Juliana remembered walking from the barracks to the UpLoad Lab under the early morning California sky, hand in hand with Vance. Towards futures of virtual immortality, mysterious and exotic futures, but so in love that they didn't care what happened next, as long as they could be together. How long ago was that? In a relative universe you have only your own perception to go by. An hour ago? Or an eternity? "It's weird to think that all of this is over after today," Juliana said, "for us anyway." "Oh, it'll be US out there, we/us just won't experience it." "Oh, I wish we/us could go instead of our copies! What an adventure: colonists to the stars!" "All that really matters is that I end up with you," Vance told her, and squeezed her hand, "no matter where." "Yeah, me too." They stopped to kiss. But not very long; they were both scheduled for UpLoading today. They hurried to the Lab. Juliana and Vance had met at the beginning of Project Procyon and fallen in love. He was handsome, she was beautiful, and why not? they were among 60 of the brightest and best specimens of mankind, selected for this project from thousands of applicants. The Procyon Project had recruited and trained the 60 volunteers to colonize the 5th planet of the star Procyon, 11 light years away from Earth. It appeared to be an earth-type world with water and oxygen atmosphere, tailor-made for humans. The colonists would establish camps, cities; they would multiply and populate that empty world. (If it was empty, no one really knew what was out there.) And yet, it was not the 60 themselves who would travel to the stars at all, but rather their UpLoaded data. Everything required to manufacture ReGen Copies of each volunteer would be sent to the star Procyon with the Starship Zeus, a robot ship with no living crew or passengers to endure the 57 years of interstellar flight it would take to physically traverse 11 light years of space. And how bitter it would be for those colonists to discover upon arrival that the planet was a hellhole where men could never survive, or that it was populated with an indigenous race who might be violently inhospitable to unwelcome aliens. They would have to go on--or turn back to Earth. So rather than send a living crew across the vast span between Earth and Procyon, an "artificial" crew of colonists was automatically fabricated upon arrival, ReGen Copies, from digital personality UpLoads made back on Earth. Physical bodies would be assembled by electroplasmic remote kinesis from vats of raw elemental materials; every molecule, every strand of DNA replicating the originals. Their electroneural networks charged with data from the original volunteers, downloading into these new bodies intact all of the personalities, memories, emotions, training and skills of each of those people who had UpLoaded for this mission. That all sounded rather iffy, implausible even, but it worked. The 5 Rickies had been living proof of that, they were part of the project's training staff, to get the volunteers accustomed to the reality of ReGen Copies: the original Ricky himself was a top-trained soldier whom they had UpLoaded and duplicated 4 times, an experiment of the procedure in military application, to see how effective a platoon of identical soldiers could be. One quickly got used to them, they weren't really odd at all, although they weren't like twins either, actually just One Guy repeated in 5 bodies. Very popular with the girls, especially all 5 at once. The Rickies had also been examples of the consequences of experimenting with ReGen Copies--once you turned them on you couldn't just turn them off again without committing murder. They were real people. In the case of the Rickies, early in the military top secret ReGen experimental days, there had been a Colonel who decided that too many Rickies was a security problem and ordered the copies "returned to the vats". The 5 Rickies proved just how effective a 5-man strike force could be, especially 5 expert soldiers who think alike. They conquered the entire base, arrested the Colonel and his staff, and were exonerated for it. A clear cut case of self-defense. Therefore, the 60 volunteers of the Procyon Project knew exactly what their UpLoads could become, and now, after 2 years of training, they were to be UpLoaded today. And after that...well, no one knew. The volunteers had been confined to the camp for the last year, incommunicado to the outside world, training and testing for the isolation that real colonists would experience. No news from home good or bad, no job offers, no invitations, nothing got through from outside the camp, not even radio or television or overnet. So they had no clear picture of what their futures would be, which also was a form of stress testing for potential colonists. But now this phase of the project was ending, the camp would (?) be closed, some of them probably would be assigned to new projects, others might have to go find jobs, nobody knew. Juliana was almost sad to think that the 60 were splitting up after today, she had become good friends with many of them, but at least she had her boyfriend. They would probably marry, have kids, get jobs as scientists--she was a geologist, Vance was a meteorologist--live happily ever after, etc. Just not on Procyon 5, damn! Inside the Lab several of their friends were either waiting for their turn in the UpLoad booths, or had just finished. Project Leader Darwin was there, calling out names for UpLoading. Juliana waved to Wenda, her best friend, who was naked and surrounded by men. Actually most of them were either naked or wearing a white towel, since you had to be naked for the UpLoading. And the 60 had become quite casual about nudity by now anyway, not to mention sex in general, after all, everyone was young and beautiful and horny. But today they all seemed to be flaunting it a bit more than usual, knowing that their familiar world was ending: after the UpLoading, they were free to go out of the camp, back to family, friends, lovers, jobs, travel plans; where there might be no more of this kind of familiarity. Juliana and Vance also stripped down to towels and joined their friends, who were in animate discussion about the philosophical nature of ReGen Copies, as Todo and Calvin sort of rubbed up against naked Wenda. The guys had their towels on. "...as Budda said, attachment is the primary source of suffering, so of course they don't want us to form nonproductive attachments to things here on Earth during our training," Todo was saying. "As if we could have!" Calvin scoffed, "we've been living in this monastary for the last year, like bloody monks! "Monks? Hey, thanks a lot--if you were celibate, where was I?" Wenda said petulantly. Wenda had been notoriously promiscuous this last year, as had so many others. "Well, okay...heh heh..tantric monks," Calvin admitted. "Well, you certainly look nice and flirtatious," Vance complimented Wenda. Juliana was aware that Vance was intrigued by her reputation, whereas Juliana had been so boringly faithful to him. "I'm just so nervous!" Wenda complained, as if that explained her naked posturing. Maybe it did. "Of the UpLoading?" Juliana asked, "But we've done it so many times." "But those were just back-ups. practice runs, this is IT: IMMORTALITY; the one that counts--they one they're sending to the stars!" "Just too bad it's not the real US they send," Juliana moped. "I don't know about that," Calvin said, "I think I prefer that they send MY copy. It could be pretty scary out there!" "And there's a distinct possibility that they might not even EnAct the copies at all if that planet isn't good enough. Then you'd be glad it wasn't us they sent," Vance mentioned. "Or maybe our copies will be so miserable missing these good old days that they'll wish they'd never gone," Wenda added. "You people are all so negative," Juliana said, only half kidding. "Just wait till you meet our COPIES!" Todo joked. And got a laugh. Project Commander Darwin and one of the Rickies came over to them. They were making the rounds to all the UpLoadees, giving a last handshake and a pat on the back for two years of cooperation and good work before the group split up and everyone went their separate ways. Old Man Darwin had obviously caught Todo's remark. "I wish we could, you know...meet our copies," he said, "a shame it's never supposed to happen." "Hey--it can happen, believe me," said the one Ricky, "but I don't really recommend it for everyone." "Well, you 5 Rickies were an early experiment, before there were any specific ReGen Copy laws. Phoenix could do anything they wanted back then, as long as no one believed it could be done." "Too bad about that," Ricky said, giving Juliana a wink, "I'd like to meet the 5 Julianas, myself." He always flirted with her whenever possible. Or at least one of them did--pretty hard to tell them apart. Maybe all 5 flirted. Juliana was flattered, the Lieutenant Ricardo Guerreros were such beautiful masculine men...but Vance was standing right beside her, so she only nodded back. "Only 5?" Vance challenged, "why think small? Make one for everyone! There's theoretically no limit to how many copies they could make of her." "But there is a limit to how many copies they MAY make according to our contract with Phoenix Processes International:" interjected the Old Man, always the instructor, "60 copies each on Procyon 5, the first generation of colonists, and no more after that...okay, some emergency replacements if necessary. NONE on Earth, that's forbidden and illegal." Rick shrugged, gave the commander a cynical grin, "You never know, laws change. And Phoenix IS keeping back-ups here on Earth, right, sir?" "Only until the Procyon 5 colony becomes established, then Phoenix is required to erase all UpLoad data." "Erase US?" Calvin whined, "Hey, isn't that murder? Sort of?" "Ooo, yes," Wenda agreed, "we're supposed to be IMMORTAL now!" "I dunno," Rick said, seriously this time, "but I'll be relieved when they erase MY UpLoad data file: there's probably still some war-crazy general somewhere out there who dreams of drafting up his own personal army of 50,000 Rickies." Juliana suddenly remembered one of the 5 Rickies telling her how you can't even tell if you're a copy or the original. You get a bit buzzed out by the UpLoading process and when you clear your head...you're somewhere else later on, except that you aren't the same you any more, even though you thought you were. Seamless transition, they called it. Commander Darwin and Lt Guerrero nodded goodbye to them and moved on to the next cluster of colonial volunteers. Juliana had to force herself not to watch Ricky's butt and felt a wee pang of regret for an experience she'd missed out on: the famous 5. She noticed Wenda looking rather smug. Wenda had missed out on very few experiences. "Whoops, it's my turn!" Vance noticed, "wish me luck." "Bon voyage!" Wendy and Juliana called and waved, as if actually sending him off to somewhere. Juliana watched her boyfriend go to the UpLoad booth, slipping off his towel and standing naked on the pedestal. A technician attached electrodes at several points on Vance's head and body, then closed the glass door of the booth. The technician calibrated the instruments for Vance's size and weight, field polarity, then said aloud, "System is go. Commencing data scan." Static electricity flooded the booth, all of Vance's hair suddenly stood out straight on end, his head shot back, arms came floating up and he stood trembling. Then a ring of intense white light scanned slowly down his body from head to toe. Meanwhile another booth opened up and a naked man stepped out, having just finished UpLoading. Juliana recognized Bud, and waved to him. Calvin's name was called and he went off to a booth. Todo was next. Juliana and Wenda waited for their names to be called. Bud came over to the girls, wrapping himself in a towel. He was a nice guy who had flirted with Juliana at the beginning of the project, until he saw that she had settled for Vance, but she had been flattered anyway and they had become casual friends. "Well, that's that," he said, "I'm immortal now: the best part of me is packaged and processed for posterity, ready to be shot out to the stars. Hope I have fun out there." "Yes, me too," Juliana agreed, "I hope we all do." "Yeah," Wenda agreed, "considering that we really are being made more or less immortal, the least we can ask is that it's fun." "So Juliana, what are you going to do after this?" Bud asked her. "Who knows? The world outside could have ended a year ago. Or just started. Ask me next week." "You'd think they'd let us immortals know if we have job offers waiting," Wenda bitched. "Naw, it's quite understandable," Calvin insisted, "they want to keep us focused on the Procyon mission until we're UpLoaded. Can't have our ReGen Copies--who think they're US--regretting the job they missed out on back in California while they're squatting in a plastic hut on some planet where it never stops raining." "Well, I have a feeling that Procyon 5 will be even better than California--hell, even better than this camp!" Juliana countered. "Now THAT's the kind of positive attitude we want in our colonists," Bud went into an act, "hey, let's get this lady UpLoaded right now, before she changes her mind!" Right on cue, the technician called Julianne's name. It was her turn. She walked to the designated booth, past Vance's booth, where he was just finished UpLoading. Their eyes met. She smiled lovingly and doffed her towel with a little flair just for him, pirouetting naked past him. But he was obviously still groggy, confused, seemed to be looking beyond her. Juliana looked back and saw Wenda there. Then she was inside the booth. The technician attached the electrodes. She noticed that he fumbled slightly over her body in the process, seemed to be breathing on her, but wasn't sure if it was because he was lecherous or simply rattled by her nudity--after all, he wasn't one of the 60, nor was he young and beautiful. He was tall and gaunt, stoop shouldered, a huge hawk nose, a face that looked older than he probably was. She didn't know him, didn't really want to, nor did he say anything to her. She got a spooky feeling, he reminded her of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster. But then he was gone and the booth door was closed. Maybe I've been locked away with the same 60 people too long, Juliana thought, anyone else seems out of synch. I'm sure Boris Karloff was actually a very nice man. Oh well, everything changes after this UpLoad, and it's about time. She watched the technician repeat the procedures for the UpLoading, then he turned to her and gave a little smile through the glass, a thumbs up, and she saw his lips form the words "system is go..." The electric tingle was intense, but not painful, her long brown hair zapped straight and stiff, a blinding light descended like a halo, her body became rigid from the voltage coursing through her arms. lifting as the muscles contracted and then all her senses drowned out in an overwhelming buzzzzzzz... |