Eden Now

    The question hung in the air like a lone snowflake, light and drifting, beautiful, but afraid of the warmth of the concrete below, not wanting to melt away without having been fully appreciated first. I savored the temptation for a moment, remembering what it was like.   
Then, I replied.   

    Her eyes widened like two suns hanging in the vastness of space, peering at me as if bewildered or entranced. I attempted to appear natural, confident...normal, if you will.

"The calculations are correct. You are a very wise woman to have brought it up."
Her expression did not change. We were having a moment, I was sure of that. 
"Lucy..."

"No...," she sputtered, backing away. I assured her that there was nothing to be afraid of.  I was the same old ...the same old...

    Uh-oh, my name. I think I'm supposed to have one. I'm sure of it. I'm supposed to have a name, just like Lucy has a name. The pretty young girl from my school, a girl I've known for years. I know that her name is Lucy, and my name is...

    Damn. They never told me this would happen when I signed up to be Uploaded. 
In fact, my memory was to be increased by a thousand times, at least. That was what my parents paid for!
   
    But Lucy was not supposed to know, yet. The Artificial Intelligence revolution never sat well with her, or her family. The Roombots were alright, but all they did was sweep the kitchen floor and do the taxes. But when they began to integrate this technology into the biological and mental functions of human beings, Lucy was up in arms. If a human being has a computer connected to their brain to enhance mental function and capacity, then they are no longer human, she said. They are something else entirely. A cyborg. 

    She would not speak to me for a week when I asked her what was wrong with being a cyborg. Hey, is it not human nature to progress? And is the AI revolution not the ultimate in progression?
   
    She would not have it. She went on and on about "the soul". Oh, come on. I like Lucy, she has been my friend for a long time, since grade school, but she could be a little bit... well, a party pooper of sorts. I mean, who cares about "the soul" when you can calculate 800 times faster than a human?  I mean a non-enhanced human, of course. (Actually, we started to call them hairless apes, or even skin puppets, but I would never call Lucy that. I made sure my love for her was programmed into my hard drive). 

    So, here we were. The question. Well, the question Lucy posed to me was this:  What is one million, two hundred thousand, three hundred and fifty eight times fifty six thousand?
   
    It was such a lovely, glistening, shining, wonderful question that the answer just slipped out of me. I could not help it! I think she has been on to me for weeks now. 
I reach out my hand, which feels strange with this new mind. Almost as if I do not even need it, like a burden, a small sack of warm, wet, squishy annoyance. I have had a major Upgrade, what in the hell do I need this temple for?

    "I'm still human, Lucy," I told her, which was at least half true.  "And I'm still yours."  And then I waited. 

    Then, at that moment, Lucy's eyes soften. The corner of her mouth turns up slightly. I hear her breathe a soft sigh of relenting submission, a sigh that tells me her heart still holds this machine, this man, close. Not even the fact that I can out think her a million times over can harden her to me. Not for long. She takes my hand, and pulls me gently toward her. I can smell her perfume, and my mind dissects it, breaking it down to the different ingredients, down to the compounds and the separate chemical elements, down to the individual molecules... and I count them all within milliseconds. Ah, love.

    I hold Lucy for some time, kissing her neck gently because I know this is what she loves most. She feels strange in my arms, like jell-o. I calculate the exact amount of pressure I am putting on her body. I grin, because I know that Lucy truly loves me, all of me, because she still loves the man in me. And I love her too. To be a bit more precise, I love what she could become. See, I really do love Lucy, just like she is.  But she could do with a little update, if you know what I mean. 

    Like moving pieces on a chessboard, I begin to quickly formulate ten and twenty moves ahead. Everything that I will need to do and say so that Lucy will agree to be Uploaded, just like me. And then, well, the future is ours, mine and hers. Hers and mine. My love. She will be Uploaded, and we will have children, all programmed right from birth and Uploaded into the System. 

    They may not even have to wear these ridiculous meat suits the way we humans have to. No, they will have the honor of being the first completely artificial intellects born by man and technology. Oh, it makes me so excited just to consider it!  How proud I would be!

    So, you see now. You see why I can not process the irrational fear that some display before me. This revolution of technology is the real beginning. Everything up until now was merely in the womb. Yes, Lucy and I, our children, are being born into a new world. And my name?  Well, just call me the Alpha and the Omega. 

    Come, my love. Let us eat from the Tree of Technology. Let us partake in the Fruit of Super Intellect. Let us fear no god before us, for we are the gods of the new day.