"So, legally speaking, we need to confirm that your son knows that you’re considering… alternative metods."

“No…*sob* He doesn’t even wanna see us anymore, I don’t even...” a woman cried.

“If he doesn’t agree, I’ll skin him alive and make him agree,” a man next to her filled in.

“I see. Well, the situation is quite clear, really -  promising, handsome, young man, top grades, national sports team, would be a real waste to let cancer steal him away. Now, we’re gonna to through that door, and convince this lovely young man not to give up on life, you ready?”

----

The day was a any other day at the ward. Three feelings could sum it all up: pain, loneliness and regret. William had had it, the fight had gone on for longer than it should’ve already. But with Chemo came the honeyed hopes, the happy eyes of friends when he said there was a chance...Giving up on life was just too hard, especially with regret lurking in the back. Who wanna life a life never lived? A life wasted living the perfect life? Had the treatments worked, Will would’ve spit his dad in the face, never to live another man’s dreams ever again. But alas, it was too late. It was just death left for him now. Death and pain.

Three quick knocks and a courteous second or two announced the three visitors. It was mom, dad and some stranger. All dressed awkwardly formal for a hospital visit. It’s not my funeral yet, dammit!  William frowned.

Williams parents hadn’t visited for a good week since last time. Good. Three or four more visits was enough for a lifetime anyways.

“Will….,” his mom began.

“We sold the company, William.” His dad said, avoiding eye contact.

“Mum, Dad… what?”

Dad started a lengthy monologue, soon interrupted by mom:

“We love you son, and we’ve decided to do everything we can to help you. We care about you, not money. Carl...would you?.”

The stranger nodded and crouched down next to him.

“So, kiddo, you’re into tech. Heard about mr Emon Lusk and his latest startup?”

“Well, yeah, ehm, which one…?”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Ha! Exactly kid, exactly!” I’ll tell you - you’ve got two options if you wanna keep on existing in our general definition of spacetime, so listen closely :”

“...What?”

“Number One, we upload your mind you to the cloud…”

“What!!! Mom, Dad, what the fuck? Seriously?”

“Will…”

“Oww kiddo, chillax not so fast - we’ve got all the time in the world… for this month, maybe next too... Anyhow, grey matter screening is less invasive than ever, you’d keep your awareness, there’s no pain… they could even simulate some cool music in your auditory cortex while at it, how cool isn’t that? Music streamed straight into Conciousness…”

“You’ll pierce electrical needles into my brain, thousands of electrified needles!”

“...They’re nanotubes… and not thousands -  billions. Quite a few, sure, but your brain won’t feel a single one of them. ”

“Oh yeah, great. You’ll cut my head open, but it’s fine, I’ll die, but at least it won’t hurt.”

“Please mind you, cancer is also a rather fatal procedure, I’m just going through your options here kiddo, no need to stress out.”

“The answer is no.”

“You would be an entrepreneur though, one of the first digital migrants. Imagine that! Immortality! The adventure would be endless.”

“But the adventurer wouldn’t be me. I’d be dead, and there’d be a digital approximation of me on some usb stick, making Mom and Dad happy. Isn’t that what this is all really about!?” They want a fake me to fake things?

Are you the same person when you’re online? Are you the same person as the Will that went to bed yesterday? What if you were born five minutes ago into this hospital bed, huh, given a bunch of false memories? I mean, you can’t tell! Come on, never had a blackout hangover in your life? Don’t let metaphysics get in your way.”

“They say fifteen years... and they’ll be able to do something with your scan. Maybe you could live in some cool MMORPG world, level up, all the good stuff, or maybe you could live inside of one of those human like robots - move, talk, fuck; the whole package. Live in the real world, I-R-L. Man, have you seen the japanese sex toy ones? Almost better than real life, and that could be you..”

“I mean… robots kid. You could have a new life. Pick up fencing again, hey? Maybe they’ll even let robots into the olympics, screw Robophobes man,  your dreams are still alive. Just say you identify as a girl and you’ll be set. Why the murky face, you should be planning for your future, not your death.”

“What about option two?”

Well, Option two is our state of the art Wim Hof method. Negative Eighty degrees centigrade, with the safest thawing method known to man. I know, you can’t uncook a frozen egg, but our metod is about as close as it will ever get. Lemme ask you something kid. Do you believe in human progress?”

“Yes?”

Will looked at the madman, wondering who the heck had convinced his parents, his dad especially, to do this.

“Excellent! Positivistic positivism, just the way I like it to hear it! Say living as a robot isn’t good enough -  you want everything or nothing. Well, if not everything today, why not everything tomorrow, or next year. Or in thirty. The cure to cancer is always thirty years away. And a lil’ bath in antifreeze and liquid nitrogen might be the perfect spa for you to spend those years. It’s not fifteen, but hey, thirty years, plus...say, maybe another thirty to get you out of the freezer in one piece, it’s still not a bad deal…”

“My answer is still NO, now piss off and let me die in peace.”

The story would’ve ended here, but Carl wouldn’t piss off.