12.Funeral for Julia

Will travels to Romulus in an android body borrowed from Howard to visit his dying relative Julia Hendricks, who has suffered a fatal aneurysm. After spending time with Julia and her son Justin before her death, Will attends her funeral and reflects on mortality and the limitations of replication technology with Howard.

Will receives a distressing call from Justin Hendricks, his great-great-grand-nephew and captain in the New Jerusalem Space Corps, informing him that Justin's mother Julia has collapsed from an aneurysm and is hospitalized with no chance of recovery. Will borrows Howard's android body, Manny, and flies to Romulus to be with the family. Upon arrival, Will meets Justin in person for the first time and learns the details of Julia's sudden collapse while babysitting. Will visits Julia's hospital room and is emotionally affected by seeing her physical resemblance to his long-dead sister Andrea. Justin explains that Julia does not wish to be kept alive and that there is no possibility of replication due to the nature of her injury. Justin also shares his belief that replication will never gain widespread acceptance among humans, viewing it as a relic of a darker authoritarian era and associating it with servitude. Will serves as a pallbearer at Julia's funeral a few days later, where he is the center of attention during the reception, answering questions about his life in the 21st century. After the funeral, Will returns to Howard's VR space and discusses the experience with Howard, reflecting on the melancholy of losing humans to mortality and the bittersweet nature of immortality.