Not everyone appreciated the Archive. Protests erupted at recording sites. People held signs: "My Life Is Not Data" and "Let Us Die With Dignity."

A woman confronted me outside a recording site in Phoenix. "You're violating us. Recording our essences without permission. What gives you the right?"

"I'm trying to save you," I replied tiredly.

"You're creating copies while we die. Ghosts. That's not saving us. That's creating a museum of the dead."

She had a point. I struggled with it constantly. Was I really saving people or just documenting their extinction?

The Void Cult made it worse. They attacked Archive sites, destroying equipment, and killing volunteers. They believed the...