Freelance Traveller#74: Immortality
There’s a very old science fiction story, ‘The Jameson Satellite’ by Neil R. Jones, from 1931 which has one Professor Jameson attempt a kind of immortality by arranging on his death to be placed in Earth orbit, so his body doesn’t decay. He lucks out beyond his wildest dreams when 40,000,000 years later immortal alien robots exploring the galaxy come across his rocket and revive his brain cells. Placed in a robot body of his own Jameson achieves the immortality he was looking for.
(I’m not entirely convinced there would be any brain cells to revive after all that time, but the author could be forgiven for the knowledge of his time and should be lauded for the bold idea! Immortal alien robots? Now there’s a scenario waiting to be written! I also idly wonder if the professor’s name was the inspiration for Merchant Captain Alexander Lascelles Jameson, the ‘example’ character from the very first Traveller rulebook who has acquired a kind of immortality of his own. It seems unlikely but is fun to contemplate.)
The Professor tells his and Earth’s story to the visiting alien robots via telepathy for four days. When he finds out it took that long and it wasn’t just an hour or two of lecturing them, he apologies for being a bore. The aliens, immortal robots, reply, “Your story was interesting, and if it had been twice as long, it would not have mattered, nor would it have seemed any longer”.
I can’t help but wish my own retelling of my gaming group’s experience of The Traveller Adventure, at 366,000 words, might be received in a similar way. I’m reminded of the foreword to Lord of the Rings written by Tolkien in which he notes that one of the defects of the 576,459 word epic is that it is “too short”.
All this is by way of reflecting that the desire for immortality in each of us – whether it’s to extend our lives or leave a legacy that goes beyond our natural lifespans – is a powerful one. As I approach a 7th decade of life and also put the finishing touches to an adventure about anagathics, it’s difficult not to consider longevity and legacy. It’s hard to believe there’s much worth in my words that will survive beyond the ephemerality of a convention adventure or a magazine article, but such as it is you’ll find a chunk of whatever value there is within these pages.
This is also as good a moment as any to congratulate Marc Miller on his foresight in succession planning for Traveller. It remains to be seen, of course, how that pans out but until his invention of anagathics comes to real life fruition, it’s best to have a plan! I’m unlikely to make another sixty years here on good old Terra but I have long believed there’s a future for me in better, brighter place.
The robots offer Jameson the opportunity to travel and explore with them. “Will you come?”