2580. That is the year he said we are in. The Great Collapse three hundred years ago almost caused the loss of human civilization. That is, not only did so many people get killed by the sudden massive earthquakes, but infrastructures also got destroyed. If it were not for the clique of my husband who were frantically writing down things on paper and stored physical books – and also developing a new method of preserving information, all the survivors would have to rebuild everything from scratch. They would have to rebuild not only the people, but also re-establish the buildings, technology, knowledge that has been accumulated for thousands of years before.
People talk about The Great Collapse as if it were a thing from the past. Well, it is – in a way: It happened on 2250. But to me, it still feels like something from the distant future. In fact, this seems to be just a dream. Yesterday was still May 2063. Now it is August 2580. Am I in the future? Or has the future become present?
Jourdan looked worried. He was, in fact, worried: This was the third time he came home to pick up something he has forgotten. Jourdan would never do that if he weren’t worried. Was it my fault? Was he worried about me?
My coughs were getting worse, and I started having high fever at random times. I didn’t eat for days because I knew everything would jump out again. Jourdan started buying all different kind of things to find out what would be so kind and settle long enough for me to digest. And get strength from.
Water does not suffice. Neither anything mixed with too much water. But it was the only thing that I would not throw up again, so I tried to get by until we find something for me. Maybe we will find a cure to this strange disease even the best doctors don’t have the name of, or maybe just something that I might nibble on slowly. I said we, because we are in this together. At least you said so. Right, Jourdan?
The next few days were too blurry to me. I remember feeling weak and worried about him. Because he was worried. About me. He even said it out loud. Right, he said it when I wouldn’t even take a bite on this burger. What was it called? Captain Max’s? Jourdan said I should give it a try, maybe it will stay now. But I shook my head, too afraid of the risk of it coming out, even if I nibble on it.
Now I remember Jourdan talking about an alternative. He said he might not be able to cure my body, but he might give preserving everything else a try. Right, my husband has been working on this device for years. It was supposed to copy every information about us such that someday – when technology allows it – we might be redownloaded to the world. Jourdan’s invention is something dangerous if misused, so I would always talk about it in a lightly manner to relief him from all the stress caused by it. We were in this together, so I would never leave him alone in all the tumult between researchers and politicians. Never.
That was how I said my last “yes” to him. I will let myself be uploaded so that in the distant future, I can be redownloaded to another body. I didn’t like the thought of possessing another human being, so told him that I would be happy living in a machine, as long as I could move around like a human. As long as I don’t take over someone else’s body. I heard that even clones have their mind and souls of their owns. Maybe another genius will find something out. I think Jourdan has already done enough.
We had always joked that I better belong to the future. My own research has been too unorthodox and there was no technology that could support my theories. There were no tools to prove them. Some have tried to bridge the current knowledge to them, but all those people could do was saying that I was right. My theories were sound, but too “distant”.
The Upload was then serving me in the sense that I could hopefully make better use of my intellect instead of deteriorating in an era that was not ready for me and serving Jourdan in his research. There will be two versions of me until the first one meets its end, but they won’t get into conflict as the second will be tucked away in a cold chamber for…
517 years. That is how much I leapt. Jourdan kept his word and ensured that my wish to not possess another human can still be accessed by the people who have redownloaded me. The people have carefully designed my vessel as to make me feel like a human but remind me that I am not borrowing another body at the same time. As a result, I am still shaped the way I was just before I fell ill, but in a different, nonhuman colour. They gave me a crystal-blue like shade and I like how the designer of my new vessel chose the colour in such a way that it flatters my shape, make it not look too uncanny, but still different than a human being at the same time. If he only could see how much humanity evolved despite being setback by the Great Collapse.
Yes, the Great Collapse which caused several volcanoes in the south-east to erupt and cause years of drastic climate change along with other disasters such as tsunamis and extreme cold winters, killing millions of people in such a short time, destroying supply chains and important information networks. The Great Collapse which could only almost eradicate humanity. Almost, because some still survived and those who didn’t managed to record their wisdom in a variety of ways. The Great Collapse didn’t stop the population from evolving.
I did not expect to be redownloaded a little more than half a millennium. Neither did Jourdan. But here I am: Awed by how much the living learned from the dead, and how they now achieved the common wisdom that allows everyone to make a great step towards knowledge.
Humanity finally integrated with nature. They have developed borderless communities – not in a human-centered way – where they build things which have the ability to adapt to nature. Trees are not merely decorations anymore; they make up part of the room – of the building – I am in. I can see wild squirrels scurrying along the corridor but stay away from the lab; they somehow know which areas they may visit. This kind of world has always been something I dreamed of.
At first, I was disappointed that the Great Collapse caused a major setback to the development of things. Humanity had to take hundred steps back. But they also took it as an opportunity to not repeat the past mistakes of my previous generations. They reassessed every existing system and reused them in a way such that they will not get destroyed by natural disasters anymore.
Jourdan and I always joked that I belong better to the future. Maybe I am. I now have the opportunity to find out. Maybe I can refine my theories in this era. Maybe technology finally allows them to take shape.
As for my husband? There were no records of him after some years since my upload. It was said that the first me died some weeks after the upload due to my illness. Jourdan changed since then, but he kept working: Articles about him and his works still occur decades after his departure. Some said he died of an accident, some of sadness. Some said he found a way to transport his body to a different time-space.
No one really knew Jourdan, neither do I. But I may be the one person who knows him best, but he still proved to be a mystery sometimes. That is why I was not surprised when I heard that there was not an upload of him. Everyone believed that he was a self-centered human being, just because he was too often caught up in his own logic. But I know better: He never really joked when he said I better belong in the future. As for him, I think he thought that he better not belong here in 2580.
But he still is here. Through his work. The Great Collapse would cause a much greater loss if he didn’t gather and encourage people to preserve important things outside the Internet, outside of classic storages. After uploading me, he focused on information preservation such that everything important can be accessed even if humanity forgot its language and technology. Is such a person really self-centered?
Thinking about this, I smiled looking at my new wrist. I felt my pulse, which is no different than the pulse I had in my previous life. We have always been in this together, right, Jourdan?
Story Piles 