Vroom. Vroom. Jonathon or rather the AI-controlled body of what had been Jonathon, had just woken up, to the sweet chirping of the morning birds. Jonathon had been my friend since childhood, and had been sharing this little apartment, at the edge of the town with me. It had been six months that Jonathon had died in a car accident, and now his practically soul-less body was controlled by an AI, all thanks to the Jurgens and Co., a multinational tech organization that had developed this technology called the ‘Electric-Hereafter’. Well, it was the year 8045 and technology was becoming so fluid that everything was quite possible. Yes, dear reader, you could even ride away on engineered unicorns to Mars if you were bored after watching gladiators fight on Saturn.

Futuristic talk about what was and what wasn’t yet established by 8045 can ensue in some other journal of mine, but for now, I will stick to my dear ‘Johnny’ as I used to call Jonathon, or rather his body now; I seem to forget that it’s the soul within the bodies which defines a person. Alas, I take great care to keep even the intricate details right.

As soon as the heart pumped its last load of blood out, and breathes had run out of the gaseous chambers, we call lungs, Jurgens and Co. had been notified and their team was soon installing their integrated chips in Johnny. If the dead body isn’t directly treated to install the chips, then it can rather never be treated. There wasn’t much choice regarding this, as Jurgens and Co. was an organization behind which was the support of several developed economies and their armies. It was a way of providing population for the new settlements in outer space, even those outside our own solar system. Once the AI had been integrated into humans, they would be sent in batches to planets and other terrestrial bodies, deemed fit to sustain humans.

It had been six months since Johnny’s death and since then I had been dreading the moment when that professional-looking letter from the Government in a light green envelope, gets thrown in the post-box, telling about Johnny’s departure finally, since I was responsible for him, as none of his family was alive. This fear had turned into somewhat of a hysterical form, which took upon me from time to time.

After Johnny’s body control had been passed to AI, it wasn’t certainly a smooth process. To begin with, the body had to be drenched in a series of chemicals after the death, which took a week at least and to my moral standards, was voery gross. This was followed by the Operation ‘Identity’, where the electronic chip made by Jurgens and Co. was installed into the brain, using an immediate impact and heal operator, a device which had been developed to cut open any part of the body and then conjoin it, once the operation had been done, with a special silica gel released by the same device. Once, the body had undergone this complex process, which some human rights activists called out as both unethical and inhumane, the body was left lifeless in a thermostatically controlled tube for 15 days. There were only two possible outcomes of this: either the body came to life with an AI, or it turned into ashes.

Once the body came to life, then there were other complications. Since it was now controlled by a chip, the body needed a drink called the ‘Oasis-syrup’, which was solely produced by the Yas, a subsidiary company of the Jurgens. The body did consume normal food, but it needed regular maintenance check-ups at the Health Booths, again controlled by the Jurgens; surely this capitalist monopoly was exploiting humans to the full with extensive governments’ support. These AI- controlled bodies used to make a clanking sound, every now and then, which Mr. Jurgens had once described as the ‘sound of vibrant life’, though I may not agree. It wasn’t only the regular maintenance, checkups which were needed but this very body filled with ‘vibrant life’ would often just faint every other day, which would require medical attention, because the ‘Electric-Hereafter’ hadn’t yet become quite reliable.

These AI-controlled humans could speak fluently and even had access to the dead person’s memory which remains an unexplained phenomena, although as inquisitive as human nature is, there have been several theories made to explain it. Consequently, Johnny’s AI also knew that he loved hot dogs and mushrooms, and had a particular interest in history and politics. It functioned quite like Johnny did, with a scrambled eggs breakfast, a morning walk and even late night binge-watching.

Even though these AI-humans were a nice addition to the workforce, and helped in the continuity of life in one way or another, there was still some stiff opposition, particularly in countries where there weren’t enough resources to satisfy all. There were protests about how it helped governments use dead bodies, for their own needs and what not. These protests had been recently aggravated when it was discovered that the governments were trying to take control of each and every action these individuals did. There were further accusations that governments were arming these AI-humans for their own wars.

Before I start venting out on the Electric-Hereafter, I must stop, unless I want it to become my fate much earlier than I expected it to be. Coming back once again, to my dear Johnny, he grunted as he woke up, in a much different way today. It had just been a few minutes that he had woken up, and now he was vomiting frantically. As I fumbled about for a glass of Oasis-syrup, a whirring sound which had been distant, appeared to come closer; it was a helicopter. As much as I wanted to deny the truth, it soon dawned upon me: they had come for Johnny. He would be soon taken away.

https://www.instagram.com/_m.mustafa_06