DECAP CHRONICLES: circa 2100 AD “ETERNAL LIFE LOTTERY”

It has been two hundred years since the first decap and the transformation has become commonplace. Over 10,000 decaps now reside on earth and dozens orbit Mars and inhabit the moon. Through recycling and other technological advances, the nutrients, power, and life support demands of a decap for one hundred years were less than the demands of a human for one month. The decap’s self-contained location, remote from their roaming humanoids, made them ideally suited for planetary exploration.

The growth of decaps was not without controversy. Decap conversion was a progression toward eternal-life. There was never a shortage of waiting candidates. The billion-dollar price tag for conversion had not changed over the last two hundred years but when adjusted for inflation represented a ten million-dollar value of the earlier time. The conversion was seen as a solution for the increasing population pressures of the earth, but remained financially out of reach for most that sought it.

Demand creates its own supply, and the overwhelming demand for decap conversion attracted many entrepreneurial enterprises. A venerable cottage industry of financial planning schemes flourished promising the "key to eternal-life", euphemism for decap conversion. Governments at the state, national and international level finally clamped down on the schemes, but the "key to eternal-life" was a profitable and lucrative business. The demand continued. Something had to be done.

An enterprising Florida State Senator originated the idea of an eternal-life lottery. "The decap conversion process is now limited to the rich, big business and government entities. If we create a plan that is accessible to everyday folks, we can deliver much hope to our constituents. Through a process of funding conversions with a lottery, we can establish our own decap conversion center, and by franchising the process, the expansion of centers around the country and around the globe will ultimately bring the hope of 'eternal-life' to everyone."

And thus was born the accelerated growth of the decap industry. After two hundred years being the privilege of a few, the decap process was now reachable by everyone. Within two decades, conversions had changes from 50 a year to 500 a year, and there were no limits to the process.

The public embraced the eternal-life lottery with religious fervor. It was perceived to be greater than all the wealth in the world. "A door to eternity!" "Be all you can be!" "Heaven on earth!"

Winners went through several phases after their conversion. They were seen months afterwards in their new bodies, their perfect smiles, and their perfect dimensions. They wined and dined at social events, had around the world cruises, and were perpetually engrossed in the limelight. This phase lasted months with some, or a few years with others, but eventually subsided to the second phase. It was characterized by the question, "Now that I have eternal-life, what is there left to do?"