Birth, Aging, Illness, and Death
Five hundred years has also left traces of time on many people.
Because humanity has not made any further breakthroughs in the field of Life Elixir in recent years, and only three versions of Life Elixir are available, the normal human lifespan is only about 1,500 years.
Therefore, after five hundred years of weathering, many of those who survived from the era of the Callisto Base to the present day have finally begun to show signs of aging.
Especially in their last few years, they used up all the Life Elixir they could, and thus entered the normal aging process.
Teenage girls slowly grow into their twenties, and then gradually become mature women in their thirties. If the Life Elixir continues like this without any breakthroughs, then they will be the first humans to die of natural causes since the beginning of interstellar travel.
They've lived to be 1,400 years old. In Earth Era, they could proudly claim to have found the secret to immortality. In Earth Era, 1,500 years is an unimaginably long period of time. Living to be 100 is considered a long life, so people should be content with living to be over 1,000.
However, in the interstellar era, such a lifespan can only be described as fleeting.
It took humanity five hundred years to fully upgrade from Level 2 Civilization to Level 3 Civilization, and that's only after the advent of True Nano Technology. If we include the hibernation time during the voyage, a mere fifteen hundred years would be nothing more than a blink of an eye.
Therefore, people yearn to see more of the universe and to live longer. However, the harsh reality is that humanity has not made breakthroughs in the field of Life Science due to True Nano Technology, and no new Life Elixir have been developed.
As a result, the concept of birth, aging, sickness, and death, which had been forgotten by humankind for countless years, suddenly reappeared in society. The lifespan of humans in the Earth Era, and the stories of birth, aging, sickness, and death in the Earth Era, were told to other humans one by one by the older generation.
"I've lived this long enough to be considered lucky. If it weren't for the leader's wise leadership back then, our generation would have died at the Callisto Base. Now I have no regrets."
An elderly man lying in his hospital bed looked at his children beside him and said slowly, "My organs have failed, and there is no way I can live any longer. Even in my current state, the life monitoring system is still very accurate. It said I have less than half a day left, and it must be right. I am so glad that you could come back to see me in the last moments of my life."
"No, Dad, there's still hope! What's that called again, mechanization or something? We have advanced enough technology now to keep you alive!"
The old man had seven children in his life, four daughters and three sons. According to the current human family relationships, he, his children and Sun Tzu are considered a family. The one who is calling him "Dad" is his youngest daughter.
Although she is the youngest daughter, she is over 1,300 years old.
"Yes, old man, I remember that technology is called Body Mechanization Modification Technology. It can replace all the organs with machines, and it can still maintain bodily functions. We can apply for mechanical modification. Yes, that's it. Let me check the relevant regulations," the old man's wife said.
As she spoke, she connected to the network through the Built-in Chip system and instructed her smart assistant to start searching for relevant regulations on human mechanical modification.
In the past, they would never have bothered to learn about these things, because in an era of great success in Gene Editing Technology and Life Elixir, humans basically no longer get sick, and 99% of the causes of disease have been successfully prevented by technology at the genetic level.
The so-called ward where this old man is now is a temporary facility that was set up in recent decades because there has been no breakthrough in the New Life Elixir.
While the old man's wife was searching for information, his other children were also looking at him with concern.
However, the next moment they heard the old man say weakly, "No, it's no use. You don't understand what I mean. I'm talking about organ decline. These so-called organs are not just my internal organs, but all the cells in my body. They are all getting old, including my brain cells, which are also dying."
After hearing the old man's words, his wife and children fell silent.
Yes, with current human technology, it's entirely possible to replace every part of the body except the brain with machinery. But the old man's brain cells are already in the death stage. Even if you put his brain into a mechanical body, what use would it be? Death is inevitable. Humans are born to die. It's just that this process has been greatly slowed down by the technology that humans have mastered since the interstellar age.
"It's alright. What joy is there in living, and what sorrow in dying? After I die, burn me and scatter my ashes across the vastness of space." By this point, the old man had come to terms with it.
With his already somewhat dazed and hazy eyes, he looked at everyone around the bed, took a slow breath, and spoke again, "I was born on Earth, a beautiful planet, the home of humankind. Now that I am about to die, let me stay in this star system where I have lived for five hundred years. Five hundred years of life, this is like a second home. It's ridiculous, five hundred years, and I still don't know the name of this Red Dwarf Star as I am about to die."
"Its name is HD45996S56!" the old man's third son replied.
"So hasty, and it's just a number." The old man forced a bitter smile. He looked at his son, who was speaking, and said with hopeful eyes, "If possible, please give me a suggestion to the New Government and see if we can name this Red Dwarf Star 'Sunset Red'."
The old man's last wish before he died was to die in a place that would be easy to remember.
Just as the life Detection System predicted, the old man died peacefully half a day later. This was because his final proposal had received a response from the relevant departments of the New Government before his death.
This Red Dwarf Star was indeed renamed the Sunset Glow Star in human records thereafter.
In fact, in recent years, quite a few people have died from cellular aging, just like the elderly, and this trend is increasing as there is no breakthrough in Life Elixir.
It seems that human society as a whole has returned to the normal era of birth, aging, illness, and death.
Five years later, news of the first top scientist's declining physical function reached Yue Yuan's ears.
"Commander Yue, according to the Vital Signs Monitoring Instrument, Doctor Yi Kai collapsed due to pulmonary failure!"
It was Zhu Pete who spoke. Yue Yuan turned around to look at him and found that he had aged about ten years. He used to look like he was in his twenties, but now he looked like he was almost forty.
Time has also left obvious marks on Zhu Pete.
Those who didn't hibernate for long have now truly reached the point where the Life Elixir will wear off, and they are really starting to get old. Yue Yuan sighed with some emotion.
In fact, Yue Yuan has been conscious for longer than these people. However, because of the alien spaceship on the Callisto Base, he had a lifespan that was almost 500 years longer than the others, so even now, he still doesn't show any signs of aging.
But it's not long now.
Yue Yuan estimated in his mind how long he would remain conscious and felt that he probably only had about two hundred years left.