Life on Mars

Chapter Sixteen

At first sight, the future looked very bright indeed. No work, no government and a standard of living beyond most 21st-century millionaires. War and conflict were inconceivable and an abundance of food and resources. Bring it on, he'd thought, but Vic's reality was proving different, no work didn't mean doing nothing, maybe sitting on that beach outside his window and enjoying the sea breeze strumming his guitar. Touring V-World and working with the doc were all part of his on-going education, and theirs. Then he was being paraded around reality like a freak show. He knew he always let them down, he was too normal and he could see the disappointment in their eyes. Had he attempted to pick fleas off them, they might have accepted him more. So, his quarantine was over, was it?

There were times over the last couple of days he'd have considered being in his cell a better option. To say the people of Heathen were enthusiastic was an understatement. What Bluu had said was true, he could use this fame to lever himself into anything.

Groups of people had started to physically turn up wherever he went. A few thousand wasn't many by his standards, but to Heathen, this was an incredible turnout. The last couple of days were spent being jostled and pushed around the city on a physical VIP tour. His appearances were beamed live to media in 3d wherever he went. A drone was always present above him wherever he went and he'd assumed it was security but not so. It was scanning the event for media clients meaning they could position themselves in prime position in the crowd, without leaving their homes simply by plugging into their VR machines.

First stop had been to meet the team of scientists who'd worked on thawing him out and nursing his new body back to health. They had designed a public exhibition that explained and documented the whole process. He was given the honour of officially opening the facility. It had working models of the equipment used to replicate the DNA and gestate the sparkly new Vic Jones.

Although it was slightly different in reality, the horror of what he had seen in V-world had softened the blow when he saw the real thing. At last, appreciating Bluu's unorthodox method of preparation, catching her eye for a moment when they revealed the tank full of luminescent green fluid. Casting his eye across his own dead body suspended in the gooey substance, still no sign of decomposition. A little unnerving but a far cry from the Frankenstein scenario his subconscious had included in Bluu's sim. Thankfully he was no longer as shocked at the concept and gave her a knowing grin. Bluu's smile broadened as she strained to contain herself from laughing out loud. Thanks to her preconditioning, he failed to collapse and start dry retching as he'd done last time. The white coats proudly demonstrated the technology that had kept him alive for 22 years until the project's conclusion. Vic's cheeks flushed at the display of naked pictures of himself lying on a slab before the brain transmission had taken place. The audience no doubt more intrigued by the very existence of genitalia as opposed to its actual size or lack of.

There was a 2D video presentation of his birth and a time-lapse of his growth into adult form. Various dignitaries made speeches and enjoyed private jokes on his behalf, relating some of his pre wake up ramblings. This was news to Vic; he could neither confirm nor deny any of it but nodded and smiled at the right moments. There were humble apologies from the team who had worked on the project for the slight damage to one eye. Vic had made light of it and they were grateful when he suggested it added to his mystique.

Some futures he'd never seen before became very emotional, one or two of the nurses bursting into tears when he greeted them. Whilst on the facility, he was asked to complete a few basic fitness tests, they connected him to various futuristic monitoring equipment this was more to benefit media than necessity. He was declared 100% fit by his chief surgeon, who ceremoniously gave Vic a certification. There were roars of laughter when he put his hand on his chest, faking a heart attack. Vic was winning the personality contest without breaking a sweat, he could do no wrong, gratefully greeting endless futures in white coats who had spent years monitoring and maintaining his new 'flesh.'