They wanted me to be immortal. There was no way I would do it.
"But, Caroline..."
"NO! I WON'T DO IT! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!"
"Bu-"
"AND WHAT ABOUT CHELL?! HOW IS SHE SUPPOSED TO RECEIVE THE CARE SHE NEEDS AND DESERVES WHEN HER MOTHER IS AN AI?!"
"Don't worry. I'll take care of Chell. It's-"
"NO, DOUGLAS! I DON'T WANT YOU TO TAKE CARE OF MY BABY!"
"But-"
"I WOULD RATHER THE COMPANY DIE THAN FOR YOU TO FORCE ME INTO THAT THING! DO YOU HEAR ME?! I AM PISSED! I WILL BURN THIS MINE TO THE GROUND IF I HAVE TO PUT A TOE ARCROSS THE FRAME OF THE DOOR INTO THAT ROOM!"
"WOULD YOU REALLY DENY HIS LAST REQUEST?!"
He glared at me, his eyes like the optic of the monster I was to become.
The spell had been broken.
"...What?"
He pulled a tape player out of his pocket, along with a tape.
"He told me to play this when it was right."
I instantly recognized the voice of the man I had fallen in love with.
"The point is: If we can store music on a compact disc, why can't we store a man's intelligence and personality on one? So I have the engineers figuring that out now. Brain Mapping. Artificial Intelligence. We should have been working on it thirty years ago. I will say this - and I'm gonna say it on tape so everybody hears it a hundred times a day: If I die before you people can pour me into a computer, I want Caroline to run this place. Now she'll argue. She'll say she can't. She's modest like that. But you make her! Hell, put her in my computer. I don't care."
Then, there was a pause.
"She... is a gem."
The room was silent.
I thought about it- should I give up my life, spiraling into intolerable boredom, or would I let his life's work deteriorate behind me, knowing that I betrayed him?
"I-I'll do it."
"What?"
"I'll do it. Please, do it before I change my mind."
"Follow me."