They do not age. They do not die of time.

Biological immortality is not a fantasy category. Turritopsis reverts its medusa to polyp by transdifferentiation. The naked mole-rat shows negligible senescence. Homarus lobsters express effectively unlimited telomerase in all tissues. The haemophagic solution is constitutive telomerase expression across cell lineages, maintained by the lentiviral rewrite, so telomeres do not shorten and replicative senescence does not accrue. The monthly cost of that programme is paid in iron.

Unlimited telomerase is also how cancers become immortal, which is the paradox the genome has to solve. The Archon colony and the viral surveillance genes impose a second checkpoint: cells that escape tissue identity are chemically tagged and cleared. The system is good. It is not perfect. Long-term occupation still produces the psychiatric and neoplastic signatures catalogued as Affective Escalation Syndrome. Time is not free. It is deferred.