Friends Come in Boxes
by Michael G. Coney
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The Conversationalist sat among the boxes, trying to interest the friends in history. "The Compulsory Transfer Act was passed in 2056," he was saying, "with the dual object of reducing the birthrate and preventing the wastage of valuable minds through death. It might fairly be said to have changed the face of civilisation." "I'll say " rasped one of the friends. "If it wasn't for the Act, I'd have been in a physical body now, instead of being in this damned box " "If it wasn't for the Act, show more you'd have been dead this last hundred and fifty years," pointed out the Conversationalist. "You've probably has four physical bodies by now, a total of one hundred and sixty years of active life. And just twenty years in a box. That's not bad " The problem of immortality had been solved in the 21st century: when you reached forty, your brain was transferred to the head of a six-month-old infant. In that way, you obtained another forty years of life, until you could do it all over again. But nobody could have foreseen the dramatic manner in which the birthrate would fall - resulting in a growing waiting list for host bodies, and the creation of Friendship Boxes to house the brains of those who waited. The Friendship Boxes proliferated: a grumbling section of the community, a constant source of embarrassment to every politician...Until the day it all came to a head. show lessTags
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Another drugs store purchase. Since I remember it, I think I liked it.
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55+ Works 1,984 Members
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Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1973
- First words
- Phillip Ewell suggested it.
He's dead now, of course; he died happy at the age of seventy physical, although I think that in his last moments he almost regretted the impulse which had caused him to renounce his career ... (show all)as Transfer Surgeon some thirty-four years previously. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And due to certain incautious remarks I had made in the past, he might have suspected that I, personally, had something to do with it . . .
Bovey Tracey, 2294
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- Reviews
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- (3.56)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 7
