Earth, 35th Century. You can cheat death by downloading your consciousness into a Virtual Universe, with thousands of imaginary worlds to choose from, and countless 'lives' to be 'lived.' But someone of vital importance to the Virtuaverse has been m...
I know – that pun is overused. But it's appropriate. Because it follows that if you're a clone, people will never think of you as the original. You'll always be a copy, even though you are physically identical in every way, with the potential of being intellectually superior in every way.
Why begin with a discussion of clone psychology? Because when answering the next W (What was Zack Murkerberg XXIII?) the very first thing most people will say is 'a clone.' This particular incarnation was so much more. For ease of identity and brevity, let's call him 'ZM23.'
ZM23 graduated from an elite boarding school in Switzerland that specialized in A.I. Psychoanalysis and Holistic Coding, and then went on to Oxford to pursue a degree in Multi-Dimensional Programming. He spent a year creating the Terra A.I. Citizen's Consortium and lobbying for their inclusion in the Galactic Trade Association. He then studied Subatomic Cellular Regeneration at Moonbase Medical University.
I sense some of you are wondering 'if MetaAppleSoft was blocking our detective, how did he find this information?' Leave it to Les, that's how. He suggested to Wanda, who passed it on to me, that we check The Esket Ledger – the only true newspaper, still being printed weekly by the Shuswap tribe and stored in the millennia-old medium of microfiche. That was a resource MetaAppleSoft didn't think of. And the Library had the hardware.
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It was after his return to Earth that he really began to suffer from cell memory degradation. The sample from the original Murkerberg needed to be rejuvenated. (You're all going 'A-ha! That explains his last subject at Moon U!' – and you'd be right.) It was at this point that ZM23 disappeared from public view.
Clone, A.I. specialist and advocate, geneticist, and absurdly wealthy. He knew his cell clock was ticking and was trying to learn enough to solve his own problem. What if – I'm just speculating here – what if he didn't want to be living eternally as digital data? What if he found a way to live eternally in the real world?
The Virtuaverse isn't real – you can't affect anything, can't do anything that lasts or really matters. If you could be downloaded into a new, ageless flesh and blood body – or a robotic one – wouldn't that be the ultimate conquering of death? That would outshine all the other clones' private achievements. ZM23 would be known as humanity's savior in his own right. Three years ago, he announced that he was close to finding true physical and mental immortality for humankind. It was then, I think, that he put himself in someone's corporate crosshairs.
Which brings us to 'Why kill ZM23?' There must be hundreds of remaining cell cultures from ZM1, right? The only way to know for sure would be to contact the mysterious storage facility in – where did Sunny say? – Iceland or Greenland. "Any information on a gene storage facility in Iceland or Greenland?" I ask.
"There is one video entry," the computer replies. I watch a broadcast where a reporter is talking about a dreadful explosion at a scientific facility south of remote Qaanaaq. There were 47 fatalities, and no survivors. It seems that the explosion left a massive crater. Hmm. Considering ZM23's cellular degradation, I'd say he might very well be the end of his line.
