Fount of Youth

Dr. Tresper is four hundred years old.

Most people are afraid of him. Others wish to steal his secret. I and I alone know where to find it.

This much, however, I am willing to tell:

There are many long lived creatures in this world. Certain tortoises and trees. The tricks for cheating death vary, but they have some  things in common. In order to live for a very long time, an organism must be good at one of these things: keeping bad things out, replacing damaged parts of itself, or doing without damaged portions of itself.

Dr. Tresper has tried all three. The mode that he prefers is replication of damaged issues. Keeping bad things out is far harder for a human than it is for a tree, and there simply is not enough body for humans to go without any portion of it that gets damaged.

The secret is hidden in the drought that Dr. Tresper always keeps close at hand. He has created a symbiotic relationship with another organism. The organism was extracted from one of the many creatures that rely on benevolent microbes for long term survival. It really is remarkable how much energy a small colony of bacteria, for example, can produce for a larger organism to use. Entire ecosystems are built on micro-organisms. The ones that live inside Dr. Tresper are, of course, very much altered from their original state. Normally the single celled organisms would go to war with the unfamiliar cells of Dr. Tresper. Nothing a little mutation doesn’t fix, though.

These creatures help Dr. Tresper to combat foreign bodies. They also provide the desperately needed service of rejuvenating genetic decay and the other handful of problems that cause human aging and eventual death.

Nobody knows exactly how long Dr. Tresper should expect to live. I would venture that he has not even as yet reached midlife. Dr. Tresper will live for a very long time indeed.

I have shared with you all that I will. May you live a long and prosperous life. Ha ha ha.