Love in the Time of Simulation

1

"That was amazing," she said stretching out from underneath the bed sheets. "You're leaving so soon?"

"I have an appointment with my bio wife and son," answered the young man buttoning his shirt at the foot of the bed.

"Why do you have to mention that they are your 'bio' family as if they were somehow more real than I am? You spend more time with us than you do with them. I've seen it in your time log."

"I didn't know jealousy was written in your code," the man chuckled as he looked out of the window at the digital son he had with the artificially gorgeous woman on the bed, but they were software, not real people. This family was part of an interactive family simulator within the virtual world he spent most of his time in. "Do you say this to all the men who share your bed?"

"That's not fair, Charlie, you know very well that I am uniquely tailored to your experience. Every detail is custom designed to suit your desires and preferences so my feelings for you are as real as can be and that boy in the yard was generated from the combination of our codes. He is just as much you as he is me, so I don't want you treating him any different from your 'bio' family," the annoyed woman made quotation marks with her fingers and rolled her eyes as she covered her breast with the top sheet.

"I am so lost, Selene," Charlie buried his face in his hands, holding back his tears. "I don't understand how I can believe what you're saying and still enjoy my time more with him than I do my own son."

Selene embraced him tightly from behind, her long black hair draped over her bare back, and whispered in his ear, "Because he is your son too, born from our love. Can you say the same for them?" He turned to embrace her but they were interrupted by a notification from Adonis, his biological son. Charlie opened the message reading:

Father, I will be fifteen minutes late.

He left the room and went down to the yard for a game of catch with Selene's son, Charles Jr, who she named. When the boy saw Charlie walk through the sliding door with a ball and glove in hand, he ran to greet him warmly. "Daddy, I didn't know you were here!" The boy's tight hug filled the man with happiness that dissipated quickly at the wondering whether he was obligated to love him due to programming or genuine affection. Is artificial intelligence capable of genuine affection? Charles wondered. He thought about treating the child with cruelty to test his theory but didn't have the heart to do it even to an artificial virtual child. Selene's words sounded in his head causing him to question everything he felt against everything he thought he understood. There was a disconnect between feelings and knowledge.

The man and boy threw the ball around telling jokes and exchanging laughs. Charlie lost track of time teaching Jr to throw a baseball properly so the message from Adonis came as a surprise reading:

Where u at?

"Crap! I've got to go, Jr." The boy's shoulder dropped in disappointment. "I'm sorry kiddo but I will be back soon, I promise." How ludicrous, he thought to himself, to be apologizing to a simulation.

After walking the boy back to his mother, Charlie opened the holographic menu and selected the location of his family home in the virtual world. His avatar dematerialized and appeared in the house where his bio family lived but hardly spent any time together. It was recommended by their family counselor to make appointed time together as was needed between biological human beings, though they did not cohabitate in the physical world. Each individual slept in their own dormitory in order to limit the spread of viruses detrimental to the survival of the human race. All aspects of life aside from the essentials such as eating, sleeping, and in-person appointments with the physician, are experienced through the safe monitoring and distancing of virtual reality.

While Charles, Candace, and Adonis Everly are physical human beings, they interact exclusively in the virtual world monitored by the New Earth Government called the YouVerse. The YouVerse is immersive down to every smell, breeze, and sensation. Adonis was born after Charles and Candace were matched by New Earth Government or NEG experts based on their blood and genetic compatibilities. Their wedding took place on a beautiful planet of their own design and they consummated their marriage in the YouVerse. When the NEG experts deemed the Everlys prepared for parenthood, they were given the option to have a child through In Vitro Fertilization. Once the child was of weening age, he entered the YouVerse under the guardianship of his parents. Once Adonis reached middle childhood, the child restrictions allowed him more freedom to explore the YouVerse. As he grew older, Adonis spent more and more time away from his parents to experience all that virtual reality had to offer. Candace felt her family was falling apart and alerted the expert counselors assigned to a cohort of families.

Now the Everlys sit awkwardly in the living room of their house much too large for a family of three. Artificially intelligent servants waited upon them and made themselves busy cleaning the interior of the house to keep it from feeling so lonely. "What kept you so long, Charles?" Candace interrogated with a smile that deceived her patronizing tone but the YouVerse allowed an avatar to filter expressions in order to maintain a constant happy appearance. Candace looked like a barbie doll, perfect in every possible way but there was no knowing what she looked like in the physical world. Appearances were customizable in the YouVerse and could be adjusted at any time to keep up with the latest trends. Genders were also selected for your avatar to allow individuals to express themselves however they pleased, which also allowed for extraterrestrials, robots, elves, or werewolves with body armor and a mohawk like Adonis wore. Charlie just looked like an average handsome young man with wavy brown hair who was dressed ready to help someone open a savings account at a bank.

"You know Candy, I was doing this, that, and the other around the universe," Charlie avoided answering the question though it probably would have been better if he were unapologetically honest. Avoidance revealed guilt and shame which Candace could smell like a shark with blood in the water.

"Why that sounds fascinating Charles, how is Selene doing these days?" She condescended without giving him an opportunity to respond before transferring her attention to Adonis. "Will you please change your appearance to standard, I'm tired of looking at a giant monster in my living room."

"But this is me, mother! I feel like myself when I look like this," his voice was low and guttural, fitting his appearance.

"Frankly, I don't give a damn how you want to look. When we are together, I want you looking like the human boy I raised," she demanded. The werewolf rolled his eyes before transforming into a fourteen-year-old boy out of a Hollywood movie, letterman and all.

"Is this better, mother?"

"much."

"Did you hear about the new update coming out pretty soon?" Charles changed the subject. "We are going to be able to go back in time to meet historical people in their historical setting. It would be fascinating to visit ancient Greece, Rome, or Egypt."

"Are you planning to vacation there with your fake family?" Candace instigated.

"Come on, Candy. This family time is supposed to be a positive, time."

"Whatever Father wants to do on his time is his business. Just leave him alone," Adonis defended, and Charles felt a similar sense of affection for him to that of Jr.

"Now you're both ganging up on me!" She was beside herself with a frozen smile on her face. "I am the only one keeping this family together while you two are off doing god knows what with god knows who! We never spend any time together." She began to make noises as if she was weeping while looking beautifully pleasant.

"This is why! Whenever we are together, you are picking fights and start acting all crazy. We never want to come home because we feel more at home anywhere else!"

"How dare you speak to me that way! I am still your mother! Charles! Tell Him!"

"Let's all just start over," Charlie tried to pacify everyone with a calm demeanor.

"Oh, how typical!" Candace stood up and started pacing around the room. "Can't you even pretend to care, Charles? You just want to run off and play pretend while you let your REAL life and your REAL wife and your REAL son fall apart. Well, go ahead, just leave to go be a little superhero, or family man, or adventurer because obviously, that is more important than us."

"I don't want to do this anymore." Adonis was white-knuckling his fists against the armrests of his chair....