Mindscan

"Lowellville."

Lowellville?

"Yes. You know: the largest settlement on Mars."

Mars? We don't have any settlements on Mars…

"Of course we do, for thirty years now. I moved here over a decade ago."

But … oh. Ah. What year is this?

"It's 2147."

Twenty-one forty seven? You're pulling my leg. It's 2045.

"No. You're a century out of date."

But … oh. Really?

"Yes."

Why'd you go to Mars?

"The same reason so many people came to North America from Europe ages ago.

The freedom to practice our own brand of humanity. Mars is a catch-all for those who march to a different drummer. We were being denied our identity down on Earth. We took it all the way to the Supreme Court in the U.S., but lost. And so…"

And so, Mars.

"Exactly. We're in a lovely community here. Lots of multiple marriages, lots of gay marriages, and lots of uploads. Under Martian law — created by those of us who live here, of course — all forms of marriage are legal, and out in the open. There's a family three doors down that consists of a human woman and a male chimpanzee who was genetically modified to have a bigger brain. We play bridge with them once a week."

I shrugged, although there was no way the other me could know I was doing that. "If you can't change the old constitution, go somewhere fresh and write a new one."

Ah. That's … wow. My, that's something, isn't it?

"It is indeed."

I — Mars; wow. But, hey, wait! I'm not on Mars, and yet there's no time lag.

"Yeah, I encountered this before when one of us was on the moon. Whenever a new me boots up, it seems to become quantally entangled with this me; quantum communication is instantaneous, no matter how far apart we are."

And we're very far apart.

"What do you mean?"

Akiko Uchiyama said she was sending me to 47 Ursa Majoris.

"And where's that?"

Ninety light-years from Earth.

"Light-years! What are you talking about?"

She said she was sending me — you know, transmitting a copy of my Mindscan — to one of the worlds they were studying with the big SETI telescope on the moon's farside.

"Jesus. And you agreed?"

They, ah, didn't actually offer me any choice. But that must be where I am. And it's incredible! The sun — the star here — looks gigantic. It covers maybe an eighth of the sky.

"And you think it's still 2045? Is that when you were … were transmitted?"

Yes. But Akiko said she wasn't just sending me; she was also sending instructions for building a robot body for me.

"And are you instantiated in that body?"

Yes. It doesn't look quite right — maybe they had a hard time making some of the parts — and the colors! I have no idea if they're right, but I can see so many colors now! But, yes, I've got a humanoid body. Can't see my own face, of course…

"So there's intelligent life on this other world? What's it look like?"

I haven't seen it yet. I'm in a room that seems to have been grown, like it's made out of coral. But there's a large window, and I can see outside. The giant sun is a color I don't know what to call. And there are clouds that corkscrew up vertically.

And — oh, something's flying by! Not a bird; more like a manta ray. But…

"But no intelligent aliens yet?"

Not yet. They must be here, though. Somebody built this body for me, after all.

"If you really are — my God — ninety light-years away, then the aliens took twelve years to reinstantiate you after receiving the transmission."