"Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human."
Viktor E. Frankl
For two months Kyle Parker waited for
the New Life Corporation to ready the android body he needed to save
himself from the disease that was causing his nervous system to fail.
Everyday he felt a little more of his motor skills slip away to the
point he now had a full time nurse to watch over him. It was a easy
job, Parker still could walk, communicate, and operate things like a
computer but he found himself having to concentrate harder on the
tasks to the point that he was utterly exhausted at the end of the
day. Having the nurse allowed Parker to perform his usual duties
until he needed assistance. As routines went it wasn't ideal, but for
Parker it would work until New Life said the android body was ready.
“Parker,” his assistant Denise
Smith said rushing into his office, “New Life just called, your
android body is ready and they are willing to do the procedure
immediately if you want.”
Parker didn't even have to think about
it for moment,” Tell them we will be leaving within the hour.”
***
Within minutes of arriving the New Life
staff had Parker in an operating room, laying on a surgical table
wearing what amounted to cheap pajamas. After a strong local
anesthetic was injected into the saline solution being fed
intravenously into his left arm two surgical technicians shaved his
head, then maneuvered the segments of the table into a position
resembling that of a recliner.
“All right Mr. Parker,” one of the
technicians said, “the next step will be quite painful so we're
going to put you under put for about an hour. But once you wake up
the consciousness transfer will begin.”
Another shot into the saline drip put
Parker to sleep, when he awoke everything seemed fine except that his
hands were strapped down on armrests now attached to the surgical
table and head didn't really feel like it was attached to his body.
“Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?” He said to the
medical staff walking around the operating room.
Elizabeth Perez, wearing surgical
scrubs, a face mask with hood that covered her head, and rubber
gloves broke away from small group observing several video displays
clustered together and walked over to Parker. “Welcome back Mr.
Parker,” she said, “as we talked about in the briefings
concerning the procedure, we had to remove the top portion of your
skull to implant probes that will allow the consciousness download.”
Slightly mollified with Perez's simple
explanation, Parker carefully leaned his head back into a cushion
also attached to the surgical table and tried to relax. New Life and
several other advanced human restoration companies had decades of
experience recording the structure of a living human brain down to
the atomic level and storing that information inside a memory crystal
one centimeter in diameter. The real trick the human restoration
companies had down to a practical science was linking that crystal to
the living brain of a clone giving it the personality, memories,
beliefs, and all the other attributes of the original person it was
grown to replace.
Parker understood that the situation
was different with consciousness transferring. Most of the public
accepted life insurance clones only in the sense that they were a
continuation of a person after a tragic accident or death by disease.
The pivotal point being that the insurer had to die first before the
cloning process could even start. Even with the accelerated growth of
the clone it took about seven months for them to reach the average
physical age of the person they were going to replace. That left a
huge chunk of missing time for a population squeamish about death and
looking for a way to avoid it all together. Life insurance cloning
had never been about cheating death anyway, it had always been sold,
to those that could afford it, as a way to return loved ones to their
grieving families. The development of exceptionally human-like
android bodies sent the human restoration industry scrambling for a
way to literally bridge the gap, bypassing death altogether. The
struggle, of course, had been to develop a way for the recipient to
accept that he or she had in fact done just that.
New Life corporation was the first with
their process of linking the human and android bodies together. Once
the person being transferred was fully aware in the android body the
the injured or diseased human part would simply be terminated. In the
initial trials the individuals downloaded into prototype android
bodies reported no significant difference in their perceptions of
themselves or the outside world. All this made New Life management
and their shareholders exceptionally happy despite the fact the
process was so expensive only the ultra-rich could even begin to
afford it. The one factor neither New Life management nor their
scientists had yet to consider was the effects on the person
downloaded into an enhanced android positronic brain. Kyle Parker's
rapidly deteriorating neurological condition and the fact he was one
of the hundred or so individuals whose personal wealth was over
one-trillion dollars all worked together for him to be the first
subject downloaded into the enhanced android brain.
Kyle Parker's initial nervousness faded
as he watched the New Life scientists and medical staff fall into
what looked to be a well rehearsed routine. His curiosity was aroused
when a long rectangular box, looking uncomfortably like a futuristic
casket, was wheeled into the operating room.
“That's my new body?” Parker asked
feeling slightly giddy.
“Yes, Mr. Parker,” Dr. Perez
responded even as the casket-like container was placed into an
upright position and opened. “Your sufficiently stabilized, so
after we attach the fiber optic conduits to the android body linking
you to it the process will begin.”
Almost as an afterthought, Dr. Perez
held up a mirror in front of Parker's face. “Kyle,” she said
softly,” our physiologists have determined it would be best if you
had one last look at your human face. They believe it will give you
some form of closure, although I have my doubts.”
Parker studied the reflection he was
seeing, over his head was something he would have described as a
crown was looked to be hundreds of fiber wires leading to long
needles that penetrated his exposed brain. He felt no discomfort, but
what bothered him was the look of his face. It appeared incredibly
aged and haggard, he knew not from the procedure he was going through
but from the disease that was not so slowly killing him, an illness
that he knew had developed from from all the synthetic chemicals
industrial civilization introduced to the environment. Parker
rejected the reflection he was seeing.
After his neurological disease was
diagnosed he had naturally gone through a period of denial and then
anger. He was Kyle Parker, not some hourly troll working in one of
his factories desperate to keep his or her job. Kyle Parker bought
and sold factories like candy, the unsaid fact that the workers were
too insignificant to be considered in the equation. A part of his
mind was strangely insulted that he was going to be struck down with
such a common disease. Parker had always been taught by his parents
that he was above the rest of the groveling masses of humanity, to
him even presidents and prime ministers of nations were petty
functionaries whose sole purpose was to increase his wealth and
power.
“That's enough doctor,” he snapped
“I paying you people a significant chunk of my money for this, lets
get started.”
Without saying another word Dr. Perez
lowered the mirror and walked away. At the same time Parker began
studying the android body he was soon be inhabiting. Parker was vain
enough to take some pleasure with the knowledge that it was no
glorified Ken doll, it would allow him to sense and experience
everything a regular human could including making love. The one
exception was food, Parker knew the android body would be powered by
three tri-lithium/cobalt power cells. It had no stomach or digestive
tract but the designers had created a subroutine program that would
allow him to virtually taste any food he identified. Parker's
contemplation of his new body was interrupted as Dr. Perez announced
the procedure was beginning.
The first thing Parker felt was a
strange fuzzy but warm feeling. Almost like the sensation when a hand
or leg was in an awkward position partially cutting off the flow of
blood, but for him it encompassed his entire body.
“I see stage one positronic
activity.” One of the scientists called out.
It could have been seconds or hours
later, Parker couldn't really tell, but at some point he began to
feel dislocated, not really in his body. It was a disturbing but
pleasant feeling, almost like what the tabloid press wrote about when
someone died for a few minutes before being medically resuscitated.
“Motor reflexes coming online, seeing
initial positronic awareness.” The same scientist called out.
Parker was about to say something when
he suddenly saw himself staring at a person on a surgical table. He
knew immediately that was his human body and that, or course, he was
now seeing out of his android eyes.
“Mr. Parker,” Dr. Perez called out,
“can you hear me? I need to know you're still with us.”
Amazingly Parker heard and felt both
his human and android voices respond at the same time. “Yes, Dr.
Perez, I am conscious and somehow seeing both bodies.”
“Alright, people,” Dr. Perez said
to her staff, “we've crossed the threshold, lets ramp up the
process.”
As the minutes tacked by Kyle Parker's
android body became increasingly active to the point he could move
his hands, arms, and head. Straps across his torso and legs kept the
android body in place but Parker was to fascinated with the
sensations he was feeling to even think about moving. Parker was
astounded with the ability to focus his awareness in one body or the
other. His android body felt alive and strong as compared to his
human body which seemed weak and withered by comparison.
As time went on Parker began to feel
his human body beginning to seem more distant, as if it was drifting
away from him. Not that it mattered, Parker was loving his new
android body and found himself waiting for the word that the download
was complete.
“Mr. Parker,” Dr. Perez finally
said, “it's time, I need permission to terminate your human body.”
“Please by all means,” Parker
responded.
Seconds later Parker noticed his human
body simple disappeared from his awareness like the popping of a soap
bubble. He watched idly as technicians disconnected all the tubes and
wires from his former body. “What will happen now to my former
residence?” he asked Perez.
“We will cremate the body and dispose
of the ashes,” she said, “or we could give them to you. You could
think of them as a souvenir.”
“No, dispose of them as you see fit.”
The new but same old Kyle Parker said with a detached indifference.
“I have more important concerns.”
, meaning “Christ”. So “Xmas” and “Christmas” are equivalent in every way except their lettering.
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