History of the Immortals

Back before the last great extinction, the Earth was ruled by an advanced race of people who called themselves, The Immortals. Their technology was very advanced, even by today's standards, including ships that could travel in space and orbiting satellites and space stations. They claimed to have come to Earth from the stars.

Their immortality came, not from some supernatural power or highly developed spiritual skills, but that they had perfected the technology to rejuvenate cellular tissue. They used a combination of a beneficial electromagnetic field with nutrients and growth hormones ported directly into the bloodstream. With a backup power source and emergency nutrient supply, the unit was self contained within a nearly indestructible capsule about the size of a coffin.

They could stay alive indefinitely if they spent a percentage of their time sleeping in one of these special rejuvenation chambers. Just a few hours in the chamber would restore their cells to their optimum condition, completely eliminating aging. The chamber could handle very serious physical damage, as well, so as long as there was a chamber available within a few minutes after a trauma, their immortality was assured.

Immortals tend to look farther into the future than the rest of us. Their long range vision warned them that the surface of the Earth was not a very safe place to live over the long haul. Or maybe they knew that all along, but it makes sense, even to this mortal.

A close look at the Moon's many craters shows that BIG chunks of something are flying around out there and smashing into us from time to time. Besides falling rocks, there are volcanoes and earthquakes that seem to occasionally wreak havoc. A peak into outer space reveals a violent universe who's extreme conditions eventually threaten to engulf our peaceful world. These periodic catastrophes have the power to destroy centuries of careful construction not to mention blow holes in anyone's claim to immortality.

Their rejuvenation chamber technology also gave them the capability for longterm hibernation. All they needed was a relatively safe place to park their chambers and they could survive any catastrophe.

They also perfected a larger and more efficient version of the technology that allowed them to hibernate large numbers of ordinary, non-immortal people. The subjects were suspended in giant bladders, filled with a womb fluid which supplied the nutrients instead of individual ports, as with the rejuvenation chambers. The womb fluid system didn't produce any healing in it's subjects, just preserved them as they were. These new citizens were chosen for their varied physical attributes and skills in world wide competitions. They planned to use these bags of humans to jump start civilization, as soon after the catastrophe as the Earth became inhabitable.

They built a space station to house the immortals. The bladders, housing their army of refugees, were strung out on tethers in all directions. They also developed a wide range of specialized robots and automated vehicles to transport and support the system. The Immortals lived and worked in the command center of their space station. From there they monitored and directed their machines.

As they detected the approach of the last big extinction, they gathered their army of new citizens, and moved them into their hibernation bladders. Then the Immortals settled in for a long sleep in their own private chambers.

When their sensors detected the surface of the Earth was once again suitable habitation, the Immortals were awakened and preparations begun for the return. The hibernating army was revived and an automated physical training regimen was instituted to get them all in shape to function on the surface. It didn't take long, but if it was not done, the citizens would be nearly helpless at full Earth gravity.

As the new citizens were ready, the transport ships carried them to the surface and deposited them in strategic positions around the globe. There they set up outposts and began building small cities. At first, everything went well.

They were surprized to find that some human beings had survived the great extinction. Not only had they survived, but they had flourished. Although they were very primitive, these small bands of hunter/scavengers were scattered across all of the continents. The Immortals paid little attention to these savages as they were deemed only a curiosity and not considered intelligent enough to pose any problems to their resettlement of Earth. How wrong they were.

Before any real fortifications could be built the barbarians began to raid the settlements. At first they were easily repulsed, but more and more of them kept arriving to join the raids. The raids escalated into full scale attacks. The Immortals countered with improved armaments for their outposts, but each escalation was met with a greater improvement in the tactics of the barbarians The barbarians were especially tough and resourceful. And there were an awful lot of them. They soon threatened all the settlements.

The long hibernation had not only diminished the strength and stamina of the new citizens, but it had also dulled their resolve. On the other hand, the years of struggle for survival had made the barbarians strong on all counts. Some of the settlements lasted quite awhile, but eventually, they all had to be rescued and the few survivors returned to the space station. The resettlement was a failure.

This caused a change in the strategy. The Immortals decided to take advantage of the strength of this new breed of human and use them to build their civilization. They began a program of infiltration and propaganda to train the new humans in their ways. They captured and chipped many of these new humans to use as their agents. Lucifer Stone(aka, Luce Gravel) was in one of the first groups to be abducted.

To be continued...