They call it the “Golden age of Humanity”, nobody wants, no one is hungry, no more poverty, no more illness…. Well, almost anyway. The doctors tell me the Travelers technology won’t help me, they tell me every cell in my body is sick. I’ve been poked, prodded, examined and puzzled over. I’ve had every treatment twice over, the only difference it ever made was that god awful synthetic intravenous viral augmentation, and hell; I had to take poison just to keep it in line. What did it buy me, a few more years? I’ve finally been broken down enough to let those religious freaks do their thing, whatever that is. I mean you have to be crazy to build temples to a giant metal ball. But what choice do I have. They should be here any moment. I’ll just get some rest while I wait… Voices, damn voices, how long have I been asleep. I can hear a woman’s voice “He’s waking up…Mr. Vaughn, can you hear me Mr. Vaughn?” “I can hear you” … she was wearing those ridiculous robes, all dressed in white, tell me that’s not how a cult would dress you. “You’re from the order, here to use your magic to heal me?” I said smirking; nobody else found it funny. “Not magic Mr. Vaughn, just science we haven’t unraveled yet… and you can help us unravel it” She said. “So you want me to be your guinea pig?” I responded “Guinea pig?” she questioned “A small rodent; they used to experiment on them in the early 21rst” I explained “Then yes Mr. Vaughn you’ll be our guinea pig” She smiled, somehow she made me feel at rest, safe. She continued “We will bring you to our temple at the base of the traveler, there you will make contact with Traveler” “Contact!” I exclaimed “you must be out of your mind that’s not a treatment that’s death, I’ll die if I touch the Traveler!” She smiled, and calmly continued “No Mr. Vaughn, we have been studying the effects of the Traveler once contact has been made, and we’ve found something incredible. Based on the data we’ve gathered” I had to interrupt “Hold on, how exactly have you been studying the effects? Have you been sending members of your order to their death? Have you been experimenting on your own, sacrificing them!?” She paused, but seemed un-phased “Yes, the devout have dedicated their lives to understanding the Traveler, and they have not been sacrificed, they have been changed. As I was saying the data we have recovered is… well its nothing short of a miracle. When the traveler is touched the body does indeed die, but not because the traveler kills you, because it takes you.” I didn’t understand “What do you mean? That sounds like death to me.” Calm as ever she continued “The body dies because the mind leaves the body, we’ve definitive proof in the data, the mind migrates inside the Traveler. We can only detect the smallest part of the construct but when contact is made some kind of matrix is created, some kind of advanced data storage. We don’t fully understand it yet, but we believe the mind can live inside this matrix, and the more data we gather, well… soon we think we will be able to replicate the technology. Imagine Mr. Vaughn, if we could upload a mind to a synthetic copy we could in theory live forever, or perhaps even create true virtual realities, we could program heaven.” Damn, I needed a minute “I don’t know, I just don’t know…” For the first time a stern look came over her face “To be blunt Mr. Vaughn, what difference does it make? If you stay here, you’ll be dead in a few days maybe a few weeks at best, at least this way you have a real chance to survive, to live.” She was right, it made no difference. At least this way my life would have purpose… or my death. “Okay show me the data, I’ll do it.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here are more Destiny short stories, please like them if you enjoy them The Travelers Light: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/221602027[/url] A Ghost is Born: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/221698372[/url] Running Home: [url]https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/221723435[/url] Check back here in a few days for more...