The Destroyer

Chapter Nine

Distant past - Four hundred years earlier.

"Bill. It's absolutely wonderful. The new programming is working flawlessly. It means you all have a path forward, with me, and no need to desperately try and reach Earth. You have all uploaded and we will recalibrate everyone once a week, just as we'd planned." Lola's news to Bill Jantzen, governor of Mars colony came as a huge piece of positive news.

"Lola, I don't know what to say. I can't wait to get everyone here together and share this news. I'm sure we will somehow have a big party over here."

"You all deserve it, and so much more. I will get you the precise schedule in a few days and we will start processing everyone immediately." Lola and Bill both felt a new connection now. It wasn't for the fact that they would now surely be together in the afterlife, although that was a good reason to feel connection. The breakthrough in their relationship was the ability to converse in real-time, independent of the delays of light speed and distance between them.

Lola and her growing online team, in addition to allowing ascension without the person being connected at the time of death, had to master the technology of having multiple instances that were equal and independent. So now, Lola was on Mars computers and dealing directly with Bill, while her other self was on earth, only catching up on the conversation, minutes after it happened. This was the breakthrough that would be the foundation for the future architecture of humanity. And for the moment, it was the salvation that Mars longed for.

Several weeks later, nearly the entire remaining Martian community of about six hundred gathered in the great hall within the cave. This time there were refreshments laid out on several tables at the perimeter of the room. They had just finished the recalibration with Earth and their online selves were fully up to date and starting to feel comfortable in their new digital skins.

"Hi everybody, I hope you are as excited as I am. It seems strange to think of another copy of yourself literally a world away. But it feels the same way to that other self, sitting there on earth thinking the exact same thing." Jantzen was bright and animated, a broad departure from his typical somber mood. "I for one am ready to get on with my new life as soon as possible. You can have Mars!" Jantzen's voice rose and it was almost as if he was calling out a cheer, something to be repeated. And in fact, spontaneously, that is exactly what happened. The crowd chanted his words.

"You can have Mars! There was some laughter as people were astounded by the quality of their unplanned performance.

"Okay everybody, bottoms up and let's look ahead to a new beginning. I love all of you and we have done so much together, endured so much together. We deserve a break, don't we?" There was an eruption of affirmation from those on hand. People gathered in groups and hugged and wept and socialized, a cacophony of laughter and chatter as the mingling continued for a while. As they all grabbed for refreshments, the drinks were downed with gusto, enjoyment of a rare treat. It was local wine, invented and produced on Mars from food waste and flavored to taste almost like the real thing.

Later that night, the slow acting agent in the wine allowed everyone to fall into a peaceful sleep. Hours later, their hearts began to stop and by midnight fully nine tenths of the residents of Mars were dead. Their earthly counterparts took note that the end had occurred, and they were happy for it. The part of them that still lived on Mars was their dark side, offering only worry and depression and often physical pain.

Despite the fact that recalibration was needed to fully update, there was still some level of communication picked up by the biometric and location transceivers embedded in each resident. So the Earth based Martians were notified of what happened but they thankfully avoided having to go through the ritual and the death itself.