In the abandoned building overlooking the Zenith complex, Tera finally received the response she'd been waiting for. Her tablet chimed, displaying a notification from her sister's proxy AI.
"Message from Luna Cantwell: Priority communication requested regarding status of physical assets."
Tera's fingers hovered over the accept button. Seven years. It had been seven years since she'd heard her sister's voice, or at least the perfect digital copy of it. The last time they'd spoken had been the day before Luna's upload, when she'd offered to arrange Tera's upload as well.
Luna being the husband of a higher-up of Luminex Systems meant that she could arrange a discount, but that meant nothing to Tera, as she refused to leave her ailing parents behind.
She tapped accept. A holographic window materialized above the tablet, displaying the perfect, ageless avatar Luna had chosen for her digital afterlife. She looked eternally thirty-five, with the golden-blonde hair and flawless complexion she'd spent a fortune maintaining even before uploading. Other enhancements could be found on her body, things that seemed improbable with even modern surgeries in the outside world.
"Tera." The avatar smiled with practiced warmth. "This is unexpected."
"Is it really you?" Tera asked, studying the too-perfect image. "Or just your AI proxy?"
"It's me," the avatar replied. "Your message was flagged as a family emergency, which triggers direct routing to my consciousness." The avatar's head tilted. "Though I admit I'm surprised to hear from you after all this time. Especially given the circumstances."
"You mean the attack on your precious server farm?" Tera kept her expression neutral.
"Desperate times, Luna."
The avatar sighed, a completely unnecessary behaviour for a digital being with no lungs. "So you're involved with these 'Returners.' I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You always did have a flair for dramatic rebellion."
"This isn't about rebellion," Tera snapped. "It's about survival. Do you have any idea what's happening out here while you enjoy your digital paradise? Global temperatures up another two degrees. Water rationing in thirty-eight percent of major cities. And Zenith's server farms consuming as much energy as entire countries used to."
"I'm not unaware of the difficulties." Luna began.
"Difficulties?" Tera laughed hysterically. "Is that what you call it when children are dying because the resources needed to save them are being diverted to keep you and your dead friends running your perfect simulations?"
For a moment, the avatar's perfect composure slipped, revealing something that almost looked like genuine emotion. "What do you want from me, Tera? I can't undo my upload."
"No, you can't," Tera agreed. "And you wouldn't even want to." "All I need is for you to help us. You're listed as a Tier-2 premium member. That gives you certain access privileges, voting rights on Zenith policy decisions."
The avatar's eyes narrowed. "You want me to betray Zenith from the inside."
"I want you to save your physical assets," Tera replied coolly. "The property, the art collection, things belonging to your sweetheart who corrupted you. All still legally yours because technically, you're not dead. Yet."
"You dare threaten me?" Luna said with a touch of disbelief.
"I'm negotiating," Tera corrected. "The Returners aren't just targeting Zenith's infrastructure. We're systematically identifying and redistributing physical assets belonging to the uploaded. Starting with those who refuse to cooperate."
Luna's avatar went still—the digital equivalent of holding one's breath. "You wouldn't. That's our keepsafe in case we need to return.
"Keepsafe?" Tera leaned closer to the holographic display. "You abandoned your family, the people who loved and raised you from the moment you were born. You chose immortality while I've spent the last seven years fighting just to survive, to keep mom and dad alive. Don't talk to me about your childish ideas."
A long moment of silence stretched between them, the sisters were separated by more than just the digital divide.
"What exactly do you want me to do?" Luna finally asked.
Tera felt a moment of joy as they reconnected. "There's going to be an emergency board meeting in response to today's attack. As a premium member, you have the right to attend. I need you to propose opening Zenith's technology for broader applications, medical uses, public infrastructure."
"They'll never agree to that," Luna protested.
"They will if enough premium members support it," Tera replied. "And you're not the only uploaded person we're approaching. The Returners have further family connections"
The avatar's expression shifted to one of calculation, a look Tera remembered well from their childhood, when Luna would weigh the costs and benefits of helping her younger sister.
"Let me get this straight," Luna said slowly. "I help you leverage Zenith's technology for public use, and in return, you don't seize my physical assets?"
"That's the offer," Tera confirmed.
"And if I refuse?"
Tera's expression hardened. "Then by this time tomorrow, your husband's property will be a public shelter, and your collections will be used to fund medical care for those who can't afford it."
Luna's avatar smiled unexpectedly. "You know what's ironic? In here, I have everything I could ever want. Limitless experiences, perfect pleasure, eternal youth. But lately..." She paused, seemingly searching for words. "Lately it feels hollow. Empty. After a while, paradise without purpose becomes its own kind of prison."
"I'm not interested in your existential crisis," Tera said flatly.
"No, I don't suppose you would be," Luna conceded. "Very well. I'll support your proposal at the board meeting. Not because of your threats, but because maybe you're right. The division between our worlds has gone too far."
Before Tera could respond, another notification appeared on her tablet: an incoming communication request from an unknown source. She frowned, checking the encryption. It was using Zenith's internal protocols, but from a channel she didn't recognize.
"I need to go," she told her sister's avatar. "The board meeting is in three hours. Don't disappoint me."
She closed the connection with Luna and cautiously accepted the new communication. The holographic display flickered, resolving into the image of a man she didn't recognize, handsome, in his fifties, with the too-perfect appearance of an uploaded consciousness.
"Tera Cantwell?" the man asked. "My name is Zac Voss. I believe we share a common goal regarding Zenith's future. And I have a proposition that might interest both you and your Returners."
Tera studied the unfamiliar avatar with suspicion. "How did you get this channel?"
The avatar smiled. "Let's just say I'm not your typical uploaded elitist. And right now, I'm offering you something much more valuable than seized assets or damaged infrastructure."
"Which is?"
"The complete architectural specifications for Zenith's quantum consciousness storage systems," Zac replied. "Including the compression algorithms that make uploading possible in the first place."
Tera felt her pulse quicken despite her attempt to remain impassive. "Why would you betray your own kind?"
"I'm not betraying anyone," Zac countered. "I'm trying to save both our worlds before they destroy each other. The technology that created Zenith was never meant to be exclusive, its founders simply found it more profitable that way."
He leaned forward, his eyes intense with purpose. "Your sister isn't the only one inside Zenith who's questioning what we've become. There's a growing faction among us who see the unsustainability of the current model. We just needed a catalyst to act."
"And we provided that catalyst," Tera realized.
"Precisely," Zac nodded. "Now we have a narrow window of opportunity while the board is in crisis management mode. But we need to coordinate our efforts, inside and outside."
For the first time in years, Tera felt something dangerously close to hope. "I'm listening."