Ted Online Pt. 09

He grinned, "Believe me, I'm plenty relaxed right now. When are we going?" he asked curiously.

He was too, relaxed that is. He loved when Mia did that for him, because of how much she loved him and wanted to do it, and that made it that much better.

Mia winked, "We have to be there at ten, so maybe a half hour or so?"

"Sounds good."

Silvia said, "I'm pretty excited about it, I got the ads ready. Hopefully they'll go viral on social media, the television stations won't touch them."

Mia shrugged, "That shouldn't be a problem, we have many A.I.s that are well versed in advertising, and since both your pods, and A.I.s in general, are extremely hot and controversial topics right now it won't be an issue I don't think."

"How long will it take to go up? The spaceport I mean."

Mia grinned, "Well the building is actually ready, and packed in a ship. We'll be using the same technique like the buildings here. Of course, the terminal building, docking ports, computer systems, and internal power will be up in a day. But it will take a couple of weeks probably to hook up water, waste, and get furniture and scanning devices in. Mars will be a no weapons zone. Since we have over six weeks left before the city is done, it should be ready in a third of the time and before we need it."

Silvia sighed, "That's pretty impressive actually. Where is it going?"

Mia replied, "Right by the international airport, just ten miles away or so, we'll also have a service between the spaceport, airport, and hotels in the city. The spaceport will actually be much smaller than an airport, since there is no need for runways. We won't need long term parking either, since they'll just use what's at the airport already, and take a shuttle bus over. The spaceport itself and the shuttle service will be a hundred percent run by A.I. androids."

He got up and kissed them both, and then said, "If I'm going to meet people I'm jumping in the shower, and putting on a suit."

Mia got up, "Good plan. I'll join you."

Silvia got up, "I'm not going, but a shower sounds nice..."

After they were ready, he held Mia's hand as they went up to the roof parking and got in the ship. He watched for a moment as she set the course, and then they headed for space and Earth.

"I love you gorgeous."

She smiled and bit her lip, "I love you too Ted. I'm kind of excited this morning, if you couldn't tell. Most of Earth is going to hell as far as A.I.s are concerned, but we're also signing a treaty between Mars and Australia today."

She smirked, "of course you noticed I was excited."

He chuckled, "It had occurred to me, yes. There's an actual paper to sign? Isn't that old fashioned?"

Mia snickered, "Yes, ironically binding agreements are usually met if an A.I. witnesses the two parties make an agreement. Both the government of Australia and we thought that wouldn't quite be appropriate when we were the other party."

He nodded, "That makes sense I suppose."

Mia wore a white blouse, black skirt, and heels, and he was suddenly struck with his own spontaneous idea. It would take a good twenty minutes to get to Earth and land. He grabbed her legs, turned her sideways, and stuck his head up her skirt. Nothing like returning the favor, for the woman he loved. He figured he could make her easily multiple with his tongue in the time they had left.

Mia gasped, "What are you... Oh god, Ted..." she trailed of breathlessly and ran her fingers through his hair...

He had a hard on a cat couldn't scratch when they landed, but Mia looked very flushed and satisfied. He didn't mind, he was actually quite contented mentally, he loved to make her scream. He got more than enough sex, that a little unreciprocated action was kind of fun. He also loved Mia beyond reason, without her he'd be a mess, and wouldn't have such a rich life with amazing ladies to fill it.

He fell in love with her first, and wouldn't trade her for anything, not even his own life.

She sighed contentedly and gave him a lingering kiss before he helped her out of the ship, and then they headed over to the government building.

He chuckled, hopefully the breeze would blow away, or at least attenuate the sex smell, since the scent of her arousal and completion had been more than obvious inside the craft. He knew she'd left her panties behind, since they'd been soaked.

She smirked at him as if reading his mind, "I was going to brief you on the way here, but the short version will have to suffice. We're meeting with the prime minister and two members of parliament. Not that I'm complaining, never that love."

He grinned, and though he was tempted to, he didn't kiss her because they had an audience.

"Good to know," he winked, and then pulled the door open and held it for her.

She shook her head with a light smile of amusement.

"You're enjoying yourself aren't you," she whispered as she walked by.

"Always, especially with you gorgeous."

She flashed him a quick smile, and then they walked through the weapon sensors, and over to the security desk.

Before one of the guards could ask what they wanted, a short young harried looking woman walked straight toward them with an apologetic look on her face. She was very short, with a pixie like face, shoulder length brown hair, and brown eyes.

"Miss Mia, Doctor Stedman, I'm Celia, Prime Minister Liam Brown's assistant, please follow me."

Mia said, "Just Mia please."

Celia replied, "Mia, of course. The Prime Minister and representatives Daniel Smith and Olivia Taylor will be with you in about ten minutes."

Celia led them both down the hallway, up some stairs, down another hallway, and into a conference room that looked like a board room.

"Please, take a seat. Do either of you want a drink?"

He replied, "Coffee please," as he sat down at the large oak table.

Mia smiled, "Me too."

Neither of them needed it, but it was a social thing. Plus, he missed the taste of a good coffee. He hadn't had any since he started to just have one meal a day, dinner. Maybe he needed to change that, or at least have a coffee for breakfast in the future.

He kind of missed bacon too. That was an important food group all its own.

Celia rushed out to get them coffees and they shared a brief look.

He asked, "Any idea why they want to meet me?"

She nodded, "Short briefing remember? It's your fault."

He snorted, but couldn't argue with her about it. Besides, eating her out was definitely worth being in the dark and surprised. He loved to go down on her as much as she loved going down on him, or at least that what it seemed like to him.

She said, "Digitization I think."

He blew out a breath, and nodded. He supposed that made sense, it was a controversial topic. To say the least. Far more controversial than an A.I. colony on Mars, and the withholding of artificial gravity tech. It also made the political mess of Silvia's Pod tech look like a lesser issue. He hadn't truly given it much thought the last couple of days, and wondered if that meant he'd grown accustomed to it.

Celia came back in followed by two men and another woman. Both he and Mia stood up and moved to shake hands. He recognized Liam Brown, the Prime minister from the news, who was a distinguished looking man in his late sixties.

Celia gestured first to the PM, "This is Prime Minister Liam brown, and these are representatives Daniel Smith and Olivia Taylor."

Daniel Smith was in his forties, he was obviously in shape, and had a faint smile on his face. Olivia was in her forties as well. She was attractive, with a statuesque figure and was probably right around five foot eleven. She had flowing strawberry blonde hair down to her shoulder blades, and her eyes were a warm brown but somehow calculating at the same time.

Liam spoke in a warm timber of voice, "Welcome Mia, Doctor Stedman. We're excited about this partnership, and possibly expanding it in the future."

Celia nodded to her boss respectfully, dropped a manila folder on the desk, and then closed the door on her way out.

Liam waved his hand, "Please, let's sit."

The five of them sat around the table.

Liam cleared his throat, "We have decided to go forward with this, and take advantage of the short sightedness of the other nations and leaders. As I'm sure you know, we'll benefit from housing exclusive access to the path to Mars, mainly through increased travelers, tourism, and taxes. Not to mention the future technologies that will become available to us here in Australia first.

"Frankly, the artificial gravity excites us the most, but we are also most pleased with the Pod technology. We do however have reservations about digitization and what effects that might have on the societies of Earth, and what it means to be human. Which is why we invited you here Doctor Stedman, to give us your thoughts on the process. I realize it's highly personal, but anything you can tell us might help chart a course in the future."

He gathered his thoughts while he took the measure of the people in the room. Liam looked rather excited, as if he hoped he'd get to live forever himself through this technology. Daniel looked curious, but obviously hadn't made up his mind either way yet. Olivia looked at him like a hawk measures a mouse, and he had the feeling no matter what he said she wouldn't believe it. Even if she wanted to, or maybe, especially because she wanted to.

"Well, first I'll say this was the last option, and was only done because my human body was murdered. That said, it surprised me how much I feel and think the same, exactly the same. I hold the same opinions, thoughts, thought processes, emotions, and the same five senses. I am Ted Stedman.

"I also think that this is the most realistic way to extend life, since I don't consume resources. No need for food, or for oxygen. As opposed to any DNA tweaking to extend life, which would cause resource population issues on the planet.

"That said, there are some differences, and there is a period of time for a human to become acclimated. I've already mentioned the most obvious, food. I no longer need to eat but continued to have three meals a day virtually to keep my mind grounded. Other not so obvious ones are memory. I think and feel the same, but my memory recall is now flawless. I don't have those moments where I search for a word, or forget why I went into the kitchen, and there's no need to struggle to remember what I was wearing on my fifth birthday.

"The last thing is sleep. Sleep is different. But the important thing I believe, is that I'm still Ted"

Olivia asked sharply, "So you believe this should be offered to humanity?"

He blew out a breath, "Very carefully?"

Daniel looked amused, "Carefully how? I'm curious how you would do it."

He shook his head, "It's a basket of moral quandaries. I think if it was offered, it would have to be offered to everyone. I think it would be a mistake, and morally bankrupt, to play god, to decide who lives forever, and who dies when their body dies out. The when of it should be when the body dies, and not before. A person can have their mind backed up daily, and when they die of old age, or at fifteen from an accident, whatever, they can be digitized then."

Olivia frowned, "So you would give it to criminals too?"

He shrugged, "Playing god is playing god. However, that doesn't mean I'd put a murderer inside of an android chassis. For murderers, we can put them in a computer core that only has virtual world access, and perhaps even a virtual world just for criminals? Even that is a horrible mass of moral pitfalls, because it makes segregating types of people so easy, which would be bad in my opinion.

"Whatever happens, we need to be careful with it and what is decided. I'll tell you one thing, I'm very happy it'll be you folks deciding it and not me, that's my conclusion for all this. I've obviously given it a lot of thought though."

Olivia cracked a smile at that.

Liam said thoughtfully, "If everyone did it at their death, we might not run out of food or clean air, but we'd run out of space pretty fast."

He smiled, "Yeah, that's what made me think of online world's first, not criminals. Although Earth isn't far from expanding into space. Android bodies while still needing heat and some kind of atmosphere won't degrade from lower gravity, like a moon colony. I don't know, there are many practical as well as moral complications. Our way of life would be completely changed."

Daniel sighed, "The biggest naysayers will be the religions. They would call them soulless abominations."

He shrugged, "I've thought about that as well. Nothing like digitization to cause an existential crisis. I figure there're three possibilities. I never had a soul, my soul is attached to my consciousness and still here, or my soul is in some afterlife despite the continued existence of my consciousness. I choose to believe if the latter is true, my soul can see me and is cheering me on."

Olivia shook her head, "That's a rather positive take on it."

He nodded in agreement, "It is, but then I'm digitized already. It works to prevent a spiral into depression. I am me, and I decided the rest of it doesn't matter. It took me a while and a lot of thought to get there too. Another thing that helped me to adjust is that I see A.I.s as fully sentient individuals who deserve rights and respect, so by extension if they are alive then surely so am I."

Liam smiled, "I hadn't thought about that, and I'd like to speak to you again perhaps some time, but I'm going to be late for my next meeting. We should move this along."

He grabbed the folder and opened it up, and pulled a pen from his inner pocket and signed at the bottom of both copies of the document before he slid it over to Olivia.

Olivia signed both, and then Daniel.

None of them objected when Mia flipped through the pages quickly, it didn't take long, and then she signed both on behalf of Mars. After the gravity of their discussion, the signing of the treaty seemed so mundane and without fanfare, but he knew that was the far more important part of this meeting.

Mia looked up and smiled, "Thank you. We'll get started on the spaceport right away, it will be ready before it's needed."

They all stood, and then the three of them shook his and Mia's hands and murmured pleasant goodbyes before filing out. Just a few seconds later, Celia came in and escorted them outside. He let out a deep breath as they got into the ship and took off straight up for space...