Further than Before- Pathway to the Stars Read online

  “Vesha, you are remarkable in every way, you have tremendous and nearly unlimited potential, and what you choose to do with it lies within you alone.

  “You will be able to learn anything, absorb so much more than before, pretty much everything you wish, travel anywhere, and do anything you put your mind to. My sweet friend, you will have the capacity to resolve some of the most rigorous issues known to mankind both in this world and throughout the Universe.”

  Vesha continued to look into the mirror and beheld herself with awe and a hearty side-dish of disbelief, but despite all, she beheld what she saw with an internal and increasing excitement, filled with gratitude.

  “I suppose this is where it all starts. It all starts within each of us and goes out from there. What do you think of the tattoos and rainbow highlights in your hair?”

  “I am impressed with your work, Yesha. This is unimaginable, yet so lovely! Who would have thought of this arrangement? Who would have guessed I would have been so amused? I am blown away by the aqua, the turquoise, the green, the rich purple, and the soft yellow highlights. I suppose I might never have imagined this in such a way, so many beautiful variations and shades that truly do complement my curly brunette angled-bob hair.”

  “Your right brain and its inventive processes are responsible for your look, and you are very creative,” Yesha explained. “Look at the tattoo-like artwork on your left side, as it swirls and moves around. We didn’t hire any artists for the intricate artwork, if we had, they would have made a viable fortune, it is your mind doing this.

  “What do you think?”

  Vesha thought about the question quickly and responded, “I’m still so amazed at my hair and my skin. I haven’t seen anything resembling this face on myself in the mirror in decades, who would have thought that these extra details could bring so much wonder? The eye-catching colors—the locks of hair, I like how they match my eyes and everything else! I understand what you’re saying about the regional and right-brain-controlled outward expressions of what I look like, in some cases my eyes, hair, and makeup seem to adjust every moment, like a large ship on a series of ocean waves, modifying so smoothly and unnoticeably.

  “I presume it was you and Eliza, who made most of this possible? If so, you guys did a wonderful job! I always knew you two had genius minds. I am impressed. Thank you to both of you!” In an excited sense of inquisitiveness, Vesha asked, “Is there a brief explanation as to how all of this was possible? You asked about the tattoo-like artwork!? Oh, I haven’t checked! Okay, sorry. I will look. Let’s see.”

  Vesha paused as she untied and dropped her silk garments and beheld the fullness of splendor of her new physical and youthful attributes.

  “Whatever it is that I had been feeling earlier—that tingling sensation on my left side when I got up to answer the door, it must be related to those, to these?” She paused again and began to realize that just as her body adjusted to its new system, as if in a complexed and harmonious symphony, something was optimizing and changing her internally impacting and adjusting her external artwork at every moment. The magnificence of it all hit her for a moment with inaudible gratitude. As the artwork adjusted, it was as if it were a series of scenes from a silent movie, and instead of causing pain, these changes filled her with euphoria and vibrancy. Vesha then glowed as she healed or adjusted.

  “If that is the case now, if I am glowing because of the upgrades and adjustments now, the same could be true when my body is optimizing no matter where I might be, in private or public.” It hit her, she might want to be discreet when in public and learn how to control it.

  “Not only do the colors of my tattoo-like artistry intensify, but each shape and the intricate details on my physique change in form, almost continuously, like a picture-screen with sophisticated imagery in motion throughout various areas of my body, while leaving my skin aglow as I heal and upgrade.”

  In the bathroom, after she had shed her wardrobe to see the changes, Vesha graciously continued to talk to Yesha about her artwork, “Yesha? Wow! I haven’t pictured myself like this in years! I was in the world for eighty-eight good ones, and aging took its toll, sagging, greying, and wrinkling, and I accepted its prettiness in my own way. Oh, I earned every bit of the wear and tear, but I would never have even imagined this was possible! Oh, wow, Yesha! My mind is blown!

  “I remember when you told us about optimized physiology before I passed away, and I said I would live life out naturally. I arranged it so after my funeral, I would donate what was left to Pathway, for science. Knowing me, I am pretty sure that I wouldn’t have approved of any of this, or its peculiarity. In a way, I suppose I was willing, since I donated my body for research with at least a little inkling of hope in you guys.

  “I always believed, before seeing what I am seeing now, that aging in grace was gorgeousness in its own right; letting nature take its course was the moniker for dealing with senescence and death in the past. Death was a part of Nature’s evolution with so many mixed results, but here I am, alive as can be, and with every result as desirable as my imagination allows it to be.

  “My body was an empty tapestry just waiting for a masterpiece of self-expression before I passed away, and I took an almost quiet and condescending tone of minor judgment against those wearing artistry, but here I am, and here is the art, ornate, exquisite, and so expressive, and I like it. My apologies to all for not appreciating others as much as I ought to have for their self-expression before. This skin art is a part of me! Seeing what I see, knowing what I know, and feeling what I feel? It’s magnificent!

  “Wow, I can see my dream angel, Sky, moving around within my body-murals! Sky was such a lovely friend to me, during the worst of it all! I can tell you with full confidence that I approve of this and its oddities more than one-hundred percent, if that’s possible, Yesha!”

  Vesha was awash in enthusiasm and excitement. Deep down, she was thrilled and extremely impressed with the turn of events, courtesy of her friends. Vesha knew that it wasn’t vanity to appreciate the merging of natural and humanity-driven evolution. The proof stood before her in the mirror and existed within the increasing clarity of her mind. She contemplated how, with speed, all she had ever learned and felt was multiplying in her mind and her body in both complexity and meaning. It became as clear as day to Vesha that she was now, everything she could have ever imagined being, feeling, and hoping for.

  Vesha looked upon her renewed physical facial features, her pouty, full, and perfect lips, her slightly upturned nose and its soft point and was trying not to be smitten with herself. She couldn’t help it though. Her smoothly-chiseled chin and high cheeks, her hair that was full in volume and color again, and her eyebrows perfectly trimmed without the need for effort, were any woman’s dream. She gathered the courage to look upon her naked body, and with awe and disbelief, she could not take her eyes away from her newfound youth, her perfection, and all of its splendor—her tight skin, her firm yet soft curves, her colors, and her perky faultlessness.

  “I normally would not have found it within me to look at myself like this, or even ask, but I will now. What do you think, Yesha? Please look, I trust you; this is amazing! You’ve performed a scientific miracle!

  “Thank you, Yesha!

  “How did you and Eliza do it?”

  Yesha walked into the hallway from the living room and stood to the left of the bathroom entrance, with her back against one wall gazing across the hall opposite the doorway—mostly to maintain Vesha’s sense of privacy for now, until she was sure Vesha was just a little more comfortable in her new skin.

  Yesha then responded to Vesha’s question, “It wasn’t easy, we had your DNA, your full-on genetic code, and your entire neural network. It was recorded within our Twelve Database Moons, courtesy of the preservation transceivers placed into your system when you became an honorary member of Pathway, and then the notification alerted us from the app on your smartphone, that you had passed away. Luckily, the neural link betw
een your mind and smartphone, beamed everything we needed to the Twelve Database Moons, and recorded everything about you, down to your last thoughts, before your final breath.

  “Everything we needed to bring you back was available to work with, and it is clear now that we achieved as close to perfection as possible while retaining your will, your memories, your ‘you-ness,’ and here you are.

  “So, yes, Vesha Celeste, you are still the amazing ‘You’ that you ever were and always have been; only now, your physiology has been optimized to near perfection in every possible and conceivable way. As you may have noticed, many will have difficulty not appreciating how beautiful you are, because your mind shows your inner and outer beauty.

  “As you already noted, your artistic right-brain definitely has a say in your appearance to a certain degree, given all that was done—the hair, the colors, and the artwork. Seeing life pulsate through you again certainly brings my heart some peace and joy.

  “Vesha, it indeed took a lot of work, a lot of study time, and again, even more work, but at last we did it. Eliza, James, Amber, Erin, Najem, Jasmine, and many of your friends at Pathway were involved. Despite all, I am so glad you approve. I’m impressed with you and your progress in such a short period of time!

  “There is a lot about you that we updated in order to optimize your physiology and neurology, so I am sure you are aware we’ll need to familiarize and train you on all of your upgrades, as well as show you what you can do. Eventually, you will learn how to ‘normalize’ the glow and the root of it. Your right brain will soon be able to take control of what you allow others to see of you more fully.

  “Right now, we can’t run around in public, either, while you’re looking like a glow-in-the-dark person of the future. I mean, I can glow like you are if I choose, but, since your body and mind are making adjustments and enhancements and you are kind of going through a state of shock and glowing in a lesser controlled fashion, it is better that we wait. You’ll have an opportunity to head out into the real world after training.

  “Throughout our mentoring process there, we’ll help you to learn to adjust your age as needed. Right now, you look like you did when you were twenty-two, with some extra aesthetic miracles of expression. If you’d like, you can adapt your age anytime to look anywhere between twenty and thirty-five years without looking too obviously out of the norm. There’s no problem with personal expression or age, per say, we just need to be dialed down in our artistic appearance, when it comes to creative display, so we don’t stand out in an obvious way. Looking youthful is a great idea, because fewer people will notice any oddities, especially since there is a great quantity of our youthful population that can be quite creative in their expressions anyway.

  “Nonetheless, we will help you to learn how to create compartmentalized wardrobes and personalized facial and body imagery in your mind to avoid too much suspicion from anyone, outside of Pathway. Your unique facial construct and physique will always be you as if you were in the ideal condition, but certain aspects of artwork and imagery will still be yours to manipulate and hold in place. Right now, as you may have noticed, I’ve allowed my hair to express itself artistically, because we are at the Pathway Campuses in Melrose, Massachusetts.

  “I convey a conservative or professional vibe for my visual appearance in public, but from time to time, situation depending, I will let loose.

  “In the coming years, we will all be able to allow ourselves to let go a little more in public, to be as creative as we wish to be, but only marginally. Once Eliza has convinced the Senate, and the associated powers-that-be, to allow physiological and neurological reanimation and optimization as an option, humanity will have all of this available to them based on personal choice and consent.

  “It’s still an uphill battle right now, however, and for far too many reasons to explain at the moment. While somewhat frustrating, only in the purview of anyone of a sound mind would it seem that arguing against having optimized physiology and neurology is a sad way to expend one’s energy. Seriously, doesn’t it seem a waste of time on their part to discourage something so wonderful? I do believe that if chaos is their personal choice, so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else, and I’ll respect that.

  “What do you think?”

  Vesha understood the social dilemmas of so much progress so fast, and for a moment she got lost in thought. “The perspectives of society are indeed limiting when it comes to personal expression and the sharing of each aspect of our attractiveness, whether internal or external. Although new to my present reality, I know that nothing expressed by anyone in Pathway suggests brutality or grotesqueness; still, people are unnerved by something that they don’t understand, and it is unfortunate for so many, in the least helpful of ways.

  “There were many in my day that didn’t let half the population become scientists; something as simple as that was considered taboo.

  “Society could do so much more, though, if they didn’t make rules that had nothing to do with the well-being of others. Instead, they seem to discourage things like this for all that they are worth.

  “Society and governance would be better off if they didn’t arbitrarily make rules, laws, and muddy the waters of ethics in ways that aren’t very ethical, while making enemies of others, engaging in witch-hunts and generalizing vast swaths of people—of innocent, unique, and beautiful people.”

  Vesha knew that as a whole, society would be better off if they could focus on healing, optimizing, and preserving life. Vesha felt that doing so would lead to a beautiful reality. After contemplating for a brief moment, she thought about her friend, Eliza.

  Without realizing she was doing so, for the first time Vesha had activated her neurological link and communicated to everyone who had been trained and optimized within Pathway, and then she did it again, thinking she was quietly whispering within her own mind.

  “Thank you again, Eliza and Yesha, my friends, and thank you to all of our friends at Pathway. Each of you did an excellent job and this life standing before me right here is indeed a labor of love. This is amazing!”

  Vesha continued, but this time out loud. “So, Eliza, is in the Senate now. I am so happy she is there. I always knew she had a gift for leadership and decisions! I have no doubt she is winning over close colleagues, rubbing shoulders with the right leaders, and influencing people where it seems the big decisions are made. I wouldn’t mind visiting her at work to see how they keep our country functioning, sometime soon, if that is okay? She was always an inspiration. I am proud of her. No doubt she’s had some political battles along the way.

  “Doing the guesswork, I presume it has been at least two years since I passed away?” asked Vesha.

  “You are correct, Vesha. It has been two years.”

  Vesha then thought about how her physiology would work, if she were to meet someone, special. “So, I have a question.” Vesha paused, “How does my body, um, work? I mean, if I do meet a wonderful person, will I be able to have family down the road, or maybe choose to hold off while on distant journeys to the great unknown throughout and beyond our massive Universe, while still having the splendor of a relationship with someone?”

  Relieved she had asked this, Yesha explained. “This has been such a hot-button issue in society, and we have done everything we can within the development of our technologic advances to afford women their own choice when it comes to their bodies while avoiding issues that could potentially countermand the beliefs of those who might be religious regarding having children.”

  Yesha had known why her team considered this for quite some time and continued to answer her inquisitive friend, “If you are ever in that special moment with someone, all you have to do is ask, are you ready for a family? Yes or no? If they aren’t ready, or you’re not ready, then enjoy that special moment. The residue that is left behind will be absorbed by the nanos in your body to add extra health, as well as glowing and colorful light, delightful sensations, and phenomenal pleasure. If yo
u are ready, then you will be ready for childbirth in less than a week, and your child will receive all of the nurture he or she will need to grow into an amazing, healthy, brilliant, and loving individual in a matter of weeks. They will become mature as soon as necessary with the Health and Education Matrices, available in the Virtual Universe, or a person can choose to rear their children organically.”

  “That’s amazing, Yesha. What a weighty ordeal that has been for years! It has been lifted and enmity gone. Who would have known? This is a delightful day!”

  Yesha smiled, “Yes, that ordeal has been resolved and those fears and worries are no longer necessary. Now, there is little need for people to feel compelled to go through with bringing more children into the world if they are not ready or if the resources surrounding them are meager at best. In the reverse, if they are at a time in their lives they deem appropriate or right for that significant responsibility, they can go ahead with hope and joy.

  “We have always sensed that people should not be deprived of intimacy and that it is a shared responsibility between two persons to enjoy their connections with each other, in a manner of consent. People should allow their inner love and desire for happiness, together, blossom in so many wonderful ways.

  “We’ve always loved children, so it is nice to know that once they are born, at least in Pathway and the many Pathway Tech Cities, each child will be brought into an environment where they are loved, nurtured, and given everything needed to be successful within their own lives.

  “Women, as a result, will have an opportunity to decide on whether or not this is a good time to have families from the very beginning, without fear, death, or controversy. Instead, their decisions will be made with love and the ability to provide the desired result, while still allowing them to be beholden to their faith if that is what drives them to be the wonderful people they are. Eliza has always promoted diversity.”