It’s cold said the man in the tube. He shivered and opened his eyes, but now he was warm. He laid alone in a white sterile room. “Huh”, said the man as he slowly rose. He looked around the white room and saw only a door and a white table with a white robe. The man grimaced but had yet to really think when a voice vibrated in the air.

“The robe if you would, please.”

The man squinted his eyes for a moment and then pleased. The robe was dangerously soft, and he did enjoy not being naked. The man sat back down on the white clothed bed he awoke and the voice returned. “We’ll be coming in now.”

The voice became two men. Oddly handsome men thought the man. They looked at each other and then the man. “Hello, I’m Doug.” said the one on the left.

“And I’m Dave”. Said the one on the right.

The man looked between the two. “And I’m Michael?” he asked.

Dave looked at Doug and Doug looked at Dave. Doug spoke. “That you are. We were a little worried about you. You’re the oldest in the queue, not many 2020s around.”

Michael looked at his hands, they weren’t old hands. Michael squinted again. “Am I old?”

Dave nodded. “Over 2000 years old. You’ve got quite a few birthdays to celebrate my friend. Sorry for the wait, you know how government queues are.”

Michael grimaced as his brain ticked. “But I died of cancer.”

Doug agreed. “That’s why you froze your body.”

Michael’s brain ticked more. “You’ve cured me and brought me back to life.”

Dave shook his head. “Oh goodness no, you are riddled with cancer.”

Doug nodded. “Just riddled.”

Michael looked at the two handsome gentlemen incredulously. “What?”

Dave bounced his head side to side. “Well, there’s good news and bad news.”

Doug shrugged his shoulders. “Mostly bad, but lots of good.”

Michael sighed. “What’s the good news?”

Dave beamed brightly. “That’s the spirit! The good news my friend, is that humanity has solved cancer, aging, faster than light travel, really just the whole death thing in general. We’ve colonized the galaxy and are excited for you to join us on Earth 2.0!”

Michael let loose an excited “Oh!”

Doug put the excited “Oh!” back. “The bad news is, Earth 1.0 is a nuclear wasteland, a rogue planet will impact it in two years, and humans can’t stay in space for more than a few years nor travel at the speed of light.”

Dave chimed in. “Not even a tenth.”

Michael craned his neck at Dave. “And which Earth are we on?”

Dave answered. “1.0.”

“Oh.” Said Michael.

“Right.” Said Doug.

“So.” says Dave. “You have a decision to make. No pressure of course, no wrong answers.”

“Really none.”, says Doug.

Michael darted his eyes between the two. “Okay?”

Dave began. “Humanity couldn’t ever get past the whole can’t travel fast in squishy watery sacs quandary.”

Doug continued. “Physics is unfortunately quite rigid. Humanity decided that the easiest solution to move fast was to not be human. We upload our brains straight to a server and drop it right into a Synth wherever they need to be.”

Dave elaborated. “Wormholes can’t be built larger than an atom, but light is a photon, and a human brain and DNA is only a few terabytes”

Doug finished. “We sync to the servers using an atomic wormhole, and when a Synth breaks, we just sync into a new one. Drones zip around the universe and start building Synth factories and servers with the planet materials they land on.”

Dave nodded. “Time doesn’t matter when you can’t die; day by day, we conquer the galaxy.”

Michael slowly nodded. “But are you really you?”

Doug looked at Dave. “You feel like you buddy?”

Dave looked at Doug. “I feel very much like me buddy, and you?”

Doug looked at Michael. “I feel very me. Do you feel like you, after dying and waking up 2000 years later?”

Michael was silent a moment. “I suppose. So then is that the decision I have to decide?”

Dave answered. “Well, we as humanity are big believers in informed consent.”

“Huge believers, really” nodded Doug.

Dave continued. “The decision is really, would you like to be synced to the servers?”

Michael scratched his face. “And if I don’t?”

Doug snapped both his fingers with a certain amount of show. A panel in the wall receded and a monitor replaced it, an image of a warehouse full of tubes displayed on the monitor. “We put you back into your tube to become an otter pop, and you wait 2 years. All these fine folks didn’t want to and that’s perfectly okay, they’ll go peacefully when the planet comes.”

Michael grimaced. “The planet.”

Dave nodded. “Yes sir, the planet”.

Michael looked at the monitor. “So you two are Synths?” Dave and Doug nodded together. “And you’re going to stay here until the planets collide, waking people up and offering them a choice.” They nodded once more. “And I now have to decide if I want to leave my humanity.” They nodded a final time.

Doug chimed in. “We still do everything we could. I’ve felt the passion of love.”

Dave agreed. “Eaten the finest foods the galaxy can provide.”

Doug pointed at Dave. “Surfed the largest waves.”

Dave raised his hands. “Jumped from the tallest heights and felt my simulated heart, beat against my simulated ears.”

Doug raised his first to Dave. “We even combined our synthetic DNA to make a Synth baby.”

Dave bumped his fist into Doug’s. “She’s the governor of Xantham now.

Doug became solemn for just a moment. “And of course, if you wish, you can always retire your sync. No shame in a retirement.”

Michael rested a finger on his cheek. “That’s excellent to hear, but I hark back, is it really all you? Are you really Doug and Dave or just an iteration?”

Doug looked at Michael with a crooked smile. “All we’ve done is made the GATC a 0 or a 1. The question of consciousness hasn’t changed, my friend.”

Dave put his hand on Michael’s shoulder. “If you sleep tonight, are you the same stream tomorrow? How about in ten years? Is your mind of meat any different than mine of gold?”

Michael sighed. “How could I possibly know?”

Doug looked at his wrist. There was no watch. “You can’t, and unfortunately we really do have more folks to keep waking.”

Dave tapped his wrist. Again, absent. “We can give you another five to hum and ha on that one.”

Doug snapped both his fingers again, for the show. Two tubes rose in the corner of each room. One marked in bold letters “SYNTH”, the other in “COLD”. “When you make your decision, step into the tube.”

Dave opened the door for Doug. “And again, no pressure - there truly is no wrong decision. Well, except no decision. Then the room kind of sucks all the oxygen out to force you to make a right decision!”

Doug waved as he exited the room. “Au revoir, monsieur!”

A panel on the white wall flipped to reveal a clock. It’s dull red lettering flipping with every second.

Michael stood alone in the white sterile room. “Huh.” He said as he stared at the clock.