Robert Sawyer - Mindscan

Ah, well. One thing I wouldn’t be missing was Earth’s gravity, the little stab of pain each time I put weight on my left foot.

But what people would I miss? My mother, certainly—although, of course, she’d have the new him, the durable him, for company. And I’d miss some of my friends—though, now that I thought about it, not as many as I would have supposed; I’d apparently already come to terms with never having any contact with most of them again, even though, with so many of them, the last words I’d said to them or they’d said to me had doubtless been, “See you.” Christ, I wondered what my friends would make of the new me. I wondered what…

Yes, yes, there was one friend I’d miss. One very special friend.

I looked at the Earth, looked at Rebecca.

More of the planet was below the horizon than above it now, and the moonbus continued to speed along.

I tried to make out what part of the globe was facing me—but it was impossible to tell with all those clouds. So much hidden, even before one got to the surface of things.

I looked over at Karen Bessarian, who was staring out the little window next to our row of seats. Her deeply lined cheek was wet. “You’re going to miss it,” I said to her.

She nodded. “Aren’t you?”

“Not the planet, no,” I said. Mostly one person there.

All of the unilluminated part of the globe was below the horizon now; only a small blue segment was visible. For a second, I thought I was seeing the brilliant whiteness of the north pole—it had certainly stood out from Low Earth Orbit, even if, as Karen had said, it was much reduced in size from when she had been a girl. But, of course, the orientation was all wrong: we were flying parallel to, and not far south of, the lunar equator, so Earth was lying on its side, with its north-south axis running horizontally. Both poles were now well below the horizon.

“Going…” It was Karen, next to me, speaking softly.

Earth was fiercely bright against the black sky; if the moon had an atmosphere, Earthsets—only visible from a moving vehicle, since at all locations on nearside, the Earth hung motionless in the sky—would have been spectacular. Even though I was color-blind, and understood that I’d been missing out on some aspects of the spectacle others saw, I’d still always enjoyed sunsets.

“Going…” said Karen again. There was only a tiny bead of blue still visible.

“Gone.”

And it was, totally and completely. Everyone I’d ever known, every place I’d ever been.

My mother.

My father.

Rebecca.

Out of sight.

Out of mind.

The moonbus sped on.

After the disastrous visit to my mother’s house, I returned home. Clamhead continued to stare out the window, waiting for someone else.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d cried—and now I was utterly incapable of it.

But I wanted to. Crying was cathartic; it got things out of your system.

My system. My fucking system.

I lay down on my bed—not because I was tired; I was never tired anymore—but because that had always been my habit when thinking. I looked up at the ceiling. The old me might have popped a pill at this point. But the new me couldn’t do that.

Of course, I could get in my car and drive up to Immortex’s offices in Markham.

Perhaps Dr. Porter could do something, adjust some bloody—some bloodless— potentiometer, but…

But there was that damned asking-for-help thing again: stupid, stubborn, but part of who I am, and the last thing I wanted to do right now was behave out of character, lest even I begin to think what my mother and my dog and the one and only woman I loved did, that I was some sort of ersatz knockoff, some pale imitation, an impostor, a fake.

Besides, I had an appointment to see Porter tomorrow, anyway. All of us new uploads had to visit him for frequent checkups and tuneups, and—

Karen.

Karen had to do that, too.

Of course, she might have gone home to Detroit, but how practical was commuting internationally every few days? No, no, Karen was a sensible woman. She’d almost certainly be staying here in Toronto.

Where exactly, though?

The Fairmont Royal York.

The thought burst into my synthetic head. The place where the sales pitch had been held. Directly opposite the train station.

I looked at my phone. “Phone, call Fairmont Royal York Hotel; audio only.”

“Connecting,” said the phone.

Another voice came on, female, perky. “Royal York. How may I direct your call?”

“Hello,” I said. “Do you have a Karen Bessarian registered?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Oh, well. It had been just a thought. “Thank you—wait. Wait.” She was famous; she probably used something other than the name she was best known by. “Ms. Cohen,” I said, suddenly remembering her maiden name. “Do you have a Ms. Karen Cohen?”

“I’ll put you through.”

Karen would doubtless know who was calling; the hotel room’s phone would inform her. Of course, it was possible that she wasn’t in, but—

“Hello,” said that Southern-accented voice.

In that moment, I realized that she couldn’t have had the same experience I’d had, not if she hadn’t yet gone home to face family and friends. But, as I said, she had to know it was me; I couldn’t just hang up. “Hello, Karen.”

“Hi, Jake.”

Jake.

My name.

“Hi, Karen. I—” I had no idea what to say, but then it occurred to me to put it on her. “I guessed you might still be in town. I thought you might be lonely.”

“Aren’t you sweet!” Karen declared. “What did you have in mind?”

“Um…” She was in downtown Toronto. Right by the theater district. Words came tumbling out. “Would you like to go see a play?”

“I’d love to,” Karen said.

I turned to my wall screen. “Browser, show me live theater tonight in downtown Toronto for which good seats are still available.”

A list of plays and venues appeared on the screen. “You know David Widdicombe?” I said.

“Are you kidding?” said Karen. “He’s one of my favorite playwrights.”

“His Schrodinger’s Cat is on at the Royal Alex.”

“Sounds great,” Karen said.

“Wonderful,” I said. “I’ll pick you up at seven-thirty.”

“Perfect,” she said. “It’s—that’s perfect.” She’d started to say ‘it’s a date,’ I’m sure, but of course it was nothing of the kind.

The moonbus, as I’d seen before boarding it, was a simple-looking affair: a brick-shaped central unit, with great engine cones protruding from its rear end, and two cylindrical fuel tanks, one strapped to each side. The bus was silvery white, and the tanks, I was told, were painted a color called teal, apparently a mixture of blue and green. It sported the Hyundai logo in several places, and a United Nations flag on each side near the back.

There was a wide window across the front of the brick for the pilot (he apparently didn’t like to be called a driver) to see through. The bus could accommodate fourteen passengers: there were eight swiveling seats along one side, and six down the other; a gap after the second seat made room for hanging space suits. Next to each passenger seat was a window about the size of those on airplanes; each window even had one of those vinyl blinds you could draw down, like on a plane.

Behind the last two seats were a small toilet on one side, and a tiny airlock cubicle on the other—“Pity the poor fool who mixes them up,” the pilot had quipped during his orientation remarks.

The passenger cabin only extended halfway down the brick; the other half was taken up with cargo holds, the engines, and life-support equipment.