Martyr

Martyr is a 1957 science fiction novella by Alan E. Nourse.

Martyr is an absorbing story, set on the Mars Colony, then on Earth. It is possible to completely replace all the parts of a worn out body, preserving the brain. But it is only being done for the geniuses and the elite--500 people a year.

An aging senator with a bad heart can be rejuvenated, but his hearings to open the process to everyone are imminent, so he keeps putting it off.

Rejuvenation for the millions--or rejuvenation for the five hundred lucky ones, the select ones, that can be treated each year?

Tough, independent Senator Dan Fowler fights a one-man battle against the clique that seeks perpetual power and perpetual youth, in this hard-hitting novel by Alan E. Nourse.

Why did it have to be his personal fight? The others fumble it--they'd foul it up, Fowler protested? But why was he in the fight and what was to happen to Senator Fowler's fight against this fantastic conspiracy? Who would win?

Martyr was first published in Fantastic Universe January 1957.

Total Running Time (TRT): 1 hour, 54 min.

Alan Edward Nourse (1928-1992) was an American science fiction author and physician. He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about medicine and science. His SF works generally focused on medicine and/or psionics. Psionics refers to the practice, study, or psychic ability of using the mind to induce paranormal phenomena. Examples of this include telepathy, telekinesis, and other workings of the outside world through the psyche.

His novel The Bladerunner lent its name to the Blade Runner movie, but no other aspects of its plot or characters, which were taken from Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?