The Replacement - Part 1

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Prologue

His name was Greg Phillips, and the year was 2114. He was a somewhat handsome, yet ordinary man of slightly above average height, with hazel eyes, and light brown hair. Up until a few days ago, he was the happiest man in the world. He was a college graduate with a well-paying, entry level job as an analyst at the local field FBI office in San Francisco, CA. He had a nice and affordable place to live. And he also had a beautiful girlfriend with whom he had been dating for over three years since meeting her while he still worked at the local department store.

“I can’t wait until you get home,” Greg said, kissing Sabrina as she got ready to head out to work for her 12pm to 8pm shift.

“Me too,” she smiled, “Then we can finally go see that movie,”

“Yeah,” he said, “Hurry back,”

“I promise,” she said, and she headed out the door.

Unfortunately, she never made it home. She got hit by a drunk driver as she was leaving the parking lot after her long shift. The doctors informed him she was brain dead.

Greg was devastated.

Still, the one thing that kept him from going completely crazy was the fact that her stepdad, John, was there for him. One day, while Greg was sitting at her bedside, John walked in and calmly pulled up a chair next to him; he did not seem too distraught.

“Son, I know you must feel like shit right now, but I think I might be able to help,” he said.

“How could you help?” he asked, “Do you mean you could fix her brain?” Greg asked.

“Unfortunately not,” he said, “but the company I work for is heavily involved in cybernetics, and one of the products we are currently working on is an artificial humanoid replacement,” he said.

“I’m not sure what you’re getting at” Greg admitted.

“Well, we can’t actually transfer a person’s soul to a machine…yet,” he said, “But we have managed to come up with a way of essentially downloading their memories, personality, and experiences as raw data and installing it into an artificial brain with a sophisticated A.I. to emulate them and then into an exact robotic copy of that person’s body.”

“So, a robotic clone?” Greg asked.

“Yes, it would look, sound, smell, and act exactly like Sabrina here, but it would only be a copy,” he said.

“Are you saying you can make me a new Sabrina?” Greg asked, still not quite believing what he was hearing.

“Yes, we’ve been successful in over 90% of our test trials, even in cases where the person was brain dead,” he said.

“How are you able to make them look realistic?” he asked, a little skeptical, since the only humanoid robots he was aware of had plastic-like skin and very basic features.

“I’m afraid I can’t go into any details just yet, since we are just entering the beta phase” he said, “Suffice to say my company has been developing the concurrent technologies used to build these human robots for a little over a century now,”

“So, I would just continue my life with a copy that looks like her?” Greg asked, “As much as would like to have that, especially with my robot fetish, we were hoping to have a family together and I don’t see that happening with a robot,”

“I know you two were hoping to have kids in a few years after she got out of college,” he nodded, “But you have no need to worry, we can salvage Sabrina’s eggs from her body and put them on ice for whenever the two of you are ready,”

“Good,” Greg said, “and how much would this cost me?” Greg asked, starting to feel hopeful and excited for the first time since the accident.

“Absolutely nothing,” he stated simply, “Aside from the fact that she was my stepdaughter and I am personally for this plan, you would essentially be beta testing this android in the field,” he explained, “As such, for helping us through the beta phase, she would be completely free, as would all of her future repairs, upgrades, and new bodies,”

“New bodies?” Greg asked.

“Yes, we can only age a body so much before it needs to be replaced,” he explained, “And you don’t expect her to look 23 forever, right?” he asked.

“No, I suppose not,” Greg said, “Though that would be nice,” he mused.

“I’m sure it would,” John smiled, “So, are you in?” he asked, standing up.

“Yes,” Greg said, “Thank you,” Greg said, getting up and shaking John’s hand.

“You’re welcome,” he said with a big smile, “It’ll take me a little while to get approval from my superiors, and a few more days after that to construct her,” he said, “So expect her in a few weeks,” he finished.

“I will,” Greg said, finally having something good to look forward to.

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Part 1.5: Relaxation

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Continued in The Replacement - Part 2

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