The Transcension of the Naturals — Chapter 2: Blue Dream
A science fiction novel set in Berkeley 100 years in the future
Chapter 2
Clark took a long, slow drag on the fat joint as he stared into the bonfire, then exhaled and watched the embers float up above Adeline Beach, quickly merging with the thick fog of a typical Berkeley summer night. The sound of the crashing waves combined with the crackling bonfire to send Clark into a meditative trance. This was his last night as a Natural, a human being in the flesh, and he felt compelled to soak in every last moment of it before his transcension appointment on Monday.
“Hey Humphrey Bogart, you going to smoke that thing or just stare at the fire?” Clark took one more hit and passed the joint to Julia. “I’ll tell you one thing you won’t find in ScenCity” she continued, “is this kick-ass blue dream weed! Sure you don’t want to take an ounce or two with you when you go?” Julia teased, knowing full well that nothing physical survived the transcension. She took a hit and passed the joint on to Tynee, Clark’s oldest and best friend.
“Where I’m going is the blue dream…” said Clark, staring at the fire. “In The ScenCity Orientation Guide, it says I can visit The Trip Lounge and program my own drug trips with whatever psychedelic effects I want, and stop the trip whenever I want. Or I can read the reviews of other people’s trips and take someone else’s trip. But I think I’m going to start by creating my own custom blue dream trip for myself. Maybe I’ll call it Julia’s Dream in honor of you, Jules.” Julia smiled as she tried to imagine some disembodied version of Clark on an electronic drug trip named after her.
Tynee laughed and passed the joint back to Julia. “Do robots dream of electric Julias?” he asked. That reference to Philip K. Dick’s masterpiece made Clark laugh. Then Tynee got a really serious look on his face and continued. “I know you’re convinced Transcendence Labs has it all figured out and you’ll be in some kind of electronic heaven, but I just want you to know I’m really going to miss my best friend in real life.” With his massive 320-pound, seven-foot-tall body he had no problem picking Clark up off the ground and giving him his trademark big bear hug. “I’m going to miss you, buddy.”
Clark squeaked out, “A little too tight Tynee!” Tynee laughed and let Clark go and then Clark continued. “You know you can always reconsider, my friend. Any time you want to transcend, all you have to do is make an appointment at the Eternity Center, and I’ll be there waiting for you on the other side. I’ll save a spot for you by the electric bonfire, okay?”
“Yeah I know you want me to transcend too, Clark, but like I said before, that’s not for me. This one life is enough for me. However many days I have are enough for me. Whether it’s 30,000 days or 30 gazillion days, I need no more. I’m a Natural, through and through, Clark. Born one and will die one.”
“I gotta tell you” added Julia, “what freaks me out the most is that you have no idea what it’s going to be like once you transcend. You have to take Eternity Lab’s word for it. You’re not going to find me transcending my soul into that machine any time soon.”
“It’s not Eternity Labs that I trust,” answered Clark “It’s Dr. O’Brien’s research into transcension. It’s been peer-reviewed and taken as fact by science today. I’ll tell you one thing: There’s a hell of a lot more proof for transcension than there is for any religion’s version of an afterlife. I’m going with the odds.”
I’ll tell you what freaks me out, Clark” said Tynee. “This madman O’Brien did these experiments where he supposedly transferred the memories, consciousness, and personalities of his subjects into quantum computers. Right?”
“They were volunteers,” said Clark.
Tynee replied. “Sure, sure, but the point is that all he could do was examine these poor, allegedly transcended souls from the outside of the quantum computer after they allegedly transcended into it, and observe that they appeared to exhibit the same behavior as before the transfer. They seemed to survive the transcension, according to their own words from inside the quantum computer.”
“But what if this machine was just exquisitely well designed to mimic every single aspect of their behavior to the point where no one from the outside could tell that there was no soul in that machine? Clark, what if you’re one of those souls and you’re just about to commit suicide tomorrow — just a modern version of that Heaven’s Gate cult from the 19th century, where everyone committed suicide thinking they would be transported to a UFO hiding behind a comet?”
“You know, Tynee,” answered Clark, “every single one of those volunteers in Dr. O’Brien’s experiments reported that they felt even better running on quantum computing hardware than they ever felt running on the wetware in their brains.”
“Yeah, they did until Charrington pulled the plug on their quantum computer,” said Tynee, “and then they were gone — even if transcendence did work, they were no more, forever gone. Dead. Those poor souls.”
Clark replied, “Well, that wasn’t Dr. O’Brien’s fault. They were shut down by Charrington and the government until they could develop better ethical standards, which eventually turned into the Federal Bureau of Transcendence we know and love today. And the FBT along with Charrington probably slowed down the development of modern transcendence 30 years by requiring mountains of evidence before approving it for public use, and then they put all these regulations in place. Millions of people died who could have transcended instead.”
They all stared into the fire, watching the sparks and smoke from the fire rise into the night. Clark continued. “So many older people were hoping they could hold on to life just long enough to transcend, so they could enjoy a new life as a transcendent. They died waiting.”
Now it was Julia’s turn. “But Clark, don’t you find it a bit too convenient that FBT regulations prohibit communication between Naturals and Scendents, now that they’ve finally allowed transcendence again? Think about it, Clark. Transcendence Labs won’t let you communicate with us after your so-called transcendence. They could easily allow you to project yourself into the Augmentarium so we could still hang out. But since they won’t allow that, how can I know if you’re okay?”
“Trust me, Jules, I’ll be fine. The reason they don’t allow us to communicate is they think that’ll convince you to transcend too, once you realize I’m still me and I’m fine. Charrington wants to keep as many Naturals around and in ignorance so that they’ll keep voting for him. The FBT wouldn’t have allowed Transcendence Labs to re-open if they hadn’t thoroughly validated the safety of the transcendence procedure. Lucky for me the Berkeley Eternity Center has the latest, greatest hardware too.”
They all heard the sound of the wave at the same time and jumped up — a big sneaker wave was approaching fast. “Come on Tynee, help me grab Clark and throw him in the ocean!” Tynee picked Clark up, threw him over his broad shoulders, waded into the ocean, and unceremoniously tossed Clark into the crashing waves. Clark would remember the moment he splashed into the warm ocean amid peals of laughter from his two best friends in the world, even after transcension.
