The Time Bubble Box Set 2
Theyare very generous with the garlic.”“That doesn’t bother me,” replied Josh. “I’m going to go forthe garlic butter with my steak, so you’ll be in good company.”
“Henry doesn’t like garlic but it’s not a problem in mycase,” said Vanessa. “We’ve had separate bedrooms for years, haven’t we, dear?”
“Indeed we have, oh light of my life,” said Henry,delivering his reply in the same tone, laced with undertones of contempt, ofher previous remark.
“Yes, I couldn’t stand his snoring,” replied Vanessa.“Amongst other things. He’s got sleep apnoea and sometimes stops breathing forup to a minute at a time. It used to freak me out when we were younger.”
“But not anymore?” asked Alice, thinking that Vanessaprobably wouldn’t be remotely upset if Henry popped his clogs in his sleep.
“I wouldn’t know. I’m forty yards away on the far side ofthe house now. It’s lovely and quiet over there. I actually enjoy a propernight’s sleep these days.”
“You’re not the only one,” replied Henry.
“I’m surprised you get any sleep at all these days since youstarted bringing Dani home with you,” said Vanessa. “Good, is she?”
Just like at the institute earlier, the atmosphere betweenHenry and Vanessa was making Alice distinctly uncomfortable and she decided tointervene.
“Look, you two, I don’t know what’s going on in yourmarriage, or what your problem is with each other, but we’ve accepted yourinvitation to dinner and I think you could at least show us the courtesy of notspending the whole evening taking pot-shots at each other.”
“Fair enough,” said Vanessa. “I think we can manage it forone evening, can’t we, Henry?”
“Yes, we really ought to,” replied Henry. “We don’t want toscare these two away before we get a chance to discuss what we invited themhere for in the first place, do we?”
The waiter returned to take their orders, after which Joshdecided it was time to move the conversation forward.
“Exactly what is it you have asked us here to talk about? You’vebeen hinting about it all day and I think it’s time we cut to the chase.”
“It certainly is,” said Henry. “I take it you were impressedby our little demonstration earlier?”
“Without a doubt,” replied Alice. “Though I’m still a littleuneasy about the way you shut the other Henry down.”
“It was merely an experiment, and one that, as you saw,still needs work,” said Henry. “What’s important is that you look at the biggerpicture.”
“Perhaps if you elaborated a little further?” asked Alice.
Henry took a large swig of his wine and began hisexplanation.
“Today we showed you how the process works, but we didn’texplain what we hope to achieve with it. Our intention isn’t just to createconscious android replicas of healthy living humans. There’s a lot more to itthan that.”
“We want to give people immortality,” added Vanessa, by wayof confirmation. “If we can perfect this, there’s no reason why anyone shouldever have to die again. If we have the ability to upload a copy of everyone’sbrain before death, then they can theoretically live indefinitely.”
“In an android body?” asked Alice. “We all saw the problemsthat caused this morning, just over the relatively trivial matter of theandroid not being able to enjoy a steak. What’s going to happen when we’ve gotmillions of dissatisfied robots running around who can’t eat, drink, have sexor all the other things that make living in a human body so pleasurable?”
“They can have sex,” said Henry, drawing a dirty look fromVanessa, who for once bit her tongue.
“But can they enjoy it?” asked Alice. “Can they actuallyfeel the sensations?”
“Well, not exactly, not at the moment,” conceded Henry.
“It doesn’t bode well, does it?” added Alice.
The conversation broke off temporarily as their waiterreturned with a mouth-watering selection of starters. After a few moments ofsmall talk where they commended the outstanding food, Alice steered theconversation back on track.
“An android wouldn’t be able to enjoy this, for a start,”she said, as she took a bite of an exquisite crab and avocado concoction.
“Not yet,” said Henry, “but there’s no reason why we can’tdevelop pleasure sensors within the android body to simulate all of life’spleasures.”
“And there are other possibilities where this wouldn’t be anissue,” said Vanessa.
“Such as?” asked Alice.
“Cloning for one,” said Henry. “I’m sure you’re aware of thelatest research on that front. It’s now possible to grow a complete adult humanbody from just a scrap of DNA in a matter of days.”
“It may be possible but it’s also extremely controversial,”replied Alice. “You must be aware that the international scientific communityis totally opposed to it.”
“Didn’t the King of England recently have a brand new heartput in, grown from his own DNA?” asked Vanessa.
“That’s completely different,” said Alice. “You’re talkingabout a medical procedure to extend someone’s life which is something doctorshave being doing with transplants for generations – not creating a completecopy.”
“There are other implications to making people immortal youmight need to think about, too,” said Josh.
“Such as?” asked Vanessa.
“Right, well, for a start we’ve got ten billion people onthis planet already. The Martian colonies have already spread out over halfthat planet in barely twenty years. If no one’s ever going to die, where are wegoing to put all the extra people? What happens when we’ve got twenty billion,or thirty billion? Where are we going to put them all? I really don’t thinkyou’ve thought about the implications of all this.”
“Believe me, we have thought about all of this,” saidVanessa. “That’s why you’re here. What we have in mind is quite different toall those other options, and it’s something we believe you can help with.”
“It’s as simple as this,” said Henry. “What’s the one thingmost people crave when they get older? Especially those near the end of theirlives? I’ll tell you – they want to be young again.”
“And he doesn’t just mean young as in a newly grownreplacement body,” added Vanessa. “What people really want is to be able to goback to the time when they really were young. How old are you now, Josh?”
“Fifty-five,” said Josh, which was technically true if youwent strictly according to the calendar. Due to all his messing about in time,though, his body was a year or two older.
“If you could be