The Virtual Ron, part two

VIRTUAL RON STOPPABLE PART 2

Scrolling through the menu list, Kim saw a filename

Ronald Eugene Stoppable Interactive Holographic Simulation

A virtual clone?  Like Drakken made of Wade?  Like Wade made of himself?   Was this her nephew's "virtual grandfather"?  Her hands trembled as she activated the program.

The Kimmunicator shot a beam...and  an image.

'Oh, God!'  Kim cupped her hand over her mouth and began to sob.  It was Ron.  An older Ron than her nephew.  An older Ron than she knew before her entombment.  Yet, a younger Ron than the one she had encountered that horrible Halloween, when Lon and Roy had intentionally set her free.  I

This Ron was in his late thirties...just before middle age.  He had neither bulked up nor filled out.  He was lean and muscular...a little more rugged.  His hair was beginning to grey at the temples.

The holo-Ron stared straight ahead.  "Ron Stoppable Interactive Holographic Program,"  he announced, with an expressionless voice.  "Copyright Wynan Load.  For computer administrator Lon Stoppable."

Kim was both exhilarated and terrified.  This was the virtual clone her grandnephew had referred to.  She was thrilled to her very innermost heart.  'It's only a hologram...it's only a hologram...' she told herself.  But she couldn't keep the tremble out of her voice.  "R-Ron?  D-do you know me?"

At the sound of her voice, it turned it's head.  'It' became 'he'.  His eyes lit up and he smiled warmly.  "Hello, K.P."

That single remark opened the floodgate of her heart.  A torrent of emotion poured out.  Kim huddled on the floor and sobbed for what seemed many minutes.

Holo-Ron sat on the floor beside her and waited for the affecting outpouring to grow less.  When at last, Kim's intense catharsis subsided, he softly spoke.  "I've missed you, Kim," he said sadly.

Kim sniffled and stared transfixed.  "Ron...it...it's really you."

He shook his head.  "Not really.  Just a hologram.  I've been programmed to respond just like the real 'me'.  When my son Lon asked Wynan Load to write the program, none of us had the slightest guess what really happened to you...except...."  He grimaced with disgust.  "...Her...Tara."

"And now?"

The image shrugged.  "People can tell me things and I can remember.  Wilmont Load updated my virtual memory...or whatever you call it.  Me 'n' computers...not the match made in heaven."

"Can you think?"

"It isn't like full-blown Artificial Intelligence, Kim.  And don't ask me how it works...but within a range of questions, I can respond."

"How big a range?"

Ron held his hands apart his entire arm span.  "Artificial Intelligence response range...this much.  Ronald Stoppable response range..."  He held his hands a foot apart.  "...This much."

She asked the burning question.  "Ron...why didn't you search for me?"

His look became profoundly sorrowful.  "I did, K.P.  Heck, the whole world did.  I couldn't begin to tell you who.  All the police, and all the military, and all the heroes, and people, and just everybody.  And me.  I went berserk.  There wasn't one place I didn't think of that I didn't look.  I climbed mountains.  I infiltrated lairs.  I wore the Valkryie shoes.  I went back over the places they had covered.  I looked for some clue...'cause I knew you better than anyone else.  I convinced Dr. Zeruda to let me sit under the Project Phoebus thingy...it was my last shot...and then I spend the next week after that in front of Wade's computer hunting every lead I could think of...day and night, nonstop...until the Phoebus genius effect wore off.  I was a wreck.  I went to your funeral...and then I stayed in my room for months.  And at the end of it all, one person kept coming."

"Tara."

"Yeah."

"Ron...am I beautiful?"

He grinned goofily.  "Yeah.  You are."

Kim was exasperated.  "Dammit, Ron, that is so a pat answer!  Can you even see me?"

"Sure, I can...see you and hear you, I mean.  I've gotta be able to see your facial expressions and hear what you say to be interactive."

"And I don't look like a Zombie Mayhem creature to you?"

"Like I said, Kim...I'm just a holographic interface.  I'm programmed for the responses the real me had...to act whiney, be a Sunshine Spreader, remember cheat codes for Everlot and Fortress, and fave on my kids...plus my pants are programmed to fall down randomly."

Kim scowled.  "...And being scared of monkeys, bugs, and lawn ornaments.  So the real you would've run screaming for dear life if you saw something like me.  How does your programming resolve that contradiction?"

He frowned.  "Now that's a tough one.  Gimme a minute to crunch the data."  He pondered for a moment.  "The best I can explain it is...if the holographic me runs into a thing that might cause two opposite responses from the real me, the holographic me is programmed to go with the stronger response.  My virtual memory is too small to try and resolve the contradiction the way a real mind would.  The biggest urge in my program is how I feel about you."

"And if I were to ask whether you love me?  Would you really answer the way the real you would?"

"Dr. Zeruda showed Lon how to upload my brainwaves into a computer.  The only way I can answer a question is how the real me would.  I can't help it.  So, yeah.  You ask, and I'll answer.  I love you."

"You tried to kill me, you know."

"I can't answer about that.  The real me didn't update the hologram me after that.  All I know is, you tried to kill my family.  You've been threatening to kill my kids."

Kim became irate.  "I've been in hell, Ron!  You  chopped me up with your damned Lotus Master Sword!  How did you expect me to act?"

Holo-Ron looked intently at her.  "The Kim I knew loved kids.  She was Middleton's most popular babysitter.  The real me was never much of a deep thinker, Kim, but I gotta ask myself...and you.  If I'm not the real Ron...are you the real Kim?"

Kim nodded.  "You bring up a good point," she acknowledged.  She brightened.  "There is someone, Ron...someone I've grown to love very much."

Holo-Ron's eyes glowed with curiosity.  "Who's the lucky guy?"

She frowned.  "It's not like that, you goof!  He isn't a boyfriend!"

Holo-Ron grinned.  "Yeah...now that's the K.P. I know and love."

"It's my nephew...my grandnephew...your grandson."

"Oh, yeah.  Ronnie.  Kim's boy...ya know...my daughter.  Helluva kid.  Wish the real me coulda known 'im."

"Ron...why did you name your little girl after me...'Kimberly Ann'?"

Holo-Ron became serious.  "K.P....do ya really hafta hear it?  After all this time?  You know the answer.  I loved you.  I missed you.  Hell, I wanted her to be yours.  I wanted her to have red hair, green eyes, and an explosive temper.  But she's got Tara's hair, Tara's eyes, and my temper.  But am I gonna love her any less?"

Kim bristled again.  " 'Explosive temper'?  Is that how you see me?"

Holo-Ron took her temper in stride.  "K.P.  C'mon.  Ya don't have to be defensive.  And I don't have to be timid.  It's me.  Your B.F.F.  We can say it like is."

She sighed.  "You're right, Ron.  Yeah, my temper's explosive.  Hell, it's what made me want to kill Tara.  If some supervillain wanted me to turn evil, that would so be the perfect way to do it."

They both chuckled.

"Both Tara and Ron told me your marriage basically ended that night," she continued, "When I broke out and attacked your fam."

"Wilmont Load filled in the blanks for that one.  She was dead to me, Kim.  And I was dead to her.  I let her touch me two times after that night...when we danced at our kids' weddings."

(...After many hours...)

They were both helpless with laughter.  They sat next against the wall, watching a holographic projection of Ron's Big Day...the home movie of his first time on a toilet.

"Oh, Ron!  My sides hurt.  You on the little potty!"

"Yeah...I was so proud of myself.  I pooped and pissed both...my first time on it!"  And he imitated himself.  "I made a potty!"

Kim held her stomach and burst into fresh guffaws.  "Oh, Ron!  Please stop!  Oh, God...it hurts!  I can't stand it!"

"I love this, Kim.  Hanging with you.  Recalling old times.  Listening to you laugh.  I didn't know how bad I missed it.  Did you and Ronnie do this every night?"

"Every night."

"Lucky ducks.  Both of you."

She sighed with pleasure.  "Oh my God.  I haven't laughed like this since I got stuck in here."

"Hey...it's like I used to say.  Laughter is the best medicine.  Unless, you know, you have an acute case of the giggles.  Then the cure is worse than the condition."

It sent Kim into another laughing fit.  "I just wish I could pinch that cute little tush!"

"So do I, Kimba.  Wish I could pinch yours back."

"I'm not really talking to you...am I?" asked Kim sadly.

Holo-Ron nodded.  " 'Fraid not, K.P.  It's Wade's holographic simulation...Wynan's personality upgrade... little stuff like Dr. Freeman's and Dr. Porter's fine adjustments…my brainwaves...and it was Lon's class project to put 'em all together."

"And you aren't waiting for me outside."

"Wish I were.  That'd be a badical fairytale.  No...like they told me...I'm dead and buried...maybe lookin' down from heaven and wishin' I was here with you...or wishin' you were up there with me."

"The only one waiting for me is your grandson."

"K.P....I'm tellin' ya...that kid logged gazillions of hours talkin' to me while he grew up.  The real me used to get on my kids for spending so much time on a computer."

"Like I used to get on you."

"Exactly.  But Ronnie...it wasn't enough for him.  He wanted the real thing.  He wanted a real hero to talk to...one of us."

Kim sighed.  "I guess I became his wish fulfillment."

Ron shrugged.  "You could do worse.  I'm here for you, too, Kim...the virtual me."

"I'm afraid, Ron."

"What of?"

"Of going outside.  Of being a monster.  Your family is afraid I'll kill them."

"Will you?"

"Not anymore.  Your Ronnie...he got to me."

"Yeah...a chip off the old block.  Remember what we talked about the time Erik Drake captured us?"

Kim laughed.  "Erik?  OhmyGod!  I hardly think of him!"

"What was it you said?"

" 'Is there someone really out there for me?' I asked you."

"And I'll tell ya now what I told ya then.  'Out there...in here.' "

Kim sighed.  "Your grandson isn't you, Ron.  He loves his Aunt Kim...but...you know what I mean.  I wanted to be your bride, and the mother of your children."

Holo-Ron nodded.  "I know.  And it sucks.  I'm not me, either.  Tara messed up what we might've had together."  

They were scarce a millimeter apart.  Close enough to evoke like it was in the old treehouse, or TV together on the sofa, but just barely not touching.  It might destroy the illusion of not being Kim and Ron as they were…of being Undead Kim and Holo-Ron. They were silent for a moment.

"Ron…this is ferociously awk-weird.  Getting to talk to you…in a way…years after you're dead.  Like this whole sitch was put together by Wade, Dr. Freeman, Vivian Porter, and your kids.  I kinda feel like it's a chance to make things right between us.  But I'm afraid of making a crutch out of stuff like this.  Do you follow what I'm saying?  Like I'll be too dependent.  And I never let myself depend on people very much…except for you."

"Like I told ya, K.P....I'm here for ya.  Just log on, and I'll talk your ear off.  But take this advice for what it's worth...tell yourself it ain't the real me.  Ronnie made you a righteous deal.  He wants to let you out.  He wants his heroine.  Don't turn into an upgrade of an interactive K.P. hologram."

"It's ironic, Ron...us talking about letting me out...like you let me out of the sarcophagus at the Tri-City Museum."

He laughed.  "Yeah...like that.  I was afraid of a mummy coming after me."

"But it was me...tweaked as hell."

"Then be you again...tweaked as hell, if you want!  When Ronnie opens that sarcophagus...what's he gonna find?"

"Ron!  I'm a ghoul!  A Zombie Mayhem girl!  I'm Undead!"

"The kid's got some crazy schemes in his head.  He's full of dreams where the prince wakes the princess with a kiss.  Work with him, Kim.  You and him are Possibles.  You can do anything."

"He told me the same thing last night."

"There ya go!"

"But what if it doesn't work?  What if I stay...how I am?"

"K.P....d'ya WANNA be stuck in here forever and always?  Freaking out over the video of Tara and my wedding?  Talking to Ronnie through a pipe?  Watching reruns of 'Agony County'?"

Kim was silent for a long time.  She looked up at the holo-Ron.  "You don't look bored...we're just sitting here while I'm thinking."

He shrugged.  "The holographic me doesn't have any real-time awareness...virtual memory issues again.  And the real me was never bored with you.  Time with you was time well spent.  Besides," he grinned,  "The Ron-Man is all about marinating."

"Ron...thank you.  It's been a world of help to talk to you.  It made me think.  And I promise I'll think more about what you told me."  She laughed.  "This is so weird!  It's like we're back at Bueno Nacho...opening up like this!  And you sound even wiser than you ever did in high school!  In fact...I'll call it awk-weird.  It's like talking with my 'rents."

"The goofy kid you knew from those days hadda grow up quick after you disappeared, Kim.  I learned to be responsible.  Wade and your dad wanted to shut down the website.  The Tweebs wanted to do missions, but everyone told them they were too young.  Joss wanted to do missions, but there was the distance factor from Montana."

Kim nodded.  "Ron...I mean Ronnie...I mean my nephew...you know who I mean…he told me."

"It was a rough couple years carryin' on the tradition by myself...until your brothers and Joss got old enough."

"Ron...I hope I don't hurt you if I tell you I might not activate your program."

"Like I said.  Not the real me.  It wouldn't break my heart."

"I'm hesitant, Ron.  This is like the last time I'll be talking to Ron Stoppable."

"I know.  But trust me.  The real me would be stoked you're getting outa this mausoleum.  That kid out there...he's more the real Ron than I am.  You get the hell out...and don't look back.  Live your life...for both of us.  And we'll meet on the other side."

"Ron..." said Kim quickly...just like the night she told her nephew she loved him.

"K.P.?"

"Kiss me...please and thank you."  It wasn't quite a demand...more of a gentle insistent request.

Holo-Ron's eyes twinkled with whimsy.  He stooped.  His immaterial lips touched Kim's shriveled lips.

She had seen it in a movie...a girl kissing her boyfriend's ghost.  She was expecting...something...she didn't know what.  But there was no sensation.

The beloved face with the goofy grin and the honest eyes faded from view.

Kim hugged the Kimmunicator to her bosom.  Over and over, her lips moved silently.  

'I love you, Ron Stoppable.'

to be continued