Brave New Worlds

top of their decrepit lungs, white hair flashing in the breeze and the sunlight. "Take me away, death is the answer, don't make me stay. "
    "Shut the window," Ryan said. Todd opened it wider. Two students, graduate students about sixteen years old, took a few quick steps toward him.
    "Relax," Todd said. "I'm not jumping. "
    Todd was still standing at the window when Val Lassiter came. "Ryan called me," Val said.
    "I know," Todd answered. "I heard him call. "
    "Let's talk," Val answered. The students left the room. Val looked at Ryan, and
    he also left. "they're gone," Val said. "Let's talk. " Todd sat in a chair. "I know what you're thinking," Todd said. "I'm showing the signs. "
    "What signs?"
    Todd sighed. "Don't give me any of that psychiatrist crap. I read your book. I've got it all: Tears, worries, inability to bear delay, impatience with friends, unwillingness to admit any possibility of hope, suicidal behavior—I'm so far gone that if Jesus whispered in my ear, ‘You're saved, 'I'd believe and be baptized and not be surprised at all. "
    "You shouldn't have read that book, Todd. "
    "I read the book but I'm not over the edge, Val. I will be, I know, but not yet. It's just Sandy—I was a fool, I let myself get too attached, you know? I can't handle it. Can't let go. Keep feeling there's got to be a way. "
    Val smiled and touched Todd's shoulder. "You've devoted your life to finding a way. So have I. So have all of us from the project. Geniuses all, even Sandy, what a damned shame she's the first to go. But the cure won't come overnight. Won't come by trying to reverse what's irreversible. "
    "Who says it's irreversible?" Todd demanded.
    "Experience," Val said. "What, do you think you can go out of your discipline and outdo the experts in a sudden flash of inspiration? All you'll think of are ideas we've thought of and discarded long ago. "
    "How do you know it can't be reversed? We don't even know what causes the aging, Val. We don't even know if it has a cause—why is the cutoff point separation therapy? Why can't you help people once they revert to that?"
    Val shrugged. "It's arbitrary. We can't do that much for others, either. "
    Todd shook his head, saying," Val, you don't understand. Maybe what's going on in separation therapy is part of what causes the senility—"
    Val stood impatiently. "I told you, Todd. You'll only think of things we already thought of. It can't be the cause because separation therapy began after The aging epidemic. It was tried as a cure . It was used so we would mature faster, so we would have more adult, productive years. Todd, you know that, you know it can't be the cause, what is this?"
    Todd picked up a stack of readouts. "Forget it, Val. Tell everyone I'm over my breakdown. It's Sandy being over the edge. I just couldn't handle the grief a while, OK?"
    Val smiled. "OK. Have you turned her over yet?"
    Todd stiffened. "No. "
    Val stopped smiling. "It's the law, Todd. Do it soon. Do it before I have to report it. "
    Todd looked up at Val with a sickening smile on his face. "And when will you have to report it, Val?"
    Val looked at Todd for a moment, then turned and left. The others came back to the lab. They worked all afternoon and far into the night, pretending nothing had happened. At least Todd hadn't suicided. So many did these days, especially the brilliant ones; no one would have been surprised. But Todd they needed, at least for a while more, at least until the young ones had a chance to learn. Otherwise they'd be a few years deeper into the hole, there'd be a few more years' worth of learning lost, a little bit less that one man could hope to do in his short lifetime.
    Todd called in sick the next morning. He was not sick. He took Sandy by the hand, led her to the car, and drove her to the childhouse. He flashed his security pass and rushed Sandy through the halls as quickly as possible, so no one would notice she was over the edge.
    The rushing about left Todd's heart fluttering, his old hopeless heart, he thought, only a few more months, only a few more weeks of pumping away. They were met at the observation window by several young researchers; couldn't be out of college yet, maybe fifteen. Hair still young, eyes still bright, skin still smooth. Todd felt angry, looking at them.
    They were impressed to be meeting The Todd Halking. "Gee, Dr. Halking," the heavyset young women enthused," we never thought our work would have any application on the biological end of