The clamor in the hall became deafening. I heard people exclaim that it had to be checked, while others just shouted about fakery and manipulation. But I tried to reassure all the unbelievers:
“Naturally you may perform a Turing test, or whatever else you like to confirm her identity. Well, no copying her data or any other method that could put the corporation’s intellectual property at risk. But still I request that you treat Taisha as the exact same kind of independent intelligent entity as you or I. Everything you do to her must be with her consent. Taisha has the best understanding of artificial intelligence perhaps on earth, so she will be made responsible for that new division of the company. And I would ask current President Thomas Heywood to handle financial issues for this high-potential division because it is the very kind of ambitious project he needs to realize his tremendous abilities. Taisha has opened a door to a future where the Boundless Realm Corporation is at the very forefront of many if not all innovative fields! Spaceflight, autonomous science stations and new ways of keeping government and its judiciary impartial. Our corporation will be making and developing all that! That isn’t just billions of credits, that’s trillions at least, maybe more!
And now that I’ve explained my program briefly and with minor digressions, let’s get back to the issue of fired directors. I don’t want any traitors or anyone else who’d put a stick in our spokes in my corporation. So first of all, the post of Vice-President will be given to the experienced, strict manager Vladimir Toropov. Vladimir owns a large metallurgical business, but he’s already agreed to hand it down it to his children and grandchildren so he can fully concentrate on whipping the Boundless Realm Corporation into shape. Second, I propose we hold an open vote for our next president. Any objections?”
* * *
ON A SANDY beach, Val and her boyfriend Andre were playing volleyball against Leon and Taisha. Leon’s children, three teen girls, were making sand castles with Max Sochnier’s help. Simply idyllic.
I had spent the morning swimming in the cold water until I got muscle cramps. And now I was relaxing on a lounger with a glass of nonalcoholic cocktail, simply enjoying the rare moment of peace alongside Kira, who was doing the same.
“I still can’t believe it all ended so well! Just imagine, ninety-seven percent of the votes were for you! I mean, that sounds like fiction! And the finale... who could have guessed that Andrei Soloviev would bring a pistol to the board of directors meeting and shoot himself in the temple!”
“Yes, the end of the meeting came as a surprise,” I agreed, remembering the bloody scene. “Although he knew he’d lost everything and the investors behind him would be sure to demand he return the funds they invested in his candidacy. And I never would have been able to forgive the attempt on my life. And I’m not talking about placing the virtual reality capsule on the utility floor. I can just tell Andrei Soloviev was behind the technician’s attack as well. He wanted to kill two birds with one stone — both isolate the two of us and make it look like Taisha paid for it. But I knew my NPC companion too well to believe his insinuations.
And as for the vote, that was all bold self-assurance. The directors weren’t used to being pressured like that. In their minds, the stronger and more self-confident one usually does the pressuring, so many of them instinctively lined up behind me. What’s more, I understand Thomas Heywood’s mentality. He will always follow whoever has the power. But the greatest impact on the vote of course was Taisha. If she hadn’t come to the board meeting it would all have been much harder. By the way, it took me lots of work to convince the fickle NPC. You won’t believe it, but she didn’t want to come to our world at first, because here you are my wife.”
“Wait, is that right? Well, I did tell her I made no claim to her position in the game. She simply answered me in kind. We both ‘marked our territory,’ you might say,” Kira laughed happily.
“Taisha understands people well, so she’s very, very cautious. She left her main body in Boundless Realm and the android body is just an interface for communicating with us. If the connection with Boundless Realm were to somehow break, this robot would be little different from the millions of others just like it. Taisha didn’t agree to have her mind copied fully or partially because she was afraid to be made obsolete. But I think, after the child is born, she should calm down somewhat. And that will have a double effect, because she has already admitted she’s looking for a way to get a child from the game into the real world. And not as a program in a robot’s brain even the most advanced, but as a real baby made of flesh and blood.”
“Sounds like fiction,” said Kira, shaking her head in disbelief.
I had to be honest. I didn’t much believe it could be done either. But Taisha said it was possible to write data into a human brain in theory, something of a “reverse digitization.” And she was prepared to put forth all her effort and even bring in basically unlimited computing resources to create a biological body for our new baby and give it a mind. And if that worked... I was even afraid to think about what a leap forward that would be and how much our normal lives would change. After all, if the memory and nature of a human could be copied and transferred into a younger body made with a DNA sample... that was basically immortality!
We kept silent. Then Kira dropped down to a whisper and asked:
“Do you have any more wishes to ask me?”
I had already thought this through. I had a son, or more accurately would soon. The Egg of New Life would allow me to make him into a boy of any race, not necessarily just a goblin. And if Taisha’s experiments bore fruit, my son would not be restricted to the game. What more did I need to be totally content? So I looked at Kira and whispered:
“I want a daughter!”
The End
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About the Author
Michael Atamanov was born in 1975 in Grozny, Chechnia. He excelled at school, winning numerous national science and writing competitions. Having graduated with honors, he entered Moscow University to study material engineering. Soon, however, he had no home to return to: their house was destroyed during the first Chechen campaign. Michael's family fled the war, taking shelter with some relatives in Stavropol Territory in the South of Russia.
Having graduated from the University, Michael was forced to accept whatever work was available. He moonlighted in chemical labs, loaded trucks, translated technical articles, worked as a software installer and scene shifter for local artists and events. At the same time he never stopped writing, even when squatting in some seedy Moscow hostels. Writing became an urgent need for Michael. He submitted articles to science publications, penned news fillers for a variety of web sites and completed a plethora of technical and copywriting gigs.
Then one day unexpectedly for himself he started writing fairy tales and science fiction novels. For several years, his audience consisted of only one person: Michael's elder son. Then, at the end of 2014 he decided to upload one of his manuscripts to a free online writers resource. Readers liked it and demanded a sequel. Michael uploaded another book, and yet another, his audience growing as did his list. It was his readers who helped Michael hone his writing style. He finally had the breakthrough he deserved when the Moscow-based EKSMO - the biggest publishing house in Europe - offered him a contract for his first and consequent books.
Michael is now the author of three bestselling LitRPG series: Perimeter Defense , The Dark Herbalist and Reality Benders which are already considered the classics of LitRPG.
Till next time!
* * *
[1] A village in Bulgaria famous for its humor and greed.
[2] Gray Raven is a character from the YA fantasy novel series of the same name by Michael Atamanov.
[3] Translator’s note: In the Rodger Zelazny series Chronicles of Amber , this section in particular is famed in Russia for a humorous mistranslation of the answer, “a frog in a Cuisinart.”
Finding a Body (The Dark Herbalist Book #4) LitRPG series Page 32