Beloved Android

The scientist hurriedly pressed all the required buttons on the labyrinth of machines in his laboratory. His shuffling footsteps echoed off the walls lined with beeping and blinking equipment…from the plain high ceiling…and the inclined bed in the middle. On the bed lay…a lifeless representation of someone who had once breathed…laughed, and loved such a long time ago…too long to be counted.

Once the scientist finished calibrating everything…he stopped to wipe the thick beads of sweat trickling down his forehead…little salty rivers suffused with his anxiety. But anxiety was too little a word…this was a matter of life and death, heaven and hell, happiness and unbearable misery. Rubbing his eyes, the scientist placed his face in his sweaty palms…the strands of his beard bristling. Breathing slowly and steadily, he persuaded his erratically beating heart to calm down. He needed all the strength and courage at his disposal to go through with it.

He had worked relentlessly for too many years now. He had remained persistent despite failures at so many turns. He had worked day and night, pushing his mind to its absolute limits. All of it…just to be at this point.

Feeling his mind and body calming down, the scientist turned to look at the bed upon which lay (the mostly metallic and silicon) likeness…of his departed beloved. All through his herculean scientific struggle, the memory of her warm smile, gentle touch, and melodious laughter had kept him steadfast on this unprecedented path he had decided to tread.

“All for you, my love…all for you,” he muttered, his gaze fixed on the bed.

Tapping the holographic device on his wrist, he gave a voice command, which showed…his favorite picture of his deceased soul mate. Tiny pools of tears filled his eyes as the scientist within him stepped aside. At this moment, he was a man in love…a tragic lover who could not accept his loss.

The day he heard the fateful news…of her illness materialized in his consciousness as he stood squinting at the hologram through moist eyes. All the stitches put by time instantly shattered…and the wound on his soul was as hurtful as the day of the fateful news. The darkness closed in on him…and he knew there was nowhere else to be, nothing else to do. This outcome was inevitable…the life he had lived for so many years was the only one possible. It could not have been any other way…not with him…not as long as he remained lucid and sane.

He was a firm believer in science. And saw the universe as matter and energy…transforming under immutable and transcendent laws. Embracing this Truth (yes, T capital) was the only redemption for fragile mortals to become…more than just advanced primates. This faith and his ardent love for her had enabled him to make the most significant scientific breakthrough ever since humanity had started to think, question, create and destroy. The laboratory in which he stood was the culmination of the scientific endeavors of the brightest minds ever. From Euclid’s “Elements” to Newton’s “Principia,” …he had arrived at the zenith of the human scientific adventure that towered over the quantum revolution and the invention of computers. Emerging from his reverie, the scientist did not feel pride…but humility. He was humbled by the miracle that the laws of physics had allowed him to achieve. The scientist…had found a way to defeat mortality.

Ever since his days as a young research scientist, he had been fascinated with the human brain…and its incredible complexity. His goal had been to contribute as much as possible to mapping the brain’s neural networks. He wanted nothing less than to transform the mind into a set of data…which could be replicated into an electronic device that worked exactly like the brain. When he heard of the illness, his scientific ambition soared…to the point that he needed ten lifetimes to accomplish everything required to bring his beloved back to life.

She wanted him to spend more time with him after she got ill. But he burned the candle at both ends, working as fast as possible to map her mind. She passed away before he could finish, leaving his data incomplete and his heart shattered.

Working around the incomplete data, he had found improvisations and substitutes to make the operating system…to create her consciousness. The android lying on the bed was the fruit of his gargantuan labors. It worked as a substitute for the human body…with the device inside the metallic skull acting as the brain. One push of the green button on the side of the inclined bed would upload the operating system…his beloved’s “soul” into the machine.

Taking a deep breath, the scientist closed his holographic device and walked to the inclined bed. The exterior of her body was made of a light and strong metallic alloy…white and smooth. But on her face, he had put prosthetic skin…so he could see her beautiful face and know it was her.

“Soon, you will be in my arms again, my love. One way or another…,” he said.

Arrogance had never been his biggest flaw. The scientist understood that the universe was too grand…and it was a miracle that humans could probe and understand its workings. He was not sure this was going to work. Disillusionment had ravaged his soul too many times in his arduous journey. He had often been on the brink of despair…deciding to embrace the endless pain. But hope…that muster of bravery…had made him keep going. If things did not work tonight…he wasn’t sure if he had the strength left to continue when logic dictated that continuing would be following illusions. If it did not work, there was no way to bring her back.

Taking another deep breath, the scientist braced himself…and pushed the button. Ever so silently, the laboratory uploaded the operating system into the android…infusing the likeness of his beloved with a soul. Time came to a standstill as he saw the bar filling up on the big monitor at one end of the laboratory. His heart started beating so fast he could feel it thrashing against his chest…as if threatening to burst out.

Finally, the bar reached 100% completion…and she opened her eyes.

Looking into them, the scientist knew that he was looking into the eyes of his beloved. Before she could say another word…the scientist broke down into tears. He cried like an infant, bawling and saying, “Thank you!” between sobs.

He had done the impossible, made possible by his faith in science and looking at the universe as it is…allowing him to make it how he wanted it to be.