Ben opened his eyes to a blurry vision of mangled metal, slick with rain that reflected and refracted flashing red and blue lights. He tried to shake his head to clear the image and immediately regretted it. Was that thumping in his head, in his ears or in his blood? Slowly he remembered what had happened and suddenly he panicked.
“Teresa?” No answer.
“Teresa?” Louder this time, but still no answer.
He tried to move and realised that he couldn’t. He was obviously being held in place, not just by his seat belt but by parts of the car that must have become wrapped around him.
“Sir?” A voice, not one he recognised. He couldn’t turn his head to see who had spoken.
“Sir, can you hear me?” A young man’s voice. Ben’s mind finally started to get back into gear. Ah, the flashing lights.
“Yes. Are you a doctor?”
“Paramedic sir. I need you to tell me how you are. Don’t try to move yet. Can you see alright?”
“Yes, yes. What about my wife?”
“She’s still unconscious. My colleague is with her, I need to check you.”
“No. I’m fine, look after her.”
“You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Look young man, I can see, hear and talk just fine.”
“Is anything hurting, can you feel anything broken or damaged?”
“Damaged? What sort of question is that? I’m stuck in this chair and I can’t move, something is pinning me down and stopping me from turning my head to look at Teresa. But I’m fine. You should be worrying about her.”
“I’m worrying about you for now sir. You say you can’t move.”
“Obviously not, with all this wreckage trapping me.”
“But that’s just it sir, there is nothing trapping you in place. Your seat belt is still on but otherwise you’re quite clear. If you can’t move it’s because you’ve suffered some trauma, maybe your spine. No, don’t try and move. We’ll have you out of here very soon and then we can assess the damage more thoroughly.”
“Okay.” Ben’s voice trembled as he spoke, he didn’t sound quite so confident any more.
“But what about Teresa?”
“I’m just going to check her now sir, don’t worry.”
~
Teresa sat in the wheelchair and watched Ben intently. She pushed the button on the side of the hospital bed to raise him into a position where she could see his face. She smiled as he woke up and focussed on her.
“Oh my love, are you all right?” he asked.
“Better than you, it seems.”
“But you’re in a wheelchair?”
“Which at least means I’m mobile. You’re stuck in one position.”
“What happened? Well I think I can guess what happened, but how … ?”
“A lorry. They think it jumped the lights and hit us. Luckily it just clipped the front wing, span us across the road and into the corner of a building. An eighth of a second later and we would probably have been crushed. Still, the car’s a write-off.”
“Me too by the look of it!”
Teresa was relieved, if his sense of humour was still intact then he would probably be okay.
“No change there then,” she grinned at him.
“And you?”
“Broken bones in my legs, the original impact was on my side of the car and there was some ‘intrusion into the passenger compartment’ according to the police. Which means that a carbon fibre panel crushed one leg and deformed the other.”
“What happened to me?”
“Nothing in the impact from the lorry, but as we were spinning your head got thrown about and you must have twisted your neck. Your spinal cord was damaged. That’s why you can’t move.”
“Paralysed for good?”
“No, of course not. They can fix you, but it will take some time to re-grow the nerve tissue. Now you’re awake again they can prepare you for that. I’ll tell the doctor you’re conscious and she’ll explain what’s going to happen. It’s just as well we’ve got that medical insurance.”
“It’s expensive?”
“Not just the cost, but the time. Don’t worry she’ll explain.” Teresa smiled encouragingly as she rolled her wheelchair backwards and turned it round to go out of the door.
~
The doctor explained everything very clearly to Ben. Teresa had heard it before but she sat there anyway just in Ben’s sight so he wouldn’t feel so nervous. He would put on a brave face, but he was inherently squeamish and might stop listening. She would keep him calm enough to pay attention.
A short, very pretty Chinese doctor, Ming Hu had a very effective bedside manner, which immediately put Ben at his ease. After describing the damage that had been done to the nerves in his spinal cord, she told him exactly how it could be repaired. Following the initial surgery, it would take about two weeks for new nerve tissue to grow and would require his body to be completely motionless, immersed in a bath of electrolytes and nutrients for the whole time. In the past this had been achieved by a combination of trance induction and drugs causing paralysis of most of the voluntary muscles, but it had always been unbearably frustrating for the patient. Now, with the advent of Courtesy Bodies, it was becoming much easier, almost routine. In fact, Teresa’s bones could be knitted together and fully healed much more effectively in a similar way. That too required immersion and immobility, and hence would also be immeasurably eased by the use of Courtesy Bodies. The two of them could take a holiday together in temporary bodies while they waited for their own to be repaired.
~
“How much do you know about Courtesy Bodies?” Joshua Burke asked Ben and Teresa.
“Not a lot more than the adverts on TV,” said Ben.
“and what the doctor here has told us,” added Teresa.
“Okay, I’ve got a little vid clip here on my tablet that will give you the basics and then I can answer any questions you have. Shouldn’t take very long. Does that sound like a plan?”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Ben sighed as he focused on the wall where Joshua’s tablet was projecting an image of a young couple running through a field of poppies.
The vid clip was effectively an extended version of the advert that they had seen on television from time to time. A young couple, identified merely as Andy and Sam, doing all the things that couples do in soft-focussed dreamy sequences in romantic films: running through a field, hand in hand on the beach, riding a bicycle together (that always looks quite uncomfortable, thought Ben), having a picnic in a park and so on. Then, when they’re flying together in a glider, a sudden downdraft causes them to lose control and spiral down, crashing to the ground. Clean-cut doctors patch them up but they both have broken legs and arms; they’ll be okay in a few weeks. ‘But we’re getting married in two days time’ they say. Cut to the Courtesy Bodies corporate headquarters, and then to a room where they’re each lying on a couch and have a small cap placed on their head. After a few hi-tech lights flash and graphs wiggle, a display says ‘Upload complete’. Another young couple are lying on separate couches wearing similar caps. More lights and graphs and a display of ‘Download complete’. The second couple open their eyes, look at each other and smile. ‘Now I can still walk down the aisle’ says the bride-to-be. Cut to a wedding ceremony with the second couple swapping vows ‘I Samantha Myers, take you Andrew Briggs as my lawful wedded husband…”. Another dreamy sequence, of a honeymoon on a tropical island. Cut again to the Courtesy Bodies room where the honeymoon couple are lying on the couch and the display shows ‘Upload complete’, followed by the real Andy and Sam (no longer with their limbs bandaged) and ‘Download complete’. As Andy and Sam walk out of the room chatting excitedly about their great honeymoon, the Courtesy Bodies logo appears and a voice over says ‘Ask your medical insurance advisor about Courtesy Bodies today’.
Joshua touched the screen of his tablet and, with a small click, the logo vanished from the wall.
“Your medical insurance included Courtesy Bodies for any treatment that would take longer than a week, so you’re both covered while the damage from your accident is repaired.”
“So it’s only used in medical situations like ours. Accidents?” Teresa looked quizzical.
“There’s no technical reason why it couldn’t be more widely available to anyone that can afford it. But so far there has been quite a bit of discussion on ethical grounds so there is currently a regulatory oversight body that limits how and when it can be employed. It’s quite safe, there’s never been any question about that.”
“So what is the issue?”
“The length of time it is fair to keep an Angel placid.”
“Angel?” Ben snorted.
“Yes, we call anyone who volunteers to be a Courtesy Body an Angel. I think you’ll agree that it’s really rather appropriate.”
“What happens to them?” Teresa asked.
“That’s easiest to explain if you understand a bit of the science behind Courtesy Bodies. Every person exists as the combination of two separate things, a soma and a psyche. The soma is essentially the physical body and, although in general it’s what we think of as the person, what they look like, it’s really just a container for the psyche. Nowadays thanks to medical science, with so little disease and the effects of ageing under control, it’s really only accidents that we need to worry about.”
“Your generation might not have to worry about ageing young man, but we were already too old when those breakthroughs were made.”
“Oh, sorry, that was thoughtless of me. Still, as you’re demonstrating right now, a significant problem is damage to the body caused by external events. The body can be repaired, extended and, to a certain extent, replaced. But what continues to make the person unique, irrespective of changes to their body, is their psyche, the mind that is the essence of the individual. It’s separate from the body but is normally unable to interact with the rest of the world without one. Some years ago there was a very brilliant Nobel-winning scientist who discovered a way to remove the psyche from the constraints of a soma and store it in a quantum environment, effectively an electronic brain. Obviously an important part of the process is to be able to restore the psyche to the soma. Once that was achieved it was realised that the psyche could be removed from the soma while particularly traumatic procedures were being performed such as surgery. It could be stored and then replaced once the surgery was over. Some early experiments were done for patients undergoing life-threatening operations. They were very successful and gradually the researchers increased the length of time that the psyche was stored, until it was quite possible to store a patient’s psyche for the duration of their whole treatment; reducing the need for excessive pain management drugs and all the side effects, as well as significantly increasing the recovery rates because more aggressive treatments could be contemplated. At Courtesy Bodies we have further perfected the techniques. We can upload a psyche from a body, leaving behind an empty soma. We are able to store many psyches simultaneously in a quantum storage device the size of a pinhead, in a state we call placid. We can download a psyche back into its soma to reunite the original person, and they’re none the worse for it. Then we realised that as well as storing the psyche while the soma was being repaired, we could store the psyche from a healthy person and temporarily download someone else’s psyche into their soma. That way, someone who had been incapacitated could continue with their life while their own body was being repaired. But, of course, we needed volunteers to offer their soma for use by a patient. We obviously want healthy and fit volunteers so we started by talking to students in the research labs where the early work was done - we knew they would understand the concepts and issues. We decided to call our volunteers Angels, but even so we realised there would need to be some sort of benefit for them - students always need help with their finances! Whenever we need a soma for a patient we call a suitable Angel from the volunteer list into our lab. We upload their psyche into placid storage and then download the patient’s psyche into their soma. A few days later the process is reversed, the angel goes home with a significant amount of credit and the patient’s psyche is reunited with their own soma which is now as right as rain. Everyone’s happy.”
“What does it feel like when your psyche’s in this quantum placid storage?”
“I don’t know personally, but we can provide artificial stimulation to the psyche while in storage to simulate experiences if they want. We offer them some options to simulate sleeping, being on holiday (the tropical beach is very popular), reading, even studying, and some choose to be doing something a bit more active like dancing.”
“What non-stop for days on end?” asked Teresa, raising her eyebrows.
“At least they wouldn’t run out of energy after one twirl on the dance-floor, like we do these days!” Ben laughed.
“Actually,” Ben continued, “that prompts a question I have. You said ‘suitable angel’ just now. Does that mean that you try and match the angel to the patient?”
“To a certain extent, yes. As I said, most of our Angels are students which means they’re usually in their early twenties, although not always. We give them all a thorough medical examination and make sure they’re fit and healthy, not on drugs or otherwise addicted. We will always use an Angel of the same gender as the patient, ideally one with similar interests and activities if possible.”
“Why what difference does that make?”
“Even if an Angel is fit, if the patient wants to participate in activities that require special skills it is often better if the Angel’s body has been previously exposed. For example, an Angel who is not particularly active would suffer more muscular pain after a skiing holiday than one who has skied before.”
“So the patient can use the angel …”
“the Angel’s soma”
“…can use the angel’s soma to do things like go on holiday.”
“Sure.”
“Any constraints?”
“Obviously the patient has to agree to bring back the soma in the same state of health as when they were downloaded into it. If there is any medical attention required then the patient’s health insurance must cover it. They agree not to take unnecessary risks or to commit any illegal acts that could be detrimental to the future life of the Angel, which obviously includes things like drugs. They also sign a sworn affidavit that they are responsible for any actions and liable for any consequences during the period in which they are downloaded into the Angel’s soma. That’s why we have a notary on hand during the upload and download processes to ensure accurate timekeeping.”
“So you’ve had problems with dodgy patients then?”
“No, not yet. But you never know.” He shrugged.
Teresa had been quiet for a while, looking very thoughtful. Ben glanced over at her.
“You okay love?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” Teresa answered.
“So, Mr. Burke…” Teresa looked at Joshua.
“Joshua please.”
“Well Joshua.” She continued. “I think we understand the principle, if not the science. What we need to know is exactly how this would work for us.”
“Of course. For a start I’m afraid that we have no Angels on our list who are even close to you in age. In fact you’ll be our oldest ever patients.”
“Does age make any difference? Might it not work?” Ben interrupted nervously.
“Absolutely not. As I’m sure you’re only too aware, the mind stays as young as you want whatever the body does. So the psyche is just as easy to upload however old the soma is.”
“Surely the mind and body, my psyche and soma, are the same age? Unless you believe in re-incarnation.” Teresa asked.
“Let’s not get into a spiritual discussion. If there is such a thing as re-incarnation then it’s just nature’s way of performing a download into a new soma.” Joshua grinned.
“What about the soul? Is that part of the psyche?”
“The honest answer is that I don’t know. There has never been any scientific evidence for or against the existence of the soul separate from the mind. So as far as we’re concerned, the psyche encompasses whatever isn’t the soma - if you believe that includes the soul as well as the mind then that’s fine by me. We’ve never had anyone who’s been reunited and felt that they have become soulless.”
“I can’t tell if you’re making fun of me.” Teresa scowled at Joshua.
“Absolutely not. I can assure you that we have had patients of various religious beliefs who have not had any cause to complain. That includes a few priests, a couple of bishops, monks and a lama.”
“It works on animals too?” Ben asked, straight-faced.
“Ben! This is serious.” Teresa scolded him.
“I’m sorry. Please finish what you were saying about how this will work for us.” Ben looked contrite.
“Right. We have found a suitable couple on our list, which would be more appropriate than two separate Angels who are strangers, for obvious reasons.”
“You mean while we’re them we can, err….”
“You’re not them, you’re you. But you’re using their soma, and yes you can. Just remember nothing risky or illegal.”
“At our age?” Teresa was trying to look shocked but Ben noticed a twinkle in her eyes.
“We won’t be our age, we’ll be theirs.” Ben’s eyes widened.
“What are they like? Can we meet them?” Teresa asked, almost absent-mindedly.
“We generally feel it’s better not to meet in advance, but I can show you a photo of them. They’re both in their mid twenties, they live together and are both studying for their doctorates. They plan on getting married at some point when they can afford it. They volunteered a while ago, but only want to be angels if they can do it together. Here’s their picture.” Joshua had been fiddling with his tablet while talking, now there was a click and a photo sprang onto the wall for Teresa and Ben to see.
“This is Joe and Carly. Joe is the one with the beard.”
“You don’t say.”
“Now Ben, don’t tease,” scolded Teresa again.
“As you can see, they’re smart, healthy…”
“Pretty,” interrupted Ben
“…and ready to be Angels at a few hours’ notice.”
“Have you told them about us?”
“No. First I need to know what you want to do.”
Ben and Teresa looked at each other. Joshua couldn’t tell what unspoken communication was going on.
“Do you want me to leave you to talk about it?” he asked.
“Not necessary,” said Ben, “I’m up for it.”
“Me too.” Teresa added.
“Okay, we just need to sort out the paperwork. I’ll have to arrange some additional witnesses from the medical team as you can’t use a pen at the moment Ben. But that won’t take too long. By this time tomorrow…”
“… we could be up and about while the doctors get on with the repairs.” Teresa grinned.
~
I thought I’d just be sleeping. Dreaming maybe. But this isn’t like either. I can think but I can’t see anything. Maybe this is what a coma is like? Or one of those sensory deprivation tanks? Still, I’ll only be here a few days. Boring, but at least we’ll have earnt enough money to cover the rest of our tuition fees. Easy money. Lend some rich guy your body while his is being repaired. Piece of cake.
I can see why the rich would rather borrow a body than wait it out in here, especially as all the courtesy bodies are guaranteed to be fit and healthy like me and Carly. Placid they called it. Tedious I’d say.
It’s a shame Carly and I can’t communicate, that would make the time go faster. No-one to talk to but myself. I feel like I’m going quietly mad. Or not so quietly maybe. I feel like I should shout. I’M BORED. But I know I didn’t really shout out loud and no-one can hear. I’m so bored I’m talking to myself.
~
I didn’t expect it to be like this. They offered us ‘scenarios’ like a holiday but we wouldn’t have shared the experience so I thought it would be better to just sleep for a couple of weeks. Get some rest from my research. That was a mistake, I’ll know for next time. I hope Carly’s okay. I bet she’s bored too. I wonder if she’s talking to herself.
~
They should really give you some idea of time. We’re only supposed to be in here for two weeks, but it already seems like forever. We must be due out soon.
I was beginning to think we’d never get called up, so it was great when that elderly couple got hurt in a car crash, needing courtesy bodies for two weeks. That came out wrong. I don’t mean it was great they got hurt. I mean it was great that a couple was finally needed. I feel sorry for those two old people, waiting around for their bodies to be fixed. But I hope they look after ours. I know they’ve agreed not to do anything dangerous, but you never know.
~
Surely it must be time to get out of here? To be ‘re-united’. I can’t wait to be whole again, walking around, jumping, stretching, hugging Carly. You don’t realise how much you take for granted until you’re deprived.
~
Something must be wrong. I’m sure we’ve been here more than two weeks. But there’s nothing to help me gauge time. I tried counting seconds but that got really boring so I gave up after about six hundred. Everything is just as clear in my mind as it was when they put me in here, but as my memory is currently stored in a quantum computer rather than little grey brain cells they wouldn’t fade anyway. I don’t really remember anything that’s happened while I’ve been here – but that would probably be because NOTHING has happened. I’m so bored.
~
How much longer can it be? This has been the longest two weeks of my life. I hope Carly’s coping better than I am. I wish I had chosen one of those scenarios, it would have been so much less boring.
~
Oh! There was a funny sort of glitch just then. I think I can feel things. I must be back in my body. It’s really rather a strange sensation. You wouldn’t think it would seem so different after only two weeks. I can’t open my eyes, there seems to be something covering them. But I can hear a noise now … it sounds like a man’s voice …
“Good, you’re both awake now. Joe, Carly, welcome back. You’re both now fully re-united. My name is Benjamin Haire, I’m the Chief Executive here at Courtesy Bodies. It may take you a little while to get used to your bodies again. I’m afraid you were in there a little longer than planned, but don’t worry you’ll be paid the agreed daily rate for every full day you were with us. So, actually, that will make you both quite wealthy.”
“Why, how long have we been here?” I could hear Carly ask.
“Ah. Well, I’m afraid that Mr and Mrs Green rather liked having the use of your bodies. You’re younger than them by more than fifty years and the temporary rejuvenation went to their heads somewhat. They were enjoying themselves so much that when it came to be time to be re-united with their own bodies they decided to, shall we say, abscond. It has taken us quite a while to find them and return them to their own original bodies, but they have paid the full amount you’re owed. Plus some compensation for wear and tear.”
“Wear and tear? Why what did they do?” Carly sounded upset.
“You didn’t answer the first question, how long have we been here?” it was my turn to ask.
“Twenty three years, seven months and four days.”