Mindscan

It might have taken them that long to figure out how to build the artificial body, or to decide that it was a good idea to resurrect me.

"I suppose."

Can you contact Dr. Smythe? He'll want to know…

"Who?"

Gabriel Smythe.

"That rings a vague bell…"

He's with Immortex. The head psychologist, I think.

"Oh, right. Him. If he hasn't uploaded, he must be dead by now; I'll see if I can find out."

Thanks. I'm supposed to try to send a radio signal back; I'll have to ask the natives about that. Proof of concept: Akiko and Smythe wanted to show that human consciousness could be transmitted, that … that ambassadors could be sent to other worlds at the speed of light.

"Are you going to send the radio signal?"

If the natives here — whoever they are — let me, sure. But it'll be ninety years before it'll get back to… what the heck do you call it? Sol system, no?

"I guess. So, tell me: what else can you see?"

Man, this is weird…

"Jake?"

Sorry. It's a lot to absorb at once. Connecting with you; full-color vision; where I am; the passage of time.

"What else can you see?"

Vegetation — I guess that's what it is. Like umbrellas turned inside out.

"Yes. And?"

Some vehicle going by, shaped like a pumpkin seed. There's something alive inside, under a transparent canopy…

"My God! An alien! What's it look like?"

"Dark, bulky, and — damn, it's gone."

"Wow. An actual alien…"

Are you going to tell people? Tell humanity that you're in contact with a distant world?

"I — I don't know. Who would believe me? They'd say it was a hallucination. I've got nothing to show them, and any confirming signal you send won't get here for the better part of a century."

I suppose. Too bad. I've a feeling this is going to get interesting.

"There is one person I can share it all with."

One's better than none. Who?

"Karen Bessarian. You actually met her. She was the old woman we spoke to at the Immortex sales pitch."

That was Karen Bessarian, the writer?

"Yes. And she's still writing. In fact, she's back to writing DinoWorld novels — the characters went public domain thirty years ago, but readers recognize that Karen is their creator, and the books she's doing about them now are selling better than the originals."

Good for her. But what's happening with us? How's the family business?

"Fine. They even brew Old Sully's here on Mars now."

Great! What else? Are we married?

"I am, yes."

Oooh, I know! To Rebecca Chong, right? I knew that eventually—

I smiled. "No, not to Rebecca. She's been dead for over fifty years, and, um, she didn't think much of uploads."

Ah, well, then I guess I don't know who we—

"It's Karen," I said simply. "Karen Bessarian and I are married. The first Mindscans ever to tie the knot."

"Her? But she's so old! I never would have thought…

"Yes, her. But we can talk about that later. Tell me more of what you're seeing."

I must be under some sort of observation; I can't imagine they'd activate me otherwise. But so far, there's no sign of the natives here, except that vehicle that went speeding by the window. The room is big, and it has something that must be a door, but it's almost twice as high as I am.

"Any other clues about the aliens?"