THE PRICE OF ETERNITY

The protagonist, who has kept his twenty-five-year-old body preserved for three and a half centuries thanks to the «Remarque» chip, receives an invitation to an expedition to Proxima Centauri. At the KAKTON (United Nations Colonization and Transport Agency), he is informed that he is the ideal candidate, but the «Full Release» protocol is mandatory: his mind is overloaded, and a part of his memories must be erased. The hero is horrified, as this is identity erasure, yet an official calmly explains that the procedure is the standard price of immortality. Three days before the deadline, the hero begins hallucinating—demons of Oblivion in the form of his parents demand «liberation.» After an episode, he decides to abandon the skills of the last century while retaining the memory of his loved ones, and submits a request for Selective Release. Instead of approval, he is summoned to Apostole Munash.

Munash reveals the truth: the «demons» are merely neurohallucinations of an overloaded brain, and Immortality is a social myth created so that people would voluntarily undergo the procedure. The Apostles are the first scientists, and the Prophet—the inventor of immortality—fell victim to Amnesia and was turned into a symbol of faith. Munash shows the hero the «conservatives,» stuck in the past, and those who have completely lost their sanity. The choice: voluntarily lose a part of yourself or have everything taken from you by force.

In the preparation area before the operation, Munash tests whether the hero believes in the myth. The hero repeats the dogma. The operation is complete; the memory of the exposé is erased, and his personality is functional once more. The hero prepares for the stellar mission. Ships with cleansed minds fly toward new worlds, while under the Temple Dome, the Prophet rests in a vegetative state—the first immortal, the first victim of his own gift, an eternal captive and the symbol of the lie upon which civilization rests. The cycle continues.

Year 2045: The emergence of proto-AI catalyzes the creation of realistic theoretical models for radical life extension. · 1960s: World War. A sharp leap in medicine: a revolution in neural interfaces, the first fully functional bionic limbs, and a breakthrough in cancer cell control. · 1970s: The first permanent settlements are established on the Moon and Mars. · 1979: Political parties openly advocating for transhumanism come to power in key nations. State funding begins for projects aimed at achieving physical immortality. · 2000: The first victory over the external manifestations of aging. Mass «longevity therapy» is adopted in one of the leading powers. · 2010s: A historic event—the first birth of a human on Mars. Also, the first death on an alien planet, underscoring the fragility of life even in new worlds. · 2020s: Final victory over oncology. Global proliferation of anti-aging therapies. Successful experiments in creating «immortal» animals. Earth’s population begins to consciously decline.

· 2150s: The emergence of the first «stable» humans—individuals whose biology remains unchanged across years. Societal schism: the «anti-agere» movement versus immortality. Despite protests, technology becomes more accessible under the pressure of transhumanists. Breakthroughs in regenerative medicine render people virtually invulnerable. · 2190s: The War of Choice. The triumph of the transhumanist coalition, which demonstrated the world’s first «indestructible» army. Earth’s population reaches 4 billion. Global birth control is introduced. The Age of Eternal Equality begins. · 2200s: Martian society is the first to achieve 100% «immortality» among its population (50 million people). · 2230s: The eradication of the last enclaves of «natural» humans on Earth. Immortality becomes a mandatory norm for the entire species. · 2300: The formation of a unified global language. National languages and religions are synthesized into a new unified system—the doctrine of Everlasting Being. · 2450: Complete colonization of the Solar System. The post-human population is stabilized at 20 billion.

· Year 2475: The Amnesia Catastrophe (The Great Oblivion). The first generation of immortals, having lived 400 years without artificial intervention, reaches the memory capacity limit. Mass loss of cognitive function, vegetative states, and insanity ensue. · Year 2486: Scientist Munash presents the solution—the «Remarque» neural implant. It allows for the selective archiving and «unloading» of memory, preventing overflow. The start of the Second Great Transformation. · 2530s: «Remarque» becomes mandatory for the entire population. The Memory Release procedure becomes routine practice. Cases of Amnesia become rare. · Year 4575: Society has functioned according to established rules for over two millennia. Philosophical movements arise: «Unity» (advocating for a collective consciousness) and «Cyclists» (advocating for voluntary exit through complete personal erasure).

1. The implant allows an immortal to selectively «release» (erase) memories of lived periods.
2. In the event of a loss of capacity (critical overload), others decide which memories to erase.
3. Personality changes irreversibly: after several Releases from the former «self, ” almost nothing remains. The only reminders are external archives (diaries, photos, documents).
4. Not all memory is erased, only selected blocks.
5. Choosing to preserve „old“ memories (the first 100–150 years) preserves the personality but condemns it to lagging behind a world that has moved forward.

· First Generation (as Protagonist): born before the Amnesia Catastrophe. They physically stop at age 25, receive the «Remarque,» and live for centuries, encountering the need to erase memory for the first time. · Subsequent Generations: grow up with the implant, knowing about the procedure from childhood. Each new Liberation is perceived by them with more ease. After several cycles, nothing remains of the original personality—it is completely replaced by the «renewed» self. · Ancient Generation: the first immortals on Earth (the Apostles and the Prophet). They witnessed the era before the «Remarque» and survived the Amnesia Catastrophe.

According to the doctrine, God granted the knowledge of eternal life to the First Immortal (the Prophet). In exchange, every 350 years He takes a portion of individuality as payment for the time lived. The Prophet passed this Gift to all of humanity through seven Apostles, and then withdrew to the Dome Temple for eternal prayer to hold back the darkness of Oblivion.