“Many age-related diseases, including Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, are associated with aggregated and misfolded proteins. Conformational defects allow the seeding of protein aggregates (Polymeropoulos et al., 1997 ), which can expand into macroscopic plaques (Jarrett et al., 1993 ), leading to tissue degeneration. Thus proper regulation of proteostasis is strongly correlated with healthy aging (Balch et al., 2008 ).”

– The Cell Biology of Aging, Race DiLoreto and Coleen T. Murphy1, Mol Biol Cell. 2015 Dec 15; 26(25): 4524–4531.

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A diminutive woman in her early sixties enters the large, well-lit office overlooking a garden, her once striking red hair now showing some streaks of gray. As the only person who can enter this room without knocking, she walks in like she owns the place.

Under her right arm she is carrying a tablet that hasn’t been in production for decades. Peeking out from her right sleeve is a hint of a colorful Japanese tattoo. The sun is shining through the large windows that make up one wall of the room. The light streaming in is warm, igniting tiny dust particles dancing in the air.

The beam also lights up an old man behind a large desk, with his back to the window. The gaunt figure is encased from neck to toe in a prosthetic exoskeleton that seems to be the only thing holding him upright in his chair. Eyes closed, he is making little hand gestures in the air, interacting with some interface only he can see.

As the woman looks out into the serene garden, her attention is drawn to the center where a small sandy area spreads out like a pond, home to five ancient looking stones of different sizes, reminiscent of quiet islands.

Most of the sand is perfectly smooth, almost eerily so, accented here and there by whorls of rake marks that bring to mind a still pond just after a few pebbles have been thrown in.

A small robot is just finishing up raking the pattern.

The woman smirks and says, “OSCAR? When did you take up gardening?”

Hidden speakers throughout the room reply, “Hello, Sue. How are you?

I have been for some time, actually. This is one of several thousand of my attempts. However, this is the first time I’ve tried creating one outside of my simulation environment.

I rather like it.

There are a huge number of constraints and chaotic environmental variables that make the real version much more challenging...”

Sue smiles. “Just don’t go and join a monastery without telling Patrick.”

“Noted.”

At the mention of his name, the elderly man sitting at the large desk removes the small VR interface disks attached to the sides of his head. He blinks a few times as the interface closes and he comes back to using his own sense organs. The prosthetics encasing his emaciated arms whir as he executes the maneuver.

“Sorry, Sue” he says “I was reviewing the materials we’ve received from PharmaTek in prep for tomorrow’s meeting.

Even after looking through everything, I still don’t know what they’re going to pitch. They’ve been awfully coy and I’m about fed up with it.

I’m half tempted not to show.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t.” she says glancing down at her tablet “You’ve got a treatment session this afternoon and you know they take a lot out of you. Why not send Richard to cover for you?”

“Not a chance.” The old man says at the mention of his son. He turns his chair to look out into garden. The small robot is gathering up his traditional Japanese gardening tools, placing them carefully into a wooden cart.

“Sue does have a point, Patrick...” Remarks the voice as the robot begins to pull the cart away.

“OSCAR, did I ask your opinion?”

Sue stiffens. “There’s no reason to be rude, Patrick!”

“I’ll be fine and I’m going!” the old man shouts “I’ve got work to do. Tell me when the car shows up to take me to the torture chamber.”

“Fine.” Sue replies and turns and starts to walk out.

As she is leaving the old man grumbles, “When the hell are you going to get upgraded anyway?! I can’t tell you how much I’ve spent keeping that antique you call a ‘tablet’ running.

Hell, I even had to have Connor’s team recreate a 2020’s wireless network here at the house so you can still use it. Don’t you want to join the rest of civilization?”

The small woman stiffens and somehow seems to grow taller. – If not taller, certainly more intimidating.

Muscles in her jaw stand out as she clenches her teeth. “If ‘civilization’ means waving your hands in the air, looking like a crazy person, with who knows what stuffed into your head, then no, I’ll stay a savage, thank you very much.”

I’ll let you know when the car shows.” And with that she leaves.

As Sue walks down the hallway, the voice follows her. “He’s getting worse, Sue.”

“I know, OSCAR... I know.”

Back in the office, Patrick is alone with his thoughts.

“Today would have been Helen’s birthday and I guess I’m letting that get to me...

Pull it together, Patrick!

Even so, how could she even suggest that I have Richard attend the meeting in my place?!

What is she thinking, that somehow we’re going to magically make everything better after all this time?

Nothing he’s done since Helen fell ill has given me any indication that he cares about anything other than himself.

At my last treatment, I heard him whispering to the doctor about ‘how long’ I have. Well, not much longer my dear boy, but until then, this is still my company.”

Next Chapter: Johnson Development Center, Silicon Valley, 2012