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everyone being so smart and youthful, tall and good-looking; I must
say, I found that rather intimidating. Still do. Then to see so many talented
and intelli-gent people squandering their lives in designer drugs and VR pods.
But I guess it would have to be the amount of information at our fingertips,
and that even in the midst of data bases a bil-lion times more comprehensive
than anything we had during the twentieth century, there s still so much we
don t know.
 Such as?
 Well, all the really big stuff. For example, they can t tell us if there are
other universes beyond the fifteen-billion-year-old one we inhabit. We don t
have a credible unified theory of physics yet. I doubt the living will ever
prove or disprove the existence and nature of God. Hell, we don t even know
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yet where other intelligent life exists in our galaxy, or if any exists at
all. Furthermore, he added,  even with all our advances in human psychology,
we still can t predict human behavior with much accuracy, so I have no idea
when you and Alica are going to produce another great-great-grandchild for
me!
Virginia chuckled.  I suppose we d better ask our husband what he thinks.
 Ah, polygamy. Yet another candidate for the most sur-prising aspect of
modern life.
  Till death do us part takes on a more daunting significance when death no
longer parts us.
Not for him, he thought. If only Marge were alive, he would
happily remain steadfast and monogamous in their marriage forever. He knew
better than to make such a statement aloud, though.
Who in this modern world would ever believe that
?
The party broke up shortly before midnight. Ben rode the subway home. The trip
from midtown New
York to Boston re-quired just eight minutes, and the walk to his quarters
another five. He used that time to replay the evening through his mind, and to
savor what he d found, even as he felt the sting of what was absent.
His first thoughts were of Tobias Fiske, but not the old man lying in
soft-nite. Rather, Ben thought of young Toby, the unmotivated teenager
whom he d mentored and galvanized, whose potential he d helped unleash.
Then his mind flowed, as if following an ingrained path, to his other friends
and family members; to the ways his life and words and thoughts had so often
interwoven with theirs. The echoes of that evening s many conversations
coalesced dur-ing those thirteen minutes of solitude and residual
cheer, granting
Benjamin Smith the inspiration for his second career.
April 15, 2081
 Genesis II, the experimental Mar-tian Atmospheric Protocol Program
(MAPP) is activated on a limited basis.
Within four hours, Arian air compo-sition increases from .0017% oxygen to
.144%. While the red planet s size will never permit a completely stable
atmosphere, it is hoped that within six to eight months, Earthlike
air can be temporarily replicated, with periodic use of MAPP assuring
indefinitely main-tained terrestrial conditions. Nanoguard Technolo-gies
announces an enhanced version of Smartfog, their popular personal
safety shield designed to cushion against most forms of ballistic attacks or
accidents. The new product consists of nearly 100 trillion computer-ized
nanomachines that coordinate instant response to block any perceived
danger against their owners. Smartfog could prevent approximately 57% of all
deaths, according to latest World Safety
Board esti-mates. The only detriment is a slight clouding of vision, easily
overcome by AI-digitized contact lens
screens.
 Sometimes I wish they d never grow up; just stay babies, you know? That s
when they really need you, the woman s image sitting across from Ben in
his VR pod was saying. He sneaked a glance at the summary display.
London. Oh. On occasion, he neglected to notice where his clients actually
lived.
He also noted that according to her timescreen, she d spent less than ten
hours outside her pod all week.
Ben gazed into Lara Wilson s face. The woman was seventy-seven and looked
twenty-two. She would probably live another thousand years.
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People s minds couldn t get on the outside of it yet, he de-cided. So much
time! They used to plan twenty years into the future, now two hundred
years was barely enough. No wonder so many lost themselves.
 Lara, you are needed, you know.
 But I don t feel that way. I feel like anything I start will be over too
quickly. So what s the point?
Makes me want to stay in this pod and just do whatever matters to me. Only I
know I ll end up feeling empty.
Tell me about it, Ben thought.  I know exactly what you re feeling. Been there
myself.
 You?
 Sure. I imagine everyone feels it. I really did right after my reviv. Felt as [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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