The Net 7.0
day Anne came to see Ubi, she quickly went through the front door, past him without greeting him, revealing that she was agitated. He followed her into the room where she sat, all this proved she was upset.
- I want to go see Hugh personally. - Said Anne quickly.
- I think now is not a good time.
- You don't understand actually I'm not able to sleep. I'm just thinking where Hugh is. I have not hungry. My mother is worried about me. I'm there in my room and everything seems to dark. I go out into the street, and also outside, everything seems sad. Everything seems a night without a sunrise. - Anne gave a deep sigh at the end.
Ubi was apprehensive with the situation. Suffering of passion, there is not a cure for it.
- I... - Anne began, making a long pause before continuing - I feel a bad feeling, I love Hugh, but I want an assurance that Hugh is in this world. Loving someone who is dead is terrible, but at the end of burial, good or bad, life goes on. But Hugh did not die, right? But I can’t feel that he is alive. It is as if he were out of this world, as if he were a ghost that I see but can’t touch. Funny I say that. Do you notice? It's actually the opposite, I do not see Hugh but I can touch it. Hugh is a... anti-ghost.
Ubi has not said anything that could comfort Anne then tried to change the course of the conversation.
- Did you see what Hugh did yesterday? - Ubi asked.
- Yes I did.
- You know, Hugh is going through phases. His brain is learning to control the new body, just like a baby does. Only in his case, the brain learns very quickly. What a baby can take months and years, the brain of Hugh has led days. Anne I know what you want. You would like to be able to dating Hugh, talking with him, that he would recognize you, at least you would like to see Hugh in that new body, you are looking to him and know that he is not like your Hugh. I know that. I also wanted that. But Anne we will have to wait, because I do not know how much memory will be saved of Hugh, or remain as it was originally. Graphs show that memory is constantly changing, super activated, and simply I can’t have the slightest idea what's going on in these brain areas of Hugh. Maybe there is too much memory being erased and another written upon this old.
“... is not simple. Even if you could write a memory for him this would not work so easy. People have memories based on the facts of their lives, precisely because they lived through these events. But when writing a memory for someone who has not lived that way this breaks the interaction between these real facts of this memory and the life that exists. The memory could not explain the life and thus would be difficult to give directions. It would be like writing the memory of an event that left a scar on face, and go look in the mirror and not see any scar (in his case, did not see any face). Easily he passes to doubt his memories or his identity. It is a big problem. A memory of life can’t be like a tale, in this respect we have a text adventure and not a real life...”
//SeRP/procedure/z/AI/research/
- Please... I want to meet Hugh. Otherwise I know I'm still not sleeping and not pass this affliction. Please! I really need, even for a moment.
Ubi took a deep breath.
- Okay Anne - Ubi agreed with her. I have an hour with Hugh for personal visit the day after tomorrow. I can pass it to you. You know, in fact, myself have visits to Hugh regulated. It's funny! I have access 24 hours a day for Hugh, but only virtual. I can see him at any time on these screens. Maybe he's more a ghost than a material being. But after all, in this present world, we are all ghosts of a virtual world.
So a visit was scheduled for Anne, finally she would see Hugh, although Ubi has extrapolated his authority.
“... what being am I? First I put a tick-tack on a wire, and blew away a few words in my telegraph. What being am I? After that I put my voice on wires, and could expose my feelings to thousands of miles long from me, my body was connected with ligaments miles away and at the end of them, I can explain my state of mind to the ears of someone else. Imagine that every phone call you make, do a wire extends from your body to the link destination, and there, far away, a piece of your soul falls. What being am I? At the beginning came sounds that came through the air, and going into my radio told me of events away from my body, my ear stretching as far as these events were taking place. Imagine stretching the ears of all that. What being am I? After that images and sounds traveling through the air and made me see and hear events away from me, a TV. So now not only stretched my ears, but my eyes stretched too. Imagine that. What being am I? And then I could see, hear, and participate in events that were everywhere on this planet, I could be in many places at once, on each of the screens there is on the Internet, now it was actually my whole body is stretched by this entire planet. What being am I? What body I have? How far does my soul go? ...”
//overseas/loanwords/p&p/c&c/
Anne was apprehensive on the day of her visit. She never liked hospitals, her mother had been ill for a long time and had to be hospitalized, forcing Anne to come to the hospital too, in fact there wasn't this hospital, but hospitals are always so similar, is not exactly a thing with the hospital’s building, but a concept, from a place where everyone is always in a hurry to leave. Anne had spoken to a clerk of the ordinance and was waiting the girl to call her again. There was some paperwork in the case of visitors to Hugh. The attendant came back and told Anne that everything was fine and that Anne could get into the room and explained how to get there.
Anne went through a great door and as in any hospital she was in a maze of corridors, with many rooms. There was no sun light in those corridors which reinforced a certain dark tone to them.
Ubi was watching on screens the footsteps of Anne, he noticed her apprehension. Ubi and everyone else could access the images from these cameras, always be a mystery know how many and which people are actually accessing by Internet which images in which cameras around the world, always ghosts, stealth and secretive ghosts.
Anne walked through several hallways and felt an increase sense of claustrophobia, finally stopped in front of the Hugh's room, her breathing was heavy. Anne would like a window, a bit of sunlight, to know that there was an "out there".
After entering the room and close the door behind her, in silence, she began to walk towards the bed, her eyes were wide open than usual. She eventually would look at Hugh. She would see a person for who she was such a great feeling to see again. Hugh had his eyes open, looking forward and has not noticed the presence of Anne who came to his right. Anne stopped a few steps from the bed, stared at the face of Hugh, incomprehensible feelings arose in her, and her breathing was racing. It took a moment this stagnation. Anne gave the last steps and came face to face with Hugh. He looked at her with a straight face.
Ubi sighed there in his room, expecting that Hugh may recognize Anne, but nothing happened. Anne also was upset, still looking hard at Hugh, who remained indifferent. Anne spent her fingers on his head, began to stroke his hair, and he began to sketch out strangeness. Strong thoughts cropped up at the head of Anne, who tried avoid feeling there was something strange about that body. She then let her fingers glide on Hugh's face, a startled expression came over his face, and with a quick strike he took her hand, holding it tightly. She started screaming frightened, so Hugh was scared too and squeezed her hand more and more.
Within moments Ubi rushing into the room quickly grabbed the arm of Hugh, and managed to force him to open the fingers of his hand, freeing Anne. She was frail, visibly crying in pain, she was holding her hand which is still white because the pressure. Hugh looked calm, now that Anne had stopped screaming, he firmly stared at Ubi.
Ubi held the hand of Anne, to examine it, there was nothing serious, just the pain would be intense, because Hugh's fingerprints appeared on that little hand. Ubi was comforting Anne when they leaving the room. Ubi had not noticed the eyes of Hugh were fixed at him. He was leaving the room, when Hugh made a sound incomprehensible, was the sound of "a" extended. Ubi turned and Hugh gave that sound again, and reached out toward Ubi. It is like
a call. Perhaps Hugh had finally recognized his father.
“... this incident just goes to show that it is too early to simulate the softness of the human touch. The skin looks like a human brain, is amazing what it can do. Although we will take a long time to...”
//Zero/research/projects/AI/advanced/need_funds/I88B/
“... a debt that is never paid, isn't it? I didn't ask, but I'll always owe you. The funny thing is that I'm not sure you did me good. On bad days I definitely blame you. But in the end I always forgive you. Anyway, thanks for life, Dad...”
//easter/thanks/message-33j05-calvary/
Ubi could not sleep that night because had an anguish and a fear on him. He was pleased by the recovery of Hugh and the idea that maybe Hugh would recognize him. But behind this awakening was the ability to judge and understand what Ubi had done. He was terrified of what Hugh would think about everything that had happened. Perhaps Hugh would condemn it all, and that would be the end for Ubi, no more hope to sustain the fragile justifications for his actions, only left the taste of bitter regret.
At morning Ubi had breakfast, actually he swallowed food, he looked at the screen which showed the face of Hugh, who was with a dark