Copy & Waste
A Short Story
By Stephen O'Neil
Part 8 of 9 - First Page - Previous Page - Next Page
“Sure.” Elly stepped over and kissed her father lightly on the cheek before waving over her shoulder and leaving the room, followed by Brett.
“You can stay Vermisa. It will probably help Greg if you know all the details also.”
“Very well.”
“Now Greg. There will be a specialist in to see you at four o’clock to set up a schedule for your muscle therapy and a few other important things. No big deal but important. All stuff I’ve been doing. You’ll have a few sessions each day to help you adjust to the changes. It should be even easier for you, since they know what to expect after doing it all with me.”
“Sounds good.”
“It’s pretty…”
“Arty!”
“What is it Greg?”
“My old body. Is it…”
“I don’t think they’ve done anything with it yet. That was the other thing I was going to speak to you about. I must admit I was a little curious about my old body, but not as much as you seem to be. Our chief psychologist advised me not to pursue it. She felt that seeing my old body, without me being inside it I mean, could be… traumatic. She advised against it and I believe that’s good advice. I trust her judgement. I pay her to know what she’s doing after all. We’re going to make it standard policy for anyone undergoing this procedure and that includes you. Let it go Greg. Be happy with what you’ve got.”
“I am Arty. I don’t mean to seem ungrateful.” He shook his head slowly, “I guess this has all been so quick.”
“I know. And in future, anyone else will have a much longer time to prepare themselves emotionally for the change. In your case we simply didn’t have the time. I think you may have had less time left than you realised. Plus, it needed to be tested before we announce this. We have to be certain it works. You and I have taken that step. You will long be remembered, not just for being one of the first to do this, but also because so much of this is only possible because of your work. Now if it still bothers you, I suggest you have a chat with Doctor Nguyen when he comes in later on. You can always chat to me about it too. I know exactly what you’re going through.”
“Thanks Arty.”
“No problem. I really am happy for you. You deserve this.”
Arty patted him on the shoulder and walked to the door, leaving him alone with Vermisa. He noticed her staring at him. He recognised that look. “What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“You’re still not convinced.”
“What do you mean?”
“You still want to see your old body.” Sometimes her insight and apparent empathy astonished him. Enough that she often seemed to him more human than those who were born naturally.
“Yes. I do.” He knew he couldn’t hide his feelings from her.
“Perhaps you should.”
“I can’t ask Arty. You know he wouldn’t agree. And I don’t know where it is.”
“You worked here long enough to know a thing or two about this place.”
He considered that for a moment. “Can you detect the network in here?”
She cocked her head for a moment in a mannerism he was all too familiar with. He had purposely programmed her to do that whenever she was receiving data, a gesture that mimicked the common human action of listening carefully to a distant sound.
“I have a connection. Receiving…”
“Can you find it?”
It’s not recorded in the main registry.”