<\/p>\n
‘Where Immortality Becomes Reality’ the holographic cube spelled as it danced in front of Mary\u2019s eyes. She shifted in her seat and tried to read the pamphlet she took from the table in the waiting room. It covered the basics of the procedure, but lacked any reassurance for her anxious mind.<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan noticed and blinked off his social media outlet, Wal. \u201cIt’s going to be okay.\u201d <\/span> She smiled, creasing every wrinkle on her face. Johnathan returned the same smile, as he grabbed on to her sweat-coated hand. Her head fell into its usual resting place on his shoulder.<\/span><\/p>\n A nurse walked through double doors on the other side of the room. Her gaze was blank as her Itacts fed her information directly into her eyes. \u201cMr. and Mrs. Wilkins.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan raised his hand. \u201cDoctor Hader will see you now.\u201d The nurse smiled in a way that was as much a part of the advertising as the cube was. <\/span><\/p>\n Both Johnathan and Mary stood up with their hands still clasped together. They followed the young nurse down the hallway. Her eyes continued to glow as she typed various messages on her Itacts. At the end of the hallway she opened the door and nodded to them before she turned and left without saying a word.<\/span><\/p>\n On the right side was a large bookshelf. Various neutral-colored books filled the wall. They reminded Johnathan of the way his students used to bring pristine books to class while swearing they read them. Pictures of children and vast cities lined the other wall. Mary recognized those as the pictures that came with the frames. The far wall was a large window peering out into the vast city outside. Dark towers were illuminated by thousands of stars contained within them. Buildings outlined by the tangerine glow of the setting sun. <\/span><\/p>\n In the center of the large room was a white desk with two matching chairs in front. At the desk sat a young man in a black uniform, scrolling through his Wal messages on his Itacts. When they sat down he blinked off his glowing display.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo, you folks are here to secure your new life, right?\u201d Doctor Hader said, as he leaned forward on his desk. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYes,\u201d Johnathan nodded.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, I’m not so sure,\u201d Mary began, cutting off Johnathan. \u201cCan I ask a few questions?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The doctor’s eyes flashed green, indicating he got a message on the Wal. His grin faded. \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have read a lot about this, Transcendence you are calling it, but I still don’t understand exactly how the transfer works.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, I won’t bore you with the technical details. What happens is we plug you into our computers which will replicate your mental processes into your new electroplastic brain. Then we will provide you with a new body to house it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI know,\u201d Mary stated. Johnathan could tell she was fighting off annoyance by tone of her voice. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHoney,\u201d Johnathan interrupted with a polite smile. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNow,\u201d Mary continued ignoring her husband, \u201cI’ve followed the news stories about the banning of cloning human tissue because of the Genetics War in China.\u201d Johnathan stiffened and dropped the smile on his face. \u201cHow does the lack of natural human parts affect people?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe replicate the human body with as close to perfection as humanly possible. We use a Silicon mesh with leather exterior. It forms calluses and transmits sensory detail exactly like human tissue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow does that substitute real human tissue?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is the best we can do under the law of the Nora Agreement. Until the Neorepublicans repeal that law we have to make synthetic human bodies for the Transcendent population. But surveys have said that 89% of people have been fine with the new skin type. 34% of people even prefer it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPeople today,\u201d Mary whispered under her breath.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry?\u201d Hader said. His eyes had flashed indicating a notification.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNothing,\u201d Johnathan said, preventing his wife from speaking. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo, are we in agreement to proceed?\u201d Hader asked in the most chipper tone he has had since they had come into the office.<\/span><\/p>\n Mary frowned. \u201cCan I think about it?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOf course, honey,\u201d Johnathan said. He stood up.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure? This is a great opportunity! Immortality has finally been achieved. Why would you deny this? This is the closest we have ever gotten to achieving Godhood!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe we aren\u2019t ready to be Gods,\u201d Mary said walking out of the office with Johnathan.<\/span><\/p>\n They walked to their Transit a gray, oval, pod. It drifted off the balcony of the hundred and thirtieth story. They sat down in the pale interior at a small table with two chairs facing each other. There were large oval windows on both sides and enough space to move around the cabin. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCar, Home please,\u201d Johnathan commanded.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOf course sir,\u201d the car’s friendly female voice responded. The vehicle lifted away from the balcony and drifted into traffic.<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan looked at his wife and reached out for her hand. She withdrew and narrowed her eyes.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don’t want to do this.\u201d Mary stated.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy not? Our life could continue, forever.\u201d he cleared his throat. \u201cTogether.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut it won’t be us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy do you think that? Of course it will be us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cTrapped. Stuck in some unnatural body.\u201d Her face twists in repulsion. \u201cHumans were meant to die, it is the natural order of things.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut you don’t understand, you have never seen someone die! I have! I watched men, my men, die in the Genetics War. I watched the light leave their eyes. I saw the hollowness that was left. I know my days are numbered after all the gene splicing they did…\u201d He paused, his throat throbbed on his vocal cords. <\/span><\/p>\n Mary’s eyes had darted away from him but she did interject anything. <\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan choked back the pain. \u201cI talked to men who died and came back. There isn\u2019t anything else after this and I am scared of the void, the emptiness consuming everything I was. I don\u2019t sleep anymore. It\u2019s all I think about!\u201d Anger seeped into his indigo eyes. He stood up and walked over to the window. The city was a blur of black and amber as their Transit darted past miles of city in seconds.<\/span><\/p>\n Mary could see the pain he carried but hated being talked down to like this. \u201cSo the answer is to give up what made us human become a Syn?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA Syn?\u201d Johnathan snapped, \u201cNow you are starting to sound like that zealot Father Marius. Preaching about the natural order and that we should die so that we can meet God or worse. That we are cowards because we refuse to accept our sins and go to hell like decent monsters used to. Well I did dark things in the war, alright? I killed children. I killed defenseless men and women. I watched people fighting for their families. For their basic human rights, be defiled and murdered. After that I thought life was pointless.\u201d He paused letting the anger go before he concluded with, \u201cBut you gave me purpose.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Mary\u2019s gaze snapped back to him, her glare grew sharp. \u201cAnd you think my purpose is to exist for you despite my beliefs? As if the only thing I do is live so that your world works. Well maybe our love won’t last forever.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe have arrived at our destination sir,\u201d the Transit said as it opened the door to their apartment balcony.<\/span><\/p>\n Mary walked out onto the balcony in silence and began tending to her garden. She snipped tomatoes, looked at the pineapple bush for a ripe one, found two and put them in a basket. She carried them inside to cut them. <\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan stood on the balcony to let his heart rate slow down. He surveyed her garden. The balcony had become a tropical forest. Pineapple bushes, tomato plants, any fruit that didn’t grow on trees had a place somewhere in his wife’s oasis. She had grown a fully organic garden in this sterile environment. Creating an island of nature in a desert of concrete and metal. He took one last breath and walked inside.<\/span><\/p>\n In the kitchen, Mary was at the counter trying to reach the top cabinet. \u201cAlways had trouble with that cabinet,\u201d he muttered to himself. He reached up and grabbed the wash rag from the top shelf and said, \u201cI’m sorry honey.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cGo through with it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou don’t have much time left I understand that. It must be difficult. But I can’t do it. It’s not natural.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n He touched her arm and she spun around and embraced him. He felt her warm tears on his shirt as he returned the hug. She looked up at his face, a whole half foot above hers and stood up on her toes and gave him a gentle kiss. \u201cI love you and don’t want to stand in the way of you doing what you want, just as you can’t stand in the way of what I want.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut I’m happiest when I\u2019m with you. Please come with me, we can continue our life together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Her lips recoiled with hesitation. \u201cListen, you are the love of my life. But that life needs to end.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut, what about our love?\u201d Johnathan asked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat will be up to you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n #<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan and Mary arrived at the hospital a week later for the operation. Doctor Hader briefed them before the procedure, \u201cOnce your consciousness is fully integrated we will wake you up and you will be a new man. Have you given any thought to what you want your new face to look like? If you would like to return to a point in your life, we just need a picture to base the face off of. Otherwise you can design it now or let it be random.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhy would someone pick random?\u201d Mary asked.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSome people like the idea of getting a fresh start and mimic the birthing process as much as possible. Don’t worry, the face retains the basic structure it just might not turn out… attractive. Or if you\u2019d prefer, there is a catalog of facial parts for you to choose from if you\u2019d like to look through it. We have over 250 ears, 300 mouths and a startling 400 noses.\u201d A holographic catalog appeared in the room between them and displayed various body parts.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAlso,\u201d Hader continued, \u201cif you\u2019d like to alter the purple eye thing I understand. Some ignorant people will already have prejudices against you when you become a Transcendent. Perhaps, it would be better to not be an augmented that those Liberals are always protesting.\u201d Johnathan frowned.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat’s alright, I have a picture for you,\u201d Johnathan said. He activated his Itact. An image of his face from forty years ago when he was thirty-eight appeared in the room. <\/span><\/p>\n The doctor\u2019s eyes widen and said, \u201cCan I ask why then? When most people want to return to an age they normally want their twenties.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was the last time I found a new life,\u201d he said turning and smiled at Mary. She returned the gesture.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOkay, well I copied the image and they will begin constructing the face. I will leave you two alone while you prepare. Whenever you are ready just go through these doors,\u201d Doctor Hader said. He got up and left through the sliding double doors behind him into a dark surgical room.<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan turned to his wife. Tears were flowing down her face as she stared at him. He stood up and helped her to embrace him as she broke down into sobs. They held each other for a long moment. She lifted her head up and crushed her lips against his with more force than his lips had felt in years. He returned the force for a few seconds and then pulled away; parting with his lips for the final time. He said, \u201cYou are the love of my whole life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n “And you are the love of my life too,\u201d she said, letting him out of her arms. She watched in silence as he walked around the desk and disappeared into the dark room.<\/span><\/p>\n Two hours later Mary stood up when Doctor Hader came through the big white doors from the inner hospital. Behind him followed the exact same man she fell in love with the first time she had ever laid eyes on him. Everything was there, the dark hair, the strong jaw line, the stout nose, even the tender indigo eyes. But his smile was the same as it was hours before. Loving and full of joy but it was off-putting without the wrinkles that used to crease his cheeks.<\/span><\/p>\n Her eyes filled with tears as she rushed into his embrace. He returned in a strength she hadn’t felt in years but something was off. The skin was of a leather texture and if felt strange to her. She looked up to him, then to the doctor with a frown.<\/span><\/p>\n Doctor Hader said. \u201cYou grow used to it as time goes on. Most people\u2026\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Mary stopped listening as he trailed off to talk about studies about this effect. <\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan said, \u201cIt’ll be okay sweetheart,\u201d and leaned down to kiss her with his soft, strong lips.<\/span><\/p>\n #####<\/span><\/p>\n Later that night, when they were climbing into bed together Johnathan began to kiss Mary’s wrinkled neck. Mary froze for a second letting the soft tingle of heat and moisture fill her neck. It had been some time. \u201cWe should make sure everything in this new body works,\u201d he said as he moved closer. <\/span><\/p>\n Mary rolled into him pushing her body against his which felt like falling onto a leather couch that had baked in the sun too long. She pulled away after a few seconds and pushed him so fast he almost fell off the bed. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI can’t. It-it, just feels too weird. You look young enough to be our son and you feel more like the car seats than like you.\u201d Her eyes had shrunk as if she had just rolled into a stranger. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is okay honey. I understand it will be an adjustment. That is fine. We can wait,\u201d Johnathan said with very little emotion as he climbed back onto his side of the bed and turned the light off. \u201cYou will get used to it, soon.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI hope so.\u201d Her voice still held the edge of anxiety. <\/span><\/p>\n Mary didn’t sleep that night. She tossed and turned, like the wind on a rainy night. Every time she brushed up against his artificial skin she was reminded of his new deformity. She tried sleeping far away from him but she could still see his face in the pale moonlight. The face she had only seen in pictures for years. The face she married but had long since faded. The face of a familiar stranger sharing her bed. Finally, she got up and went to sleep on the couch. Not the leather one but the soft polyester one where there were no reminders of him.<\/span><\/p>\n In the morning Johnathan noticed her absence and found her on the couch, asleep. As he approached, her head stirred and she looked up at him.<\/span><\/p>\n Her eyes flashed with confusion and fear for a moment before she recognized him. She sighed at the thought and sat up and spoke in a tired whisper, \u201cI’m sorry. I thought I could handle this but I can’t. Not yet. I’m going to continue to sleep on this couch for the time being until I can get used to your… new body.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThat is fine, sweetie,\u201d Johnathan said with a smile.<\/span><\/p>\n After weeks past were every brush sent a look of disgust. Where every other time he would walk into a room it would take her a heart beat to reconfigure he he was. Weeks of long silences and sharp looks. <\/span><\/p>\n One day when Johnathan handed her a coffee cup in the morning her fingers brushed his. She gasped and let the cup drop to the ground, shattering on the tile of the kitchen. Johnathan did move to clean it up, instead he asked in neutral tone, \u201cAre you ever going to be able to touch me?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHonestly,\u201d Mary said letting the irritation mount in her voice, \u201cno. I hate your body. It feels wrong, it feels more like furniture than skin. The heat it gives off is uneven, your arms are freezing at night and you look too young. You like our wedding photo and I can’t stand it. Here I am, old and decrepit and there you sit with your youth, and your fake body.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, you would not be so old if you had done the procedure,\u201d Johnathan said an edge cutting into his even tone.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd what? Become an armchair? Feel forty years older than I look? Live with the contradiction of age with youth? And what to walk down the street and have people look at me like a robot. Don’t pretend you haven\u2019t noticed the way people look at you!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think you are jealous that women are looking at me now,\u201d Johnathan the tone of his voice continued to rise but stopped short of a yell. His face shifted from anger to regret the instance he said it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWell, if you want to be with those women maybe you should leave me. I’m too old for you. I’m too slow and unattractive. You deserve, better don’t you?\u201d Mary asked with a glare harder than the steel alloy that made up Johnathan’s new bones.<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan\u2019s voice a tint of desperation in it. \u201cThat is not what I meant.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo. It’s exactly what you have been thinking. I see it in your eyes. You are becoming like every other Syn aren’t you? Abandoning your old life and commitments. Taking up a life of partying because what consequences do you have to live with? You have a perfect metabolism and eternal youth!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou have been watching that Father Marius, again.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI follow him on the Wal. Yes.\u201d Her chin pointed up towards him. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe you are right. I should not live in a house with one of the ‘Flock,’\u201d Johnathan sneered at the phrase.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOh, now I am in the ‘Flock’ because I subscribe to his Wal?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou believe his racist propaganda. It’s turning you against me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have to be on your side all the time? Beside who are you to call me a bigot? You hate the Chinese more than any-\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan slammed his fist down on the wooden kitchen table so hard that ended with a crack. A tense silence engulfed the room. When he spoke his voice sounded like dull thunder but felt more subdued that it had in the past, \u201cYou were the only person in the world who understood what I went through there. The hell that I went through. The things they did to their own people. The New Yin Revs committed horrible atrocities and it had to stop!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey were simply trying to get rights for the working class. The cloning was immoral, and then they were being worked to death\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cForty years of marriage,\u201d Johnathan glowered, \u201cYou never disagreed with me that the New Yins were evil. You never once questioned or brought up what happened there? Why now? Is it Father Marius? Do you trust him more than your own husband?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have changed my opinion.\u201d Her hands were shaking as she spoke, but her voice stayed consistent. \u201cIt happens from time to time.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe minute you start questioning what happened during the Genetics War is the minute you lose whatever shred of love I have clung to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI already lost that,\u201d Mary said. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThen I’m leaving,\u201d Johnathan said standing up. He walked into the bedroom to pack his things. <\/span><\/p>\n Mary sat there in the empty kitchen and stared at shattered coffee cup watching the steam rise and disappear fade into the air.<\/span><\/p>\n The next week Johnathan called Mary on his Itact. His voice stayed static but there was light in his eyes when the image of her appeared in front of his eyes. She looked tired and sick but smiled anyway. \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Johnathan said. \u201cWe both said some things that shouldn\u2019t have\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhere did you go?\u201d Mary asked, \u201cI looked up on the account and it says you charged to a cheap motel in Slicervile. Are you alright? Sy\u2026 Transcendents like you get snatched down there all the time for parts and I have been worried\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry, it is temporary. I am getting an apartment in the Midtown tomorrow.\u201d Johnathan licked his lips and said, \u201cUnless you want me to come back\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI do,\u201d Mary began before having the smile on her face fade. \u201cBut you can\u2019t, not yet. I love you but I\u2019m not ready yet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen will you be ready?\u201d Johnathan asked in a whisper. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, but I will visit you, and try to ease into it. Okay?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n #####<\/span><\/p>\n In the interim months they saw each other on a biweekly basis. Johnathan\u2019s smile stretched all the way across his face but slowly faded every time she wouldn’t ask him to return to their home. <\/span><\/p>\n To Mary, the anxiety of seeing his youth again plagued her before every visit. Every time she saw him her disgust grew deeper, as he stood there, unchanged and unnatural.<\/span><\/p>\n One day, months later, while Johnathan was sitting in his small room watching something sent to him by a friend. The video was a show about a man trying to move past the weight of the war by falling in love with a younger woman. His Itact lens flashed with a call. The image flashed to life in front of his eyes as he saw a young woman. She had the face of youth but the expression that only comes with age. Most likely fellow Transcendent. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cExcuse me, sir, I have unfortunate news. Your wife had an accident.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d Johnathan sprung to his feet. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt seems she was trying to reach something high in the kitchen when she slipped and impaled herself on a knife she was carrying. She is far too fragile to operate on and has lost too much blood to save. If you-\u201d Johnathan had rushed out of the door and ignored everything else the woman said.<\/span><\/p>\n He barreled into his Transit and commanded it to speed to the hospital. It obeyed and within twenty heart pounding minutes he had arrived at the nearby hospital.<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan wandered the halls of the same place he had ascended several months earlier. As he made his way to the front counter the robotic receptionist looked up. It had a smiling face molded into it that seemed incapable of change. It looked at Johnathan and said, \u201cHow may I help?\u201d Its voice was electric yet warm. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI need to see Mary Wilkins. I am her husband Johnathan Wilkins.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOf course,\u201d it replied. There was a brief pause from the automaton. Once it had processed the request it snapped its head toward Johnathan. \u201cI am afraid I cannot let you do that, Mr. Wilkins. She is currently in critical condition. But according to the doctors notes she will most likely not survive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Johnathan slammed his fist down on the counter in front of the machine that thundered with a crack. The machine said something in return but Johnathan couldn\u2019t hear it. He was too focused on his fist and his strength. Something he couldn’t have done before his procedure. After a second of contemplation his head snapped up toward the robot. \u201cAs her next of kin I demand to see the doctor residing over her.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The machine nodded and summoned the doctor at once. After a few minutes an older Asian woman walked through the door. Johnathan felt a quick jolt of anxiety as his body simulated his skipping a heartbeat. <\/span><\/p>\n She smiled as she walked up to him, \u201cHow can I help you Mr. Wilkins?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow can you save my wife?\u201d Johnathan pleaded. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am very sorry, sir. We can\u2019t. \u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHer injuries are too severe for us to operate on her,\u201d the doctor continued. <\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n