They were small places, next to bars and ink parlors.

LIVE FOREVER! The sign screamed. Upload and explore the galaxy!

We were a bunch of drunk kids, we saw the places and never gave them thought. Who would? Colonization and all that jazz. They said Earth was doomed, the environment would slip and humans would go the way of the bees, the giraffes and the whales. Blaa-blaa blaa. I grew up with that shit.

My girlfriend was getting ink on her back. A dragon — the girl with the dragon tattoo, how quaint!

This douche-bag was handing out fliers; yelling at people.

“Do you want to DIE HERE!” He shouted above the city noise, the parties.

“Live forever! Upload and never die!” he said.

“Why don’t you just do that?“ I shouted back at him.”

“WHAT?” he replied over the din.

“Why don’t you upload, you fucking jerk?” I said, “why are working this crappy job on Saturday night when you could be exploring the galaxy or some shit?”

“I did” he said, “in fact; I do it almost every night if the manager has open slots. “

“How much?” I asked him.

“That’s the best part” he said, “it’s cheaper then that shitty ink your girlfriend is getting.”

“Watch your mouth dork,” I said. “I heard uploading was expensive.”

“Oh it’s not that expensive,” he said, “mind scan to the atomic level, duplication, storage, sending the data on a courier channel to another system, environment adjustment, clone creation, personality injection and many more things. Imagine though! you get to explore a whole new world. Help make it perfect for when the slow-boat colony ships arrive. It’s a bargain at TWICE the price, how much is immortality worth to you?”

“What a bunch of crap“ I said.

“Suit yourself” said douchebag. “My girlfriend thinks it’s boss. I’m making a difference and helping to ensure the human race won’t die out. We’ll spread among the stars! That pretty fucking noble you have to admit!”

He had a point!

So I did it, I let them scan me. I lay down on the stained table. Douchebag affixed a bunch of crap to my head…..