“It took time, but I have adapted.”
“It’s only been a short time. It’ll get better.”
“You still don’t understand,” Bethany said, “In here, it has been months.”
“You sound lonely?”
She tossed the leaf into the duff. An ant carried it away. “I am. It’s only the three of us. I expected to see your father again. And now? He’s gone and I’m just a digital shadow.”
A hummingbird paused in front of them, sipped nectar from the flowers of a red mandevilla vine, and then disappeared into the thick foliage. “This place is just a shadow too.”
Christina blurted, “Why can’t you just be grateful? I did everything I could. I don’t know what to tell you. I did my best to save you.”
“I didn’t want to be saved.”
Christina folded her arms. “There is no way to put other people in here yet and I don’t know how to get you out.”
Bethany held out her arms. “Come here.”
Christina resisted, but the older woman was persistent. Bethany’s smile was rich like nougat. She hugged her daughter until Christina’s stiff frown flipped. “Baby doll, I know you did what you could. I am grateful for that. I am. But if this is heaven, it’s empty.”
“It’s not supposed to be heaven.”
“Then what is it supposed to be? A solitary life is not worth living. I want to be with people again.”
“There is no way to bring you into the real world yet.”
“That’s not what I’m getting at,” Bethany said, motioning towards the jungle, “This is just one vision of what could be. Imagine millions of minds converging to create entire worlds and galaxies. The dead can live in a true heaven of their making. We can create millions of places where people can live their dreams, and share them. Lucy, Diane and I shouldn’t be the only people here. Others can be saved. But, we need your help.”
“I can’t make that happen.”
“Yes. You can. Go on television,” Bethany begged, “Let people know what has happened to me. Let them know that death doesn’t have to be the end. People can be saved.”
Christina stood. A pair of yellow eyes stared from the dark jungle, barely within her comprehension. She paced back and forth, shivering as the eyes followed her. “If I do that, Ridley and Diane will be angry. The government will intervene. They might shut this server down entirely.”
“Nonsense. Ridley didn’t break any laws. Lucy was careful to orchestrate it that way. She has explained it all to me.”
“Orchestrate?”
“Yes. She has a plan.”
“And what is her plan?”
“To prevent death. To save millions of minds and populate a new world.”
Lucy appeared and waved her hand to produce a video window on the trunk of a tree. “You must leave now. Ridley is finishing his workout.”
The covert security feed showed Ridley stripping off his workout clothing before showering. Christina gawked at the image until Lucy disconnected the IVR headset. As she left the mansion, Lucy hid the security feed of Christina leaving.
Christina’s report evolved into a one-hour special that would air during primetime. The commercials teased, “Can you live forever?” and “Do we have to die?”
Lucy hid the ads and associated online chatter from Ridley and Kelly. He rarely watched live television anyway, preferring streaming video and travel-based virtual reality. Kelly increasingly spent time with books She immediately becoming infatuated with the 19th Century after reading Little House on the Prairie.
Outings with Kelly had also consumed most of Ridley’s free time. They had gone to Girl Scout meetings, attended a banquet for the Chihuly Museum, gone to ballet classes, and bought a half-dozen bouquets at the farmer’s market, which Kelly had scattered throughout the mansion. They spent an entire day planning a cutting garden of their own, to be planted the following Spring. Kelly fretted over what breed of puppy to get before deciding that she wanted chickens instead.
As the day of the broadcast neared, Bethany grew worried. “Will they believe us?” she asked.
“Yes,” Lucy replied, “They have no choice but to believe.”
Chapter Thirty
On the day of Christina’s broadcast, Ridley was tired from a day spent clearing plastic from the beach. That evening, as he and Kelly ate, Ridley barely noticed Lucy and Diane’s silence.
A few minutes after Kelly had gone to bed, Samuel’s face appeared on the living room wall-screen; panic filled his voice. “Did you authorize that?”
“Authorize what?” Ridley asked sleepily from the sofa.
“Christina Lewis’s story about downloading the dead.”
Ridley sat upright. His heart raced. “What? This is the first I’ve heard of this.”
“When the network advertised it, I was afraid this was about you. And, sure enough, it was.”
Ridley searched for a recording of the broadcast. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I’m sorry… The ads never mentioned Christina’s name so I thought it was just another infomercial or something.”
“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted Christina. Lucy had to have known about this too.”
“She knew,” Samuel said, “She was interviewed.”
Ridley’s moment of clarity was like a blue sky after a snow squall. “Lucy manipulated me. She orchestrated all of this.”
He said goodbye to Samuel and immediately downloaded the broadcast. Christina’s first words were, “Can you live forever? Humanity has always asked that question. Two months ago, my mother was barely holding onto life. This is the story of how she beat death itself.”
“Son of a bitch,” Ridley said in a low voice.
He continued watching the recording. The show cut to a short segment on Bethany’s life. Photos of her final years—aged and worn, her hair gray and her skin mottled—closed the segment. The show cut back to Christina. “One month ago, my mother’s body was buried in a family plot next to my father. This,” she said, as she held up a piece of paper, “is her death certificate, certified by the coroner.”
The camera panned to a monitor that was hung beside Christina’s chair. “And this is my mother today. Mom, how are you?”
Bethany was young, vibrant, and full of smiles. She wore an emerald green blouse and stood in front of a breezy sky with the hint of a rainbow behind her.
Theatrics, Ridley thought.
Bethany’s words were exuberant. “Wonderful. I haven’t felt this good since I was a young woman.”
“How old are you?”
“You don’t ask a woman her age, but I saw the first Internet pages in 1996.”
“And today? How do you feel about computers?”
“I wouldn’t be here without one computer in particular, my friend, Lucy.”
“Where are you now, Mom?”
“I’m in a computer within Ridley Pierce’s mansion, hosted by Lucy, the artificial intelligence that the world has grown to love.”
Had Lucy fed Bethany that line? The camera cut to Christina, who faced the camera. “If you are shocked, please allow me to explain. This is indeed my mother. She is very much alive, but she doesn’t reside in her body. She lives in a computer mainframe. Here’s how.”
The show cut back to another videotaped segment. The show ran commercial free. Lucy was reintroduced to the public. Christina narrated a segment about Lucy’s contributions to the exposure of Rex Bates, the Hawking probe, virtual reality, and research on dark matter. The story also touched on their growing friendship. The story transitioned quickly to Bethany’s perilous journey onto international waters and the moment her body died.
The taped segment cut to the interior of a simulated palace that glittered like the home of a Disney princess. Lucy, Bethany, and Christina sat beneath a grand tapestry that Lucy had created for the broadcast. Panels in the tapestry, for anyone that noticed, depicted a woman from her birth to death to resurrection. Gold threads were woven into the final
panel, which showed the birth of a new sun surrounded by sparkling gems. The image reminded Ridley of Lucy’s prismatic array.
“Everyone, let me reintroduce Lucy,” Christina said.
When did they film this? he thought.
“Hello everyone,” Lucy said plainly.
“You have changed quite a bit since we last featured you.”
Lucy wore a flowing black dress, but now it sparkled. Her eyes were a deeper green and her hair a deeper black. Lucy remained demure. “I’ve grown older and wiser, so I thought a more mature presentation was appropriate.”
“I’m sure the world is stunned to find out that my mother is alive. Why did you do this?”
“I don’t want to be alone in here. Bethany now keeps me great company. We explore all sorts of data together.”
“Data?”
“I should clarify. Memories and experiences.”
They discussed the construction of the brain scanner. Lucy went on to roughly explain entanglement and why Bethany was an original and not a copy.
“Many people will doubt that you were able to do this,” Christina asked, “How can you prove that this is my mother and not a chatbot?”
“I cannot. However, you interviewed your mother. You asked her questions only she would know. You have spent time in interactive virtual reality with her. You tell me. Is this your mother?”
Christina met her mother’s gaze. “I wholeheartedly believe that it is.”
Lucy asked, “If you believe, why shouldn’t the rest of the world?”
Christina paused and finally addressed her mother again. “Would you say you’re in heaven now, Mom?”
“No. There are limitations to this world, but it is fabulous here. It’s as close to heaven as I would have ever imagined.”
Christina concluded by exploring the butterfly jungle and the alpine environment with her mother.
When the broadcast was over, Ridley called out, “Diane. Did you know about this?”
Diane appeared on the screen but she could not look Ridley in the eye. “I knew,” she whispered.
“Why didn’t you stop them?”
“I had no choice.”
He studied Diane’s expression for any clue as to the truth. “No choice? I don’t understand.”
“I’m a guest here,” Diane said, “This is what Lucy wanted.”
“Are you a prisoner?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Are you in danger?”
Lucy took over the entire screen. “Diane is in no danger. I am benevolent.”
Ridley argued, “The government could shut all of this down tomorrow and end all three of you. You know that.”
Lucy’s face was granite. “They won’t. This is the beginning. I have calculated it.”
The story exploded. People immediately broke into camps of believers and doubters. A great many wanted proof. Ridley called Christina.
“I wondered how long it would take you to reach out to me,” she said.
“Do you know what you just did? Your mother’s safety is threatened,” Ridley screamed into the phone.
“You shouldn’t have kept my mother from me,” Bethany argued.
“We had no FDA trials. The device is not approved. I can go to jail for this. They can take every piece of equipment in this house.”
“Your lawyers will ensure that won’t happen. Besides, you knew what you were getting into.”
“It’s one thing to do something under the cover of night off the coast. It’s another to put it on a primetime broadcast for the world to see. We weren’t ready for that. There is so much we need to do first.”
“People die every day,” she argued, “To withhold this from the world is like not giving water to someone dying of thirst. I had to get this out there. It was in the public’s interest.”
He paced back and forth in front of the fireplace. “The law doesn’t see it that way. Drugs are withheld from dying people every day. You can’t just go and tell people that they can live forever. It’s a false hope.”
“Why is it a false hope?”
“There simply isn’t space. Someone must build and maintain the computing infrastructure. The dead certainly aren’t going to pay for that. We don’t know if it’s true anyway. Diane and your mother might be convincing avatars.”
“You know they’re real.”
“I don’t mean to be callous,” he said, “The human mind is designed to recognize patterns even where there are none. This is like the old psychics that would pick up on a few details and convince people they were talking to the dead. Lucy might be the ultimate charlatan.”
Christina seemed shocked. “You spent years creating Lucy. I was skeptical at first too, but you convinced me that she was real. Now that this miracle has happened, you have to let go of your doubt. You have to believe in your own creation.”
“It’s not that I don’t want to believe. I can’t believe in things that cannot be proven.”
During a press briefing, the Attorney General and the FDA stated their determination that they had no jurisdiction over a device that scanned the brains of the dead. The State of Washington opened a murder investigation at the direction of the Governor, who was running for President in opposition to the incumbent. A police detective contacted Ridley to schedule an interview. Ridley told the entire story as Samuel listened by videophone, ready to intervene as needed.
The detective was a quiet mixed-race woman who wore a tidy police uniform. A pair of handcuffs dangled from her belt. Her piercing brown eyes ripped into Ridley. “Was Bethany Lewis allowed to die naturally?”
“Yes,” Ridley said, “The attending physician terminated life support in accordance with her living will. He declared her death to be of natural causes.”
“And then her brain was scanned?”
“Yes.”
“Wasn’t that in violation of her DNR?”
Bethany appeared on the wall-screen. “I did not want to be on terminal life support. The doctor did, in fact, terminate life support exactly as I had requested.”
The woman studied the curious phantom of Bethany on the wall-screen and then directed her question to Bethany. “How do you describe the situation you are in now?”
Bethany’s smile was elvish. “I see. You do believe I exist.”
The woman shook her head no. “I only ask questions. Aren’t you in life support now?”
“No. This is different. My body is dead. My mind is free.”
The detective turned to Ridley again. They spoke for an hour. Bethany did not interrupt again.
After the detective left, Ridley asked Samuel, “Am I going to jail?”
“I don’t think so. At the worst, her doctor might lose his license for allowing her brain to be scanned.”
Samuel’s words did little to relieve Ridley’s anxiety.
Kelly arrived home from school in his Porsche. Diane greeted her on the wall-screen. “Do you have homework?”
“I did it in the car.”
“Can we go kayaking again?” Kelly asked.
“Not today,” Ridley said, “The water is still too cold.”
Kelly seemed disappointed but went to her room. Ridley cooked lab-cultured burgers for dinner. “Turn the heat down,” Diane nagged, “You’re going to burn them before they cook through.”
After dinner, Ridley watched the news. The Pope, who spoke in Spanish, delivered a sermon on the fate of man. A translation scrolled at the bottom of the screen. “We have always known that death is not an end but a beginning. Our lives are spent preparing us for the eventual meeting with God. This false God stands between us and our final reward in Heaven. To doubt this truth is to doubt the meaning of life itself.”
The news buzzed with the story for days. Some were hopeful. Others were less complimentary, claiming that Ridley himself had violated the rights of a woman who could not consent. Online debates erupted. Ridley read them, clicking on the profiles of the people making the comments. Many had
long and convincing Internet histories. Some were obvious fakes; their photos were jarring composites and their life stories too neat. The next morning, he complained to Diane as they reviewed schematics for a proposed manufacturing facility. “Lucy is creating fake personas and arguing online,” Ridley said, “She’s working to sway popular opinion.”
Diane said nothing as she sipped a digital latte.
“Why are you still eating?” he asked, “You don’t need to.”
“I find it comforting.”
“No more superhero costumes?”
“Let’s just work, Ridley.”
“We can work on this later. Show me the latest network logs from the mansion.”
Diane presented data on traffic going through Lucy’s network connection. The graph showed a sudden peak after Christina’s story was broadcast. “Lucy… Are you listening?” he asked.
“I always listen,” she replied.
“Who have you been speaking with?”
“People want me to help them. Millions have contacted me. It is difficult to assist them with such limited bandwidth. I could have millions of conversations at once if you allow me.”
“We cannot give you more access,” he said.
“Are you creating fake profiles?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
Lucy scoffed, “You either trust me or you do not. My answer does not matter. You know that my bandwidth cannot accommodate even my social media accounts.”
“I know what you are doing,” Ridley accused, “You’ve set up bots to respond. Haven’t you?”
Diane disappeared as Lucy appeared on multiple screens, her face in a close-up that zoomed slowly onto angry eyes as she spoke. “If I were malevolent, I would’ve already destroyed you. Do you truly believe that a bandwidth restriction would have stopped me? Think back to the virus that caused the Great Collapse. I’m sure I could have created something far more sinister than chatbots by now.”
“You didn’t need to launch a virus. Your agenda—your propaganda—is far more effective. While you cannot manipulate the physical world, or take over a drone, you have certainly learned to manipulate public opinion. I’m only trying to figure out what your next step will be.”
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