“There is no need to thank me,” Reesta said. “It is an honor for me that you have brought these guests. Their presence makes this occasion that much more special.”

“We’ll communicate later,” Arak said. “When are you going to die?” He began to herd the group back through the door.

“Sometime later,” Reesta said casually. “We have the room for several more hours. But wait!”

Arak stopped and turned back to his friend.

“I just got an idea,” Reesta said with excitement. “Perhaps our second-generation guests would like to see me die.”

“That’s a very generous offer,” Arak said. “We certainly do not want to impose, but it would be instructive.”

“It’s no imposition,” Reesta said, warming to the idea. “I’ve had enough of this party, and they can surely keep going without my physical presence.”

“Then we accept,” Arak said. He waved for Richard and Michael to come back since the bored divers had moved out into the hall.

“I hope this isn’t gruesome,” Suzanne whispered to Arak.

“Certainly not in comparison to what you people watch for entertainment in your surface world,” Arak said.

Reesta used his wrist communicator before making a circuit around the room to press palms with everyone present. This caused a building sense of excitement. Then he approached the table with the box and the book. As he did so the crowd began to cheer. First he cut a lock of his hair and put it inside the box. Next he entered a date in the book and the cheering reached a crescendo.

A door appeared next to the MRI-like machine and two worker clones stepped into the room. Both carried golden goblets which they gave to Reesta. Reesta held the goblets aloft and the crowd went silent. Then Reesta drained both vessels, one after the other.

Applause followed the drinking. Reesta bowed to his guests and even to the secondary humans. Then the two clones helped him climb into the three-foot wide opening of the MRI-like machine. He entered feet first and slid in until his head was well within the lip. At that point a mirror dropped down so that Reesta could look back at his guests and his guests could see his face. After a final wave, Reesta closed his eyes and appeared to settle down as if in sleep.

One of the worker clones stepped to the side of the apparatus and placed his hand palm down on a white square. Almost immediately a hum could be heard followed by a reddish glow that filled the apparatus’s aperture. A moment later Reesta’s body went rigid and his eyes flew open. This tetanic state was maintained for several minutes, after which Reesta’s body went flaccid, his eyes sank in their sockets, and his mouth sagged in death.

The murmuring crowd fell silent. The red glow within the opening of the machine faded and the hum dissipated. Next, a powerful sucking sound could be heard, followed by the thump of a large valve closing, and Reesta’s body disappeared from sight. One minute it was in plain view, the next minute it was gone.

The crowd remained still and mute. Seconds ticked away. Suzanne was confused emotionally as well as intellectually. Death in any form disturbed her. She hazarded a glance at Perry. He shrugged his shoulders in equivalent bewilderment.

“So, is that it?” Richard queried.

Arak gestured for him to be silent and to wait.

Michael shifted his weight and yawned.

All at once there was a simultaneous activation of everyone’s wrist communicators, including those of the secondary humans. Although Ismael and Mary Black had given them the simple instructions to use the units-which involved merely speaking into them in an exclamatory fashion-no one had actually tried them yet. So when Reesta’s voice issued forth, the five were taken aback.

“Hello, my friends,” Reesta’s voice said. “All is well. Death was successful and without complication. See you all in four years, but don’t forget to communicate.”

A general cheer arose from the primary humans, and they enthusiastically touched palms with each other in obvious celebration.

“Death’s no big deal down here,” Michael whispered to Richard.

“Yeah, but I think it’s got to be done in this special way,” Richard whispered back.

“This is a good time for us to leave,” Arak said. As unobtrusively as possible, he shepherded the secondary humans out into the hallway and then directed them back toward the elevators. Suzanne and Perry were full of questions, but Arak put them off. He was too busy keeping Richard and Michael moving. Donald was his usual stony self.

It wasn’t until they were back in an air taxi that conversation was possible. Even before the craft’s entrance sealed over Perry said, “I’m afraid this visit has posed more questions than it has answered.”

Arak nodded. “Then it was successful,” he said. He put his palm onto the central, circular black table and said, “Spawning center, please!” Almost immediately the saucer sealed, rose, then shot off horizontally.

“What actually did we witness back there?” Suzanne asked.

“The death of Reesta’s current body,” Arak said. He sat back and began to relax. He was unaccustomed to the stress of being out in public with such a large, uninitiated group of secondary humans.

“Where did the body go?” Richard asked.

“Back into the molten asthenosphere,” Arak said.

“And what about his essence?” Perry asked.

Arak paused as if he were searching for words. “It’s difficult to explain these things, but I suppose you’ll get the idea if I say his memory and personality imprint was downloaded into our integrated informational center.”

“Holy shit,” Michael exclaimed. “Look down there in front of that building! It’s a goddamned ’Vette!”

Despite everyone’s intense interest in Arak’s explanation, they couldn’t help but respond to Michael’s outburst and follow his pointing finger. What they saw was a barnacle-encrusted vintage Chevrolet Corvette on a basalt dais in front of a building that appeared like a haphazard pile of children’s blocks.

“What’s a ’Vette doing down here?” Michael asked as they zipped past. “It’s a sixty-two,” he continued. “I had one just like it but in green.”

“That building is our Earth Surface Museum,” Arak explained. “The automobile is the one object that we feel currently symbolizes your culture.”

“It’s in sorry shape,” Michael said. He sat back down.

“Obviously,” Arak said. “It had spent a good deal of time underwater before we salvaged it. But getting back to Perry’s question. When the worker clone started the death sequence, Reesta’s entire mind in terms of memory, personality, emotions, self-awareness, and even his unique way of thinking was extracted and stored en masse available for total recall.”

The secondary humans stared at Arak in stunned silence.

“Not only can Reesta’s essence be recalled,” Arak continued. “He can be consulted and even chatted with through your wrist communicator prior to his recall. Or better yet, he can be not only communicated with but viewed in his last body configuration via the media center in each of your quarters. Central Information creates a virtual image in conjunction with whatever conversation you are having.”

“What if someone dies before they get to that download machine?” Richard asked.

“It doesn’t happen,” Arak said. “Death is a planned exercise in Interterra.”

“This is all too much,” Perry said. “What you are telling us is so far from believability that for the moment I don’t even know what to ask.”

“I’m not surprised,” Arak said. “That’s exactly why Sufa and I decided to start showing you things rather than just telling you about them.”

“I have a hard time believing the mind can be downloaded,” Suzanne said. “Intelligence, memory, and personality are associated with dendritic connections in the human brain. The number is staggering. We’re talking about billions of neurons with up to a thousand connections each.”