Utopia War

Chapter 6 - Dying (i)

Min-ji was packed in foam to the point of immobility and she was dying. The foam was meant to insulate her against the shock of any further attacks, it was oxygenating her blood directly through plugs in her nose. It was all too late. She could feel her life draining away.

Slowly, the sensation of being in two places at once crept over her. One part of her was still immobilized in darkness, the other was bathed in painfully bright light that she couldn't shut her eyes against. It filled her with an existential dread, like having her spirit torn to pieces.

The dark reality was becoming more and more indistinct and distant, and the white light more and more real.

I'm dying, Min-ji remembered thinking.

With a sudden shock, the dark reality was gone and Min-ji was fully within the white light. It wasn't so painfully bright anymore, just an endless plain of whiteness. The whiteness slowly dissolved into a beautiful lake, purple and orange in the sunset. Min-ji stood atop the lake as though it was solid, leaving ripples where ever she stood.

Proxima's avatar was there. Not the usual hologram though, she was as physical and real as Min-ji was.

"I'm dead aren't I?" asked Min-ji immediately.

"You don't look dead to me," Proxima replied.

"Am I a clone? Did you just make me from a back-up or..." asked Min-ji.

"No," said Proxima "I was able to copy your mind-state in time to maintain total continuity of consciousness. It can't have been a pleasant experience but you're still you. All your memories are real. You're the same you that died on the Imminent Eschaton."

"What about Sparkle and HandsomeNose?"

"Sparkle Amaryllis is fine. I was able to save her as well," said Proxima.

"That means..." Min-ji began.

Proxima looked down.

"HandsomeNose had a mind-state several orders of magnitude more complex than your own," said Proxima "You were at the upper limits of my range and I had very little warning. I wasn't able to copy him all in time. I've revived him from his last back-up but the HandsomeNose you're referring to is dead."

Proxima could tell from her constant, low-level scanning of Min-ji's sub-conscious mind that she needed a hug. She took a step closer, her perfectly-dry dress dragging along the water, and gave her one.

"Would you like to speak to Sparkle yet?" asked Proxima, after a moment had passed at they had separated "She's been asking about you non-stop since I transferred her. I thought I'd give you a moment to collect yourself."

"Yes," said Min-ji "Let me see her."

"I'll just merge our conversations," said Proxima, and suddenly Sparkle appeared standing on the lake. Proxima was split in two, one version of herself facing Sparkle and the other facing Min-ji.

"See?" said the Proxima facing Sparkle "There she is alive and well."

She walked into the other Proxima and they merged into one.

Sparkle ran over and hugged Min-ji uncomfortably tight. The simulation was quite vivid.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you I'll do better next time!" she yelled, her words running together.

"None of this was your fault," said Min-ji, hugging her back.

"I've learned my lesson this time! Strangers are dangerous. I need to be more distrustful of them."

Min-ji didn't think that was the lesson Sparkle should be taking away from this, but she knew from experience that arguing about it would be pointless.

"How long until our new bodies will be ready?" asked Sparkle "Mine is going to need defensive upgrades."

"I've already started on them," said Proxima "I should be finished fast-growing them in three days. In the mean time there are all kinds of activities you can get involved in in all the various virtual realities. Or if you prefer I could put you in machine bodies."

"We'll wait here," said Min-ji. She wasn't turned on by the idea of being a floating ball.

"I'll send you two to the central hub," said Proxima "I can't talk much longer. I need to dedicate as many memory cycles as I can to the Human Consensus. I'll get back to you once we've decided how to respond to this attack."

"We're treating this as a deliberate attack?" Min-ji asked.

"The data is persuasive," said Proxima.

In a blink Proxima was gone, and Min-ji and Sparkle were in a bright, busy, colorful marketplace of pure chaos. There were lines of "stalls" that stretched on into an infinite horizon, some booths, some geometric shapes, some shimmering holograms, some living things. Each stall advertised a different virtual reality, and offered a gateway to it. There were wilderness paradise realms, sports leagues, intellectual salons, simulated wars, highly specific orgies, schools, historical recreations, endless playgrounds where you regress into childhood, living novels where you can become a character in a book, countless different imaginary worlds brought to life and places stranger still.

Sparkle ran off to look at some of the stalls. Min-ji strolled slowly after her. Minutes later, Sparkle can scrambling back.

"There's a park," she exclaimed, excitedly pointing at the corresponding stall "Where you can play ball!"