Next Best Thing

If only I knew then what I know now How many times have you heard it said? How many times have you wished it?Suppose two of your best friends offered to create a living clone, an exact copy of you at the peak of your youth except that it would be genetically perfect and would age much slower than the original. Suppose further, that these friends, who you knew could deliver, could transfer your intellect, your whole life experience into the clone. In one painless process you would go to sleep as you are and wake up as a perfect 24-year-old with all of your memories, experiences and feelings intact. It would be The Next Best Thing to going back to your youth with all of your present knowledge and wisdom. Now suppose that while you were in the process of considering such an incredible proposal one of these friends proved to you, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she was an extraterrestrial. And then, while delving into the groundbreaking technology that makes the cloning and transfer process possible, you discovered something even more astounding.