John Francis Kinsella

The Gilgamesh Project John Francis Kinsella

Pat Kennedy, a rich banker, has decided to test Galenus-1, a new life extending molecule developed by his firm LifeGen. A month has now passed since he decided to isolate himself, like many of the very rich, far from the City of London and the Covid virus, at his villa on the French Riviera. That morning, when he awakes at the Villa Contessa, he feels a surge of freedom and immense pleasure. Bounding out of bed, he stretches, picks up the remote and zaps open the roller shutters of his large high ceilinged bedroom. The sun streams in from the southwest, it's another fine early summer morning. Shading his eyes, he admires the magnificent view over the terrace, the Mediterranean sparkling like a silver platter beyond the villa's luxuriant gardens. He felt extraordinarily good. Life was very good, far from Boris Johnson's fatuous 'Let's get going' Britain. What had been planned as a rest in Beaulieu-sur-mer was becoming a habit. He had little desire to return to London, even less Hong Kong. He just wanted to lay back, admire the colours and breath in the perfumes of the Riviera. But to start the day he had an appointment at LifeGen, his first important check-up since he had commenced taking Galenus-1. At breakfast he informed George, his butler cum household manager, he would drive to Sophia Antipolis himself and return after lunch with Rob McGoldrick-his friend, adviser and physician. He'd never felt so well, relaxed-being far from the pressures of London, Paris and Hong Kong had its effect, but more importantly, no doubt thanks to LifeGen's molecule, he felt a surge of well-being. Meanwhile, more than 9,000 kilometres away in Central America, the Russian, Arkady Demitriev, tries to unravel the secret discovered by Barry Simmonds, a small-time lawyer in Belize City, and explain his mysterious meeting with Kennedy in San Sebastian in Spain, before the lawyers sudden demise.