The wheelchair he was sitting in was uncomfortable. Each day the aches in his legs and lower back became slightly more painful than the day before, but he gritted his teeth and put up with them, just like he had done since the day he had started using the chair. This morning’s pains just confirmed the decision he had made a week before.

A hand was placed gently down on his shoulder. “We are nearly there, Dad. Everyone is looking forward to seeing you.”

The voice brought him back from his musings and he looked up at the speaker. It was David, his eldest son. He put a smile on his lips, one he didn’t really feel, and replied. “Thank you, son, I’m looking forward to seeing all of them as well.” The smile slipped from his face as he turned his view back to the front. He knew that his decision may cause problems with the rest of his family. Up ahead of him he could see the doors that would open on the room where they waited for him.

As they approached the doors the old man in the chair made another decision and held up one liver spotted hand. “Hold on a minute, Danny, there is something I want to tell you before we go in.”

His son stopped pushing and looked at him for a moment before carefully kneeling don beside him. He lay one hand on his father’s arm. “Dad, what’s up ? Is something wrong ?” He looked into his father’s eyes as he spoke.

Smiling back reassuringly, the old man shook his head. “No, there’s nothing wrong, I just think you should know something before we see the others, the reason why I have called all of you here together today.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “I have decided it’s time for me to emigrate.”

His son laughed at this. “This again, dad. Every year you say the same thing and every year you do nothing. You know you don’t have the money for it, its too expensive for you. You’re a hundred today and I can’t see you being accepted at all.”

Darian just smiled sadly at his son. “I already have. That is the reason you’re all here today, for me to say my goodbyes to. ”

Daniel Brown rocked back on his heels at this pronouncement. “When, dad, when are you leaving ? How long have we got left before you leave ?”

“Today, I’m leaving straight after this party. They have the portal set up in another room. Once I have said my goodbyes to everyone they will take me away and digitize me, then send me on my way.” He looked at his son once more. “Don’t feel sad for me, I may be going, but I will keep in contact with the family, and hopefully will see some of you in New Eden in the years to come.”

David moved his hand up onto one of his fathers withered shoulders gently. “No, dad, no-one will feel sorry to see you leave at all, everybody will be happy for you, for it means we will have you around a lot longer.” He smiled, then stood up. “Come on Dad, let’s get in there and let everybody know the good news.” He grasped the wheelchairs handles and started to push it forward again. “I’m just sorry mom isn’t around to go with you.”

****

The pain he felt as he passed through the portal was unbearable and his mouth opened in a silent scream. His whole body felt like it was being crushed inwards from all directions. The pressure on him forced the air from his lungs, leaving him gasping for breath, just like a fish out of water and he was sure he could hear his bones start to crack. This torture seemed to go on forever, but at the same time it could only have been for seconds, he didn’t know. It wasn’t what he was told it would be like.

Just as he thought he would die from this pressure, there was a sudden explosion of coruscant light, silent, but blinding him. His body was expelled from the portal, thrown violently through the air, arms and legs flailing about helplessly like a rag doll being shook. His flight didn’t last long, and ended as his back smashed down onto an unyielding surface, more pain arcing through him, only to find himself bouncing into a backwards somersault, landing this time face down. Red flashed across his vision as he lost consciousness.

When he came to, he had no way of working how long he had been out, but the pain that affected every part of his body, while still there, didn’t seem so bad. It was almost like he remembered how his old body, back on earth, used to feel. If this is how it felt to transfer across then someone had lied to him, he had been told that all his pains would be left behind, he would start his new life with a new body.

As he lay there, face down and gasping, he noticed that he was lying on a rough, dirty surface littered with small stones. With an effort, he rolled over onto his back, to look upwards at a brilliant clear blue sky. Dust, disturbed by his movements puffed up into a large cloud around him, getting sucked into his mouth and throat as he breathed.

Coughing violently, he sat up and spat to remove the dust that had filled his mouth, then took a look around himself. What he saw shocked him, this is not what he was told would be on the other side of the portal. He found himself sitting on a dry and dusty road, the hot sun shining down on him. All around him were the remains of buildings, most of them collapsed into piles of rubble. Turning his head, he couldn’t see one single intact building, nor, he realized, could he see any living soul. Where the hell am I ? he wondered to himself, I was told I would arrive in New Eden, and this definitely isn’t it . He listened carefully, but the only sound that came to his ears was the sound of the wind blowing through this ruined place. He cupped his hands in front of his face and yelled out. “Hello, can anyone hear me ?” but there was no reply to his call, only the echoes of his own words bouncing back at him.

Slowly, and with an effort, he pushed himself up to his feet, carefully keeping an eye on his surroundings as he did so, then froze as realization struck him. Slowly he looked down at himself. I can stand, he thought in amazement, I CAN stand, he again thought, but this time in great excitement. At least this part of what they had told him was true, he was no longer dependent upon that damn wheelchair. Shuffling his feet in long forgotten dance steps, he watched them move in glee and thrust his arms into the air with a shout of pleasure. “YES.” he screamed. “I can walk again.”

Feeling a wave of unexpected exhaustion sweep across him, he moved to the nearest piece of rubble and sat down. Wearily, he gave another examination of his surroundings, finding nothing different from his first inspection. Where am I, he repeated to himself, this place looks like a bomb site, and not the new life I was promised. The company had told him that he wouldn’t notice the difference between his real life and his new digital life, that he would arrive in a town just like the one he had grown up in. he looked about himself absently, he hadn’t lived in any place like this at all.

DING

“What ?” he said aloud as his head spun about trying to locate where the noise had come from. He couldn’t see anything that could have made the noise, and reached up to scratch at his chin. Pulling his hand away, he looked at it in interest. The fact that he could feel his own skin, bristles and all with his fingertips, didn’t surprise him, but the fact that his wrinkled, liver spotted hand now looked young and unmarked, did. Opening his hand, he turned it around, looking at the palm and back, pleased that his formerly aged and crippled body, not only could walk again, but had also been returned to a more youthful appearance. With hands that trembled, not with age but with hope, he reached up and ran his fingers through the hair that he found on his head, hair that he had lost many years ago, tugging it to reassure himself it was his, and not a wig of some type.

He sat back and considered the predicament he seemed to be in, thinking about how he had arrived here.

He had applied to emigrate to the new world, a digital place created to simulate a real world, where all ailments and age would disappear, a world of pleasure and luxury without pain or death, and had been accepted. Many people had ‘emigrated’ over the last couple of hundred years, releasing the world of the financial burden of supplying them with a barely tolerable quality of life, as well as helping to decrease overpopulation problems. It was advertised as a utopia, a claim upheld by the citizens of this new world. He had gone through the process of moving across, his family there to see him cross. They had all waved as his body had entered the portal, and he had gone happily….. only to end up here, alone and in a place which seemed to be bereft of life.

He looked about again. Something had definitely gone wrong. Remembering a phrase from a long forgotten book from his past, he laughed cynically to himself and said “Darian, I’ve a feeling I’m not in New Eden anymore.”

The elation he had felt at finding himself able to walk again had dissipated and now all he felt was depression. He had given up a life of pain and suffering, only to find himself now in a world where he seemed to be alone, healthy, but still alone. He couldn’t see any of the beauty that was promised in this desolate, blasted wasteland he now found himself occupying.

Then he heard it again… DING… and this time it seemed to be within his head, and not from somewhere among the ruins around him. Frowning, Darian shook his head. Not only had he been sent to this dismal place, he was now hearing noises in his head. Had they done something wrong when digitizing him ?

He let his mind pass by the noises it was hearing and concentrated on other things. He decided to take stock of his current situation. Looking down at himself, he saw he was wearing a thin, white tunic and shorts, both miraculously clean after his tumble through the dirt and dust. His legs, while not muscular in any way, were not the emaciated sticks he remembered he used to have before. His arms, also, could not be described other than being normal, neither fat or thin, but both legs and arms were pale, almost white in appearance and speckled with a fine coat of light colored hair, a sign that they had not seen any sunlight for quite awhile. He could feel the features of his face, but until he found a mirror, he had no way of seeing how he looked at this time, but his fingertips informed him the skin beneath them was unlined and smooth.

Then it came to him. That noise he had heard, the ding sound, he remembered something about it in one of the pamphlets he had been given. Now what was it, he mused while absently rubbing his chin. He sat there, sitting on the rock oblivious to his surroundings while he carefully went over those memories he could remember of the moments before they pushed his body into the portal, trying to dredge up the information he wanted. He knew that he should have concentrated more on the information he was given, but like everything, he didn’t consider it important at that time. Finally the hazy memory he had sharpened into understanding. It was a messaging system alert, informing him he had received a message from someone.

Darian frowned at this remembrance. He had only gone through the portal about an hour ago, so who would be sending him a message this quickly ? Now all need to do is remember how to access this message, he thought.

“Message.” He spoke into the air hopefully, but nothing happened and he sank down again into thought. He followed up and tried saying ‘mail’ and ‘read message’ aloud, but again nothing happened. His poor knowledge about current technology frustrated him, he knew he should have been more interested when his children and grandchildren talked to him about these things, but he never thought he would need to know about those things, especially at his age.

Darian laughed. At my age. Still chuckling at the thought, he shook his head. I have to stop thinking like that, age is a thing of the past for me now. I have a fine new body, and an eternity in front of me to enjoy it. Now how do I open those damn messages.

It took him ten minutes, gesticulating madly in the air and uttering any words he could think of before he finally managed to hit on the right statement. With his utterance of the word “Inbox.” his vision was suddenly obscured by a transparent screen, similar to those he saw on his computer monitor when he opened his mail system. Turning his head he saw that the screen did not change its position from being directly in the center of his sight. Concentrating on it seemed to make it become more solid to the view, but not solid enough to block his vision from seeing what lay beyond it. On the screen he could see two letter icons flashing, informing him that there were unread messages waiting for him.

Now comes the interesting part, working out how to open the messages. He was just about to start the experimentation process again when he saw a little bold text line at the top.

** Tip – You can access your messages using virtual touch screen technology. Just point at the message you wish to open and press it. To set voice control over your messaging system, please visit your Settings page. **

He raised his eyebrows at this and muttered “Now, that’s useful.”, then raised his hand index finger extended. As he did this he saw that his hand moved in front of the screen, then as it passed over the unread messages highlighted them. Leaving his finger over the first unopened message, he tapped it with his finger. “It’s just like a touchscreen.” He remarked.

The screen before him changed as the selected message blossomed outwards, expanding to fill his vision. Instinctively he pulled his head back, but this had no effect on the message, which remained the same size in front of him. It did have one effect though, causing him to lose concentration, and the message faded away. Quickly, he returned his full attention to the message and it solidified again. He quickly scanned the information displayed.

The message was a greeting message from the administration of New Eden, welcoming him as a new citizen and informing him of all of the wonderful things he can expect to do and find, as well as some helpful links to information about the new world he had joined. It was illustrated as well, showing many beautiful locations, with people enjoying numerous activities. It looked to be a wonderful place to be.

Closing the message, he looked about himself, seeing the sand and dust blow through and across derelict buildings, feeling the heat bring sweat to his brow. He licked his dry lips, wetting them against drying out, and laughed hysterically. Yes, he thought, it would be a wonderful place to be, but wherever he was, it was definitely not part of New Eden.