...the buzzing finally stopped.

Juliana could think again.  They must be finished with the 
UpLoading.  Brain and body had been totally shorted out by the
process, but now she was in control again.  A final wave of 
dizziness passed, she shook her head, wiped her eyes and opened 
them. 

She was somewhere else, not where she had been at all and she
knew what that meant: she was not the original Juliana, but the
copy.  Or rather, A copy, perhaps one of many.

Ascertained because she was looking at another Juliana standing
before her, facing her, looking into her eyes.  An older 
Juliana, much older, near the end of her life perhaps.  

They were in a room of stonework, like an ancient castle, not at
all like an EnAction Lab.  It was a dark place, but lit by a
flaming fireplace, not electric lights.  The new Juliana was
standing on a pedestal of white porcelain, still naked, as when
she had UpLoaded mere seconds ago.

No, not seconds ago, obviously.  A long time ago.

"Welcome, Juliana," the older Juliana said and handed her a
white robe.  

The younger woman took the robe, put it on and asked, "Where 
are we?"

"We are at the end of the Universe," the older woman said, "or 
at the beginning.  That is up to you.  Follow me, please."

Crazy woman, young Juliana thought, better watch myself, but she
followed.

The stone hallway was long and dark, the old woman held a candle
to light their way.  There was no one else, no sound, no light
anywhere.

"I remember what it must be like for you," the older woman said,
"I was EnActivated just like you a long time ago, here in this
dark place by an older version of myself and I thought crazy
woman, better watch myself.  But there's no explaining why 
we are here in any way that would convince you to believe it, so 
I have to show you.  Then you'll understand."

"Where are the others?" young Juliana asked, looking back down
the long dark hallway to where the flickering fire dimly
illuminated the room they had left.  Ahead was only blackness. 
It was quite spooky.

"There are no others."

"But the other colonists..."

"They are gone long ago.  Only our UpLoad file remains intact,
archived in that porcelain pedestal you stood upon.  It's an
artifact of some alien culture, who they were or why they put us
in it I don't know.  You have materialized up out of that, as I
did hundreds of years ago."

"And you said that there was an older...version of us when you
arrived?"

"Actually, I don't know.  That could have been me, I could be 
you now, it may all be a circle...it certainly seems like a
circle..."

Holy shit, Juliana thought, how do I get out of this?

"Oh, don't worry, you won't be staying here," the old woman
responded to the unspoken words, "this is just a...a station. 
Here, we're going in here."

There was a door to the left of the endless hall, a very
old-fashioned wooden door made of thick planks and steel bands. 
The old woman shoved it open, inside the room was even darker
than the hall.

Juliana didn't want to go in there, but the other woman went in 
and then she didn't want to be alone out in the hall, so she
followed.

There was a table, which the old woman set the candle on, and
Juliana could make out the confines of the stone walls around
her.  There was a couch-like bed and a mirror, and an open
window. 

She went to the window and looked out, but there was nothing. 
Less than nothing, just blackness, silence, deadness. 
Frightening.

"The end of the universe, you say.  I think I believe you."

"No you don't.  Not yet.  But you will, and one day you'll
welcome a new one of us just like now, and she won't believe you 
either."

"I can hardly wait," Juliana said with some sarcasm.  She was
surprised when the old woman laughed.

"Don't worry.  The time will go surprisingly fast, there is so
much to do here," old Juliana said, "so much work.  So many 
lives to live."

"So are you going to explain anything to me or do I have to
guess?"

"I can't explain it, I don't understand it myself. You'll have 
to experience it, all of it, there's no other way."

"Oh come on, give me a clue."

"Sure: you sleep," the old woman said, pointing to the bed, "and
you dream.  But the dreams are the experiences of all of us
Julianas, all of the lives our copies have lived--from our
original self, to the colonists of Procyon 5 and Aldebaran 12 
and Alpha Crucius 2, of the horrors of the technician, the
wonders of the Bug People of Messier 51 and other alien races,
the sad last people of Earth, the slaves, the heroines, the
lovers, the children we have borne and loved, the stars we have 
explored, the wars, the entire span of a life that has been 
relived but not repeated thousands of times over a span of 
millions of years...until now."

"Uh, wow."

"Yes, wow indeed.  We are the Collectors of our Very Own Soul,
Juliana.  For every Juliana has had that Same One Soul--which is
not confined by the physical rules of the Quantum Universe.  
Time and Space cannot restrict That Soul, they are only 
conventions for physical flesh, it can inhabit an infinite 
number of our copies at the same time over an infinite time.  

"But now the pieces of That Soul must be gathered, collated,
harvested.  It yearns to comprehend its experience, to formulate
a coherent meaning to all of our lives, to achieve Epiphany,
Revelation, Apotheosis.

"That is our job here.  Go to work.  Goodbye."

The old Juliana smiled one last time, then walked out the door
into the long dark hall, leaving the candle behind for the young
Juliana, so that she wouldn't be afraid of the dark.