The Transcension of the Naturals — Chapter 4: Jules
A science fiction novel set in Berkeley 100 years in the future
Julia stood behind Ursula and watched as Clark transcended. It did indeed look just like the Star Trek transporter from long ago: sparkly lights. Clark was gone. Julia watched until the sparkly lights faded.
“Is it safe to walk over to the bed?” asked Julia. Ursula nodded her head yes, and then Julia walked over to the bed and placed her hands on the sheets, still warm from Clark’s body. She bent down, buried her nose in the pillow, and took in a long deep breath but could not catch a whiff of her brother’s scent. He was gone.
After about half a minute, Ursula said “Julia, Clark has completed his transcendence. I’m going to project his holographic image onto the bed now so he will appear like a ghostly version of himself. That won’t be the real him; just a way for us to see him.”
“I’m going to establish contact with him now.” Julia walked back over and watched as Ursula pressed a blue button. “Welcome to Scen City Clark. Your transcension went off without a hitch. You can sit up and take off your helmet and blindfold now.”
Julia and Ursula watched the holographic projection, as Clark sat up, took off the helmet and blindfold, blinked a few times, and looked around. Ursula continued. “This is a virtual version of me, Clark, projected into Scen City. I’m still back here at the Eternity Center projecting virtual me.” Julia wished she could project herself too. She saw Ursula’s virtual body move over to her brother and for just a moment wished she were there too.
“Remarkable…” Julia heard Clark say. “Remarkable. Absolutely fucking amazing. This looks so freakin’ real. You look so real I would swear you’re the real Ursula and nothing happened, just like you say in your orientation video. This room looks exactly like it did before. Except my sister Jules is not here.”
“That’s right Clark,” said Ursula. “I’m projecting myself into your reality right now, and Julia is right here with me but she can’t project her body.” Julia tapped Ursula on the shoulder. “Hold on, your sister wants to tell you something.”
Julia leaned over towards the microphone and shouted “Hey Clark, I hope you get what you’re wishing for!”
The door in Clark’s virtual room opened and Chairman Charrington of the Federal Bureau of Transcendence strode in, looked around, and said, “Thank you, Ursula. I can take it from here.” And with that Ursula pressed the blue button on her console again, and the holographic projection faded out of existence.
“Well, that’s it, Julia. If you decide to transcend one day, now you know what it will look like from the Natural side. Not much to see really, from the outside or the inside. The real adventure starts once you transcend. Once I’ve finished my 18 months of service here at Transcendence Labs as a transcendent specialist, I’ll transcend myself.”
Ursula paused and looked at Julia as she furrowed her brow, looking about to cry. Ursula continued. “You know Julia, we have counselors here on-site trained in working with Naturals of recently transcended relatives. You’re probably going through a lot right now. Why don’t you follow me back to the reception area and I’ll tell you more about that.”
Back in the reception area, Ursula could see tears welling up in Julia’s eyes. She gestured towards a door with a sign that read Counseling Services and said, “Through that door — you’ll find Counselor Teanna Droi. You should hang out with her for a while before you leave, especially before you have to deal with those nut jobs again,” she said, pointing to the Natural protesters outside the transcendence center.
“Good thing you’re not going to be here tomorrow. It’ll be a real zoo outside because Charrington is scheduled to give a talk that is sure to fire them up before he comes inside here to personally inspect the facilities.” Julia nodded and headed towards the door that read Counseling Services, setting loose a lone tear that ran down her cheek and dropped to the floor.
She opened the door to Counseling Services to reveal a voluptuous woman with long, dark hair watering the plants in the room, occasionally stroking the leaves and flowers of the plants. Without turning around, she said, “They forgot to water the plants here. Still working out a few kinks with maintenance.” She turned around. “Hello, my name is Counselor Teanna Droi, but please call me Teanna.” She walked over and shook Julia’s hand. “My dear, you’ve been crying.” She took Julia’s hand and led her over to a leather couch. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Julia and I just watched my twin brother disappear forever. I miss my brother, Clark,” she said sobbing. “I’ll never get to tease him about his car Ferdinand again. I’ll never throw him in the ocean again. We’ll never get high together again. I miss my brother, Clark,” she said again, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘miss’.
“I know what that’s like, Julia. My younger sister transcended down in Los Angeles two years ago, and I know it’s a shock at first and takes some getting used to having someone just disappear like that. But you know what? I take a lot of comfort in knowing I’ll see her again in about another nine months once I transcend. When are you transcending Julia?”
Julia shook her head. “I’m a Natural,” she said. “So I haven’t bought into your story. I’m entirely satisfied with however much time I have in this lifetime, but some people…” her voice trailed off. “Some people need more.”
“People like your brother Clark?”
“Yes, like Clark, and you, and Ursula, and all you people. I honestly don’t get it Teanna. Transcendents seem like they’re part of a cult to me.”
“I know how you feel. Two years ago when my sister transcended, I was out in front of the Los Angeles Eternity Center protesting with the other Naturals as my baby sister walked in and transcended. I was devastated, and mad as hell.”
“So what happened? What made you convert?”
“It started with a dream I had, a very vivid dream. In my dream, my sister Maddy and I were having a picnic by a lake, and she said this thing I’ll never forget: ‘Please don’t die on me because then I’ll miss you so much. We have so much more living to do than you can imagine.’ She stood up and serenely walked to the edge of the lake, looked back at me, and said, ‘Come on in, the water’s fine.’ And then she slowly walked into the lake and under the water, and I got up and followed her in.”
“That lake was like transcending, right?” asked Julia.
“Yes, that’s right. What I eventually realized is that I had this script in my head, that I think is indoctrinated into all Naturals at birth, that says that this life is most meaningful if lived within the traditional lifespan of 120 years inside a physical human body.”
Julia wasn’t buying it and shook her head. “Like I always tell — or I should say told — Clark: however much life I have or don’t have, it’s enough for me. I accept what this life has in store for me.”
“I agree with you Julia. I think what Maddy was telling me is that there is so much more living to do than I thought, so much to learn about, so much to explore, and so much good to do in the world, why would I want to cut that short? For weeks I was quite disturbed about my dream, so I went to a counselor at the Los Angeles Eternity Center who helped me. She asked me this question that I’ll never forget: ‘You’d take an antibiotic to save your life, so why wouldn’t you take an anti-aging pill? That question totally stopped me in my tracks because I couldn’t answer it. Now I can — take the pill!”
