The Aristotle Project

The LOF5 phase three experimental trials had been an unprecedented success. In three out of every four cases the synthetic proteins had been accepted by their hosts and investors were already glibly celebrating the results despite not one of them truly understanding any of the real world practical applications of such progressive biological engineering.

In an hour Professor Rufus Trant would make a formal presentation of the results and as usual would have to dumb down the data to allow the majority of the assembled crowd to understand the salient points of the four year study. Apart from the odd well meaning challenge from an over excited research student, in general the questions that came in at the end would be dull and ill conceived. Inevitably one of the many funders swelling the numbers in the room, would break from propriety and press him to give an indication of the monetary value of his research findings.

He usually declined, reinforcing the points in his presentation that suggested that many hurdles must still be overcome to develop the findings into something tangible and commercial. Rufus detested this crassness but enjoyed seeing their barely hidden disappointment at his remarks. He wasn't ignorant to the necessary evils of obtaining funding for research but he still felt disgusted by their single minded greed.

Rufus left the stage to rather generous applause, though given what he and the team had achieved in the last thirteen years, it did seem fitting. As the audience began to leave the room, Sarah met him at the bottom of the steps to the left of the stage.

'Well done, that was a long one. You okay,' she said, smiling.

'Thanks, yes. Glad that bit is over as always.' Rufus took Sarah's arm and moved himself closer to her. He whispered. 'Try your best to keep Jack Caird away from me will you. I've been promising to set up a meeting but I just haven't had the time. He's pretty tenacious but I want to keep him close if you know what I mean. Don't be deceived b his bumbling, he's as sharp as a knife, but I'm sure he'll be putty in your hands.'

Sarah laughed. 'I'll take care of him.'

Rufus bit his lip. 'I'll have to do something, so arrange a day thing for the next couple of weeks.'

'No problem. Shall I meet you in the bar, say in fifteen, twenty minutes?'

'Yes, I'll just pop up to my room to freshen up and then on to round two I guess. Or I could just slip away and leave you to carry on the pleasantries in my place. Isn't that what assistants are supposed to do?' He poked her playfully with a finger.

'Yes, assist,' she replied grinning, 'not do!'

'Fine,' he said. 'I'll do it all myself!' She slapped him gently on the back as he walked away.

Rufus's company Sentience had hired a conference room in the Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington for the LOF5 Project study presentations. In the hotel bar, Rufus continued his discussions and answered many more tedious questions about the results of his research. Sarah stood close keeping a particular eye out for Jack Caird. It wasn't long before she spotted his hunched bearish frame waving a credit card over the bar with one hand a shoveling nuts into his mouth with the other. Nearby, Rufus was gesticulating to a Japanese man who was nodding seriously and Sarah knew she needed to intercept Caird before he made his move.

'Jack,' she said reaching the bar. The barman had just handed Jack his drink which was complimentary but had asked to see his Sentience invitation to prove his entitlement. As he fumbled around for it Sarah had arrived with an outstretched hand and he became confused at the sudden multiple demands on his coordination.

'Oh, er.. hold on sorry. Er let me just do this. Oh.' Jack swung himself around in a fluster.

'That's fine,' said Sarah to the barman. 'He's with us.'

'Oh Sarah, hello. Thank you.' He was now holding his drink in one hand and a crumpled invitation in the other. They both became aware of Sarah's still outstretched hand.'

'Sorry,' Jack said again, and went to put the invitation down on the bar. He quickly changed his mind and twisted around to settle his glass inevitably spilling it as he did so. He wiped both hands on his jacket and finally took Sarah's hand in his.

'Hello Sarah, thanks. How are you?'

'I'm good, really good, and you? Did you enjoy Rufus' presentation?'

Jack nodded enthusiastically. 'Yes, I'm, oh yes he was fantastic as ever. He really does have a knack of public speaking. Made what could have been a rather boring afternoon quite a pleasure.'

'He is, he did,' Sarah agreed now nodding in time with Jack.

'Well Jack,' she said, 'as you can see Rufus is pretty tied up at the moment and...' Jack interrupted. 'Yes I see he's with Mr Yamatoshi.' There was frustration in his voice.

Sarah was slightly fazed remembering Rufus' warning. Composing herself quickly, she replied 'Yes, well Rufus wanted me to arrange a sit down meeting with you and him. Perhaps a lunch so you'd both have time, you know to really discuss things, rather than grabbing half a conversation here and there between snacks.'

Jack reached for the nuts. 'Oh that would be very nice. Just the two of us. Excellent.' He tumbled a handful of the nuts into his mouth.

Sarah took out her Blackberry deliberately giving Jack time to chew and swallow the nuts before she said, 'How about next Thursday?'

Jack had now produced his own Blackberry and was eagerly scanning his appointments. 'Thursday, yes looks good.'

'Great, let's say 1pm. Fratellis?'

'Perfect,' said Jack smiling broadly. The smile fading, he touched Sarah's arm and looked again towards Rufus and Mr Yamatoshi. 'Sarah. He's not, er, what do I mean? He's not discussing this with anyone else is he?'

Sarah smiled reassuringly and returned a hand on Jack's arm. 'No he's not Jack. Please don't worry. It's a big day today and everyone will want a piece of him. You understand?'

Jack grinned. 'Of course, yes. Well next Thursday then.' He offered his hand and Sarah shook it, waving her Blackberry with the other hand. 'It's in the diary.'

***

'How was he?' Rufus asked

'He's a very cheerful man. He was definitely happy to arrange a one to one with you, though he seemed a little twitchy when he saw you with Mr Yamatoshi.'

Sarah and Rufus were both sitting opposite each other in brown leather armchairs in the thinly occupied bar area of the hotel. The last remaining conference attendees had dispersed and they were now able to enjoy a drink and some time to themselves in the calm.

Rufus nodded. 'That's what happens when you get two billionaires in the room I guess.'

Sarah raised an eyebrow. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, let's say you are the only billionaire in the room,'

Sarah interrupted smiling, ' nice. I'm imagining that right now.'

'Well, you would expect that to be a fairly unique thing. So you inevitably exist in this position of the higher order where you will always have the upper hand when it comes to your wants and desires. You simply have no competition. Put another billionaire into the mix and suddenly you can be outbid, suddenly you may not get what you want.'

'That's a bit cynical though. It suggests that all one's desires in life can be bought.'

'Can't they?' Rufus asked.

'No, surely not.' Sarah took a sip of her drink looking at Rufus for his response.

He shrugged his shoulders and waved a hand through the air. 'I don't know,' he said. 'Given what we're offering Jack Caird isn't that our answer right there?'

Sarah returned her drink to the small table between them and said. 'As miraculous as it is, I wouldn't want it.

'That's understandable, it's fraught with difficulties,' he said seriously.

'No I mean straight of, take a pill, there you go. No problems or side effects just the continuum. Anyway, does this mean you've made a decision.'

'What. To sell my soul. Yes, I think I have.' Rufus spoke with anger.

Sarah reached out and put her hand on his. 'Hey, no one will judge you for this. It's desperately needed funding, and he is just another investor in the technology, in you. You said there may be an opportunity to publish at least some part of it, so it's all pursuant to your work?'

Rufus sighed. 'We'd have to be very careful, the Ethics Committee will be all over it. I would have to cherry pick individual processes, and right there I'm in contravention. Besides, there are incredible risks. No. This has to be done,' Rufus searched for a word picking up a drinks coaster and tapping the edge on the table. 'Quietly,' he said finally.

Sarah lowered her voice. 'I understand that but if Jack gives the proper permissions then surely you would be absolved of any ethical wrongdoing.'

Rufus shook his head. 'That's the point though. Being permitted to do something is one thing. It's whether it should be done is the bigger question and anyway I'm not so sure Jack fully understands the risks behind his billionaire tinted spectacles.' He laughed.

'He doesn't seem an arrogant man Jack and as you have said, he's no fool,' Sarah said.

'I know but I worry that he can't help but have a disproportionate sense of invincibility. He can't actually bring himself to believe that any harm will come from this or more importantly to him; at least nothing his money couldn't remedy in the event of a catastrophe.'

'And if it does work Rufus. If all your work is validated and what you believe can happen actually does?' Sarah stared at Rufus intently.

He held her gaze for a moment before replying. 'You're talking about immortality Sarah. That would change everything.'

***

Jack Caird had followed Dr Rufus Trant's career and work quite closely for the last ten years. Whilst he couldn't claim to have any expertise in biological engineering, over the years Jack, who made his fortune from property, had invested heavily in early phase medical trials. For the most part he never saw a return on his money but despite his rapaciousness, it wasn't financial gain he was seeking. Rufus' research blended both biological engineering and neuroscience and in the last five years alone, over eighty patents had been taken out on the basis of his work.

Notwithstanding the odd sensationalist headline making unrealistic claims about the potential of Rufus's findings, Jack had carefully studied the results and peer reviews over the years. From this he had built a keen understanding of the true potential and this had inspired him to make contact with Rufus and discuss his extraordinary proposition.

The truth was Rufus hadn't actually interrogated the data in the same way as Jack had done and consequently hadn't immediately seen the relationships that Jack had inferred from the data.

When he first saw the journals Jack had written over the years, filled with pages of handwritten notes and pasted articles scored with question marks, arrows and exclamations, Rufus was quite overwhelmed. He remembered feeling odd as he read through it, recognising his life's work.

Jack, however had organised it in such a specific structure and chronology that Rufus understood immediately the conclusions he had drawn and he found himself dizzied with it. Many of the handwritten paragraphs ended with questions, double, sometimes triple underlined by Jack, and as Rufus read he found himself answering them out loud with an ever increasing alacrity.

With the journals came Jack's offer. He would pay Rufus twenty five million pounds to undertake the procedures. If successful, a company would be formed to provide ongoing support to Jack which would include additional transplants as necessary

Until now Rufus had been avoiding Jack as he battled with the ethical enormity and complexity of his proposal. Obviously he had to reconcile this with the huge sums of money involved; funding for his research ad infinitum but he was uncomfortable with the level of risk Jack was taking. Rufus and his team, assuming confidentiality was maintained, had nothing to lose. Jack had everything.

After Rufus has said goodnight to Sarah, it was still relatively early so he headed back to his offices at Imperial College. He needed to look into Jack Caird a little more closely.

***

'You understand Jack?' Rufus said leaning over the menu.

'I do Rufus, I really do,' Jack said solemnly.

'We could wait, just a few years. That would allow us to just nail down a couple of things. The mortality risk could be reduced by what, thirty, forty percent. That's a big number Jack.'

'Rufus. I don't think I have two years.' Jack picked up a bottle of wine from the table and refilled both their glasses. Jack raised his eyebrows.

'Ah,' Rufus frowned. 'I didn't know that Jack I'm sorry. Well....'

'Hence the urgency. It won't affect things?' Jack asked. 'Stage three lung,' he added.

'No,' said Rufus still frowning. 'As far as we understand, normal physical mutations should not affect any of the process but we wouldn't know until we know. Jack there's so much that can go wrong.' Rufus sat back in his seat.

'Of course, but you see now I actually have nothing to lose. Should make things more, er, palatable for you.'

'It helps Jack. If I'm honest.' Rufus took a large gulp of his wine.

'It's hard to explain but I'm not scared of dying, nor am I some rich suit throwing his weight around to acquire the holy grail.' Jack smiled, 'I know you've been thinking that.'

Rufus lowered his gaze to the table before looking again at Jack. 'Yes,' he said. 'I had been.'

Jack laughed. 'Why on earth wouldn't you but then why are you here now. You made the decision before I told you about the cancer.'

'The journals were impressive Jack. I had to take you seriously but I couldn't get around the fact that whichever way looked at it I was selling something I didn't have the right to.'

'Only God eh?' Jack said.

'Hell yes!' Rufus said in a forced whisper. 'So I did some research on you. I needed to find a motivation other than, well the more negative things I have been thinking.'

Jack was nodding, 'I understand that.'

Rufus continued, 'and that's when I found out about The Giving Pledge.'

'Ah you did, well it's no secret really Rufus,' Jack leaned forward and clasped his hands together on the table. At that moment a waiter arrived holding two plates and Jack slid back into his chair again.

'Rissotto?' he said looking at Rufus.

'That's me,' said Jack, raising one finger. 'Thanks.' The waiter put the plates down and adjusted the wine glasses before he left.

Both men picked up their cutlery and began to eat.

'It's a tremendous thing Jack,' said Rufus.

'It won't have any effect on our agreement, so you understand.'

Rufus had just put a forkful of food into his mouth. 'No, well of course. I wasn't...,' he stuttered.

'It is important I tell you though. The proper paperwork will be drawn up so everything is in order before, well before things are commenced. As you probably know, after your research,' Jack emphasised the word research and they both smiled. 'I have pledged to give away at least half my wealth to philanthropy either before or soon after my death. Either way, as we now both understand, that doesn't leave an awful amount of time. My affairs will be organised such that your team's funding will come from a number of ring-fenced gilt edged investments. Which, as I described when we first spoke, makes my offer of ongoing funding to you somewhat infinite.'

'It's incredible,' said Rufus shaking his head slowly. 'I only wish there was some way to guarantee an outcome for you. It's such a lot of money.'

'Which, as I have described, perhaps rather crassly, I have an infinite supply of. I believe that it is my faith I am more heavily investing in you.

Rufus nodded. 'Of course. Notwithstanding the enormous wider moral and ethical responsibilities, I feel the personal one very strongly and I just hope I can achieve everything I, well we, believe we can.'

Jack raised his glass again and paused, "The work of man is achieved in accordance with practical wisdom and moral virtue; virtue makes us aim at the right mark and practical wisdom makes us take the right means." Aristotle. Sorry, second class philosophy degree at King's. Don't get to use it much.'

'I think we have the moral and practical both covered. I'm just worried Aristotle doesn't think to mention a steady hand!' They both laughed. Rufus continued. 'So is that what piqued your interest in my work, The Aristotle connection?'

'Initially yes. The idea that the presence of a soul is what makes animals and plants living things and that there are three stages, nutritive, rational and so on. Very interesting stuff.' Both Jack and Rufus had finished eating and had pushed their plates aside. The waiter came to collect them. 'Can I get you gents anything else?'

'I'd like some coffee please,' Rufus replied. The waiter looked to Jack who gave a small closed mouth smile. 'Nothing for me thanks.'

'So Professor Trant. Are we going to prove the great Greek wrong when you show that a human soul can inhabit a lower order.'

'Only in the sense that we'll prove the soul is a separate entity and can be transplanted to another physical body. In this case vegetable matter'

'Into which the LOP5 proteins will have already been seeded, 'Jack added.

'Yes. I wonder whether he ever imagined we'd be able to manipulate organisms in such a way. He must have thought about it, sketched out some magical experiment that waited for the technology to allow it to be performed.'

Jack nodded. 'Yes, and he would have been twiddling his thumbs for most of the last two and a half thousand years considering most of the progress seems to have been made in the last fifty or so.'

'Less than that actually,' Rufus said. 'The first synthetic gene was early seventies and the real milestones have been in the last ten years.'

'And of course, the success of the LOF5 project can be added to that.'

Rufus smiled modestly and reached for his wine, 'It seems it will, yes.' Rufus continued, 'you understand that we have to use an existing complete structure vegetable, literally like a carrot or potato?'

'It sounds rather preposterous you actually saying it out loud. Especially as everything else is so cutting edge; but I understand it is a means to an end.'

'For now, yes. It gives us a known quantity to work with, sequences we entirely understand which to be honest will be few and far between in this project. Relatively speaking vegetable matter is indestructible and infinitely replaceable. Once we are happy you are stable we can undertake additional transplants when your original host, well, decomposes. But parallel to all of this, we'll be developing a complete custom host for you in human form. I'd say eighteen months.'

'But I'll be carrot until then,' Jack laughed raising his eyebrows.

'Or a potato,' Rufus said sheepishly, 'but you will have mobility and we hope at least a way to sense your surroundings.'

'You mentioned before about vision and hearing.'

'Yes, we think that we'll be able to replicate those senses using electromagnetic resonance and by implanting a decoding receiver we can translate those signals into sound and vision. We'll be using several rudimentary processes to replace what is essentially one of the most sophisticated living organisms, but we think it can work.'

'So I should be able to see in one sense or another?'

'We'll be working hard to make that happen, and there are other options available to us.'

'Good, good. You know Rufus, seriously, this has Nobel Prize written all over it. It's widely accepted that Sentience is the vanguard.' Jack lifted his glass raising it to Rufus.

'Ha! Somewhere amongst it all perhaps. Sometime.' Both men fell silent for a moment each clearly excited by their conversation.

Jack finally spoke. 'So what is the time frame for us Rufus. I mean from sitting here now. When will I see you floating above me wearing scrubs as it were.' He waved his hands comically around his face.

Rufus laughed. 'I'd say we'd need six months. Yes. To finalise the team, do the prep. I'd need you in a few times for bloods, MRIs that sort of thing. I assume there will be quite a lot of paperwork your end too.'

'It's mostly in place to be honest. Aside from our plans, I needed to put my affairs in order after the diagnosis.'

'Of course. It must be a mammoth task.'

'It is, but with no family to speak of, that makes things more straightforward. Jack looked around him. 'Where's your coffee? It's a good while now.'

Rufus detected a sadness in Jack. His research revealed that he had never married and Rufus couldn't find a single photograph of him with a partner, date or companion. Given his profile and the number of events someone of Jack's status would get invited to, this seemed unusual for a man now into his fifties.

'Not to worry, I can grab one on the way back to my office.' The waiter appeared suddenly with Rufus' coffee. 'Ah Thanks,' said Rufus. 'Can you put this on my account please, ' he said waving his arm across the table.

The waiter nodded. 'Certainly Professor Trant.'

'Thank you Rufus,' Jack said.

'You're very welcome Jack. I'll be in touch again soon. Expect to hear from me within two weeks for the first round of things. We'll need a couple of hours.'

'Good. I'll look forward to hearing from you. I know there's a large degree of shall we say, confidentiality surrounding this but shouldn't we have a name for our venture?'

Rufus paused before answering. 'Yes and I think he would approve, ' he said holding Jack's gaze.

'Of course!' Jack exclaimed. 'The Aristotle Project.'

***

Jack died at four o'clock on Tuesday 22nd May. He was surrounded by nine doctors and technicians. Rufus was there, at the centre, directing procedures. It was eight months later before they really knew how successful they had been.

In a controlled location just before dawn on a mid January day, Jack took his first steps and the fifty four year old billionaire philanthropist began his immortal life on the earth.

Jack was overwhelmed with the possibilities, and it was emotional for Rufus and the handful of team members there to witness the incredible thing the Aristotle Project had achieved. For Jack, now he had been gifted time, a future with a never nearing horizon, and he was going to do good, change things. Make it better.

 By Darren Seeley