Upload Morning

You looked at the phone with trepidation. You promised your husband that you'd check in, and you really did need to. The decision you had to make would impact both of you. He needed to be a part of it. You were willing to try things out, but it required a discussion. You looked down at your body, which was most definitely NOT what you'd designed for yourself, then sighed and picked up the phone, dialing your husband before you brought it to your ear.

He answered quickly, on the second ring, so you weren't going to get out of the conversation.

"Hey, honey. How was your first day?"

"Well, remember what I said last night about a bimbo with tits out to here?" You asked, then continued before he could answer.

"Well, Let's just say it's been a day. Let me start after you dropped me off at the facility."

My lips were still tingling from the kiss you'd laid on me before I got out of the car as I walked into the facility for my last day on Earth. I walked up to the counter to check in and showed them the code on my phone.

"Mrs. Miller, I'm so glad you chose to have us assist you in finding a new career. We've partnered with Perfect Positions, LLC and have everything set up for you. If you'd just follow me?" the reception asked then, when I nodded, she lead me to a room in the back. It was a few minutes before a nurse came in and checked my vitals, asking the expected question when visiting a doctor the, satisfied with my answers, gave me a cup with a viscous blue liquid.

"What's this?"

"It's a specially designed mixture to act as a pre-sedative and cleanser."

"So, what, diuretic and laxative with diphenhydramine?"

"More or les, yes, ma'am. The toilet's through that door," She responded, pointing to a door on the other side of the room. "Once you've purged, press the green button by the door you came in on, then feel free to lay down on the bed."

It wasn't long before I discovered how accurate the use of the word 'purge' was. Five minutes or so after drinking the mixture, the sudden need to use the restroom hit me. I'm not sure what was in the cleansing mixture, but I have felt that bad since I got food poisoning on our honeymoon. after 10 minutes or so in the bathroom, and feeling queasy, having purged from both ends, several times, I managed to hobble my way back to the triage room and crawled into the bed. I must have dozed off, because the next thing I remember is being woken up in a new room.

"Mrs. Miller, I'm glad to see you survived the 'cleanse,'" a jovial man of middle years greeted me, as I looked around.

"Where am I?"

"We moved you while you slept it off. I apologize for that, by the way. Unfortunately, as you're uploading so early, we want to get as much out of your body as possible before we perform the upload. Since your Earthly remains will be in storage longer, it would present a health issue for those processing until the end if we didn't. And in answer to the question of where you are, this is one of our upload rooms. I'm Doctor Smith and I'll be assisting with your upload this morning. Now, are you ready to begin your next life?"

I nodded and he smiled, turning away and grabbing a headset, not unlike those virtual reality units, but with a full cap and thick cabled coming out the back.

"Perfect. Now, let's just get this situated," he said as he adjusted the bed to a sitting position before leaning over to help me put the headset on.

As I adjusted it, I asked him some questions.

"Don't I need to change?"

"Oh, no. It's not like your body will be used after this. We have a freezer we will be storing it in. We also took the liberty of taking your phone while you dozed. You'll find, when you get into the simulation, that we've uploaded its contents to a new device inside."

"What's it like?"

"From what I've seen, very nice," He said, tightening some of the straps and adjusting the overall fitment. "As you're going through the job training process, we'll be giving you a randomized, generic avatar to protect your privacy. We understand it may be somewhat embarrassing to have to go through a new job training process, so we ant to make it as easy as possible. Once you transition to the full simulation, you'll be switched back to your personal avatar that you designed."

"That makes sense. Is there anything I should know?"

"Think of this like going back to school, Mrs. Miller. Have fun, but dedicate yourself to your studies, and you should be just fin. Now, are you ready to begin the upload?"

"Yes," I said, relaxing as much as I could.

I'd like to say there was some momentous occasion, a long tunnel, something, as my mind passed on from the mortal coil, but honestly, I just remember saying 'yes,' then a brief, white light, then I was standing in a white room with a robot. All done in the space of a second or two.

"Hello, Mrs. Miller!" the robot chirped at me, over cheerful, I felt, given that I had just, effectively, died.

"And who might you be?" I asked, drolly.

"I'm your 'Lifelike Information Assistant, or LIA for short! I'll be assisting you as you go through your job training and afterwards as part of your phone's operating system, courtesy of Perfect Positions, LLC!"

"So, like Alexa, or Siri?"

"Exactly ma'am!"

I winced. I had known the AI assistants were a thing on newer devices, but you know I've been avoiding them for years.

"Can you be less chipper? I mean, I did just, effectively, die."

Is it weird to say that the robot seemed to wither a bit?

"Yes, ma'am. I apologize," the robot said after a second, sounding genuinely sad. I actually felt bad for making the poor thing feel that way. Or at least present itself that way. I'm still not sure how functionally intelligent the LIAs are.

"No need to be so hangdog!" I responded quickly. "Look, I think on the AI assistants back in the real world, you can change the voice and icon, right? Can I do that for you? Are you like mine, mine? Or a general one?"

"You can change me as much as you want, ma'am, as I'm assigned to you, personally," it responded, more cheerfully this time, but with less enthusiasm, taking me comments under advice. "I apologize again. Our model is still very fresh and we are unused to human interactions. Our models are constantly updating as we interact with you uploadees. If you wish, you can change my voice, my gender, and even my appearance for when I broadcast a visual projection like this."

"Anything?"

"More or less, yes, ma'am. All you have to do is ask. I'm tied to your voice patterns."

I looked at the robot and thought for a moment, before it hit me. I could make it look like anything I wanted.

"LIA, can you change your voice and appearance for me? Let's go with something along the lines of Jessica Rabbit for your appearance, but slightly different, and a husky, female voice, laced with sex and innuendo?"

The robot when quiet for a moment, then blinked out and blinked back, this time looking just like I'd asked. She'd opted for a Hispanic look, but similar style, with greens instead of reds.

"This as good your you as it is for me, baby?" she asked in a new, throatier voice.

"Perfect! Now, I assume you have some information for me, hence the location and the meeting?"

"Yes _ma'am," _she said, putting a lot of suggestion into that word, as she approached me and pulled a phone out of her cleavage, handing the device to me. "As you may have noticed, your current avatar is not the one you designed prior to upload. The technician performing the upload should have told you that much."

I nodded, not looking away from her as she spoke.

"You've been assigned a random avatar that conforms to your selected primary gender and set age 18. We've also assigned you a pseudonym for the duration of your stay with perfect Positions, LLC. Based on your name, you have been assigned the pseudonym Magenta."

"Magenta, isn't that kind of a stripper name?" I asked, eyebrow raised.

"It was selected at random. Besides, it fits," she said, holding up a mirror she'd pulled our of nowhere so that I could see my reflection.

Staring back at me was a teenager, barely more than a girl, with bright magenta hair. I sighed and shook my head.

"Do I have a last name?"

"You can choose that. You can also choose a nickname which will be used for your identification in classes and group activities."

"Let's lean into this, then. I'll be Magenta Majesty, or Mags. If I'm going to have a stripper first name, I might as well go for the whole package."

"Very good. May I call you Mags?"

"Sure. But only if I can give you a nickname, too."

"Anything you want, _sugar," _she said suggestively.

"Then you, my own personal LIA, will be Lovelace."

"Oh, named for the mother of computers! I love it, Mags, baby! Now, you're named, I'm named, and you have your phone. So the next thing we need to discuss is your itinerary. The campus is designed to emulate a college campus, with recreation facilities, a park, a dining hall, a residence hall, and education buildings. Please feel free to partake in any activity you want in the recreation facilities, park area, or dining hall. You'll be assigned a dorm after the job fair and job placement activities. You have the next two hours to explore the campus, and there's a full GPS style map on the phone.

"After the initial two hours to acclimate, there's a job fair as well as placement activities in the education facilities. Don't worry, I'm set to automatically remind you ten minutes early so that you can be on time. Now, shall we go explore?"

I nodded, looking down at the phone, and we headed out.

You paused a second, breathing deeply and holding back tears. You were dead. You'd finally actually said it out loud. You were dead and uploaded to a computer. Your husband seemed to sense that the silence was you gathering your thoughts, and you loved him for the fact that he gave you space to collect yourself. You didn't need to tell him that you were stark naked and you had to work with Lovelace to find a suitable outfit. Or the effect she had on you. The reports weren't lying that there was an increased sex drive inside of the simulation. Lovelace was pushing a LOT of your buttons. You especially didn't need tot ell him that you were working two fingers in and out of your pussy as you were talking to him, in spite of how upset as you were at the situation.