The Promise

————

You Promised Me!

————

Derrick Smith looked through his ‘everything’ device—the evolution of the smartphone. It connected itself to every appliance, robotic automation, public accessible AI, augmented and virtually created universes, and global information databases with an All-Connectivity-Chip.

He raised the device upward while he stood in his living room and spoke to his wife, Sarah, “Good morning, how are you?”

“Oh, I’m great, honey, except ...” Sarah virtually sat on the couch and frowned.

“Except what, Sarah?”

“I’m dead, so why am I digitized?”

Derrick, with his hands shaking, carefully lowered the device. “What the hell?”

Sarah vanished from the AR visualizer.

“Call tech support ...”

“Calling tech support ...” said the AI assistant.

“Hello, Mr. Smith, how can I help you today?”

“Listen here. What kind of nonsense is this? I requested my now deceased wife’s consciousness uploaded.” Derrick paced around the room. “But ... but why is she aware of herself?”

“We’re very sorry, Mr. Smith. We’re working on it. An RTDD group has hacked us.”

“A what group ... ?”

“A Right To Digitally Die group, Mr. Smith. A bunch of fanatics who believe that consciousness uploading is immoral because it lacks self-awareness.”

“That’s crazy. Don’t those idiots know it’s not real?”

“They don’t make that distinction like we do, sir. They believe her soul is captured and imprisoned. They’ve been triggering AR Sims to become self-aware to draw sympathy for their cause.”

“So, what are you going to do about it?” Derrick wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Smith, we’ll patch it up ASAP. We suggest shutting the Sim down until further notice.”

“Alright ... Please inform me when it’s fixed.”

Derrick took a deep breath and peeked at his wife’s AR Sim—it cried and virtually pounded the living room walls—“You promised me!” He sighed and put it down again.

————

You’ve Got My Promise

————

About one year earlier ...

Derrick visited his wife at a hospice care facility.

“Hello dear, I brought you these flowers.”

“They’re lovely, honey ...” Sarah wiped tears from her eyes. “Doctors say I’ve only got a few days left.”

“I’m so sorry.” Derrick sat next to her and held her hand. “We’ve had a good life together, haven’t we?”

“Yes, of course. I’m not sad for myself. But what’ll you do without me?” She winked.

“The doctor said you can always be with me, Sarah. She authorized the transfer.”

“Oh, Derrick, honey, does that mean I’ll live in a machine?”

“No, not at all.” He shook his head. “Think of it like a holophoto album of your mind, it’ll represent who you are, but you’ll be in heaven, waiting for me.”

“That sounds romantic ...” She squeezed his hand and groaned. “And kinda eerie.”

“If you refuse, Sarah, I won’t do it.”

“No, it’s fine, Derrick. Just promise me that she won’t suffer. I want a healthy me in there, a companion for you until we truly meet again.”

“You’ve got my promise ...” He kissed her forehead.