– All right. Let's get to the practical part. How many resources do you need for this, for all the stages of the project, if you prove its viability here? – asked the financier firmly.
– That's the thing – not much at all. We need to build one more additional center with installations, or better yet, two. You understand, we'll send the human consciousness to the edge of the universe, and the body will stay here. Imagine if something happens: a fire, an earthquake, an asteroid, a nuclear war. There must be insurance.
– Oh, great. You're saying the rig could be affected? Don't you think something could happen to the body, too?
Obviously, a dispute started between the scientist and the head of the economic block. Everyone listened to their discussion with interest.
– Now what I – I mean, I'll put it this way: I'm very grateful to the board for that past project. Grateful to those who believed in it and made it happen. I mean cloning and creating a second personality from the original. Agree, to create a copy of you, and at any desired age, and even with changed parameters, for example, a different hair color, is also a grand idea and work. Now I'm going to use this technology. I'll create a clone of the person whose consciousness we're sending. And we will keep a digital copy of the consciousness, if something goes wrong, say, our test subject dies there and it will be mirrored, i.e. the body dies here, – then we will be able to put the digital copy into the clone. Everything will be restored. A miracle? Absolutely.
– I have nothing to say. And yet – how much are you asking? – Without expressing any particular surprise, the economist emphasized his question.
– Fifty billion, I think, will be enough," the scientist replied quite calmly.
– Well, shall we risk it? – addressed the economist to the audience.
– According to the protocol – the co-author responsible for the practical part of the project must provide evidence of the feasibility of the project," the head of the Sphere system's governing board said expectantly to everyone.
– The project is feasible and the first trial is cost and risk free. It can be done here. It's a test of transferring consciousness from one to another, which is what you actually observed. The second stage – we'll do the same thing in Earth conditions, somewhere between continents. The third is between Earth and space, and then we can launch everything into distant parallel worlds," Ruthra answered the demands for explanations, his voice extremely confident.
He knew his role, he knew his power. In Ruthra's system, if he was not the first and most important, he was certainly an equal among the first.
– As for the practical part, I don't think there are enough fingers on my hands to list in what fields and for what purpose this process can be used. For example, even in earthly conditions it is possible to create several clones of one person, and he can be instantly transported across oceans and continents and remain himself. It is the same in those worlds. Initially, once there, you can create the same technological setups and the same clones. So traveling to deep, deep space is not a problem at all now.
By voicing such fantastic possibilities for the project, Rutra not only inclined the council to approve the scientist's proposal, but also ignited a desire to make future financial investments. His scientist friend glowed. It was clear how grateful he was.
– You know, I still have to say," the chairman began cautiously. – I am, of course, surprised at the lack of questions and the way we are taking this project on faith. Of course, the topic of cloning and this show you put on played a role, but let's look at it a little bit from the outside. Mr. Master, do you want us to believe in the existence of other worlds, even if we leave aside our faith in technology? I'm still asking for proof. Honestly, if it's not protocol, I'd like it to be true. But you should also understand what we're talking about right now. Okay? What does the board say? Do we approve stage one? Give us six months for preliminary preparations? Allocate a sum of money for the first, earthly, part of the project? – the head of the council asked the audience.
To Rutra's surprise, almost everyone was silent. It was clear that the project was very improbable. Rutra thought to himself: "That's all right, soon I'll be the chairman of the council, and I won't approve any of your projects. Of course, he thought this in jest. However, he made sure that his emotional state was transmitted to those around him.
– I approve," said the head of the economic bloc.
Turns out everyone was waiting for it. Almost simultaneously, the others were in favor of approving the project.
– I am very grateful to you. I promise to send you to parallel worlds, too," the scientist said cheerfully.
To which the economist hastily replied:
– No, no, no. You first, please, yourself.
He spoke with a smile. Everyone understood the joke. For Rutra and the luminary of science, the meeting was over, the assistants took off their masks, and the world became ordinary.
Chapter 7. The Ribhu Mission
Rutra had been interested in this technology since his days with the secret organization Zero. But it had frightened him a great deal at the time. The tried and tested method assured him even more that this method of humanity's existence in the future would not be alternative. But only not by moving into each other, but by moving the consciousness according to the principle of the influence of entangled pairs to the far reaches of space. There the consciousness had to find its shelter, i.e. another biological body. If not, it would return to the original one without risk. What is consciousness? It's an aura of brain waves generated by the brain. With their help Rutra wanted to influence the particles, and those in turn, influencing each other, exchanging states (and the distance, as it was said, did not play a role for them), had to do the same as any other change. When we speak, draw, write, tap out Morse code, even when we make babies – we are converting one action into another, and initially converting an idea, a thought into a desire and action. In the same way these particles, influencing each other, had to form a copy of the original consciousness from other waves there, somewhere far away, in someone's brain. People use such technologies everywhere, only we are not copying consciousness yet.
Rutra began to prepare a large-scale project, although a pilot launch had to be done first. The project had many organizational and other issues, including moral and ethical ones. This is inevitable in any new endeavor, especially one so phantasmagorical. Rutru's life experience had taught him that it was necessary to endure it, and also to properly justify and present the idea, but nothing, of course, should stop the prospect, progress and his idea. He decided to take it seriously.
How often does it happen in people? Because of lack of free time, indecision, fear, they begin to think that it is not worth wasting their nerves and strength. Those who believe in failure do just that. And those who believe in victory dive in headfirst. Disappointment is their companion, but still the latter often win, achieve their goal, because at least they try.
Ruthra couldn't afford, and didn't want, to point his finger at the sky. What he wanted was a specific, programmed result. He decided without reservation that if he were to use such an extraordinary technology, he would use it with the most probable, intended result. Thinking about it, Ruthra came to a seemingly simple, as it might seem at first glance, but striking conclusion: the mission had to be carried out by a child, and not by any child. Everything had to meet certain criteria. From his genes to his subconscious… or, as Ruthra himself said, the thoughts he would have in the long run. Yes, there was a possible risk: the child might not return....
By transmitting consciousness through the influence of one particle on its copy, it was possible to achieve the main goal – to overcome great distances. After all, even if you fly at the speed of light, i.e. 300 000 kilometers per second, you will pass our galaxy only in a circle for 327 000 years. That's if you go in one outer circle, and there are about 400,000,000,000,000,000