kids loved space or dinosaurs, and the stories and names had stayed with him long after the rest of his limited education had emigrated from his memory. He wanted to make this clear to Miranda, in case she later discovered he had left school at seventeen and thought he had intentionally concealed it, but she continued before he could think of some way of disclosing it without sounding chippy.
    “The whole of human culture has been driven by the desire to deny the fact of death. At this very moment, the world is polarised between two great forces. One the one hand, we have consumerism, and on the other religion. Consumerism allows us to deny death by purchasing a series of products endlessly associated with youth and health. Religion might appear to be the antidote, but serves the exact same purpose, telling us that death is not really death but a doorway to more life. All this death denial has fostered the most cruel abuses in human history, because when you deny the fact of death, you can avoid a proper consideration of the taking of life. We at Nottingham Biosciences have now cured death, or at least ageing. But we’ve found there’s a certain... Tithonus Effect. Only the ageing takes place on the inside.” She tapped her skull for emphasis, with a perfectly manicured finger.
    The discussion had somehow turned into a lecture. Consciously or not, Miranda had come to stand behind the lectern, and her diction had taken on the pleased, emphatic quality of the academic gambolling in her own field. He was the sole pupil, held back in class on a sunny afternoon. He had never been particularly well-behaved at school, and it was amazing how the positioning recalled in him, for all his conciliatory intentions, a childish desire to rebel.
    “I always knew it must be very stressful to be immortal and rich, but I never knew it was boring too. I suppose I should count myself lucky.”
    “What we are trying to do here is no mere exercise in leisure. This is a treatment centre for the last untreatable illness. This is a hospital for those for whom the world holds nothing new. If we can succeed here, we will truly have conquered death, and fulfilled the dearest dream of man.”
    “And who’s the winner if you manage it?”
    “Who benefited from the development of vaccines, or antibiotics, or radiotherapy? Humanity is the beneficiary of scientific advancement. Think of the effect on the environment, if people no longer felt the compulsion to reproduce to ensure the continuance of their genes. Think of the peace we might achieve, with no more need for God.”
    It was an answer forged in the press conference, grand words purged of all controversy. Pare down the truth of something to a sentiment so lofty, it was impossible to disagree with it. He was on the point of arguing with her, when his interrupted sleep and irritation drove him back into the arms of sarcasm.
    “Are you a fan of The Beatles?”
    “Why?”
    “It sounds a lot like one of John Lennon’s songs. Imagine.”
    She smiled tightly. “Imagine indeed. What we have here is a unique opportunity. An amazingly high percentage of people occupying the top positions in engineering, finance, politics and the creative industries come to us, the finest minds not only of our own generation, but of the one before. If we’re going to understand what it is to be youthful in the soul, it will be through this place. The physical environment, the psychic atmosphere of the school is important because of the state of mind it engenders in the guests. In order to make them feel young, we remove from them their responsibilities. All these