The Fox Inheritance Read Online Free PDF

just now recognizing his slip. "Yes, of course," he says. He clears his throat and shifts in his seat. "Kara and Locke do not have end dates. Since they were unavailable to consult with prior to their restoration, we simply will allow the BioPerfect to run its own course, which we expect to be four to six hundred years. Of course, unforeseen traumas can still happen, which might shorten their lives, but they will never have to worry about disease or the natural progression of age."
    Mr. Jafari nods. "BioPerfect," he repeats slowly, like he is envisioning all that it might mean.
    We have end dates. Four to six hundred years . How could he not tell us that?
    "And their minds?" Mr. Jafari asks. "How did you get them to work with this technology?"
    "Minds are simply uploaded into a central datasphere and they immediately begin functioning, communicating with the rest of the BioPerfect just the way the brain communicates with cells and nerves in a typical human body."
    "No, I mean, does it all come through intact? After all that time? Nothing is left behind?"
    "I think the proof is before your eyes. We have two completely normal and fully functioning people."
    "Yes, I can see that." He turns to Dr. Gatsbro and says in a low voice that Kara and I can easily hear, "Was anything ... added ?"
    Dr. Gatsbro reaches into his pocket. "Absolutely not. I understand your concerns, Mr. Jafari, and they are valid." He pulls out a scanner. "But Kara and Locke are as free-willed as you and I. There is not one bit of programming in them that would make them anything remotely like a BioBot. Be my guest." He offers the scanner to Mr. Jafari.
    Jafari doesn't take it from him and instead reaches into his own pocket. "I'll use my own, if you don't mind."
    Mr. Jafari turns to us. "May I?" Kara and I both nod. Dr. Gatsbro warned us the visitor might want to make sure we had no BioBot programming in us.
    He runs the scan on Kara first and then on me. "All I detect is an iScroll?"
    "Yes, I have an iScroll patch." I show him my palm.
    "So do I," he says, showing me his. "I just wanted to make sure that's all it was. I have one last question about the uploading." He steps closer to me and whispers, "All that time alone, the waiting. Was it painful?"
    Dr. Gatsbro intervenes, patting me on the shoulder. "No, of course not. There is no sensory input, so--"
    "No." Mr. Jafari swiftly raises his hand in a stopping motion. "I want to hear it from him ." He lowers his hand and repeats, "Was any of it painful, Locke?"
    No light.
    No touch.
    Only my thoughts. All the steps that couldn't be taken back. All the wondering. All the guilt about what couldn't be undone. And then anger for a sentence that didn't fit the crime. Throw in some hopelessness, and it was like acid sizzling over eyes that wouldn't shut. Centuries of it that I could at least share with Kara when we could share nothing else. Painful does not begin to describe it.
    I look at Kara.
    Tell him. Tell him about our tea party in hell.
    I look at Dr. Gatsbro, his lower lip twitching, as he struggles to be silent the way Mr. Jafari requested. An image of my father flashes through my mind, my father biting his lower lip and struggling for words to tell me that my brother was gone and never coming home again. I was only twelve at the time. I didn't understand about leaving yet and the changes my brother's absence would bring. I didn't know about the power or the pressure yet. But I feel the pressure and the power of my reply now, like if I say the wrong thing, we might all disappear the same way my brother did. I can't see Dr. Gatsbro anymore--only my father trying not to break.
    I finally shake my head. "Sorry it's taking me so long to answer, but I barely remember it. Really," I say. "I guess it's like Dr. Gatsbro says. Without any sensory input, it's more like a dreamworld, or limbo. No pain. Sorry, I wish I could remember more."
    I'm convincing. For once, utterly convincing. I lift the corner of my mouth in