[ WP ] The cure for death is found . But die to the fear of overpopulation on earth , people are given a choice . Stay on earth and be mortal , or be cured and go on a deep space mission .

I've never been a big people person per se. I do n't like being around many people and I never have. People freak me out; some are quite nice though. Mostly, I just stay in my apartment playing games or running simulators about space and the like. I live in a small apartment block far out from any nearby `` civilizations''. Places like these have been established by people like me for people like me ever since overpopulation became a concern to people living alone on the Internet. I work from home - accountant for a small firm based in the city. They allowed me to stay because I'm the only one who helped them gain profit without destroying their budget. 
 
 It's a life. 
 
 There's nothing really special about me, nor will there ever be, I think. It'd be nice though. Having some sort of superpower or advantage could be interesting, I'd leave it all behind if I could do it with the help of this power. 
 
 Would I, though? 
 
 *** 
 Huh. They found a new protein that jellyfish generate that apparently makes them immortal. `` Next big thing'' my ass. If it's going to human trials there'll just be a huge amount of people turned into immortal gelatinous goop. 
 *** 
 I got fired. The firm got someone new on my level who could actually come into work. I have enough money saved up to live alone happily for five or so years - I could start on that game project I've been waiting to do. 
 
 It could be worse. 
 *** 
 It's been about 3 months. Does n't feel that long. I've gotten past the initial coding stage and I've finished the sprites for the game. I have n't thought of a name for it yet. It's about a man thrown into space after his ship explodes and lands on an unknown planet full of weird creatures. You have to survive all whilst exploring and developing a new life for yourself in this strange world of unknowns. 
 
 It's really cool. I might name it something along the lines of `` Interstellar'' 
 
 I looked up Interstellar and apparently that's a movie. God damnit. 
 
 I watched Interstellar. It's kinda cool, I guess. Got nothing on my game though. Curse you, patented copyright, curse you! 
 *** 
 One of the human trials for the experiment succeeded. There's a guy alive who is now proven immortal. He's been put through the accelerated aging programme from a decade back and he's not showing any effects; most people get past 130 in a couple of hours. 
 
 Wow. I've run the numbers and with the time he spent in there he should be about 161,412 years old. 
 
 I wonder if they're going to commercialize this. 
 *** 
 I started on this game 4 years back. So much has happened. StarHero has become a huge hit! Lots of people are playing it, and I'm profiting. I even got a love partner! Can you imagine that? Me, in a relationship? 
 *** 
 We broke up. It did n't go well and I lost the apartment. I'm in a hotel room somewhere in the city. I do n't even know where - I just asked the taxi driver to take me away from the Restaurant. 
 
 We'll never meet again, I guess. 
 
 No matter - I've got to push another update for the game - I'm adding a new planet with playable immortal characters. It'll be in touch with the new breakthroughs with the `` Immortal Gene'' as they call it. 
 
 I'm not gon na have the political issues around it though. Too many people are having unprotected sex and too many babies are being born and not enough people are dying and if more are immortal - you know where I'm going with this - overpopulation is at an all time high. They're going to have to put a ban on reproduction, otherwise we'll run out of resources and die out ( minus the immortals ) within the next decade. 
 
 I've heard the International Space Programme is planning to visit Xenovitae, the planet they found in the Solar System this year. Apparently it can host life and it's extreme magnetic fields helped hide it from our sight as well as the Solar flares. It has a sustainable atmosphere and the beginning of a carbon life cycle. There are serious problems though. 
 
 With the rotation of the planets and the distance from the Sun, it'll take three hundred years to get there with a barely surviving ship. 
 
 It's never going to work. 
 *** 
 The G20 summit this year concluded that the world is doomed - in about 3 years, lithium will run out; in 8 - clean water. That's not something you expect to hear from a leader, let alone 40 of them. 
 
 To be honest, I do n't want to die like that. I'd rather die in my game, devoured viciously by a monster. At least that's quick and the panic only lasts a couple of seconds. Here, we've got a decade to flip our shit. 
 *** 
 They've announced that they're going to use project Genesis for it. Twelve thousand volunteers to become immortal using the Immortal Gene and go into space, leaving everyone else behind. You do n't need much to qualify: be the only one from your family, be ready to go and be ready to leave billions behind. The last two are quite obvious, though. 
 
 You'd think people would be piling up, but no one is. They want to spend their last years on this useless Earth with their families, crying about the inevitability of death. 
 
 I guess I qualify. Huh. 
 *** 
 I've registered for the project. I'm now officially Genesis Astronaut N°1610. It's been several months and only about two thousand people registered. It's more difficult to leave it all behind than I thought. 
 
 I'll be going to get the Immortal Gene modification tomorrow. 
 *** 
 It's an unusual feeling, being immortal. I tested it by falling down all the stairs in my block ( I'm on the 8th floor ) and I just regenerated. That's pretty cool. I do n't think I'll get bored of this for a while. 
 *** 
 We've been told the lift off is in a month. There's six of us in the same `` pod''. The pods are going to be used to get us all onto the Genesis ship in low orbit - it was so huge they built it in low orbit to have that many people working on it at once. We're pretty excited to go. 
 
 I'm going to take a copy of my game with me so I can play whilst we fly. One of the members of my team knows about it! How cool is that - someone I can talk to! 
 
 I ca n't wait. 
 *** 
 The thrust from the boosters is much stronger than I imagined; the sound is booming. It's almost crushing me against my seat. The doctor ( I do n't know his name ) showed a thumbs up and immediately slammed his hand back into the seat. What a show-off. 
 
 This is it. I'm leaving for another world entirely. I'm leaving it all behind. I remember dreaming of this all those years ago. 

