Erin had had a good life. He had worked in an interesting range of places, both on and off planet Earth, and had maintained steady, healthy relationships with only two partners in over 100 years. He had, of course, suffered the usual illnesses associated with modern life; he had needed implant surgery for depression when his second partner chose death and naturally, he had had a variety of new body parts fitted. No one living in the 22nd century expected anything less.

The last 12 years had been particularly happy. He had finally married Margot after 2 years of cohabitation, a bright, good-humoured, younger woman whose character complemented his seriousness; they shared the same interests in jet skiing and deep-ocean tourism and the same views about body and soul. For the whole of their marriage, they were mostly inseparable and the happiness they shared was now Erin's worry. For he knew she had left her former husband after his Transformation; statistics showed that such parting was not uncommon and he wondered whether the same would eventually happen with them.

Often, she would say truthfully about herself and Kyle: "The relationship was never the same afterwards.." But always she would add "..but it wasn't the operation. He was still the same person; I think we had just been together for too long."

At the age of 124, with limbs and organs failing, Erin felt no surprise when the doctor announced the results of his medical.

"There's not too much more I can do" he said "and its important that we act in good time, and not when an emergency occurs. I'll fix an appointment and let you know. Are you religious? Do you have any moral objections?"

"No" said Erin. When the doctor pointed to the retinal scan, he dutifully offered his voice signature and stared into the lens.

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Transformation arose through success in one science, and failure in another. The failure was in reversing the biology of aging. Once the DNA of the human Methuselah gene had been cracked, they thought a treatment for aging would not be long in coming. Indeed, since early work in the late 20th century, huge strides were made, but the aging process, it seemed, was intrinsic to natural selection. Without the phenomenon of aging, there would have been no evolution and vice versa. Cracking the gene and understanding its mechanisms was one thing; using it was another. Painstakingly, the mechanism behind each strand of the DNA was uncovered, but behind each mechanism lay another. Repeatedly, scientists found themselves not on the brink of a solution, but at the start of another problem. It was little like in the old days, when agronomists would develop and upgrade their insecticides every year, because insect populations would evolve resistant breeds. The problem of aging, however, was never as tractable - behind every process understood, lay a process yet to be discovered.

The success was in intelligence computing. This area began with late twentieth century silicon-based machinery that displayed what was then called artificial intelligence. Such intelligence, though, clearly belonged to the biological makers, and was far from becoming intrinsic to the machine where it was supposed to be. Repeatedly, machines were constructed that passed the Turing and many machines managed to beat Grand Master chess players, but always a team of clever humans had been at hand. It was only when Ceramov, the leading robotician of the 21st century, created the machine named Minder (with the help of the new quantum switching technology) that the real breakthrough was made. For the presence of a superior human intelligence wasn't prerequisite for any of Minder's display of intelligence. Indeed, there were some experiments, still controversial, that showed the presence of Minder's intelligence led to improved human intelligence. Like any good teacher, Minder took account of the intelligence of her charges, and devised strategies for improving it.

Except for those with abstruse philosophical arguments, and those with religious and moral objections, Minder was human. When, finally, she was given a body of her own, complete with sense receptors and control over her own mobility, there was really little doubt about this - her acceptance within social and political circles, both high and low, became only a matter of time. She was famous for being the first of her kind; she capitalised on this and gained considerable influence over a growing number of people around her.

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Erin had been fortunate with regard to Transformation. He had been born just after the invention of MindScan, he had grown old after Transformation had been perfected, and his MindScan records were more or less complete, having avoided the sabotage of religious and moral groups decades earlier. From birth, and every six months thereafter, Erin had undergone MindScan and all his knowledge, wisdom, experience and development had been stored safely within machine archives scattered around the planet. All this was in preparation for the operation that was to take place the following day - his Transformation, his transfer to the new receptacle of his senses and his being, that would last him one more lifetime.

The night before was an emotional one for both Erin and Margot. The days when Transformation accidentally produced severely damaged beings had now long gone, but the horrors of that time, including the mass religious protest and social disruption, were still at the back of everyone's mind.

"Was it really true about Kyle, that he wasn't changed?" asked Erin, whilst they lay in bed together.

"Of course" replied Margot.

"Will you leave me, after my Transformation?"

After the briefest pause, Margot turned to him.

"Listen, that wasn't the first time that Kyle had left me. I should have finished it the first time, but didn't. Transformation had nothing to do with our divorce."

There was silence for a while, before Erin said:

"I'm scared, Margot"

She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"So am I" she said.

They both slept well.

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When Erin awoke in the medical centre, it took him some time to put his thoughts together and recall what had happened. Once he did, he marvelled at what he was able to do so, and that he felt no different from how he felt before. He stretched his brand new fingers and they felt slightly stiff, but they were clearly his, and not those of the dummy that the doctor had pointed to before the operation. He grimaced, and although there was some pain on some parts of his face, and paralysis on others, he felt himself making a meaningful expression.

Throughout that first day he underwent tests and apart from stumbling while taking his first steps, he passed with flying colours. Margot visited and they exchanged pleasantries and jokes. Clearly, his sense of humour had been preserved, but laughing - well, that was still a little painful.

Within days, he was doing everything he did before, including tennis, golf, aerobics and jogging. Sexual intercourse took the longest to get right, but that, as with everything else became better than what he had experienced before. In fact, it was all so good, that the thought came naturally to him.

"Margot, you must go through with this soon - it's just too good."

"Of course, dear" Margot replied "but..."

"In fact, this is something that everyone must have. Is it right that people should undergo multiple organ transplants; should they suffer implant surgery? Shouldn't they enjoy their lives to full? Minder was right about Transformation. It can only do good for the human race. Why don't these religious fanatics let people choose for themselves? Margot, once you've been through it, we can tell everyone about it. We should petition those anti-transformation Governors and tell them where to go. What do they know? How can they decide? We should make our views known. We can't delay, we have to move ahead with this.."

Margot thought back to when Kyle had had his operation. She had tried to resist on that occasion and had argued strongly. This time, she knew it was futile.

Copyright Denis Wong, 1999