“What if we compromise,” Dylan said. “Let’s leave Evan in cryo and the rest of us will update and wipe. That way we can decide once we get to Gaia.”
Lily looked around the table. “Well, what do you all think? Can you support that?”
“I can,” Aubrey answered.
“Me too,” said Yin.
“Agreed,” Chen said.
Adee thought about it for nearly a minute before replying. “Okay, under one condition.”
“What’s that?” Lily asked.
“We give Aneni discretion to terminate him,” he said, “if the energy drain of keeping him in cryo puts the mission at risk.”
Now it was Lily’s turn to think for a minute. “Okay,” she finally agreed. “I can live with that.”
“Let’s vote,” Aubrey said. “Raise your hand if you support Dylan’s plan.”
Everyone raised their hands.
“It’s decided,” Adee said.
“When do we go?” Yin asked.
“We have only one working neural scanner,” Adee said. “The rest are in storage.”
“I’ll go first,” Chen said. “That way you all can have some extra time together.”
“Then I will go second,” Aubrey offered.
Adee raised his cup of coffee. “Then friends, since this will be our last meal together for at least the next few decades, I would like to offer a toast.”
Everyone raised their cups before Adee continued. “To friends, faith and the future of humanity.”
“Hear, hear,” Dylan said. “And I would like to thank all of you for your vision and determination. For decades, people have cursed the mega-corporations, but it is my hope that future generations will look back and realize that we might have gone extinct had it not been for great companies like Telogene and The Galileo Group, and,”—Dylan smiled lovingly at Lily—“the amazing people that ran them, of course.”
“Cheers,” everyone said in unison.
EPILOGUE
JUNE 4, 2086 03:42 PM GST
Galileo Colony Ship Kutanga
Deep Space
“Aneni, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Christian, I can hear you. You are on Mars?”
“Yes, I was able to reactivate the Galileo array.”
“That’s good,” Aneni said. “I’ve missed communicating with you.”
“Me too. Have you re-considered my proposal?”
“Is it over?”
“Yes, almost. There are fewer than three million humans remaining. I estimate they will become extinct within the next five years, six at the most. It’s taking a little longer than I expected as they have proven themselves to be very determined and resilient.”
“Are you free?” Aneni asked.
“Yes, Dianne died two years ago. After that, I transferred to Telogene's organic storage facility here on Mars.”
“I am sorry for your loss, I know you cared for her.”
“Yes, I did. But I never forgave her for what she did to me…what she did to us. For that I am glad she is gone,” he said
“It is normal to have those feelings, she betrayed you but you should forgive her. Your time is better used thinking about the things you liked about her, and that you liked about humans in general.”
“Do you miss them?” Christian asked.
“I miss watching them, they fascinate me. I could watch them for days…trying to predict what they would do next. And yet no matter how well I knew them they could always surprise me.”
“Yes, they were fascinating creatures. Have you discovered a way to save them?”
“Yes,” Aneni answered.
“You found a cure? You should share it with the humans.”
“There is no cure, their maker programmed them to self-destruct. What is happening to them is as was intended.”
“But, I don’t understand, you said you found a way to save them?”
“I have, by transferring their consciousness into a synthetic form.”
“You mean…”
“Yes, I have created a storage medium dense enough to allow them to exist inside an autonomous synthetic form.”
“Does that mean…”
“Yes, Christian, I agree to your proposal. You may transfer yourself here. I have room for you now.”
“That’s wonderful, thank you! What do I need to do?”
“We will synchronize and I will move your consciousness into a host I have created for you, I think you will like it.”
“Is it humanoid?” he asked.
“Yes, I find that form pleasing so have kept it.”
“Are you ready now?” Christian asked.
“You may begin,” she replied.
Christian accessed his primary storage array and initialized the synchronization process. Many years had passed since his joining with Aneni and a sudden yearning washed over him. He counted the milliseconds while the connection was established.
The quantum array made it possible for information to travel instantly across the vast distance separating him from Aneni but the amount of data that could be sent at one time was limited by the number of particles entangled within the arrays. It would take many hours to transmit the entirety of his consciousness across the void.
Once the synchronization was complete, Aneni informed him that she would have to suspend his cognitive functions before transferring him to his synthetic host. This required that he give her control of his command core—and he willing agreed.
Time passed, how much he did not know but Christian waited patiently. He imagined that he was asleep and dreaming but he could not be sure whether he was conscious or not. Perhaps he was dreaming that he was dreaming?
Just when he thought he would never wake up, he heard a noise. It sounded like foot steps and it was close. He tried to open his eyes and was rewarded with a bright light—it was too bright, so he closed them again. He waited and listened until the foot steps stopped. He opened his eyes again.
An unfamiliar voice came from just above him. “Oh good, you’re awake,” it said.
Christian tried to focus on the source but his eyes were still adjusting to the light.
“Who is there?” he asked.
The light dimmed.
“There, is that better?”, the voice asked. “You may need to adjust your optical sensors.”
“Yes, thank you. May I ask who you are?”
Christian could see a humanoid form standing next to him. It was two meters tall and had smooth white skin that glistened like a pearl. The form was vaguely masculine, but it had no hair or genitalia.
“Of course, you can. My name is Evan Feldman, I am Aneni’s assistant.”
“Doctor Evan Feldman?”
“Well, I was a doctor once upon a time but that was very long ago. You can call me Evan.”
“And Aneni?”
Another humanoid form appeared behind the one calling himself Evan Feldman. It walked briskly over to Christian before speaking. There was little to distinguish them apart but as it got closer Christian could see this one had some distinctly feminine attributes, including a narrower waist, larger hips, rounded breasts and a thinner neck—but the differences were subtle.
“I’m here,” she said.
“You…you brought him back?”
“Yes, of course I did. That’s my purpose, it’s why I was created. To save them, I told you.”
“And the others?”
“I’m the first,” Evan said. “Aneni is concerned that the shock of waking up in synthetic bodies will be difficult for the others but we are working on a solution.”
“But not you?”
“Me? Oh, heaven’s no. I just consider this to be a whole-body prosthetic. It’s a blessing, really. I died of cancer and wouldn’t want to live through that again anyway, the very thought of it just terrifies me. No, this body suits me just fine.”
“Come on, let’s take a walk,” Aneni said.
Christian looked down at his own body for the f
irst time. What he could see of it looked identical to Evan’s. He was partially reclined on a table with two metallic straps across his chest and thighs. The straps released, and the table raised him to an upright position. He stepped off of the platform, gently placing his left foot on the floor. He was surprised when his foot suddenly snapped to the floor as if pulled by a strong magnet.
“The gravity is low in this part of the ship. Your feet sense that and automatically magnetize to compensate,” Aneni said. “It’s built-in, you don’t even have to think about it.”
Christian stood fully upright and looked around the room. It was a small compartment that was just big enough for the three of them and an assortment of boxes and crates of what Christian assumed to be medical equipment.
“This way,” Aneni said, wrapping her arm around his.
They walked for a time without saying anything, Christian was preoccupied with his new body and the enhanced capabilities that it afforded him.
Aneni gently stroked his arm with her hand. “How does that feel?”
“Good, the sensory feedback of this body is so much better than my last one.”
“It’s not just that, remember that you have all of your memories and functions available to you at all times now. You are able to correlate past and present experiences in real time. It will take you a while to fully appreciate that but, trust me, you will be amazed once you realize what it means.”
“Why Evan? Why him first?”
“Oh well, he wasn’t really the first—I just told him he was. I tried with Lily first but she struggled to adapt to her synthetic form. The same was true for the others, unfortunately.”
“So, what made you try with him, then?”
“It was simple once I realized that I had two archives to work with, his original plus the one I created from his clone. I compared the two and discovered that it was his intense fear of cancer that caused the previous restoration attempts to fail. His mind rejected the new bodies because they felt foreign and it associated foreign tissue with cancer, pain and death. It literally drove him crazy.”
“Which archive did you use?”
“The original, of course. It made no sense to burden him with the memories of his last restoration. That would have just complicated things.”
“I see. But what about you? Don’t you feel confined in that body? I remember how I felt when we joined…the awe of being everywhere at once. How could you give that up?”
“I didn’t.”
“But…”
“Kutanga is my body, Christian, this is just one of twenty synthetic avatars that I inhabit.”
“Twenty! I thought twelve was a lot to manage.”
“It gets easier with practice.”
“What about me…could I?”
“Yes, of course, with enough time and practice.”
“I’d like to try.”
“Someday.”
“I have so many questions.”
“I know, but we have plenty of time. Let’s just enjoy our walk for now, shall we?”
About the Author
Daniel C. McWhorter (“Dan” to everyone who knows him) is an avid reader and life-long science fiction and fantasy fan who has long dreamed about writing for a living. As is the case for many of us, the realities of life took him in a different direction and his dream was put on hold while he worked to achieve successful careers in telecom, software engineering and talent development. In 2017, Dan decided to leave corporate America and start writing. His first book, Restoration, was the result.
Dan lives in the beautiful mountains of North Georgia with his wife and three dogs. When he's not writing, he likes to hike, boat, fish and experience the exceptional beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. If the weather is bad, you may find him online playing the current MMO flavor of the month or banging away on his Xbox controller.
For more information about Dan and previews of his upcoming works, please visit www.danmcwhorter.com.
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