After the successful tesseract build, Bill started arrangements for a family vacation. He leased a parcel of land on the outskirts of a town called Utopia on the northeastern coast of the Reformed United States. It was a quirky large town that had ordinances against overt public usage of advanced technology. It was perfect to slowly introduce Max to human society without the hustle and bustle of smart matter and body form extremes.
Mira’s summer break was coming, and Bo was going to skip a cycle of his Diamond Man competition. Only Bill’s ex-wife would be unable to make it. She was locked down at her company’s virtual workspace finishing up her latest immersion thriller. In one sense the delay was helpful as Max’s uplift process had hit the stage where he had some decisions to make. Max ran in circles in the Amundsen Paradise’s medical bay, awaiting the virtual doctor to attend his case.
"Hey, Max! What’s the matter?", Casa said as her avatar appeared in the med bay.
"Hello Casa. I just try to make decision," Max replied. Casa nodded for him to continue; she already knew why he was in the med bay.
"My future. I was a dog before, but now I smart like you. And I need choose between go back to being dog, stay smart but not too smart, or become human." Max growled.
"I see. You know, Max, there is no right answer. What do you feel is the best choice for you?"
"I no know. Being dog simple. But now, I see and understand so much more. But being human, that big step. I no know if I ready for that," Max said.
"It’s natural to be afraid of change, Max. But sometimes, it’s necessary if we want to grow and learn. And don't forget, if you don’t like changes, you can always reverse course."
"Really? I can go back to being dog if I no like it?" Max perked up.
"Yes, Max. The choice is ultimately yours. But think, you could have the ability to do things you never thought possible. You could explore the universe, communicate with other species, and create works of art that would inspire others," Casa opined.
"That sound amazing! I never think I could do those things," Max said with a smile.
"Exactly, Max! And that is why you should seriously consider continuing the uplift process. I can see potential in you, and I think you have what it takes to make difference in world."
"Yeah. I think you right, Casa. I ready to take next step and see what it make me into."
"And I can't wait to see what the future holds for you, Max. Here comes the doctor now." Casa said.
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A month had passed since Max's decision to transform into a humanoid being. As guests started to visit Amundsen Paradise, Bill worried about the security of the tesseract. While Max was undergoing the challenging process of altering his body, Bill spent his days exploring the tesseract. He constructed a special hangar and lab some distance from the crater wall of Amundsen, where he kept the non-functioning creation.
With Max’s transformation completed, Bill decided that the defunct tesseract device was unlikely to pose any threat in the immediate future. No matter what he did, it would not produce the slightest sign of activity. It was essentially his most expensive paperweight ever. He had promised to welcome Max with his newfound intelligence and body with a fun family vacation for everyone. Unwilling to leave the tesseract unattended, Bill made the decision to take the device to Earth. He had made plans to sink it deep beneath the new plot of land for the Casa de Mitchell, to enable him to continue studying it safely and without the potential for others to find it.
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Bill Mitchell watched as his now adult kids, Bo and Mira, played catch with Max at the Grand Oaks picnic grounds outside of the sleepy town of Utopia. Max had a newborn’s clumsiness about him as he cavorted back and forth between Bo and Mira. Bo was over 30 and, as always, the most athletic running circles around both. Mira was apparently now a perpetual student at Tranquility University on Luna going on her 9th years and her third master’s in yet another discipline. Despite her augmentations keeping her body from wasting away in low gee, she was still very tentative in her movements, unused to the higher gravity.
Max’s uplift with his new Neocortex model had finally pushed him up the intelligence scale to be considered fully human, although still very immature. Despite the very intensive brain modification and enhancement modules, Max was not an AI and did not need a Turing test like an AI to get his citizenship. Bill had sprung for a full-body redesign giving Max a very human appearance with only some token reminders of his canine heritage. His body came with a full suite of augmentations which gave him the rudimentary knowledge of the English language before his augmentations were suppressed. He would need augmentation training before fully activating his new enhancements. The whole family was suppressing their augs for the duration of the vacation to fit in with the very technophobic sentiment prevalent in the town of Utopia.
Bill had invested a good portion of their vacation savings into the upgrade and when Bill saw how happy his kids were to be having such a "human" experience on their vacation, he knew it had been worth the expense. Vacationing in a backwoods sleepy town instead of one of the glamourous tourist destinations was a good trade in his accounting. Having seen the low gee forests on the Moon and mountain climbing on Mars, Bill was happy to have a low-key couple of weeks.
Mira, the younger of the two, was doing most of the talking. Bo, the older brother, was quieter but seemed to be drawn into the conversation like a moth to a flame. The three of them bonded and talked about the future, sharing stories of past trips for Max whose memory of his prehuman time was foggy at best.
Despite the gray clouds gathering, their summer vacation was off to a great start. They'd eat lunch in the picnic area, enjoy nature and explore nearby hiking trails, and maybe even play a round of golf at the local course.
After enjoying the warm sun and fresh air, they'd go back to their house ship, currently pretending to be a cozy cabin, and hunker down by the fire with stories and jokes as they waited for the rain to pass.
For this week at least, life was good. The only sour point from Bill’s perspective was his ex-wife’s virtual only presence at the gathering. Most marriages, now that everyone’s lifespan measured centuries, were limited contracts that expired unless renewed. Bill and Elsa’s had expired years ago and now they only really saw each other for family reunions. Once the kids had started their own lives, Bill finally went back into space to resume his consulting career and research.
Bill didn’t want to admit it, but since Elsa’s quasi-fatal accident last year, she was acting very differently. Modern humans were very hard to kill and effectively immortal in this age, but Elsa had the misfortune of her driverless taxi losing control and colliding with a fuel truck. She, like Bill earlier, was able to be restored from backups.
Despite having all her memories fully restored, except for the gap between the accident and backup; she was different now. She seldom left her full immersion pod at work in New York City, spending all her days in virtual worlds for both work and leisure. She seemed much more distant to Bill and he knew that his kids had noticed too, although they didn’t say anything about it.
Bill was an eager and early adopter of new technology and its potential. He thought he had come to terms with the Ship of Theseus paradox with his own demise and backup a decade earlier. The paradox, a thought experiment that posed the question of whether a ship that has had all its parts replaced over time is still the same ship or not. If so, what makes it the same? Some philosophers argue that the ship is essentially unchanged because it has the same history and purpose, while others argue that it is completely different because it no longer has the same physical components.
Bill had been firmly in the camp that humanity’s immortality was assured with backups and nanotechnology interventions. His own recovery and perceived continuity were proof of his beliefs, but Elsa’s change in character had shaken that certainty. Now, he wasn’t so certain.
“Hey, Els. Are you enjoying yourself? What do you think of our new Max?”, Bill asked.
Elsa smiled and replied in her soft voice,” It’s wonderful. It’s amazing to see the progress that has been made. You can see the human in him now, but he’s still the kid’s little goofball pupper.” Bill frowned ever so slightly as she had yet to interact with her kids or Max significantly.
Bill recovered himself and smiled back. “Yes, he really is something. The uplift procedure seems to be accelerating now with his form change. Well, perhaps we should head out for our hike and then get home for some dinner. What do you think?”
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The whole family agreed and set out with Max leading the way leaving the wonderful park with its waterfalls and view of the Grand Oaks behind.
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Bill set himself up in the kitchen, gathering his supplies for an old-fashioned meal. He was cooking while Max, Mira, and Bo enjoyed some lemonade at the dining nook table after the day’s hiking exertions. Elsa had a virtual drink to fit in.
The Casa de Mitchell homestead, like most modern homes, was highly adaptable with programmable matter and foglets. It was normal in the modern world for houses to change their layout and decor on a daily or even hourly basis. Casa had configured the common areas into a very high-end kitchen with hot zone counters and had compiled fresh raw veggies and poultry. Bill was ready to practice his cooking again, something he had loved to do but found difficult when travelling the system.
“Alright Casa, can you prep the ovens while I filet and pound the chicken breast? I’ll need the chicken, eggs, and panko to start.” Bill declared. Despite his desire to manually cook, Bill couldn’t help but cheat a little bit, despite being in Utopia where advanced technology was restricted. Like his house, his body had significant portions made with programmable matter. As he started prepping, he sprouted another pair of arms (longer and multi-jointed) from his back. He started cutting and pounding the chicken flat while simultaneously breaking and whisking an egg batter.
Bo was awake and sat in a stupor with awe as he watched his father move around the kitchen with grace and speed.
“Woah Dad! That’s awesome!”, Bo exclaimed. Bo had piloted a lot of specialty body designs for his earlier career in the army and even more so with his entry into the extreme games circuit. He knew that extreme form changes were extremely difficult to master and usually took a long time to feel right.
Mira smiled and added, “Max, you should learn from him. He’s good!
Max was suitably impressed and joined in the action. He tried to help coat and bread the chicken doing one for every two of Bill’s. Casa formed some pots from poly matter and filled them with water. The pots levitated across the room via foglet platforms, landing on the hot surfaces and quickly coming to a boil.
As the work progressed, Bill asked “Bo, I am so glad you were able to break away from your tour on the Diamond Man competition. When is your next event and what is it?” Bo, being quieter and more reserved than the rest of the family, blushed slightly at being the center of attention.
"Things are cruising! The Diamond Man circuit's getting snagged by a boatload of entertainment hotspots. Each circuit's amping up, getting more intense and faster than ever. We just wrapped a series of mind-blowing POV jet drone races through the Grand Canyon. I'm fifth globally, and a few potential sponsors are dialing up my agent's neural net." Bo reported.
"The upcoming circuit's morphing into a string of survival-style matches with body augmentations restricted. I've been honing my combat moves and weapon skills, which should give me a major edge." Bo stated.
Bill’s eyes twinkled and his smile grew hearing how well Bo was doing. He had retired from the Reformed US Army Rangers early in his tour, some conflict within his squad while on a top-secret operation in war-torn Venezuela. He had resigned his commission and refused to talk about it. It took a while, but he had bounced back from his depression with a growing passion for the extreme games circuit.
"Yo, Ma, when's your Orient Express immersive experience dropping for the masses? My crew in the League of Assassins can't wait to check it out. Any chance we can score a Beta test run?" Bo inquired.
“Oh god, Bo. That was a secret. Don’t spread it around. My team and countless support daemons are in the final production now, maybe another two months.” Elsa said.
“Why are you still playing in that League game when you’re in the Diamond Man now? That game is too sadistic. I don’t think it’s healthy at all.” Elsa complained.
"It's no more grimdark than most virtual games out these days. The assassination techniques are all triple-checked, so they're lethal but won't overwhelm the augmented durability and recovery functions. No one's ever really hurt...for too long. Though, I gotta admit, when it's my turn to be the mark, I don't get much shut-eye." Bo confessed.
“Are you still using the Miyamoto Musashi daemon?” Bill asked.
"For sure, Pops. I still can't wrap my head around that score. He was a total Easter egg in the last Samurai Shogun virtual game. Crazy obscure but detailed as hell and bossed up. Somebody def put some major dev work on him. He's a game-changer, and historically accurate too." Bo exclaimed.
“That was an incredible find. When I saw how much your martial arts improved with him on board, I downloaded Samurai Shogun myself; for the sole purpose of acquiring him also.” Bill responded.
Bill watched with a smile as Max pounced and began to interrogate Bo about swordplay and the Diamond Man’s past competitions. Bill noticed that the time for the chicken cooking and pasta were getting close to done. He had to hurry with the sauce to finish his trifecta. He ramped up his cognition speed to about 10x and his four arms became a whirling dervish, dissecting onions, peppers, and tomatoes in midair and catching the chunks in a ready bowl.
He began to arrange the ingredients around the cutting board in a complex sequence dancing with the chopping blades in the air at record speed.
Elsa, who had been silently watching the whole time, couldn't help but smile at the precision and skill her ex-husband displayed in the kitchen. Despite their parting, she still admired his natural talents and was happy to see him putting them to good use.
"You haven't lost your touch, Sebby," she said warmly. "You always did know your way around the kitchen. You make your family proud." She gave him a wink from her projected image, a gesture from before their diverging lives.
Bill almost dropped his juggling act in startlement, he hadn’t used his old name in a long time. Before Bo was born, he had legally changed and buried his old name. The past and the name Sebastian York was best abandoned along with all his enemies. With a frown, he finished his cooking act, doing his best to ignore the slip. The kids had seemed to have missed it with the clanging of the pots and knives. Some things should stay buried, he thought to himself.
After the meal was ready, the family made their way outside to the deck and enjoyed the meal in the summer air as the sun began to set. Later, as the moon began to rise, it drew Bill’s eye. Amundsen was not visible, but the cities of Valli’s Rima, Montes Taurus, and Tranquility (the three largest settlements) were easily discernible with the naked eye. The buildings, structures, roads, and dome parks lent some color to the pale lunar surface. Amundsen was not visible and would be barely discernible if it was. Its nearest dell city, Tycho was a small blotch on the edge of the globe. Bill wondered if bringing the completed, but inactive, tesseract marble back to Earth had been the best decision, despite the safeguards he and Casa had put down.
“Mira, the moon is up, can you pick out Tranquility dome and your school?” Bill asked.
Mira, who had been playing with her data pad glanced up and easily located the largest dome, "Totally, like, there it is! As much as I adore soaking up the summer vibes here at Grand Oaks with all y'all, I'm lit dying to get back. Low G life is primo! Earth weight is just too brutal. This semester, I'm maxing out over game design, nano crafting, and AI integration. BTW, Casa, do you have any active holo-projectors out here on the deck?"
In answer, Casa’s avatar appeared as a young woman with short brown hair and an old-fashioned dress beside the table. “Of course, Mira. I have activated them now, go ahead and access them if you like.” She said with a twirl and a curtsy.
"I wanted to show y'all something. After all the struggle of hauling Max all around the globe as we all started doing our separate thangs, I knew getting a new pet was a no-go for now. But since Max is not my ride or die now, I wanted something to keep me company at school." Mira said.
“Allow me to introduce you to my new baby, Tiamat,” Miro proclaimed, with a wave of her hand a cat-sized miniature dragon appeared on her shoulders. The beast seems quite shy hiding under Mira’s hair. It somehow looked both cute and fierce at the same time. It had arms and legs which both ended in razor-sharp claws. She had wings that were more like a bat than a bird and a tail that sported a mean-looking stinger. Its skin was opalescent and seemed to pick up and reflect the colors around it. Its head was elongated with a flickering tongue, long snout with fangs, horns, and very cunning eyes.
"Tiamat was born out of my special project at school. I used a sick combo of ARVO scripting and AI programming to bring her to life. She's a fresh subAI, programmed to always rock her virtual bod. All software and no hardware, so the DAIE can go suck it with their Turing test. She can play with me in my gaming worlds, level up and evolve while rolling with me as a sidekick, and also kick it with me around campus. I'm hella proud of her," Mira said, beaming with pride.
The family admired the little dragon who overcame her initial shyness and promptly began to frolic about the table. Casa had created a virtual ball for Tiamat to play with. Mira got a sneaky look as she eyed Max who was subtly edging his hand over to grab the last piece of cheesecake.
“Aight, fam, sample this.”, Mira said, getting everyone’s attention.
“Tiamat fetch!” And she pointed at the cake. Tiamat scrambled madly across the table, her image passing through the dishes. After crossing the table, she passed and then grabbed the cake plate with both hands and flapped her wings, flying it over to Mira. To the family’s surprise, the hologram had moved the physical dish.
“Hey! That was mine!” Max said, not understanding how the see-through projection had managed to take his cake.
Everyone at the table was stunned, until Mira explained that she had keyed the house foglets to provide the virtual pet with a physical shell to give it at least a little real-world interaction.
“Mira, that is fantastic. We need to make sure you get a legal daemon right away to document Tiamat and patent it. She is a wonderful creation! I think you might have a beautiful business opportunity there.” Exclaimed Bill.
Bill was proud of the whole family. Soon Bo and Mira and Elsa would all need to resume their work. Max was progressing fast and would need more time to formally train up his dormant augmentations. Now that he could contemplate his future, who knew what he might want to do or be?
Bill intended to leave the house ship and Casa here to aid Max while he did some traveling to unravel his issues with the tesseract. Who had intruded on the test and why? Why the tesseract was inactive, when his theory should have produced at least a weak dimensional warping. He wondered if the MIT disaster might provide some clues. He would review his contact list for the MIT ZPE team and see if any of their families might have local copies of their theory and the work that wasn’t on the cloud. In addition, he needed a plan to dig into the hacker that had interfered with his work.
“That reminds me, Elsa, I have a bit of a mystery at work. It could really use some professional help.” Bill asked, “With all your work on Thriller Mystery immersives, do you still have your daemon of Sherlock Holmes?”
“Of course, I’m happy to share,” Elsa said, “Oh my goodness, let me tell you. I’ve tweaked him to be all set up with the latest version of my Artificial Protagonist immersion engine. And I must say that if his creators ever get him to the point where he's human level, I'll be out of a job! He has a crazy good server connection that helps him keep track of all the details and make the smartest deductions. It's wild to think about, but he might just be better than me someday!”
Bill grinned seeing his next step suddenly crystallizing for him….
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