The Beyonders Rewrite the Constitution:
The Laws of Cloning

It is the year 90 A.D. A new ruling class has been established. The Beyonders are comprised of men and women who have died and been recloned ten or more times. However, there is a catch. Only those who have died "legitimate deaths" are granted membership.

After all, jumping from an airplane just for the thrill of it,
is certainly not a respectable way to die.

Neither is dying ten times in rapid succession just so you can partake of Beyonder status.

No indeed: it is not that easy to become a Beyonder. The Beyonder class is so esteemed and mighty because of the wisdom they have acquired in their long lives. Why, usually the chronological-mental discrepancy (cell-samples are taken once a year, max; brain scans every week - a recloning puts them both together, and the resulting discrepancy in mental and physical age is the chrono-mental discrepancy).....usually, the chrono-mental discrepancy is about a year for every re-cloning.

Yes - the Beyonders are respectable and wise; those traits must be reflected in the patterns of their previous deaths. It simply won't do to have reckless High-Cees take positions in Beyonder society, now would it?

Would YOU want to be represented
by someone who squanders his or her own lives
without a second thought?

Only one problem remains, then:

How to define a "legitimate death?"

And how to determine whether people are worthy of being granted
Beyonder status,
and thus an unlimited number of reclonings?

It is for that reason that we have rewritten the Constitution to include the following:

Cee-Constitution Excerpts

Back to The Matter of Life and Death

Last Modified: 4/29/98
Wendy Elizabeth Kemp