The Price of Time

by Tim Tigner

Telomeres were like metal tips on the ends of DNA zippers. They kept the long strands from getting fouled up during the unzipping and re-zipping process at the core of cellular reproduction. When telomeres malfunctioned, people got cancer. When they wore down, people aged.

he naturally evoked their better angels by using his big brain to see things from their points of view.

Whoever had hit me hadn’t used the Goldilocks touch this time.

Wasn’t he the one doing the hitting last time??

“I don’t think we’re supposed to be happy. I mean the big us, humans. I think we’re supposed to struggle. I think that’s because there’s something more important to our psyche than hedonistic happiness.”

That was the secret to successful ascents—and most of life for that matter—finding ways to work with nature rather than fight it.

“For someone doing what he loves, you don’t seem particularly happy.” Ironically, he smiled. “I’ve always been more Spock than Kirk.”