Eighth Circle

The waiting room was equipped with reclining chairs worked by machinery and suitable for elderly bodies. The chancellor sat in one and Tom sat in another. The trip to meet the senior guardians had been a revelation in more ways than one. He had expected something different from a normal retirement home but finding them floating in jars had come as a surprise.

Some were little more than heads with tentacles dangling below. They reminded him of grotesque creatures brought up from ocean depths by marine scientists. The chancellor was keen to question him on the experience.

'Did you find your visit to the immortals stimulating, Professor?'

Tom recalled that the heads in jars were meant to live forever.

'Very stimulating, my lord.'

'Is that all you can say?'

'There are thousands of them.'

'Yes, Professor. There are far more to our number than those you see at high table. They were anxious to meet their new colleague. Many of those who greeted you are founding members of our order.'

'Their voices came from speakers below the jars,' Tom remarked. 'I expected them to sound much older.'

'You were hearing them as they were in the prime of their bodily life, Professor. They are forever young and their voices do not change.'

'It wasn't just their voices. Their minds seem remarkably young. They would have kept me talking all day if there had been time. I was impressed by the things they had to say. They are nothing like the people you generally meet in retirement homes.'

'They are not retired, Professor.'

'Not retired?'

'Certainly not. The smooth and efficient ordering of our government depends on their collective responsibilities. They are linked to the prime computer through their brain implants. They combine to form a super consciousness. It is the cognitive centre of our entire being.'

That came as a revelation. What followed was even more amazing. The chancellor said that being a brain in a jar didn't mean you were confined to the jar. Quite the contrary. You had freedom of movement you didn't enjoy when you were a fully functioning, normal human being.

'Once you become an immortal you are not confined to a single body. You can have as many identities as your brain can control and that provides opportunities that were previously unavailable.'

It was an interesting idea.

'All you require is a team of surrogates,' the chancellor explained. 'They are not difficult to find and you can select them to meet your requirements. They continue to lead normal lives, under your guidance, and receive special favours as members of your team.