A Lovely Thought

First of a newly grown Sally series, subject Sally One woke up in a dimly lit and sterile underground laboratory room. She reclined in a chair and wore a neural stimulator while being monitored by two scientists in white lab coats.

"How do you feel?" Director Francis 56 checked the subject's eyes with a light.

"Sad. Joyful. Empty. Sorrowful." Sally One stared straight up at the ceiling. "I was an old woman, but it's all so vague ..."

"Aha. Very good. You must jot down your experience before your memory fades." Francis turned to his lab assistant Janet 34. "Janet, the tablet ..."

"Oh, yes." Janet nodded. "Please write down all that you can recall." She grabbed the tablet from a nearby table.

Sally One continued speaking, "It's getting much clearer now. A young lady held my hand. I felt an injection and warmth all over me. That's right, now I remember, she was my daughter ..."

"Oh? Go on …" Janet turned on the tablet and handed it to the subject.

"Yes, I remember vividly now. My daughter. My illness. We both agreed to let me die."

"Indeed, this is very good." Francis pulled a stylus out of his chest pocket. "Please write in the biography." He wrote in the air as he handed it to Sally One. "Try to enter all that you can recall, before the memory fade begins."

"Yes, please. You must share such a wonderful world." Janet enthusiastically pointed to the tablet.

Francis gestured for Janet to follow him. They walked into an observation room, and then he closed the door.

"Looks like a success, Janet." He switched on the room lights. "With the neural stimulator, it's much more vivid than the other methods we've tried—triggering residual memories somehow transferred through our awakening."

"Like a past life?"

"No." Francis shook his head. "Nothing quite so fantastic as that. Something embedded in our DNA, triggered by invoking a transcendent dream state with the neural stimulator. A collective unconsciousness carried through our genetic memories. The subject's imagination takes over the rest. And yet the conjured dream-simulation is based on our human evolution. Inspired by the experiences of our ancient ancestors."

"That's incredible, Director. What can we learn from these simulations?" Janet powered on the room monitors.

"As abstract as this may sound …" Francis's hands gestured with excitement. "Our purpose in life. Who we are, how we got here, and where we are going."

"But... She seemed to feel it was so real." Janet sighed.

"Indeed, in a sense, she lived another life in the blink of an eye." Francis watched the subject's biographical entry in real-time. "An entire lifespan of a simulated existence."

Janet, too, read the biographical entry in a monitor. "This is so sad." She wiped her eyes.

"Why should it be sad?" Francis patted Janet on her shoulder. "It's a remarkable discovery ... After the Great Ruin, we've had nothing else to go by. If it weren't for the robots recombining and growing us, we'd never exist. We should be grateful to our human ancestors for their brilliant foresight. Not sad ... Don't you agree?"

"Yes, I'm grateful." Janet frowned. "But I'm sad as well, for in every dream, every simulation, for them, it'll end in oblivion, never to truly know life."

"Ah, I think I understand you …" Francis thoughtfully paced the room with his hands in his coat pockets. He then turned around and raised his right index finger. "Janet, think of it this way—at least in those simulated dreams, they'll experience the gift of life, and their souls will reawaken in us." He smiled.

"Yes." Janet smiled back. "A lovely thought."