The Quarantine Planet

“Are you sure?”

“Of course. I am telling you President, it works. We finally did it!” cried Dr. Rowenstein. The man had worked his entire life on this project. No one thought it was possible. Until now.

“Have you performed a live test yet?”

“Yes, we did. Follow me please” He led me to a room full of scientists. They all looked so happy. If this actually worked, I'd hate to be the one to make their smiles disappear.

“For the greater good,” explained Dr. Rowenstein as his associates looked on with excitement; they probably rehearsed this speech a couple of times, “we told ourselves that what we have been doing for ages on this planet was for the greater good. In reality, all we have been doing is living in ignorance. But not anymore. After centuries of research, we finally have a cure.

“As we know, all humans on Agora are immortal. If we wish, we can live on forever and ever. The eldest of our planet – the Riley couple – are 4518 years old. Through research, we also created ways to end our lives, should we ever get tired of forever” He and his colleagues chuckled, “ But unlike us, some unlucky beings are born on this planet with mortal lives. Many millennia ago, we decided that such humans should not be allowed on our planet, for both our sakes. And so -”

“I am very sorry to interrupt your history lecture, Dr. Rowenstein but can we please get to the point?”

“Uhh yes, of course. We have been researching ways to introduce immortality in a mortal’s body. At last, when our simulation showed positive results, we decided to conduct a live test on our subject. And take a look for yourself” I looked towards the glass wall on our right which suddenly illuminated to show a room with a table, chair and a bed with a child sleeping on it. About 6 years old in mortal age.

“You look confused, President. Perhaps this will clear things out” he handed me a sheet of paper. It had the kid's picture and other details on it. My eyes widened as I read his age. I looked at the doctor in shock. This cannot be happening.

“Immortal children grow up much faster than mortals. Our age slows down as we hit puberty and almost stops moving in adulthood. This child grew according to the mortal norms until we gave him the cure, last year. Though he looks about 6 to 7 years old in mortal age, he's only two years old”

The child stirred in sleep. I looked down at the paper in my hand. His name was George.

“Sir? I snapped out of the past and looked at my new assistant.

“I asked you about the Harrington kid. How was he?” 

“As you'd expect. Crying, Angry, the “I wish you were dead”, nothing new.”

“You could be a little more empathetic, he did just lose his father.”

“Yeah, but they get more and more annoying each time. This one thinks I am hiding the cure in my pocket”

“Well,” he paused, “aren't you?”

I looked at him. He looked a lot like when he was a child in that room. Except he's grown up now, but not quite caught up with the world yet.

“I already listened to one grown human whine about this, I will not listen to this nonsense again. Especially from my own assistant. You are new here, it's why I am tolerating this naivety, else you'd be fired this instant for making such serious accusations against me. Is that clear, George?”

“You're right. I’m-m sorry for that” uttered George as he nervously handed me documents to look over. We worked in silence for the rest of the ride. 

The thing about being the President of Peace Amongst Planets (PAP) is that the work just never stops. There's always at least one fire that needs to be extinguished. I still remember what the previous President of PAP told me on my first day, “It may look like it, but your job is not to ensure that everyone is happy. Your job is to ensure that the planets don't wage a war against each other, and to stop anything that comes in your way of achieving this, by any means possible.” My younger self was quite horrified to hear that, but that was over 683 years ago. I have matured quite a bit since then.

“Please fasten your seat belts, we are ready for our descent” announced our pilot. Thank God. I hate being on Earth, it just feels weird. Then there's always the danger of people from Earth looking up and sighting our ship, but the human mind rarely ever wants to explore the unknown. When something unusual of this magnitude comes across them, they are more likely to get themselves checked into a mental asylum than believe this as a real possibility. 

“Welcome back to Planet Agora” Finally. 

I stepped into my office as the lights flooded the room, placed my coat on the back of the chair, walked to my safe and took out the sheet of paper with George’s details on it. 

I did what I promised Harrington I’d do. I took a seat as I stared at the 70-year old page some more before keeping it aside to actually get some work done. A couple of hours later, I called George in  to go over the next day’s schedule.

“And lastly, you have to release a statement about updates about the mortals-immortality research” narrated young George. 

“Push that last one to Thursday, and send flowers to the Harringtons. Their son may have forgotten his manners today, but we haven’t forgotten ours” I sighed as I got up and started collecting my things to leave this place. 

“And what about the protestors?” inquired George.

“What protestors?”

“The ones gathered outside the main entrance? Didn’t you notice them while coming in?”

I walked over to the window and looked out to see a small horde of people outside the main gate, with placards raised above their heads, yelling the same thing over and over again “MORTALS DESERVE BETTER”.

“Right. Don't worry about them, security will kick them out soon enough” I responded,” You’ll learn to tune them out” He gave me a disappointed look and walked away.

I sighed out of exasperation, “Out with it”

“Wha-at do you mean?” stammered George. He reminds me so much of my younger self. So nervous, but hard-working. Probably wants to ‘fight for the little guys’ and all that stuff.

“You obviously have something to say to me, so out with it”

He pondered over it for a moment. Finally, he opened his mouth and said, “I-I came to work for you because I wanted to work to make a difference. But instead, I find that these protestors are right – we just gave up on mortals. You say it's all for the greater good, but how is getting rid of all those doomed with death, while we live on forever, for the greater good?”

He looked like he was about to cry. I remembered being the same, wanting the best for everyone. But that requires making difficult choices. I had to make some too. 

“Dr. Rowenstein, who else knows about this?”

“Only the people in this room. We had strict orders to maintain confidentiality and only report to your office, President.”

“Okay. I expect this to be confidential until I say otherwise, is that clear?”

“Yes, of course” the Scientist looked confused but had the wisdom to stay quiet and not stop me as I left. On reaching my office, I called up Harrington. 

“The next ship comes to Earth tomorrow, correct?”

“Hello to you too. And yes, but why do you ask?” chirped Harrington.

“I will be sending an extra ship. It needs to be handled only by you. It cannot be registered.” 

Silence prevailed for a while on the other side. Finally, he asked, “Who is it?”

My job was never easy but this was the most difficult thing I had to do - tell Harrington the truth. 

“It’s the research team”

He paused again before replying, “They found a cure, didn’t they?” 

“Yes,” I said quietly.

“And you want me to kill them when they get here?” 

I couldn’t say it out loud. 

“You know it’s the only way” I whispered, “Memory erasement is only so effective on someone as old as them. And I cannot do this discreetly. Ending lives is monitored quite heavily here. And you know what would happen, if the cure goes public, neither of our planets is ready for that kind of pressure on our resources. Also not to mention, the discrimination mortals will face here” I paused to take a deep breath. Closing my eyes, I continued,” They tested it out on a child; I’ll have him transferred to an orphanage and keep him monitored. When he’s old enough, I’ll give him a good job too. I know all of this is wrong but -”

“It’s the only way.” Harrington was the VP of PAP. All firstborns of his family are. They were appointed for this position and moved to Earth - the only other planet that can inhabit humans and is known to us - to help maintain Peace. They were amongst the richest people on Earth, not because of their business, but because of PAP. It’s compensation for not revealing this secret. 

All mortals are detected during pregnancy. All such newborns are taken care of for a couple of months. After that, they are sent to the Earth, or as we call it, The Quarantine Planet.  

No one said anything for a while. At last, Harrington replied, “I’ll do it” he took a deep breath “For the greater good.”

“For the greater good”

“You have nothing to say for yourself? Or are you just ignoring me like the mortals who have to die in less than 100 yea-”

“SIT DOWN GEORGE” He startled at my loud voice and scrambled to take a seat. I walked and stopped right in front of him. 

“You are a good person, George, but not everyone on Agora is. If mortals are allowed to stay here, their end will come much earlier than their natural deaths. We have seen it happen in history before we started sending them to the Quarantine planet.” I sighed as I tried to justify my own actions to myself more than him, “ The mortals don’t know that we exist. No one on Earth other than the Harringtons does, all Agorians know that. But what you and those protestors outside fail to understand is that the mortals are happy because they are in the dark about us. Us making them stay here and watch their loved ones die, as we live on forever, would be torturous to them” 

“As it is for the Harringtons”, George quietly added as he slumped against the back of his chair and stared at his hands in his lap. 

“Yes, exactly. As for the research, scientists are trying their best but they hit a dead-end ages ago. The previous team quit out of pure exhaustion, remember? A different team is still trying but we don’t expect good results anytime soon” Harrington came up with this story. I milked it for all it’s worth. 

I am not angry at Harrington’s son for the way he behaved with me tonight. I have done a lot of bad things, but watching helplessly as Harrington died will haunt me the most. Trying to save him with the cure would have raised questions. He agreed that it was better this way. What a great man. I am gonna miss him a lot. 

“Okay” whispered George. He cleared his throat, looked up and spoke again, “Okay, I understand now”

“Good. Now let’s leave, one more minute in this office and I’ll quit out of exhaustion too” George chuckled as I collected my things to leave. 

George will find out the truth someday. But today’s not that day.

I looked back as I reached for the door to see him standing still and staring at the desk. 

“George?” I called out. 

He held up an old discoloured page and asked me, “Why do you have a page with my childhood picture and information on it?”

Looks like the Harrington kid’s wish is going to come true. 

Note: This story is loosely based on a writing prompt I read.