“Mr. Stevenson, I assure you, Upload is a completely safe procedure. We-“ Wilbur Stevenson began pulling the electrodes off his scalp and the doctor frowned.
“Daddy, please be reasonable!” Carol said, trying to calm her father.
“Live in a damn cartoon world? No sir!” The doctor smiled and reattached the electrodes.
“That’s a gross oversimplification. The grid is a virtual space, but it’s far from a cartoon. I’m sure some of your friends are even there-“
“My friends are buried in France, right where I left them! You ever saw a man cut in half with a German machine gun?”
“I spent three years in the ER,” the doctor said affably. His nurse wheeled in the Upload box and plugged into the grid jack.
“Just think daddy, you can spend all day reading, or playing chess.”
“A copy of me will! I’ll still be dead!”
“Doctor, we have a solid connection,” the nurse said, her fingers gracefully moving across the keyboard.
“We’ll visit you all the time daddy,” Carol said, holding her father’s hand.
“Won’t be me. You’re killing me because it’s cheaper. You can’t put a soul in a computer. You’re killing me!” Carol burst into tears.
“Wilbur, without mandatory Upload the elderly would bankrupt the medical industry. Upload is the only humane way to give you some quality of life.” The young doctor said as he injected the IV with chemicals that would end Wilbur Stevenson’s physical life. The nurse struck a key.
“It ain’t right,” Wilbur whispered, and then the whole world went digital.Buy the full book Cattywompus on Amazon.com here!
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