Half-naked, we lay together on a mattress drying on the roof of the Citadel and looked at the clouds.
"And what was that?" I asked.
May-e-oka paused, and then replied, "I felt sorry for you."
"In what sense."
"The sense that my original felt something similar to the person she loved. It's sewn into my memory, falling in love with losers."
"Am I a loser?" because of these words I sat down and my gaze fell on the beautiful body of the girl. Embarrassed, I turned away to the sparkling horizon.
"Of course. And who else?"
"I..." I tried to find words, but couldn't. Now, after this waking dream that I experienced in the neurointerface, it was difficult for me to answer. But the mind grasped at the familiar image, "I am Bike. I am who I am, was, was born, even if there is still something in me from this person from a launcher. It's still me. I like to touch the spines of books, I like to look at the waves, although I hate swimming. I like to find out. This whole experience, it's me."
"I'm not talking about that, but what's the difference," May-e-oka shrugged and turned on her stomach, waving her legs.
"That's what I'm talking about. It doesn't matter if I'm lucky or not. And what to call luck. We're alive..."
"In my case, it's debatable," the girl giggled.
"In your case, it's the same. Your experience is you, not your original. You were right there in prison. We are really similar."
"Yes, two of the luckiest copies of this damned world."
"What is your point with luck..."
"Also an inheritance. I think I already told you that my original wanted to become famous. In a world where almost everyone is immortal, it's a little difficult. Who would be surprised that you gnawed a tunnel through the planet with your teeth if every schoolboy does it. In a world where everyone has already been surprised, it's hard to surprise anyone. But there were also those who succeeded..."
"How?"
"Mostly genetics. An unpredictable combination of genes, for those who still left a part of their dna chain for this. It was mostly in mixed marriages between immortals and sectarians like the Outs. A rare phenomenon, but with statistics in decillions inhabiting dense clusters of stars, it is quite an achievable result. The first full-fledged human-horse. That was the phenomenon. Then, of course, every furry fan changed. But the first one was always on the horse," she laughed.
YOU ARE READING
Immortals
Science FictionIn a distant future humanity achieved such a level of technological advancement it was able to breach the borders of three-dimensional reality and move to the multiverses of multidimensions. But some of us were too afraid to move on. So, they stayed...