[ WP ] In the future , every human born lives for exactly 1 billion heartbeats . Some go to extreme lengths to keep their heart rate low .

Ever since the Terran world government passed its landmark population control legislation, people have been going absolutely nuts trying to eke out the longest life possible. Once every citizen's chip was installed and calibrated using a pro-rata formula, the government flipped a digital switch, and a tiny countdown appeared in the top-left corner of every world citizen's HUD. Entire industries from heartbeat regulating pharmaceuticals to in-dream virtual reality technology went from niche to mainstream overnight. Every newborn citizen gets one billion heartbeats. Once you hit a billion: the chip swiftly euthanizes its host using a painless cocktail of drugs it's been carrying from the very beginning. 
 
 The richest of the rich could afford to enter deep hibernation whenever it suited them, allowing for them to maintain control over their assets by'slipping' months and years into the future when their investments were at their ripest for harvest. Even in hibernation, a special bioelectrical system kept their brains active and able to virtually manage their assets and ensure nobody got up to any funny business while their hearts and bodies remained in near complete stasis. Instead of being grounded, rich kids are punished by forcing them to slip whole years at a time so that by the time they are revived their friends would have long since grown up and moved on. Can you believe that? 
 
 Meanwhile, the poorest castes of citizens rapidly burned through their allotted time. Between their labor intensive jobs, poor diet and lack of access to advanced biotechnology and drugs, they did n't have a chance. The more fortunate refer to us as `` Mayflies'' because they are likely only going to encounter you for one day in real life before they go back to hibernation. By the time they come out of stasis again, you're already dead and replaced by some other Mayfly. Because of their ability to live so much longer than us, they passed laws requiring legislation to go through'waiting periods' of a minimum of 10 years before becoming law. Even if one of us Mayflies manage to get elected to the government, we would n't be able to change anything if we wanted to. 
 
 If you're lucky enough to have a desk job with a good salary and health coverage like me, you've got two options to extend your life: use Bradia, a cheap and widely prescribed drug which artificially lowers your heart rate at night, or naturally lower your basal heart rate via natural means like meditation and fitness. Bradia users more often than not technically outlive their naturalist counterparts, but if you ask me, there's no point to it. The side of effects of Bradia are far more scary to me than the idea of dying. By the time my buddy Charles hit his billion heart beats, he was barely able to walk; what little sleep he was getting was punctuated with night terrors. Horribly muscle spasms were also common, due to the poor quality of rest Bradia users were getting. If you are really desperate to extend your life for some reason, you take Bradia in the morning and at night. 
 
 You could probably theoretically double your lifespan that way, but you'd be doing it without your arms and legs. More than a few days in a row at that low of a heart rate, and the circulation is n't enough to keep your extremities alive anymore. 
 
 Anyway, you're probably wondering if I'm going to get to the point already. It's been almost 2000 years since they enacted the Heartbeat Act, and something's happened those rich assholes in their ivory towers never saw coming. In the nearly 2000 years, the poor castes lived, married at around 14 or 15 years old, produced their young and died in a span of 20-30 years. The rich often lived for centuries on end. I'm the 125th great grandchild of the first generation citizens who got the chips. My boss is only a 9th generation descendant. Despite their cleverness, they did n't take a long enough view on things. 
 
 About 10 or so generations back, people start being born with special abilities. Nothing too crazy, mind you, but once you get a spark in a bed of dry leaves: wildfire. The chips are starting to misread heartbeats. Some people are even able to make their countdowns run backwards using nothing but their mind. Of course the government is trying to stamp us out, but there are too many of us. We are taking over and there is nothing they can do about it. 
 
 And once we get control, there will be hell to pay.
