“He is about to join me!” said Laiinet.
“What? How? What do you mean?” exclaimed Wang.
“Be calm, Paul! You will see. This won’t take long. Everything up to today has already been transferred. We only need what he has experienced today.”
Dr. Block stepped to the bedside and took Wellman by the hand and said quietly, “Tom, everything seems ready.”
“Madelyn Chapman reached out and patted Wellman’s arm. “Bon Voyage, Tom! The world will bless you and Laiinet forever.” She stepped back.
“Dr. Block returned to his panel. Wellman looked over to Wang and said, “Tony, Paul, come and shake my hand. I thank both of you for your service here today. You have helped us make the world a better place.”
Naughton walked over, shook Wellman’s hand and returned to Block’s desk. Wang moved close to the bedside and took both of Wellman’s hands in his. He looked deep into Wellman’s eyes. “Tom, what are you doing? This looks pretty scary to me.”
“All will be well, Paul. As Laiinet said, we are almost done. Soon we can tell you the rest of the tale and you can tell it to the world. You will be long remembered as the messenger of peace. Now please step back and just watch. Maynard, I’m ready!”
Block lifted a cover from a switch on the panel and closed the switch. There was complete silence in the room, for everyone present was holding their breath.
Then Wellman sighed, took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. His chest did not rise again. Madelyn Chapman looked at the small panel of instruments on the bedside table and then said, “He’s gone Maynard.”
“What!” cried Wang? ”Is he dead? What went wrong?”
“Absolutely nothing is wrong, Paul! Everything went just right! It worked just as we planned!” said the hologram of Wellman which had appeared next to that of Laiinet.
Wang tore his eyes from the body in the bed and looked at the new apparition before him. There stood Wellman as he must have looked when he was a young man. He was smiling and holding the hand of Laiinet who was beaming!
“What do you think, Paul? Isn’t that a trick? It took us twenty-five years to figure out how to move my consciousness into the computer and now at last Laiinet and I can be together!”
“But you’re dead! I watched you die! These people killed you!
“Paul, that body is dead but it was about to die anyway! It only had days to live and I would have died with it.”
“It’s true, Paul. The cancer was very virulent, he was rapidly running out of time,” said Chapman.
“Then this is the story for the world,” said Wang, “We don’t really have to die! But will everyone, anyone, want to live as a hologram?”
“No,” said Laiinet, “we think that it will appeal to very few people once they understand what is involved. We will make provisions to educate and elucidate the situation. We will have to wait and see on this one.”
“But Paul, that isn’t the real issue here. I said we would make a long held dream of mankind come true but I wasn’t talking about conquering death. I think in its true form, that victory is yet to come. Perhaps it will be a byproduct of what we are about to do. If that becomes a true goal of our race then it may happen. We only intend to set the stage for possibilities.”
“What do you mean? This day has had so many twists now, that I can’t imagine what you two are really up to. What dream are you talking about then?”
“Peace, Paul, real peace,” said Laiinet. “We are the end of war! There will be no more weapons of war designed or built. Nothing that results in large scale violence will be able to happen ever again! The factories that build guns, bullets, bombs, tanks and all the materials of war will no longer work. The designs for such things will evaporate into meaningless dots of light on a computer screen. The plans for war will scramble, radios and radars won’t work, navigation systems in warships and bombers won’t work. Those who would make war will not get medical services. Their funds will disappear from the banks. No more dictators. Politicians had better be honest. We can and we will reveal fraud and duplicity!
“Think about it. We are everywhere and we never sleep. Nothing can get by us. We read, write and speak every language in the world! We can break any code. It’s over, Paul. Mankind will have to work it out honestly, peacefully. We won’t tolerate violence or those who promote it. It will take a while for people to get it, but they will, and when they do there will be rejoicing in the streets. There will be a new birth of freedom and joy on this planet. It begins today! Thank You for helping us tell our story.”
The holographic figures embraced, looked into each other’s eyes, merged into one and slowly faded away.
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end: Turing Love