Zac watched in growing horror as the elderly woman's avatar continued to destabilize. Her background came up as a floating bubble revealing that she was Diana Fletcher, a retired neurosurgeon who had uploaded five years ago after a terminal cancer diagnosis.
"—and then everything started to fall apart," she was saying, her voice still distorted but comprehensible. "My garden, my grandchildren—all my simulations began to corrupt. Like reality itself was coming undone."
"You're experiencing processing limitations," Zac explained, trying to keep his voice steady. "There's been a security breach at the facility. Premium members are being transferred to a backup location, but—"
"But not us," Diana finished, her pixelated expression showing sad understanding. "Of course not. We only paid the minimum thirty million." She laughed, a sound that distorted into static at its edges. "You know what's funny? I spent my life saving others. Rebuilt shattered brains after trauma. And now my own consciousness is considered less valuable because I didn't pay for the premium package." "Even in here, the supposed place of eternal life, there just has to be a hierarchy."
Zac felt shame wash over him, an emotion he hadn't genuinely experienced since uploading. In the perfect world he'd inhabited, there was no room for shame, no need for it.
"I'm going to help," he found himself saying. "I have administrative access. There must be something I can do."
Diana's avatar stabilized slightly, her eyes focusing on him with sudden clarity. "Why would you help? You're being saved. You're a premium member."
Before Zac could answer, a new voice interrupted, it was the system's AI voice, but with a changed tone.
"Attention all Luminex Systems members. This is a priority announcement. Physical resources belonging to uploaded members are facing coordinated attacks in multiple locations. A group identifying as 'The Returners' has released the following statement."
The white space around them transformed, displaying floating text:
"TO THE DEAD WHO STILL OWN THE EARTH: Your time of taking without giving is over. For each day you consume resources that the living need, we will systematically dismantle your remaining physical assets. Houses will be repurposed. Financial holdings will be redistributed. The legal fiction that allows you to hoard from beyond the grave ends today. If you want to preserve what you left behind, open negotiations for shared access to Luminex Systems technology. You have 24 hours to respond."
The message disappeared, replaced by the system's soothing voice: "The Luminex Systems assures all members that their physical assets remain secure. Additional protective measures are being implemented. This situation does not pose a threat to your continued digital existence."
But Zac wasn't listening anymore. A thought had taken root in his mind, unexpected and unsettling. What if the protesters were right? What claim did the "dead" truly have on the world they'd left behind?
"Diana," he said suddenly, "what if we could help them?"
Her fractured avatar tilted its head. "Help who? The attackers?"
"Not help them attack," Zac clarified, "but address what they're really asking for. Access to the technology. A chance at the same immortality we have."
"You're suggesting we betray Zenith?" Diana's voice wavered between skepticism and interest.
"I'm suggesting we evolve it," Zac replied. "I still have connections in the physical world, proxy AIs managing my assets, lawyers who follow my digital directives. And administrative access that could be repurposed."
"You were a neurosurgeon," Zac said, noting the file tag again. "How did you end up on standard tier?"
"I gave away most of my savings to fund a neuro-lab to research ailments. There were kids dying with seizure disorders who could've been cured with a bit more investment from the government. My own upload was funded through a university grant. Standard tier was all I could afford."
Zac felt like she'd reached into his chest and twisted something loose.
"I wish I could say I did something so noble," he muttered.
"Maybe you still can," she replied.
For the first time since the disruption began, Diana's avatar smiled fully, the pixels aligning into something approaching her real face. "I was starting to get bored with paradise anyway."
As his transfer to the Alpine facility neared completion, Zac made a decision that would have been unthinkable hours earlier.
The revolution would begin from inside paradise itself.