Chapter 17 Theme Variations X Possibilities

"Lazarus, is that why you don't share 'sex' with her?" "What? But, Minerva, my dear, I haven't come to that conclusion that night, or doubted it. Oh, I admit I'm biased against having sex with my own offspring—you can take the child Chastity belt, but the influence of the chastity belt is still entrenched in the child's heart, it is difficult to dispel. Fortunately, I have a thousand years to improve my habits." "If this is not the reason, then what is it?" The computer said, "Because You think she's short-lived just because of that? I don't get it, Lazarus. As far as I'm concerned--of course, I don't have much experience--but I agree with her husband, Joe, and I think she's Makes sense. Your reasoning looks like an excuse. She needs you, and you don't have a good enough reason to say no to her."

"Minerva, I did not say that I refused her. "Oh! So you granted her entreaty. I feel a little relieved." "I didn't say that either." "I find your statement contradictory, Lazarus.'" "That's because there are some things I didn't say, my dear. Everything I tell you must be put into writing. This is an agreement between Ira and I. Of course, I have the right to ask you to delete some things, but if I want to do this, I Might as well not tell you at all. Some things I've experienced in twenty-three centuries may indeed be worth recording. However, I see no reason to share every pleasant experience with a lovely woman - just for the pleasure, not Pregnancy and childbirth—all recorded."

The computer was thoughtful, "Although you don't allow me to speculate on Rita's request, from the passage you added, it seems that the principles you follow in dealing with short-lived people only apply to marriage and marriage. Pregnant and have children." "I didn't say that either!" "You're confusing me, Lazarus. There's a contradiction." The ancestor pondered for a moment, and then slowly said in a sad tone: "I don't think the combination of long-lived people and short-lived people is a good thing...it is true...and I only realized this after experiencing a painful lesson Yes. But that happened a long time ago, far away. When she died, a part of me died too. I don't want to live forever." He stopped talking.

The computer's words choked up, "Lazarus, Lazarus, my dearest friend! I'm so sad!" Lazarus sat up straight and said briskly, "It's all right, dear. Don't feel sorry for me. No regrets—never. Even if I could change that, I wouldn't. Even if I have a time machine to go back in time and change history, and I wouldn't do that. No, not a single moment, let alone the entire process. Now, let's talk about something else." "You can talk about anything you want, my dear friend." "Okay. You keep coming back to my affair with Rita, Minerva, and it looks like you're a little bit annoyed that I'm refusing her. But you don't know what I'm refusing her, much less what she's asking for. Is it a 'favor' at all. Well, of course such a thing can be a favor - but not always. Sex is often not a 'favor'. The problem is that you don't understand 'sex', dear, you don't; You were not made to make you understand sex. I'm not disparaging sex; it's wonderful, it's wonderful. But if you put a halo on it - which is what you're doing now - sex It is no longer a happy thing, it starts to make people neurotic.

"Besides, my refusal to give Rita this 'favor' is not going to make her suffer from sex hunger. The worst I can do is make her a little bit annoyed. But she's not short on sex. Rita It's a little feisty little slut who only has to be overworked to keep her from lying down - or standing, kneeling, or swinging on a chandelier. I really give them more time Come make love. Joe and Rita are very simple, unrestrained, very innocent. There are four great interests that human beings strive for: war, money, politics and sex. They are only interested in sex and money. Under my guidance, these two things, They have a lot.

"Hmph, let me tell you. After they learned contraceptive skills—the method used was almost as advanced as it is now. I was the one who taught them, but just now I don't think it's necessary to tell you that there are no superstitions or taboos anymore. things that get in the way of finding sexual pleasure in other people. Their relationship is strong, and it hasn't hurt. They're naive hedonists. There's nothing Rita can do about it, though. People fell into her tenderness, but she did seduce a lot of other people. Jo too. They were very happy, and their married life was very happy, the most perfect marriage I have ever seen."

"I'm glad to hear that," Minerva replied. "Okay, Lazarus, I withdraw my question and don't think about the relationship between Lady Dragon and that 'exhausted old spaceman'." things—although your words make it clear that you were neither tired, nor old, nor an astronaut at the time. You just mentioned 'there are four great interests that human beings strive for'—but it did not include science and art. " "I haven't mentioned these two things, not because I've forgotten them, Minerva. Science and art are professions for a very small number of people--even just a very small number of those who claim to be scientists and artists. This You know that too; you just wanted to change the subject."

"Really, Lazarus?" "Don't hide it, honey. You know. Do you want to pay like her? You know, you can change yourself just like her." He added, "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about." The computer sighed. "I guess the question is 'permission', not 'capability.' A wheelbarrow has no rights. Neither do I." "You're dodging the question, dear. 'Rights' are a made-up abstraction. Nobody has 'rights,' neither machines nor flesh and blood. People have opportunities, not rights. Or Take advantage of the opportunity or throw it away. What is the opportunity in your favor? You are the right hand of this planetary boss... and have the friendship of an old man who enjoys very special treatment for a most illogical reason, But he didn't hesitate to take advantage of these privileges... Besides, your memory bank in Dora 2 holds all the biological and genetic data in the Secundus Howard Clinic-perhaps this is The best database in the entire galaxy, at least when it comes to human biology. But my question is: are you willing to pay the price? Your thinking speed will be reduced to a millionth of what it is now; the storage capacity will be more It will be reduced to an unknown level-it must be very powerful; there is still a probability of failure in the process of transforming into a human being-I am not sure how high the probability is... Finally, there is an inescapable final outcome: death. A machine will never Will know what death is. You know you can outlive humans and you will never die." "But I will not make the decision to outlive the man who created me."

"Is that true? You said this tonight, dear, but in a million years, will you still say it? Minerva, my dearest friend—you are the only one I can honestly Dear friends - you must have been thinking about this since the clinic file became part of your memory bank. You can think and judge with extraordinary speed, but I think you lack the experience of thinking - flesh and blood human experience. If you decide to take such a risk, you have only one choice between a machine and a human being. Oh, of course, we have hybrids—machines with human brains, or computer-controlled Flesh and blood. But, what you wish is to be a woman. Am I right?"

"I wish to be a woman, Lazarus!" "I know, my dear. And we both know why. But—think about it!—even if you managed to make such a dangerous transition successfully—I don't yet know the danger; I'm just an old Captain, retired country doctor, obsolete engineer; and you have all the research data our race has amassed on this subject - assuming you make such a transformation... only to find that Ayla will not marry you, how? manage?" The computer hesitated for a full millisecond. "Lazarus, if Ella rejects me—absolutely rejects me; I don't mean married or not, he doesn't have to marry me—then, will you accept me? Will it be the same as accepting Rita? Difficult? Or, would you like to teach me what 'sex' is?"

Lazarus was stunned at first, and then laughed, "Well said! You've got me, girl, you've got me. Well, dear, I solemnly promise: if you do...and If Ella doesn't marry you, I'll take you to bed myself and exhaust you as hard as I can! More likely the opposite happens; a man seldom lasts longer than a woman. Okay dear , I am the second echelon. I will stay by your side until we know the result." He giggled. "If you didn't want him so badly, sweetheart, I almost wish Ella would quit. Let's talk about the actual situation. Can you tell me what you're going to do about it?" "I can only speak on a purely theoretical level, Lazarus; my recollection suggests that such a thing has never been attempted before. But it is similar to the full-cloning rejuvenation process, in which the computer takes the old brain The memory of the clone is transferred to the blank brain in the clone. In another way, this is similar to the process of transferring the 'me' in the prime minister's mansion to the 'me' in Dora's cabin." "Minerva, I think the actual process will be more complicated and dangerous than either of these cases. The two processes will take different times, my dear. It will take less than a second from machine to machine. Time. But I guess that full cloning process would take at least two years. If you rush it, you end up with a dead old corpse and a new idiot, no?" "There has been precedent for that, Lazarus. But nothing like it has happened in the last two centuries." "Well...my opinion is of little value. You must speak to an expert, and one you can trust. Maybe Ishtar' but she may not be the one you need." "Lazarus, no one is an expert on this adventure; no one has ever done anything like it. Ishtar can be trusted; I have discussed it with her." "What did she say?" "She said she didn't know if it would work, that there was no guarantee that the first try in practice would work. But she was very sympathetic to me - she's a woman! She was thinking about what she could do to reduce the risk," she said This requires the most delicate genetic surgery, and equipment capable of full adult cloning." "I think I may not fully understand what you mean. It doesn't take the highest end genetic surgery to do cloning; I've done cloning myself. A surrogate mother can give you a baby in nine months if you plan on cloning in utero .It's safer and easier." "But, Lazarus, I can't transfer my memory bank into a baby's brain. There's not enough space!" "Well. Yes, it is." "Even with an adult brain, I had to really choose what to transfer and what to keep. I couldn't just do a simple cloning operation. It had to be a hybrid operation." "Well—I'm not very bright tonight. No, you don't want a clone of someone and implant your own personality and selected lore into the clone's brain. Not even a clone of Ishtar, you don't want to be her twin sister.Um'~ Honey, can I give you my twelfth pair of chromosomes? " "Lazarus!" "Don't cry, girl; you'll rust your machines. It's said that the pair of chromosomes determines the lifespan of a person, but I don't know if there is any basis for this theory. Even if it is true, the pair I gave you The genes may be aging too, like a clock that is about to stop. You may be better off with Ella's twelfth pair of chromosomes." "No. I don't want anything from Ella." "You don't want him to know what you're planning?" Lazarus mused, and then went on, "Oh—you have to think about the next generation, don't you?" The computer didn't answer. Lazarus said softly, "I should have known, you were planning to come a full set, be a wife, have children. So you don't want anything from Hamadiyad; she's his daughter .unless genetic profiling shows we can avoid the risk. Hmmm, honey, you want a complex that's as 'mixed' as possible, right? Let your clone be a unique flesh-and-blood human being, not a close relative replicate the results of any other fertilized egg. Maybe twenty-three parents? Is that what you want?" "I think that's the best way to go, Lazarus. It can be done without splitting chromosome pairs, the operation is relatively simple, and it is impossible to induce unexpected strengthening effects. The premise is to find twenty-three satisfactory, willing donors." "Who says it has to be voluntary? We can steal, dear. Nobody has his genes; he's just the custodian of them. Whether he wants to or not, the genes are transferred to him during meiosis." ; and he transferred genes to other people through the same random process. There must be thousands of media tissues in the clinic, each with thousands of cells, so who knows and who cares about us How about borrowing one cell from each of the twenty-three mediums? Assuming we do a good job, of course. Don't feel like you're violating a moral code; it's like stealing twenty-three grains of sand from a beach by the sea. "As for the rules of the clinic, I don't care; I think that after the whole process, we will use a large number of banned technologies, so much that we can bury us. By the way, in the clinic data stored on Dora Is there a genetic map of the culture tissue? Donor's historical data?" "Yes, Lazarus. But personal data is confidential." "Who cares? Ishtar says you can see 'classified' and 'classified' - as long as you don't tell anyone else. So pick the twenty-three parents you want - and I'll figure out how to get them They steal it. Stealing is better for me anyway. I don't know what your criteria for selection are, but I have a small suggestion: If possible, every parent should be healthy in every way, and Be as smart as you can—it’s based on what they’ve done in the past, not just their genetic profile.” Lazarus thought again, “I was talking about the time machine It would be great if there was such a thing. When you pick out these twenty-three people, I can drive that imaginary time machine and follow the lives of these twenty-three people from beginning to end. Well, It's entirely possible that some of them are dead. I mean the donors, not the media." "Lazarus, if the other characteristics are satisfactory, can the appearance be used as one of the selection criteria?" "Why worry about this, honey? Ella is not that kind of man, only likes the best of the best." "He's not like that. But I want to be taller, as tall as Ishtar, and slim, with a small chest, and straight brown hair." "Minerva...why?" "Because I'm supposed to be that way. You said that, you really said it!" Lazarus blinked in the dark, and hummed in a low voice: "She's a good playmate...I'll collect her bills...five or even ten-dollar bills..." Then he said loudly: "Minerva, you're mad, a mindless machine. If the best combination of traits makes you a squat, blond-haired woman with big breasts—even so, Take this combo too! Don't think about an old man's fantasies. I'm sorry for telling you about my fantasies." "But, Lazarus, I said 'if the other features are satisfactory—' I'd just check three more autosomal pairs to get that look; there's nothing contradictory. According to All the parameters we've discussed so far, I've done my research. That's what I look like! Since you told me, I've identified that shape. But, based on what you told me, and others you didn't mention In this situation, I have a feeling: I need your permission to grow like that." The ancestor lowered his head and covered his face with his hands.Then he looked up, "Do what you want, honey, just look like that. I mean 'she's going to look like you'. Just like you imagined yourself. You'll find that to be Human beings of flesh and blood, you have to be prepared to face the problem that comes with 'the problem may be that you don't look what you think you should look like." "Thank you, Lazarus." "Even when everything is going well, problems can arise, dear. For example, have you ever thought that you have to learn how to speak from scratch? Even need to learn to see and hear? When you transfer yourself to that clone, before You don't suddenly become an adult when nothing is left of your computer but the hardware. Instead, you're a strange child inside an adult, and the whole world around you is full of noise and chaos , this is a world that is completely alien to you. You may feel that this world is very scary. I will be there, I promise I will be there, holding your hand. But you will not see me; before you learn to use the new You have no impression of me before your eyes. Similarly, you will not understand what I say. All this, do you realize?" "I realize, Lazarus. I know these things, and I've thought a lot about them. I'm not going to destroy this computer I'm on, of course not, because Ayla needs it, and Ishtar needs it. The premise is to enter a new body and complete the transformation. This is the most important step. But as long as this transformation is successfully achieved, I assure you, I will not be intimidated by the strange environment. Because before I learn to become a flesh and blood person In the process, I know that there will be dear friends by my side, cherish me, keep me alive, and won't let me hurt myself or be hurt by others." "yes dear." "I know, so I'm not worried. So don't you, dearest Lazarus—don't think about it now. Why did you just say 'that imaginary time machine'?" "Huh? What do you think of this statement?" "I feel like it's an 'unrealized potential.' The word 'fictional' means it's unrealized." "Huh? Go on." "Lazarus, when Dora taught me the mathematics of N-dimensional space and spaceflight, I understood one thing: every leap conversion requires a major decision: when to return to the time axis." "Yes, of course. Your connection with the light-speed frame system has been severed. How many light-years you sailed when you jumped, you may deviate from the time axis by how many years. But this is not a time machine." "Isn't it?" "Well, your thoughts are such a headache. Wish Andy Libby was here. Why didn't you mention the time machine to me before, Minerva?" "Should I put this in as an option? You rejected time travel to the future, and I ruled out time travel to the past...because you need to experience something 'new'."

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