Humanity has unlocked the elixir of eternal life.

The brain can be cleaned and washed back into youthfulness. The body cannot. But by transporting the brain to a younger body, one that can host it, it can continue living.

The synthetically produced humans are not people. Of course they're not. If they were people then the originally occurring humans would be monsters for killing them and transferring originally occurring brains into their bodies. The originally occurring people are not monsters. Of course not. They just want to live.

And to save something you need to kill something. The synths are a necessary sacrifice.

-----Ika has heard what the originals think about the synths. But she also knows her own heart, and her own grief, and her own terror.

———This story is in the public domain and anyone can do whatever they want with it.