Almost mythology
But has a heart of stone;
An IQ of 1,001
And a jumpsuit on...
She's also a telephone
—Electric Light Orchestra
Afri
It was New Years’ Eve 2399. The turn of the century celebrations would be taking place in Times Square, but most people would be cocooned in their tech lairs witnessing the goings-on via laser holography 3-D. There really wasn’t a Times Square, but one was projected for the sake of nostalgia.
It didn’t really matter whether there were celebrations or not. Ion was not like most people. He was a techno geek and an alpha surfer par excellence.
To be honest, alpha surfing was a kind of a cult—nobody used alpha configuring anymore. Compute-connects were voice and motion activated. Ion was definitely retro-fidelity and he knew it.
Delivery scheduled for 1800.
The Compugen voice in the door monitor sounded like his—it sounded completely human—except it wasn’t. Not much was anymore.
How he longed for the days when machines were tools instead of servants and people still met and talked in restaurants, went to clubs and even went shopping in malls full of stores. No one today even knew what those words meant. Only he did.
He was an archaist—an over-comped, under-challenged civvy who still drew pay in the form of dollars, albeit transferred digitally to his core chip. He loved nothing better than to suit up in his apparat gear and drive old style over rough terrain, visiting off-sites of towering concrete. No one lived there anymore, but they once did and his job was to study, catalogue and reconstruct their lives.
Tonight, however, was his night off and he intended it to be different. Afri had sent him retro-sci software and he couldn’t wait for it to arrive.
Right at the 1800 signal, the door monitor buzzed. He checked the bar code air quality monitor. It was just in the green. Thankfully, the door would open.
Outside in the entry port, an unmanned drone awaited, blue lights flickering and red digits pulsing. He noted the price of the on-board shipment. He watched the display count down, deducting his chip and then the pressurized hatch hissed and he reached in and retrieved his array. It was scanned and released and he hastened back inside while the hatch closed, re-pressurized and the drone vibrated into infra space.
He set up the array in his room and stepped back. Nothing happened. Then he remembered. He had to activate the solar field to produce electron flow to operate the old technology. It took a while to warm up and then the small blinking red light indicated that initializing had begun.
While he waited, he decoded the old style scriptus using Alph-surf.
Statute Avatar, 2200. Sentient consciousness. Soma features perishable & subject to decay. Guaranteed personalis stamped on VERITAS Band.
He tore off the band, checked the ID and threw it in the dispo.
The crystalline animus field sparked into life and a cloudy array of scintillating crystalline flecks danced like snow before his eyes. A figure emerged from the mist and took shape before him. He held his breath. She was real.
Gail Edmonds had lived and died two hundred years before. She had willed her avatar to science and it had been stored in nitrogenous aquate until 18 hours ago when Afri had ordered it shipped.
Afri was a life friend. He could depend on her.
Everyone possessed servant bots—human-like clones indistinguishable from real people, but they were totally programmed and functional. They were responders but lacked spontaneity, basically machine intelligences in bio-sleeves—nothing more.
Gail Edmonds was herself resurrected.
He had read her biography using alpha surfing and became intrigued. He would sit in his lair, the displays off, and read by halo light the account of her life and times. She was his first and only love. He would come home and sit for hours at her Luminous as it hovered in the middle of his room.
He wanted her to talk, to move, to come alive. He adorned her in the loveliest garments and the archaic ornaments of her time. He would study her like a still life and weep.
Hours and hours he’d spend in his room, imagining what he’d say and how she’d respond. Other women soon tired of his absences, except one—his colleague and life mate, Afri.
He remembered the day she surprised him in his room.
“Ion, what are you doing?”
He had been lying at the feet of the Luminous pouring out his soul in alpha lisps. When he looked up and saw Afri’s shocked expression, the blood in his veins turned to ice. If he were standing, he would have fallen.
Her face and voice were stern. “I asked you, Ion, what are you doing?”
Shame covered his features. He wished the floor would swallow him up. He wanted to lie, but couldn’t. He could never lie to Afri.
“I’m in love,” he whispered.
She shook her head and looked at him scornfully.
“You are the most sought after among the alphas and you are here grovelling at the feet of a Luminous—it sickens me, Ion.”
“You don’t understand. I seek her for love alone.”
“That is antiquated, Ion—like your disgusting humiliation. Now get up off the floor and I’ll pretend I never witnessed this act.”
“I can’t, Afri. I truly love her. I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
She sat on the edge of his cumbent. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
He nodded and hung his head in shame. She picked up the scriptus and began alpha scanning.
She laboured over the black config.
“I’m not as adept as you, Ion, but I see what you mean. She is a worthy mate.”
He nodded dejectedly.
“So, is this how you’ve been spending your days?”
“Yes, I’m ashamed to admit.”
“Why shame? I thought you loved her.”
“I do, but it’s foolish—a waste of time. She’s simply a face and a name in a book. I view her like a still life.”
Afri smiled sympathetically, “But what if she could come alive?”
“That would fulfill all my dreams, but I musn’t think that way—It’s foolish.”
She shook her head. “The dreams a woman stirs in a man’s heart are not foolish, Ion. I wished once I could be that woman for you, but now know that’s impossible—still, I wish you to be happy.”
“How can I be happy now?”
She hesitated and then lowered her voice, “I know a way, Ion, but you must never reveal what I tell to anyone.”
“Of course, Afri—I would never betray your trust.”
“We were excavating amid the structures and found a vault—a repository of old technology—it covers over two hundred years. She may be in there.”
“You mean her avatar?”
“Exactly. Everyone willed themselves to science two hundred years ago—there were a few exceptions—rebels and malcontents—I doubt she was one.”
“But it’s forbidden under New Law to utilize obsolete technology.”
“I know that.”
“And yet, you’d still be willing to risk Proscribing to do this for me?”
“You know I love you, Ion. If I can’t have you, I want you happy.”
That was ten days ago. Afri was an Attenuate—it was her oath to never lie.
True to her word, the software arrived on schedule.
He stared at the living, breathing Gail Edmonds materializing before his eyes. He positioned himself before her so when she opened her eyes, she’d be staring into his.
The moment came and her eyelids fluttered like butterfly wings and then slowly opened. He watched her gasp in astonishment and then smile with delight. She was awakening from the dreams of two centuries.
What would he tell her—what could he say—I love you—I adore you?
His mouth went dry. He watched her lips part. Her soft voice began to speak.
This is the avatar of Gail Edmonds who has willingly chosen not to seek avatarzation and to relinquish the right to continuation. She remains in her time.
He sunk to the floor in complete despair.
From the portal, Afri watched with a heavy heart. She thought the odds were weighted in Ion’s favor and could feel the anguish he now felt. She had felt the same sorrow the day he confessed his love for another and ended their love.
She slid the port door manually and stepped into the lair. The barcode was red.
She took off her breather, left the door open wide and went to die with Ion.
Afri was a life friend. He could depend on her.