Mark booted up his PC, and started transferring some of his files from work. "For safety," Ty said, ""You'd better give either June or me your password."
"That's fine," Mark said, and told them the password. "I know I can trust you both with it, and I wouldn't want to get stuck in the PC because you couldn't unlock it." The file transfer finished. "The files are ready. Now what do I do?"
Ty said, "I'll transform you into a program. Before I merge you with the CAD program, so you can do your work, I'll start your program to make sure everything is OK. After confirming that, I'll close you, make a backup copy, merge you with the CAD program, and start you again. Then you can do your work. Does that sound reasonable?"
"Yes," said Mark, and June nodded.
"Ready, fire, aim!" Ty said, and Mark disappeared. Ty clicked on the start menu, and sure enough, there was a highlighted new program, "Mark". Ty clicked it (him!), and he started up. Soon there was a window occupying most of the screen, showing an avatar of Mark.
"Are you alright, Mark?" June asked.
"I'm OK," Mark said, through the computer speakers. "I feel a bit unusual, but I imagine that's to be expected."
"Yes, Lisa, June and I feel different when we transform into mobile apps," Ty said. "As long as you're not in any pain or discomfort, I think you're going to be fine. Now let's see if you can take advantage of being a program. Use the internet to find us a photo of the Sydney opera house at night."
"Oooh, one of my favorites," Mark said. "After only a fraction of a second, he said, "Got one," and a window opened showing a beautiful photo of it.
"Looks good, Dad," Ty said. "You can close that. Are you ready to try merging with the CAD program?"
The window with the photo disappeared, revealing Mark's window again. "Ready," he said. "Do I need to do anything?"
"No, I'll close you, back you up, merge you, and start the merged you," Ty explained. "The backup is for safety, in case there's a problem with the merge. I don't think we'll need it, but I want your explicit permission before copying you."
"I appreciate your concern for my safety, and for asking my consent before making a copy of me. Please do make the copy," Mark confirmed.
"OK," Ty said. "I'm not 100% certain, but I think once you're merged with the CAD program, you won't have an on-screen avatar like you do now. We should still be able to talk to you, though, using the computer's microphone and speakers. Closing you now." He moused over to Mark's File menu and selected Quit. Mark's window disappeared.
June was a bit startled. "Is he OK," she asked.
"He's fine," Ty assured her. "I didn't do it with you, but when Lisa was in app form, I closed and reopened her app multiple times, and she was fine and didn't mind it."
"Oh, right," June said. "I saw that."
"Now I'll make that backup we discussed," Ty said. He willed into existence another high-capacity USB SSD drive, li,e the one he'd used to store Lisa's and June's fragments when he'd needed to reassemble them. He plugged it into a USB port on the PC, used File Explorer to find Mark's program folder, and copied it over. While the copy was going, he said, "By the way, I still effectively have a backup of you, from when you were split between the washer and dryer. I had to copy your fragments onto an SSD, to, as I'd previously had to do with Lisa. In principle, I could use the supercomputer to reassemble another copy of you, though the copy wouldn't have any of your subsequent memories. I couldn't ask you for consent at the time, but if you want me to delete your files, I'll do it."
"Ty, thank you for asking," June said. "I hope that won't ever be necessary, but for now, why don't you keep the files. Maybe, if you do another extreme transformation to me in the future, you should actually make an updated copy of me first."
"Sure, Mom, that's a good idea," Ty said. Mark's files, actually Mark's "self", had finished copying. Ty unplugged the SSD. "I'm going to store this backup copy of Mark in my desk drawer, with the other SSD of you and Lisa, unless you want to store it somewhere else."
"That's fine," June said. "Though maybe we should think about getting a safe deposit box."
Ty teleported the SSD to his desk drawer. June was a bit surprised to see it vanish. "Just saving time not walking to my room," Ty explained. "Now I'll do the merge." Ty looked at the start menu again, and found the CAD program. He concentrated for a moment, and now, in place of the Mark and CAD programs, there was a single "MarkCAD" program. Ty started it.
A complicated-looking CAD window appeared, but nothing else seemed to happen. "Dad? Are you in there?" Ty asked
"Yes, I'm here," Mark's voice said from the speaker. "That was a bit disorienting. This feels bizarre. It will take me a moment to collect my thoughts."
"But you're OK, dear?" June asked, concerned.
"Yes, I'm OK," Mark confirmed.
"Good," Ty said. "Take your time. Just let us know when you're ready to proceed."