Aging is considered a disease on Gor by Caste of Physicians
Age, on Gor, interestingly, was regarded, and
still is, by the Castes of Physicians as a disease, not an inevitable natural
phenomenon.
Assassin
The physicians of Gor, it seemed, had addressed themselves to the
conquest of what had hitherto been a universal disease, called on Gor the
drying and withering disease, called on Earth, aging.
Slave Girl
Stabilization Serums developed to combat the "disease" of aging
Physicians in Koroba & Ar developed serums
Transmitted serum to Physicians of other cities at the Sardar Fairs The Player was a rather old man, extremely unusual on Gor, where the
stabilization serums were developed centuries ago by the Caste of Physicians
in Ko-ro-ba and Ar, and transmitted to the Physicians of other cities at
several of the Sardar Fairs.
Assassin
Effect is to keep the recipient young and as they are "What is the meaning of the stabilization serums?" I had asked Sucha.
She had kissed me. "They will keep you much as you are," she said, "young and
beautiful."
Slave Girl
The Serums
Regarded as the right of all human beings - civilized or barbarian
Administered in a series of injections
Effect is a gradual transformation of genetic structure
Result is indefinite cell replacement The Stabilization Serums, which are regarded as the right of
all human beings, be they civilized or barbarian, friend or enemy, are
administered in a series of injections, and the effect is, incredibly, an
eventual, gradual transformation of certain genetic structures, resulting
in indefinite cell replacement without pattern deterioration.
Assassin
Slaves, as valuable property, are given injections to keep them healthy and able to
serve I had stood in the cage, startled, trembling. "Why are serums of such value
given to slaves?" I asked.
"Are they of such value?" she asked. "Yes," she said, "I suppose so." She took
them for granted, much as the humans of Earth might take for granted routine
inocculations. She was unfamiliar with aging. The alternative to the serums
was not truly clear to her. "Why should slaves not be given the serums?" she
asked. "Do the masters not want their slaves healthy and better able to serve
them?"
"It is true," I said, "Sucha." On Earth animals were given inoculations by
farmers to protect them from diseases; on Gor it would be a matter of course,
provided the serums were readily available, to administer them to slaves.
Slave Girl
Administered in series of four shots "She requires the Stabilization Serums," said the physician.
The guard nodded.
"They are administered in four shots," said the physician. He nodded to a
heavy, beamed, diagonal platform in a corner of the room. The guard took me
and threw me, belly down, on the platform, fastening my wrists over my head
and widely apart, in leather wrist straps. He similarly secured my ankles.
The physician was busying himself with fluids and a syringe before a shelf in
another part of the room, laden with vials.
Captive
Series of shots spread out over four separate days We returned, similarly, to the physicians house on the next four days. On
the first day I had been examined, given some minor medicines of little
consequence, and the first shot in the Stabilization Series. On the second,
third and fourth day I received the concluding shots of the series. On the
fifth day the physician took more samples.
"The serums are effective," he told the guard.
Captive
Alterating the genetic code of deterioration or aging The matter, I supposed, was a function of genetic subtleties, and the nature
of differing gametes. The serums of stabilization effected, it seemed, the
genetic codes, perhaps altering or neutralizing certain messages of
deterioration, providing, I supposed, processes in which an exchange of
materials could take place while tissue and cell patterns remained
relatively constant. Ageing was a physical process and, as such, was
susceptible to alteration by physical means. All physical processes are
theoretically reversible. Entropy itself is presumably a moment in a cosmic
rhythm. The physicians of Gor, it seemed, had addressed themselves to the
conquest of what had hitherto been a universal disease, called on Gor the
drying and withering disease, called on Earth, ageing. Generations of
intensive research and experimentation had taken place. At last a few
physicians, drawing upon the accumulated data of hundreds of investigators,
had achieved the breakthrough, devising the first primitive stabilization
serums, later to be developed and exquisitely refined.
Slave Girl
Genetic alterations are capable of being transmitted (from parent to child along with
other genetic tendencies) These genetic
alterations, moreover, are commonly capable of being transmitted. For
example, though I received the series of injections when first I came to
Gor many years ago I had been told by Physicians that they might, in my case,
have been unnecessary, for I was the child of parents who, though of Earth,
had been of Gor, and had received the serums.
Assassin
Some offspring of gorean parents who had the serum do not need it "The masters, and the free, of course, if there is need of it, you must
understand, are also afforded the serums of stabilization," she said, adding,
smiling, "though they are administered to them, I suppose, with somewhat more
respect than they are to a slave."
"If there is need of it?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"Do some not require the serums?" I asked.
"Some," said Sucha, "but these individuals are rare, and are the offspring of
individuals who have had the serums."
"Why is this?" I asked.
"I do not know," said Sucha. "Men differ."
Slave Girl
Effectiveness of serums varies from person to person
With some it lasts indefinitely
With others it wears off after a few hundred years
With a few it speeds up the aging process instead But different human beings
respond differently to the Stabilization Serums, and the Serums are more
effective with some than with others. With some the effect lasts indefinitely,
with others it
wears off after but a few hundred years, with some the effect does not occur
at all, with others, tragically, the effect is not to stabilize the pattern
but to hasten its degeneration.
Assassin
For the majority, it works as planned and most goreans if needing it, will take
the risk and get the serum The odds, however, are in the favor of the
recipient, and there are few Goreans who, if it seems they need the Serum's,
do not avail themselves of them.
Assassin
Series of shots described as painful
Administered to this slave while she is bound I had spent eight days in the slave pens, waiting the night of the sale. I
had been examined medically, in detail, and had had administered to me, while
I lay bound, helplessly, a series of painful shots, the purpose of which I
did not understand. They were called the stabilization serums.
Slave Girl
Shot again described as painful
Needle enters in small of back, over left hip I screamed. The shot was painful. It was entered in the small of my back,
over the left hip.
They left me secured to the table for several minutes and then the physician
returned to check the shot. There had been, apparently, no unusual reaction.
I was then freed.
Captive
Shots given to free persons with more care than to a slave "The masters, and the free, of course, if there is need of it, you must
understand, are also afforded the serums of stabilization," she said, adding,
smiling, "though they are administered to them, I suppose, with somewhat more
respect than they are to a slave."
Assassin
Old and aged people on Gor
Toothless wrinkled hag One cruel courtesan in the great city of Ar, now little more than a
toothless, wrinkled hag, boasted that more than four hundred men had died
because of her beauty.
Outlaw
Old man A case
is known of a larl who traveled more than twenty-five hundred
pasangs to seek a certain shallow crevice in the Voltai in
which he had been whelped. He was slain at its mouth.
Hunters had followed him. One among them, an old man who had
originally been one of the party that had captured the
animal, identified the place.
Priest Kings
Old man of the Players
The Player was a rather old man, extremely unusual on Gor, where the
stabilization serums were developed centuries ago by the Caste of Physicians
in Ko-ro-ba and Ar, and transmitted to the Physicians of other cities at
several of the Sardar Fairs.
Assassin