The trio stood in the doorway as Jane scanned the room for a familiar face. With an evil grin she said, “Ah, this will be appropriate. There is our minister of science, Harry Finn. He is almost as old as I am… was,” she corrected herself.
Sandra laughed. “Are you sure? You might just give him a heart attack!”
Jane grinned and said, “Well, then, we could just bring him back!”
“Not until we get an implant into him first, Jane!”
Jane giggled and said, “Oh come on Sandy.” Without waiting for a response, she took them both by the hands and led them over to where the wizened old man with his thin, wild, long white hair sat.
Harry looked up and said, “Hello Sandy. Hello Star. Who is this beautiful young woman with you?” he said with a lascivious grin.
“Don’t you recognize me Harry? How are the new version three starships progressing?” Jane said with a laugh.
Harry began to say, “No, I…” and then his jaw dropped and he gaped like a fish out of water. His fork fell from his hand, bounced off the edge of the table and clattered unnoticed onto the floor. He rapidly blinked and then rubbed his eyes. “No, it can’t be,” he said to himself.
“Yes, it is!” she said with a laugh. “Like my new body?”
Harry recovered some of his composure and asked, “This is the result of the data from the latest probe?” Jane nodded. He eyed her up and down and said, “Well I’ll be fracked!”
“Harry!” Jane laughed. “You never swear!”
“Well Jane,” he said, “I think that this occasion requires an expletive!” He looked back and forth between Jane and Sandra, finally settling his gaze on Sandra. He said in a conspiratorial whisper, “Do you think that I could get a new body too?”
Sandra’s face took on a thoughtful look, “Well, technically, there is no reason that you couldn’t. There may be ethical considerations however. What would we do with your still-living old body? We couldn’t have two copies of you running around.”
Harry paused and then said, “Yes, that would be awkward, would it not? Perhaps we could come up with some legislation that would allow the new copy of the person, and only that new copy, to euthanize their old body upon successful resuscitation in their new body.”
Sandra looked at him and said, “Why, that is brilliant Harry!”
Jane looked at them both and said, “Yes, Brilliant. But how about the big issue at hand here,” she said pointing at her stomach.
They all laughed and Star said, “Sit Jane, I will go fetch you some dinner.”
“Make it big!” she called after him.
They watched her in wonder as she ate a huge amount of food. “Is that normal?” Harry asked.
Sandra smiled and said, “Only at first. Her new body is only an hour or so old and has nothing in its intestinal tract.”
“I see,” he said. “Can you really control computer connected systems with your mind?”
“Allegedly so, Harry. I have not tried it yet.”
“Well how about trying it now and change this awful music? I’ve never been a fan of this retro-steampunk-rap garbage!” A dreadful din consisting of a rhythmic beat overlaid with mechanical sounds and seemingly random electronic tonalities accompanied by a non-lyrical robot-like voice emanated from the cafeteria’s speakers.
“Agreed!” she said. “How about some nice classical music?”
“Yes, please!” Harry said enthusiastically.
“Okay, this will be my first time trying this so hold on.” Jane closed her eyes, took a deep breath and concentrated. Her eyes moved under her closed eyelids like a person who was experiencing REM sleep. A second later, the music halted mid beat. Everyone in the room looked up from their food for a second before shrugging and then resuming their meals. Jane distantly said, “Hold on now.” A second later, the opening clock chimes of Pink Floyd’s’ famous composition ‘Time’ began playing. Some of the younger people in the room frowned in annoyance; however, the vast majority of the remainder of the room’s occupants, including most of the younger ones, smiled and nodded in appreciation. “I did it!” Jane said excitedly.
Harry clapped her on the arm and said, “Good choice! Appropriate too, considering the circumstances.” He turned to Sandra and lowering his voice he said, “I am serious. I may not be as far along as Jane was, but this old body of mine is fast becoming tedious.”
Sandra looked at him thoughtfully and said, “Well, the euthanasia laws are still on the books. Perhaps we can use them as a precedent to allow you to transfer to a new body.”
“Excellent,” he said. “May I set up an appointment with you?”
Jane looked at them both and said, “Let’s not get too hasty. We still have to announce the news of my rebirth to the fleet. We should at least do that before we allow the sudden appearance of many young, formerly old, people!” They all laughed at that and then Jane said, “We should do this as soon as possible before someone notices the new and younger me and the rumor mill gets going. Let’s all go to my office right now and I will set up a meeting.”
“Hello Josh,” Jane said, “I want to set up a meeting with Amanda DeMuthe.”
“Certainly Jane,” Josh said with a smile. “Congratulations on your new body.”
“Thank you Josh. It is wonderful to not be old, in pain and dying anymore!” Jane smiled at the avatar and said, “I am going to use the intercom, audio only, to call her. What I want you to do is to record this meeting for posterity. It will be one of the most historic meetings in recent memory. Please begin recording now.”
Jane pressed a button on her desk and said, “Call Amanda DeMuthe, Minister of Communications.”
Amanda sat at her desk staring off into space. She sighed and said, “Oh what am I going to come up with for tonight’s news?” She laughed and said to herself, “What we need is a good disaster or something. It’s been too quiet lately!” Just then, her personal phone vibrated in her pocket. She reached in, pulled it out and unrolled it. She smiled when she saw who was calling. “Perhaps I shall have some news for tonight after all,” she thought. She tapped the ‘accept call’ icon and said, “Hello Director. To what do I owe the honor of this call?”
“Hello Amanda. Please report to my office immediately. I have some important news for you.”
“Certainly Director, I will be right there.” The connection immediately dropped. “Hmm,” she thought. “She sounds different somehow. I wonder what this is all about.” With that, Amanda DeMuthe arose from her chair and left to perform the most important interview of her long and distinguished career.
Jane’s door chimed and she said, “Come in Amanda.”
Amanda opened the door and entered. Her eyes scanned the room and she said, “Hello Star, Sandy, and Harry.” She looked over to the Director’s desk and said, “Who is that? Where is the dir…?” Amanda gasped and her knees began to give out. Star quickly grabbed her and kept her from falling.
Unable to resist, Jane said, “Hello Amanda. I had a makeover. A full-body makeover. Do you like?” Amanda just stood there staring, unable to speak. Jane continued to tease her. “Wow, the famous Amanda DeMuthe stricken speechless. This truly is a historic day!”
At last, Amanda found her voice. “Jane! Is that really you?” She looked around the room and said, “Come on people, I was not born yesterday! Where is the real director?”
Jane laughed and said, “It really is me, right here, Amanda.” Amanda’s eyes continued to scan the room suspiciously. Jane grinned and said, “I’ll prove it to you.” With a conspiratorial wink she said, “Remember that time in Mexico City. You got drunk on tequila and you slept with…”
“Okay! Okay, it is you!” Amanda hastily interrupted her. She stared in wonder and said, “What? How? This is impossible!”
“Never mind that, I want to hear more about Mexico City,” Star said with a sideways grin.
Chuckling, Jane ignored him and said, “No, not impossible. You heard about the latest hyper-
probe I imagine.”
Amanda excitedly said, “Holy frack! This is what those avatars came up with?” Jane nodded and then Amanda said, “Well, I’ll be fracked!”
Jane looked her in the eyes and said, “Do you think that you can fit this news into tonight’s report?”
“Are you fracking kidding me Jane? I’m going to do a live special report right now!” She quickly walked over to Jane and said, “Stand up. Let me see!”
Jane stood up, spread her arms wide and did a slow pirouette. Amanda reached out and touched Jane’s arm, as if to reassure herself that she was not hallucinating. “Oh! They took away the scars too!”
“Yeah, and more importantly, all the pain.”
“Tell me the story. Give me all the details. I want to know it all before I go live.”
Jane took a deep breath and said, “Well, those famous avatars came up with a new 3D genetic printer fast enough to print a living body. They also came up with an implant that allows continuous memory backups.” She took another deep breath and said, “I was dying, Amanda. Sandy installed one of those implants into my old body and backed up my mind. She then used the new printer to print me a new body and then transferred my consciousness.”
Sandra chimed in and said, “You do not know how close we came to losing you Jane. Your memory backup finished mere seconds before your old body expired.”
Jane looked at her in alarm. “It was that close?” Sandra solemnly nodded and then Jane said, “Wow, looks like I owe you even more.” Sandra blushed and said nothing.
Amanda said, “We need the minister of exploration in here too, Jane.”
Jane looked at her, confused. “Why? What relevance does this news have for exploration?”
“None. Not directly,” Amanda said. “However, you are going to want to send out a new wave of hyper-probes with the data, no?”
Jane smiled and said, “Good Thinking.” She turned to her monitor and said, “Josh, call Minister Lane Basso and have him come to my office immediately. Make sure that he knows that this is of the utmost importance.”
The avatar said, “Understood.” Several seconds passed and then he said, “Lane is on his way.”
Lane arrived a minute later looking annoyed. “What’s going on? Where is the director?” he gruffly said.
Jane gave him a good stare and said, “Attention soldier!” Years of military training caused Lane to snap to without thinking and then, even more annoyed, he said, “Come on. This is not funny.”
Jane softly said, “Lane, I realize that we hardly knew one another but take a good look at me. What do you see?”
“I see a young woman who looks like she could be the Director’s great grand-daughter…” His face registered shock and then he continued, “Oh frack, pardon me Madam. I had heard about the new probe’s data but this… this is amazing!”
“I have to agree with you there Lane, being the beneficiary,” she said with a smile. “Amanda is about to break the news to the fleet. What I need from you is to prepare a new wave of hyper-probes to send out and seed the satellites with this new medical technology and also, a copy of the broadcast.”
“Certainly Madam Director!” he said, saluting.
“Oh relax, Lane,” Jane said. Turning to Amanda she said, “I am ready when you are.”
Amanda put on her business face and said, “Okay, Josh, I need for you to control the camera. I am going to start out by playing the Starship News Network special report intro. From there I will begin speaking. I want you to start out with a close-up of my face. When I break the news that the director is alive and well, then, and only then, I want you to pan over to Jane. When I begin interviewing her, please zoom out so that all of us are on camera. When I interview one of the others present in the room, I want you to pan to their face when they reply and then zoom out so that all of us are in the shot again. Have I explained myself well enough?”
Josh said, “Yes Amanda. I understand.”
“Great,” Amanda said. She primped her hair, took out her phone and unrolled it on the desk, took a deep breath, tapped an icon on her phone and then began.
On every screen throughout the fleet, a few notes of upbeat music played and then a pre-recorded voice said, “We interrupt your normal screens for a special report from SNN.” Amanda watched a monitor and when her face appeared, she started speaking with her trademark over-annunciated, perfect diction voice.
“Hello everybody. This is Amanda DeMuthe reporting to you live. I am bringing you important breaking news from Director Jane McCann’s office.” She paused dramatically and then continued, “As most of you are aware, the director’s health has been fading fast and we all knew it was only a matter of time before our esteemed director passed on. I am here today to tell you that the director’s body has lost its grip on life and has passed away.” She paused, waiting just the perfect amount of time for that information to sink in and then continued, “What I am here to tell you is that today is not a day for mourning. For although the director’s body has passed on, we have not lost the director herself!”
Josh, with perfect timing and just like an expert news cinematographer, panned over to Jane’s face. Amanda swore she heard the collective gasp that echoed throughout the fleet.
Jane, no novice in front of the camera herself, began speaking. “Hello, while some of you may have trouble believing this, I am Director Jane McCann.” She paused for a second, just as Amanda had, to let this sink in. “Just five hours ago, I was dying. In fact, I would be dead right now; if it were not for the data that we only have just received today from the avatars Kelly and Henry of the starships Silent Running and Forgotten Hope.” She spread her arms wide and then said, “The data showed us how to make a new and blazingly fast 3D genetic printer and also, gave us the design for a new brain implant which keeps a person’s memory backup up to date to the second. Using their design schematics, the Minister of Medicine, Sandra Claus, had our bots build a copy of the printer and also made a brain implant for me.”
Jane paused and then continued solemnly, “When the implant was ready, Sandy tried to reach me in this office. I was unable to respond. My old and failing body had passed into unconsciousness. Had she not called when she did, I would have died alone right here at my desk. Sandy had my dying body rushed to the medical bay where the printer installation was in progress. She had a bot install an implant and used it to update my memory backup. My old body died just seconds after the download completed. Yes my friends, it was that close.” Jane paused again for effect. “I am here right now thanks to Sandy and the two genius avatars whom I am declaring to be two of the most eminent scientists of our time.”
Amanda, an expert at interviews, took up questioning Jane. “A truly amazing story Director!” She smiled at Jane and asked, “What was it like, waking up in a new body?”
Jane laughed and said, “I thought I had died and that I was in the afterlife!” Everyone in the room laughed. “The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was my old body, dead and withered upon another bed. I was convinced that I was dead!” More laughter.
Amanda smiled and said, “I imagine that was quite a shock. What was the first thing that struck you when you realized that you were not an angel?”
Now it was Jane’s turn to laugh. “Well, I have to say that without a doubt, it was the lack of pain. I have lived so long in a tired old body that I forgot what it was like to live without pain.”
Amanda nodded wisely and said, “What was the next thing?”
“Well, that I was famished! Apparently the printing process for a new body does not include a full belly!”
Harry laughed and said, “Yes, I can attest that she ate more in one sitting than most of us eat in a week!”
Jane laughed. “I was not that bad!” she said.
“I beg to differ, Director,” he said with a grin. Jane smiled and said nothing.
“Anyway Director, what do you plan to do now that you have a new, young body? Are you going to conti
nue as director or will you step down and enjoy life for a while?”
Jane laughed. “Well, much the dismay of those who were jockeying for my position, I intend to remain at my post.” Jane’s eyes took on a distant look and she said, “I have the new version three starship project to watch over. I will actually be able to witness the launch of the first one. I had resigned myself to not living that long,” she softly said.
Amanda allowed the director time to ponder that thought and then deftly maneuvered the conversation in a new direction. “We also have here the Director of Science, the distinguished Harold Finn. Director Finn, let us discuss the ramifications of this new technology. What about people who have not yet died. Will they be able to obtain a new body? If so, what will happen to their old body? Will anybody be able to replace their body?”
Harry took a deep breath, brushed back his wild thinning hair and said, “That is an excellent question Amanda. I do not see why not. Getting a replacement body is not going to be difficult or even mildly stressful on the fleet’s resources. There will of course, have to be a priority based system. An old person on death’s door, such as myself, will be near the top of the list.” Soft laughter filled the room. “Next would be a person with a debilitating malady or wounds too severe to be repaired by any other means. Down lowest on the list will be requests for replacement based purely on vanity alone.” Harry though for a second and then said, “In the meantime, I recommend that everybody get the new implant. The operation is trivial and will give a person an insurance policy that cannot be understated.”
Amanda refused to be deflected from her question. “But what about the old body, Director? What is to become of it?”
Harry cleared his throat and said, “Well, I propose that once a person’s consciousness has been successfully installed into their new body that they, and they alone, will be allowed to euthanize their old body. In addition, I propose that there be a time limit of one hour to make the decision to stay in their new body or to return to their old one.” Harry laughed and said, “This will prevent the existence of a fleet full of doppelgangers.”
The Silence Between the Stars Page 23
