Jaxon Research Ch. 01

***Hey all,

This is my first attempt at writing. Ever. Please be kind.

The concept for this story has been bouncing around in my head for several years now, and while MC was only hinted at so far, in Chapter two you will see why it belongs here.

I stopped Chapter 1 at ~1000 words to gauge interest, and try to read the room before diving deeper- no sex in this chapter, though there will be a lot of sex in Ch. 2 if all goes as planned ;P ***

Life since I uploaded has been different (as expected), yet surprisingly the same.

People considered the possibilities for decades before the tech became viable, and while some of their ideas were fantastical and completely unrealistic, most failed to understand the breadth of of the changes careening down the highway towards mankind.

For example: We became able to create an accurate simulation of a copied human mind long before we had the distributed processing power to run just one at real time. Today, while death is a thing of the past (barring freak accidents), and massive promotional programs are run by the Social Security Administration begging people to upload early to save the creaking financial bones of a endowment once flush with assets, most people once uploaded still run at about 20% of real time- despite the SSA becoming the largest server farm operator and research sponsor in the world.

The poor are as always, fucked.

I, of course am not most people.

-Chapter 1-

Mornings are odd. I still need sleep- far less since I accelerate well past real time during my off hours, and the need is purely for the reallocation of data- no biological needs there. But they're odd because I wake up... awake. During my (sadly far longer than I wish) stint in meatspace, mornings were my least favorite time of day. Cloudy, stumbling, aching- none of those feelings assail me now, and aside from a moment's disorientation I wake up completely clear headed.

Today I begin my day by rolling out of my bed, feeling the carefully designed qualia given by the thick, luxurious carpet, and pulling on my velvet smoking jacket.

Once uploaded, your experience varies wildly depending on your abilities, and willingness to learn. Some of us, known colloquially as "intuits" found (on the advent of neural-computer interfaces in the late 2040s) that we had an unusual ability to separate ourselves from physical methods of communication- writing and transmitting code without a need for simulated crutches (body, keyboard, screens), and allowing us to move through simulated environments in what can most accurately be analogized as "god-mode".

Most people- especially those over the age of 30, must have an entire environment created for them, just to be able to function virtually. I cannot deny the comfort of such anchors, but I find most mass-produced work to be shoddy, and lacking in the details- and frankly, it's more satisfying to build ones own.

This was to be an exciting day. My emails with a prospective subject had gone well, and I was to meet her later in the afternoon to sign the paperwork. I walked over to my item compositor (I choose weird names for everything I create- honestly, because it amuses me), and tell her to make me a cup of coffee, and an everything bagel. An excited "yes sir" later, and my breakfast was ready. Kelley (my "item compositor"), is alive. Not an AI, but an actual consciousness.

I've tied the parts of her brain responsible for orgasm, to her ability to create things. The better pleased I am with her work, the more intense her feelings of satisfaction. She has no body, aside from her fixture in my wall- and aside from her adjustment period, seems to be the happiest she has ever been in her life. Kelley was my first acquisition. That was an odd day...

We sat across the poorly rendered table. Kelley's avatar was a depressingly low-quality artist's recreation of her as a twenty-something, made from some early digital photos, before digital optics were nearly capable enough for the task- and likely a few scanned in prints.

Kelley was a bubbly soul, with kind eyes and a submissive demeanor. I eyed her after the pleasantries were over and began:

"Kelley, you know a little about why I am here, but you don't know everything. I can tell you, should you consent to a 15 minute rollback after you answer, understanding you will remember nothing of our conversation after I leave this room".

"Room" was a rather generous description. Virtual space is cheap, however rendering quality is at a premium on SSA servers, and the "room" looked like nothing so much as 4 cardboard sheets in a square with decorations printed on.

Kelley took a moment to reply

"What *can* you tell me without a rollback?"

"I can tell you that you will be paid enough to cover 6 consecutive months of real time speed, or several hundred years of VR meetings and calls; that the neural copy will be owned by my company, Jaxon Research, and that you will be affected in no way by this transaction, except that you will be rather wealthier after I leave"

"Will it take long?" "No", I replied "actually, there is a copy sitting in an escrow account as we speak. it is being updated about every half a second, and I cannot touch it until you give your consent and the funds have been deposited in your account"

"Well I honestly don't see as there's much else I need to know is there?" she said, reaching down to digitally sign the documentation.

"I suppose not", I replied.

An hour later, I was again sitting in as close to an identically designed space as I could manage.

I sat across from a beautifully designed avatar, hand created by me- also based on the photos I mentioned earlier, but with rather a lot more attention to detail, with a few... adjustments.

Much like her meatspace body, her avatar measured a mere 4'11", with long dark hair, pale skin, stormy grey eyes, and a beautiful smile. Unlike her meat suit, this one was free of blemish, hairless from the nose down, possessing a pair of rather more generous 36DD breasts, and every single touch receptor about 5x more sensitive than was normal.

For my own entertainment, all avatars I build have subtle idle routines- maintaining breathing, responding to simple commands & slight swaying movements when holding still. It's far more interesting to work on a model with at least a passing look of life, than one unnervingly still. Once past the uncanny valley, a perfectly still avatar resembles nothing so much as a corpse.

I took a deep breath, and snapped my finger.

Immediately, I saw life enter Kelley's eyes. "Oh, was there anything else?" Amused, I raised an eyebrow "what do you mean?" Kelley replied "I just... assumed you would leave after I signed?"

"I did" I replied.

Kelley looked down, realizing for the first time that she was naked "Uhhhh. Oh."