The Last Man

[Wayne23]

August, 2128: Summer in Massachusetts. Hotter than it used to be. Some days there was just no way I was hiking. It was too hot even at sunrise. But I hiked a lot. More on that later.

I decided I really needed female companionship so I concentrated on fine tuning the programs for Lacy, Jo, and Barb, and I have all three pretty close to 100%. Now, don’t forget, they will evolve, they will grow in their own directions. But I can now interact with them in a way that makes them seem absolutely real to me. Actually, toward the end of civilization Holopeople were considered as just an alternate form of human life. They had become that well designed and constructed.

I’ll have to report on a date one of these days. I think you’d find it interesting.

The Star Trek and Sherlock programs also took up a lot of my time. I love those two and I want them ready to play. It shouldn’t be long.

But, I spent even more time on another of my “Big 6.”

After the earthquake I had stayed away from the water- both real and virtual. But I came to miss it… a lot. It’s clearly too dangerous to go boating in the real world, but not in the HC. So I started with a basic program for a 65 foot yacht, very much like the real one I had, and I started tweaking it. It actually didn’t take all that much tweaking, and it’s ready for me to cruise the virtual waters. Can’t wait!

I spent some more time rummaging through the bookstores, program disk shops, and other places in Northampton. I found two real book treasures, books I don’t have on my electronic reader, and that I really really wanted.

The one break I got during the earthquake- well, aside from the fact that I survived it, was that I had forgotten my eReader in the pickup that morning. There would have been no way to replace the thousands of books I had loaded to it. I’m sure I would have found other eReaders, but there was no way to load books onto them. I would have only had the books that were already there. And my books are important to me. I read pretty eclectically but I also go in for lots of stuff that isn’t exactly mainstream.

I also found two pretty rare program disks. One is a submarine program- more of a deep sea exploration program via 2 man sub. I’ve never seen that one, and I can’t wait to give it a shot.

The second one is a college basketball coaching program. I know I said I was finished with that, but it’s been a half century since I coached, and lately I’ve missed it. From what I saw when I popped it in and just kind of explored to see what it could do, it seems very realistic. It definitely looks like I’ll enjoy it.

And now for the down side- I saved the worst for last. I got hurt on a hike. I was about 45 minutes in and I stepped in a deep hole. I twisted my right ankle badly. I thought I might have broken it. The pain was excruciating. It was so bad I didn’t notice that I had also torn up my right knee.

This was the worst kind of trouble. As I said I was 45 minutes into a hike. It was a brand new location so I was completely bushwhacking. I couldn’t put any weight on my right leg, as I found out when I tried and immediately fell down.

There was no way to get help. What to do. Fortunately, I carried a backpack with extra bottles of water and extra food, mostly trail mix. I had a great knife and a small axe. I’d just have to crawl, and hope to find a sturdy branch that I could cut down and use as a crutch.

I started to crawl, and every foot of progress was accompanied by agonizing pain. If you’re wondering, I knew that once I got home I could get into the HC and a virtual doctor would fix me up; there were programs for every kind of doctor that existed in the real world. But it was going to be a long, hard journey. I estimated that I was a mile and a quarter from the pickup, which I wasn’t sure I could either climb into or drive. But, one foot at a time. It felt like I had to stop every 15-20 feet because the pain was so overwhelming. I was sweating, and it was pain, not heat, that was causing the sweat. I have never experienced pain like the pain from this injury.

Two hours later I thought I might be halfway to the truck. I was in bad shape. Severe pain is exhausting, along with everything else it is.

I had found a branch to use for a crutch, and it had taken a hell of a long time to chop it off the tree and then to try to make the bottom fairly flat. Then I couldn’t get up onto my feet to use it. When I finally did, it really was too much trouble to use. I felt like I was going to fall with every step, and that would NOT have been good. So I went back to crawling.

At this point I had one bottle of water left, and not too much trail mix. I decided to try to take a nap. It was about 11:00 a.m., so there was a good 8 or 9 hours of sun left.

When I woke up from the nap it was dark. Not good. There was an almost full moon. I knew I had to keep going. The ankle was huge, and the knee was swollen as well. They had both stiffened up a great deal. But I had to keep going. With water low and food almost as low I needed to get home tonight.

I pushed through pain that was indescribable. I knew I simply had to get to the truck, no matter what, but I went through the worst kind of hell.

At 11:23 I saw the pickup as I crawled around a corner. It may have been the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I rested at the foot of the truck, and drank the last of the water.

Getting into the truck was more pure hell, but I eventually made it. My right leg was useless so I needed to find a way to get it out of the way and drive with my left foot and leg. Fortunately, the truck was an automatic. Standard transmissions had made a huge comeback just before the end, but I stuck with automatics, thankfully.

Getting my right leg out of the way so I could drive had me in tears it was so painful. And once I got it there, I couldn’t find a position that lessened the pain. I gutted it out and drove home.

Getting out of the truck was, if anything, even worse than getting in. I parked as close to the house as I could because that was the only place I had a HC that didn’t require some kind of a climb.

At about 2:15 a.m., I got into the house, found the programs for 3-4 doctors who seemed most suited to my problem, and I fired up the HC. Before visiting the doc I got more water, and dialed up a snack. Then it was time for a visit to the doc.

Torn ACL, torn MCL, completely screwed up ankle, but it wasn’t broken. The doc had me ambulanced to the hospital in the HC, and he said he’d do surgery in the morning for the knee. The ankle would get a brace, and needed to be iced regularly and packed tight the rest of the time, which the hospital would take care of. None of that was any less than agonizing.

I had a very rough 4-5 days after surgery. They said I needed to walk for the knee to heal properly, but the ankle couldn’t take it so they came up with some ways to exercise the knee. Every one of them made the ankle extremely painful.

Eventually the ankle got a little better, and that helped both the ankle and the knee. But I knew I had a long haul in front of me.

Next time: Recovering. Hurricane season.

[Wayne23]

5/1: I’ve been looking at video. It’s going to be a long season. Hoping we can find some good walk ons.

We buy the national basic.

6/5: Looking. We have 2 slots for transfers.

6/12: Got a good looking PG.

6/16: We get a PF who’s a project.

6/26: 2 scholarships. We need bigs.

9/18: We get a C, #61.

Soft schedule.

10/2: We get a PF, #176.

11/6: Here’s the lineup:

Lots of guys sharing positions. Only C Hip Carr is playing full minutes.

At guard, senior walk on Dan Murr is at PG, junior Ty Side is at SG, backing up at PG, and frosh Jam Grip plays both. All three get about equal time.

Junior Den Port starts at SF.

Soph Jay Daws is at PF. Senior Hip Carr, as I said, gets full minutes at C.

Senior Luis Patt subs at PF, and soph Dan Thas subs at SF and C. Look for changes.

[Wayne23]

October, 2128: The rehab/recovery was tough. Still is, but the first few weeks- Wow! I was stuck in the house full time for a month. I really couldn’t make it without full time care, which I could only get in the HC. After the first few days I could leave the HC in a wheel chair, which allowed me to get program disks and things like that, but I never left the house.

That was a really long month because I couldn’t do any HC adventures that required me to be active. I couldn’t walk without assistance.

I read, wrote, and I thought a lot. My girlfriends visited me after I worked out a way for programs to merge so they could. I first did program merges because the rehab program did not include the doctors. That was pretty dumb, but it had never occurred to me. It took 3-4 days to figure a way to make the merge happen, but once I got one done, the others were easy.

After the first month I went to crutches, then a walker, and I’ve just graduated to a cane. I still can’t do any active HC programs, but I can use the yacht, and things like that.

I’m also working with those two new programs I found in Northampton. The submarine program is very cool. I stay in a wheelchair with that one, but it really does show some fascinating things.

Whoever designed it based it on what we know about the ocean floor, and added some extrapolations about other things that are likely to be down there. Very cool. It’s a two man, as I think I said. The other guy (Hologuy) pilots the sub, but can take direction from me. There’s a lot to see.

I found that I really was ready to coach college hoops again. I started with UMass, since that school was right in this general area. The program includes everything that exists in real world hoops- or did when there was hoops.

I haven’t gotten to a game yet, but I remember how much I used to love designing a practice, and then coaching my way through it. I’m also recruiting, having staff meetings, looking at a lot of video- all of it.

Fun! I don’t do everything. Coaching is a full time job plus. But I do the fun stuff and program in the things I don’t choose to deal with.

I can do the space exploration program via wheelchair, but things like the Star Trek and Sherlock programs are out for now. So is auto racing, hiking, ski jumping, and anything else that is really physical.

Anyway, I’m able to keep busy much more easily now that I’m a little more mobile.

I also found that there were two things about being in the HC that I had not given enough thought to.

First, was seeing the outside world around the HC. Funny, I was able to get weather reports all along, but it never occurred to me that a visual would be good.

There are a bunch of ways to do this, but not until I’m more mobile than I am now. I decided on drones. When I can do it I’ll go into Northampton and find a couple that are designed for just that purpose. They were called, “Centree” (for sentry), and all I’d need to do is find them and recharge their solar panels and cells, then program them. A couple should do it, one for the house, one for the bus garage. An aerial few shows 360 degrees for as wide an angle as it is set for.

The other issue occurred to me the other morning when I heard strange noises. I looked out the window and saw a black bear. I’m pretty much live and let live, but I can see opening the door to the bus garage and coming face to face with one of those, or with a bobcat, or a skunk, or whatever. The drone will take the surprise away, but I’m now going to keep a high powered rifle next to every door to the outside. I always took a rifle when I hiked or travelled, but I want this extra protection, just in case. I also want to install noise makers to try to scare any animal away if it gets too close. I’d rather scare it away than have to shoot it.

But my very first concern was a rescue plan, in case I got into trouble away from the HC again. I now realized that all my hiking, like all my boating, would happen in the HC, and when I’m in the HC rescue is available. But I could still get into a bad situation in the real world, even though it is now clear to me that I need to be very careful, and I need to restrict all edgy adventures to the HC. Still, things happen, and it’s best to be ready for all contingencies.

Obviously there’s no one to come to my aid, and as I’ve said, nothing in the HC can come out of the HC. The solution finally came to me, and it involved robots and a self-driving vehicle.

By the end of civilization, about 75% of driving was done via self-driving vehicles, so, again, when I am well enough, I will find one of those, get it running, and find a way to call for it remotely. Actually, the plan is to have the vehicle, and it’s going to be an ambulance, follow me wherever I drive.

The second part, robots, is also a technology that had come a very long way by the end. I’ve never used them because I didn’t see a need, but I’m going to find some of those as well. First, I’ll put them in the ambulance. There are actually robots programmed as EMTs, as there are robots programmed for about every task imaginable; many are programmed for a wide variety of tasks. The EMT ‘bots could ride the ambulance, get me into a stretcher and into the ambulance, and ride the ambulance with me back home. They then would take me into the house and into the HC. I will always have the medical and rehab disks available just inside the HC. The robots are programmable and I will grab all the relevant disks I can find, and program a group of robots for lots of different tasks. One more job, which is fine. Living as I do, I need to find things to occupy my time. I’m pretty good at that, if I do say so myself.

As I’ve said, a lot of what I talked about today can’t happen until my recovery is further along. My orthopedic doc says about another month and I’ll be able to do everything except heavy lifting, so I’ll be a busy guy by about Thanksgiving.

Next time: more recovery, robots, drones, self-driving vehicles (more than the ambulance), programming, activating… the previous items, 2 hurricanes.

[Wayne23]

11/20: 2-0 start! Both home games, and both easy opponents, but I’ll take it! Hip Carr is leading us. He had 18, 6, then 31, 7, 3.

Our goals are pretty tough, qualify for the NIT, finish in top ½ of conf., finish above .500. Every win is important. Given that we’re picked to finish 10th in the 12 team PAC 12, that one could be very tough.

11/27: 3-1. A road loss, but only by 5. In the home game they doubled Carr all night and our PF and SF lit it up. Kudos to the guards for finding the open man. I’ve been teaching that and spending a lot of time on it in practice. Nice to see it working.

We faded in the road game. That doesn’t make me happy. My guys are in shape to play hard all the way, and only Carr played big minutes, and he didn’t fade at all. I sure wish he wasn’t a senior.

I’m giving Side and Grip full minutes at guard, and Port and Daws full minutes at SF and PF respectively, and I’m giving Hu Dome all the up front sub minutes.

3 of the next 4 on the road. 2-2 would be good.

12/14: 5-3. We did 2-2 on the 3 out of 4 on the road! The lineup changes worked. Hu Dome is really getting it done. Port will still start at SF, but Dome will get equal minutes there.

One more pre-conf. game to play.

12/25: 6-3 to end pre-conf. play. +3.0 PPG, even in RBs, +2.7 TOs. RPI #78. I’m delighted! Dome will start at SF beginning now.

12/27: I ran into a scientist here, a geneticist. We were both at a university event and just got to talking. She said she and her team are working on extending the human life span. It was a long, fascinating conversation.

They’re working on telomeres. Aging is mostly about when the telomeres start to decay, and the ends of them kind of shrivel up or something. Her team thinks they have a way to make that not happen, or at least happen at a tremendously slower rate. That’s not the only issue in aging of course. They also think they have a way for arteries not to harden, for the blood stream to automatically break up any clots that may form, for tissues to regenerate as they decay. They focus on the brain, pancreas, heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver, but everything else as well.

It seems they’ve reached the point where they need human volunteers- the very first ones. She says she’s looking for people in their mid 30s who are in excellent physical shape.

“We’ve spent two and a half decades putting all of this together, and we’re the number one team in the world on this. We honestly think a series of twelve injections, at two week intervals, of the compound we’ve come up with will allow humans to live, being healthy and active, for 100- to 150 years. That’s a very rough estimate, of course, but based on our work with primates, that’s where we are.

“I want to try this on a dozen people, all in their mid 30s, say from 32-38, all healthy and active. Six men and six women. I’m too old, or I’d be first in line. I absolutely intend to be in the second group that does this, but we need consistent data with the first group.”

“What’s the catch?”

“Well, first, anything this radically different is going to carry the possibility of causing harm. We feel the risk is small, but we can’t offer any guarantees. Second, the twelve volunteers have to agree to remain active and to maintain a healthy lifestyle, diet, and so forth. We’re not asking for anything fanatic, just being sensible. If you eat junk, work it off, and be careful about diet for the next few days after they eat junk. Try not to skip many days of exercise. If you drink, do it moderately.

“Coach, you’re an ideal candidate for this. I didn’t strike up this conversation by accident. We’d love to have you.”

We talked some more. I asked for a day to think about it.

12/28: I called Dr. Worth, that’s her name. I’m in. She said I’m the twelfth to agree, and the first shot will be given tomorrow.

12/29: I received the injection. Actually, it was a series of three injections. The next ones will be on January 12. I wonder what I’ve gotten myself into!

[Wayne23]

November, 2128: I’m walking without a cane- slowly, but I’m doing it. I need to report to rehab three times a week, and do the exercises they prescribe every day. I am following orders exactly. I want a full recovery, and they assure me this is the way to get that.

I’m going slowly, but I’ve begun gathering drones, robots, the solar cells, batteries, and panels that they need, and all of the program disks that go with them. I am not overdoing it.

I can’t work on self-driving vehicles yet. I don’t have the mobility. But I’ve found an ambulance, a wide body pickup, and a big box truck that are self-driving, and I plan to get all three operational.

October brought hurricanes- two of them. Fortunately, they were not the super hurricanes that have sprung up, but they were the real deal.

The first one hit on October 7. The barometer dropped way down, and I thought I’d be safer in the big body truck than in the house, so that’s where I went. My wind instruments told me that there were steady winds topping 80 mph, with gusts up to 135. The rains were torrential.

I was glad I had moved to high ground!

The garage was undamaged, and so was the house. A tree went down and missed the house by less than a foot, but it did miss. I drove around afterward, and the roads were a mess with fallen trees and branches.
I’d plow all of that out of my way when I was well enough, but not until the right leg was healed.

And ten days later, on October 17, another one hit. This one was just little less windy, but it dropped more rain. My truck tour showed more crap in the roads, and I actually wasn’t able to drive very far in any direction.

Fortunately, there was no third hurricane.

Next time: Fully recovered, working on drones, robots, and vehicles.

[Wayne23]

1/1/2035: 1-1 and thrilled. They were both on the road. UCLA crushed us, then we beat USC on a buzzer beating three by guard Jam Grip.

1/5: Part of the longevity research includes biweekly testing. I need to go in for blood work and DNA samples. I did that today. One week in I notice no changes in the way I feel, but that’s to be expected.

1/8: 9-4, 3-1. We won 2 home games this week, one by 6, one by 7. We haven’t played the top teams yet, but we’re beating teams we need to beat. Carr had 26 and 11 in the 1st game, and the 2nd was a team effort of the next 4 on the road, one against #7 Arizona. I’d LOVE to go 2-2.

1/12: Shots and DNA sample, round two.

Given my schedule I’m on the road for a lot of these dates. Since the dates must be strictly adhered to, our team doctor does the bloodwork and DNA sampling, and keeps it refrigerated until we get back home.

When I’m away on an injection day one of Dr. Worth’s doc students will accompany the team.

1/15: 1-1 week. We only lost by 13 to Arizona. Jay Daws played great but Carr only played 14 minutes before fouling out. 2 of the calls on him were just plain awful.

Then Carr had 19 and 14, and Grip had 24 and 6 in a win over Cal.

We’re 10-5, 4-2. 2 on the road this week, but not against great teams. We want at least a split.

1/22: We got the split. 11-6, 5-3. RPI #66. Carr played really well in both games.

2 tough teams here this week.

1/26: I was home for my bloodwork and DNA samples. Dr. Worth said it’s too early to tell much on the positive side, but so far all 12 of us are doing fine. There is no sign of any trouble.

1/29: We split two very tough games. We broke open a close game late against UCLA, winning by 10. We went 15-2 in the last 2 ½ minutes.

Then a very good Oregon team got out to an early 20 point lead, and we never quite got back into the game, losing by 9.

12-7, 6-4, RPI #80, tied for 5th, 2 back of 1st, with 8 to play. +0.5 PPG, -0.4 RBs, +2.2 TOs. Carr continues to lead us.

I’m starting Luis Patt at SF. He has earned more and more PT.

[Wayne23]

January, 2129: Fully recovered at last. I’m up to my eyes in work. Task one was to clear the roadways. I was able to move most of the stuff with the plow, but some was just too big and I had to chainsaw it. I had never used a chainsaw and frankly, I was afraid of it, so I went very slowly and very carefully. Eventually I got all the stuff out of the way, and I was very pleased to still have all of my body parts.

I now have all of the drones and robots here, and I had already recharged all of the solar devices. Now it’s a matter of tweaking programs.

The drones were easy and I have three of them overhead, scouting the area. They should be able to stay in the sky virtually forever, unless we get too many sunless days in a row. But I have two full sets, and I swap them on a weekly basis, just to be safe.

The robots will take longer.

After thinking long and hard I decided I needed 3 self-driving vehicles and a golf cart. I’m going with an ambulance, a wide body pickup, a big box truck, and the golf cart.

Since I need to travel to the site of each vehicle in order to get it going, it will take some time. I’m starting with the ambulance. Then I’ll do the golf cart, then the pickup, and finally the big box.

As it turned out, all the golf cart needed was a charge, so I charged it, put it in the back of my pickup, and drove it home.

I want the first two robots functional a.s.a.p., so I’m making them EMTs and nothing else. Later bots will be multi-functional.

The ambulance should be good to go in a day, day and a half at most.

There’s not much time for relaxing. I may be pushing too hard. I do want the ambulance and the EMT robots done as soon as I can make it happen, but after that I think I’ll slow the pace some.

I get a little knee pain now and then when I’m tired, but not a lot. But the ankle is bad. The doc told me there would probably always be pain, but he didn’t say it would be this severe.

I went to see him. He took x rays, and felt the ankle all over, some of which hurt like hell. He said we might need to go in and clean up some ligaments and tendons. I can’t do that right now, at least until the ambulance and EMT robots are finished. I’ll be off my feet for at least a week, and now is not the time. He gave me pain meds, which I need to take while in the HC, of course. I’m thinking maybe surgery in the spring. If we get a lot of snow, and so far there’s been none, I want to be able to move the snow so that the house and bus garage are both accessible.

Next time: Ambulance and robots finished, slowing the pace. Snow.

[Wayne23]

2/5: 13-8, 7-5. RPI #64. Alone in 5th.

2/9: At home for the injections.

2/12: Tough week, we lost both, including one at home.

13-10, 7-7, RPI #89.

Our inside guys are scoring really well, but they’re not rebounding. We need more in that area.

With a little luck we can finish 3-1, which would get most of our goals met.

2/19: Won on the road, lost at home (to #5 Arizona). 14-11, 8-8, RPI #100. Alone in 6th.

Luis Patt has played very well since entering the starting lineup.

2 to play. We should win the home game against Wash, which is not a good team. The game at Cal is big because they’re only 1 back of us.

2/23: Another round of injections and DNA sampling.

2/26: 16-11, 10-8, RPI #85. We finish alone in 6th. -1.3 PPG, -1.6 RBs, +2.0 TOs. I’ll take it!

Dr. Worth called. She says she thinks my telomeres are lasting longer.

“It’s early, and it’s not conclusive, but that’s what it looks like. That’s a very good sign. You’re the first of the 12 that this is happening with.”

Interesting.

[Wayne23]

February, 2129: I finished the ambulance a few days ago and the robotic EMTs are all set as of today.

I am having a really tough time finding a way to remotely call for vehicles and robots. I’ve gotten into the HC and gotten what seems like the right info from the Holoexperts. I then give it a shot- nothing. I’ll keep at it, but frankly, I need a break. I’ve been working really hard, and I’m fried. I need a few days on the boat.

I took 4 days off and just cruised the HC version of the Gulf of Mexico, but with the temp a little cooler. It was fantastic.

I went back to work and solved the remote thing almost immediately. I can now call for an ambulance and EMTs from anywhere.

I’m going to take my time with the rest of it. I’ll work on the pickup next, which is easy because I’ve gotten a few of them up and running over the years.

I’ll also work on robots, but again, at a reasonable pace. The ankle is still a problem, and it’s a big problem when I’m on it too much.

First major snowstorm hit yesterday, Feb. 21. We hadn’t had more than 2 inches in any storm. This one dropped a foot on the area. Not much wind though so it wasn’t a blizzard. I plowed the parking lot at the bus garage, as well as a path to the house. I shoveled in front of the garage where the plow couldn’t get. So I have access to both places.

I’m working on robots because I can’t get to where the pickup I’m working on is housed. I could plow but I think it would be pushing it. All I have is a pickup with a plow on it. That’s fine for parking lots and driveways, but to do 6 ½ miles of roadway? No. It will melt, eventually.

Next time: More snow, robots, the self-driving pickup.

[Wayne23]

3/8: We get #11 seed Wash ST in the play in. We won by 11 there.

3/9: 67-60. They took an early lead but we owned the 2nd half. 18, 8 for Carr, 17, 4, 5 for Grip, 13, 7 for Patt. +12 RBs, 8 TOs.

#3 seed, #6 ranked Stanford, 22-6, 13-5, in the quarter Finals. Tough draw. They crushed us there in the regular season. Maybe our worst game of the year.

Halfway through the longevity injections with today’s shots.

3/10: 53-71. They’re simply better than us. They shut down our inside game.

3/12: 17-12, 10-8, RPI #85. 6th place. One of our goals was the NIT. It’s possible, I think.

NIT West, #2 seed. We play #7 Rider, 20-11.

3/14: 67-57. 18, 9 for Carr. 3 others in double figures. +10 TOs.

#3 seed Florida, 17-14. Off year for them but they’re still tough.

3/16: 73-78. We were down 21 early, 17 at the half. We played a great 2nd ½ but the mountain was too high. 21, 5 for Patt.

3/23: Another set of injections, and a DNA check. Dr. Worth says my telomeres are definitely not decaying. She also says I’m the only one of the 12 test subjects who is experiencing this. 5 more sets of injections.

4/3: #2 Kentucky beat Arizona by 3 for the title.

Awards: Hip Carr made PAC 12 1st team. That’s it.

4/9: Hit all my goals and Team Prestige stayed at 39. I don’t get it.

No interesting job offers.

4/16: We finally get our 3rd recruit, a PF, #206.

4/20: Injections today. Only 3 sets left.

4/23: I ask for a budget increase.

We’re losing Carr and Patt, both of whom played really well for us, and #3 guard Dan Murr, who got the job done.

18-13, 10-8. I didn’t expect to do this well. Overall, I am now 148-68, .685 after 7 seasons. We get $11,500. I’ll take it!

Great season!

And I feel great. I seem to have more energy. Dr. Worth says I am her star. The injections are working extremely well for me. No one else seems to be getting the results I am. She is at a loss to explain this.