Doppleganger, a sci-fi fiction

"Don, there's no backing out after this. Are you sure you are comfortable with this decision?"

"Yes," I said, and nodded.

There was a soft whirring above me as all the technology got into place.

"Don, we've just completed the comprehensive brain scan, and we are testing for bugs in certain key areas that are often overlooked by the scan," said Dave Borderson, the leading scientist in the operation.

"Got it," I said. I swallowed a lump in my throat. This was for the best. I knew that. I really did.

"Now would be the time to voice any objections," said Steve Samuels, the director of the operation. "Once again, I will make it very clear that once the transmission is complete, there will be no going back. You will live in that computer," he said, pointing to a screen on the wall across the room, "for the rest of your life, as long as you wish to stay alive. With current technology, there will be no way for you to ever live in a physical body on the physical world again. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," I said. I really didn't feel like talking. This was the biggest decision I had ever had to make, and while I was sure I was doing the right thing, the magnitude of what was about to happen had taken all speech away from me. "Start countdown. I'm ready."

10, 9, 8, announced the computerized voice. I wondered what it was going to be like to be inside a computer. What would sensation even be? They told me I would be in a simulated environment, with easy access to all of the world's information, a simulated body similar to my one in real life, and easy access to people and computers in the real world. Still, it would be unusual, to say the least.

Charging obliterating heat pulse, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

There was a flash of blinding light, a disorienting twist, and then the world temporarily disappeared…

BREAK

When I came to, I was on the floor of the lab, in the exact same place I had been before. I looked down at my body. I had a body. The operation hadn't worked. I let out a small laugh. I didn't want to be a computer...no, no, NO! No matter what the pay was. That incident had put things in perspective. As soon as the world stopped spinning, I would inform Dr. Samuels of my new position, and…

I looked up at the computer screen across the hall, and that's when everything went to shit.

"Oh, no. Oh, god no." I mouthed.

On the screen was my face. I knew it was my face. And it wasn't a reflection, or an image. No, it was looking directly at me. It WAS me.

"Oh, god, no. Please, no."

Dr. Borderson stepped into my frame of view. "My apologies, Don. There was a serious malfunction in the heat pulse. If you give us ten seconds, we'll get it working again, and then finish the process that was started."

"Are you talking about annihilating my body? Me?" I asked. I was getting queezy again. The way the operation worked is that they would copy my brain onto a computer while at the same time destroying my physical body. However, the latter part had not worked in this case, and now there were two versions of me, both of which, had been the same person up until a minute ago.

"Obliterate him," said the me on the computer screen. "There can't be two versions of the same person." I look up at the computer, shocked. What was Me saying?

"No, that's not right!" I shouted. "Turn it off! Turn off the computer. I'm the real me."

Dr. Samuels approached me. "If you can just hold still, we'll get this all sorted out. Dave, is the heat pulse rea-"

I bolted for the door at the other end of the laboratory room.

"Stop him!" shouted the computer Me. "He's getting away!"

"Lock down the lab, Don. You have the controls now, full security," shouted Dr. Samuels to the me on the computer screen. My god it was weird to see somebody else who could legitimately claim my name and my identity. And the weird thing was, he was really no less me than I was me.

I was ten yards from the door, five. A quick glance back revealed the image of me on the screen, hard at work at finding the lockdown controls. Two yards, one…

Just as Cyber Don was about lock all the doors in the lab, I reached my door, threw it open, and ran into the cold, blustery night.

BREAK

"Don, there's no backing out after this. Are you sure you are comfortable with this decision?"

"Yes," I said, and nodded.

There was a soft whirring above me as all the technology got into place.

"Got it," I said. I swallowed a lump in my throat. This was for the best. I knew that. I really did.

Charging obliterating heat pulse, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

There was a flash of blinding light, a disorienting twist, and then the world temporarily disappeared…

BREAK

When I came to, I was standing in small, enclosed room. It was not the same room I had been in, though I was surprised at how lifelike it was. The things people could do with modern computers, amazing.

Then I realized that I was a computer.

Oh, shit, that's weird.

Even though I was in what looked to be a physical room, there were some things I could do that were far from normal. For instance, I could slow down time, to the extent of my processing power, of course. Basically, I could make time go half speed. I could speed up time as well. All of this with hand gestures. I was looking at a screen, and with simple thoughts and hand gestures, I could change viewpoint to be from any camera in the laboratory.

Amazing. Just amazing. I'm sure there were many more capabilities that I had yet to discover, but so far, everything was a plus, except for the strangeness of being a computer.

Then I turned my view towards camera 1, and that's when things began to get fucked up.

Like, bad.

The physical me hadn't been obliterated. It was sitting on the floor, disoriented, mouthing something. Tuning up my sound sensitivity revealed that it was saying, "Oh, no. Oh, god, no."

Something had happened. Something hadn't gone right. Somehow, I had been copied correctly onto a computer, yet there was an identical replica of me living in the real world still. It had to be destroyed, that I knew.

Dr. Borderson approached the Me on the ground, whom I will call from now on Physical Don, and said, "my apologies, Don. There was a serious malfunction in the heat pulse. If you give us ten seconds, we'll get it working again, and then finish the process that was started."

Physical Don started to protest. I was getting seriously creeped out here. There was a version of me, on the floor below me, who shared all my memories, all my thoughts, who was essentially me, aside from the fact that I had no control over him. He felt like an amputated limb, like an amputated hand, with its fingers on the trigger of a gun pointing right at me. I knew it had to be destroyed. "Obliterate him! There can't be two versions of the same person."

There was some more talking, and then Physical Don ran for it. "Stop him!" I shouted. "He's getting away!"

"Lock down the lab, Don. You have the controls now, full security," said Dr. Samuels. I started working on it feverishly, trying to figure out the controls. I worked as fast as I possibly could, and slowed down time in the world too. However, by the time I had figured it out, Physical Don had already opened the door, and disappeared into the cold and blizzardy night.

BREAK

Just put one foot in front of another foot in front of the other foot in front of the other foot. One, two, one, two, squish, squelch, through the snow that grew deeper with each passing minute. I didn't know exactly where I was going, only that the farther away I got from Black Phoenix Laboratory, the better.

What would I do, were I in Cyber Don's position? How would I react? Because Cyber Don was basically me.

I couldn't. I just couldn't. The situation was simply too strange for me to put myself in the position of Cyber Don.

Billy. I would go to Billy's house. Billy would know what to do. And besides, his house was a half an hour's walk away, at the most. Could I confide in Billy? Of course I could. I'd known him for years.

A snowy half-hour later, I was at Billy's hermit-style cabin out at the eastern edge of town. I knocked on the door. There was no response. I waited a minute, then knocked again.

"Who is it?" came Billy's voice from the inside.

"It's Don," I replied.

The door swung open instantly. "D-don?" he said, incredulous and somewhat alarmed. His 5 o'clock shadow was pronounced, and his eyes were squinted. He'd obviously just woken up. "It's two in the morning. Why are you even up? And aren't you supposed to be a computer now or something?"

"It's a long story," I said. "I just need a place to crash. I'm fucking beat. Can I borrow your guestroom?"

"Why, o-of course. Come on in."

I walked in, comforted by the familiar warmth of my best friend's house. I practically ran upstairs, collapsed on the bed, and was asleep in seconds.

BREAK

The abilities I had with - excuse me - as this computer seemed boundless. First of all, there were the trivial things such as pleasure. Being a computer, those were, of course, boundless. Without the limits and constraints of the physical world, I could be on some tropical beach, flirting with simulated girls, maybe even doing more than flirting, or on a mountain in the Himalayas feeling the thrill and exhilaration of mountain climbing without the worry about dying or getting injured.

I didn't have time to experience these awesome capabilities too much, however, because of the more pressing matter; there was another version of me out in the world, on the loose, containing all my memories and secrets and thoughts and hopes and dreams, and that just couldn't be happening. I had to focus all my abilities on eliminating that other version of myself.

Fortunately, I had one other enormous advantage as a computer; I could learn at an exponentially faster rate. I didn't forget things, unless I wanted to. I had complete control over all aspects of my body, as technically my body wasn't real. In the five minutes that Dr. Borderson and Dr. Samuels were running all over the place, trying to locate me, I was learning how to hack. Hacking was actually quite easy, and though the doctors didn't know it, the computer that I was had several hacking loopholes built in that I could use to my advantage.

Within ten minutes, I had access to all the street webcams, including the ones only accessible to government. I couldn't yet get access to the government and military satellites - that required a more advanced hacking system and technique that I didn't have. Despite my access to all of the webcams, I still had no idea where Physical Don was. The webcams just weren't common or high resolution enough, though most could be hacked to stream video feed.

Then I got an idea. A way to solve my predicament. I had a really close friend who would always help out a friend in need. He was a bit shy, had a very mild stutter, but was completely reliable when it came to the important things.

His name was Billy Zakarian.

I immediately brought up my email account, changed the password so that Physical Don could not access it, and wrote an email to Billy, explaining my predicament fully. All of this took less than a minute. I was about to send it when I realized something.

Sure, he'll believe me, but won't he prefer the physical version of me? That's the one thing about computers; they don't get much sentiment.

Of course, the computer was just a platform for my consciousness, it wasn't actually a sentient computer of its own accord, but still, that stuff creeped people out sometimes. So I took 15 seconds and made a revision to the email.

Billy -

I can't wait to see you, and I'm sure you can't wait to see me in my new form! The transfer of my consciousness worked quite well, and as far as I can tell, I am essentially unchanged from the Don you know and grew up with.

However, I would like to warn you that there is an imposter on the loose, a technophobe pretending to be me (he is using facial reconstruction and design technology, ironically in protest of the technology I used). He may come looking for you. Bewarned, this doppleganger looks just like me. He is NOT. Do not be afraid to kill him on the spot. You may even call him a terrorist. He is armed and dangerous.

Sincerely,

Your newly computerized friend, Don Williams

I looked it over, made sure it had no logical flaws (it had a few, but Billy was a real sucker for terror stories, and it was the best idea that came to mind), and clicked send.

Hopefully, if all went well, I would be the only me within 24 hours.

BREAK

Despite my immense fatigue, I slept terribly that night.

I had gone asleep instantly, but it was really shallow sleep. I got up, took a piss, went back to bed, got back up, and went to the fridge to get myself some cheese, and I was just about to cut a slice, when things took a turn for the shit again.

I heard a rustling behind me, turned around as quickly as I could, and came face to face with Billy...who had a knife.

"Billy, what-"

"YOU MISERABLE COCKSUCKER!" screamed Billy, charging at me. I could tell he was truly angry because his stutter was missing entirely. I jumped out of the way and Billy ran right past me across the kitchen, blind with rage, apparently. "YOU PIECE OF SHIT, BREAKING INTO MY OWN HOME, PRETENDING TO BE MY BEST FRIEND! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?"

Billy was no longer charging, but was holding the knife in my direction in a threatening manner.

"Billy - I don't know what you think I am, but-"

"Shut up," barked Billy.

I put my hands in the air. "Bill, what happened? Just explain. This all has to be a big misunderstanding."

"Well," he said, an angry grin appearing across his face. "I couldn't sleep, so I got up, turned on the light in my office, looked at my cRead, and there was an email on it. From you. The real you. Turns out you're really a c-computer. And you-"

"Oh shit, what did he say?" I put my fingers over my temples, realizing what Cyber Don had just done. "Look. I can promise you that whatever he said isn't true."

"Your promise is worth shit."

"Just show it to me!"

There was a pause. Then, "f-fine," said Billy. He led me into the living room, turned on the cRead, and let me read the email he had recieved.

Billy -

As the email went on, I got more and more pissed, and with a chill, realized that Cyber Don still very much wanted me dead. So much so, that he had gotten my best friend to try and kill me.

His best friend too, I realized.

This was me. Cyber Don was me. Was I really such a horrible person? Did I have the heart to plan the death of another person in cold blood? Did I have the heart to plan my own death in cold blood?

I turned around. Billy was still holding the knife towards me. "Bill...Bill, none of this is true. Please put the knife down, I mean it when I say I can explain."

I told him everything that had happened in the last 24 hours.

"Is this true?" asked Billy. He had a stern scowl on his face.

"Every word," I said.

"You know I - I can't trust you now," he said.

"I know." Silence. "Look, I'll do my best to get rid of this diabolical machine. It'll be over. I swear. Please, Billy. I just need a few days."

Billy shook his head. "I've known you since elementary school, you know. That's 30 years. 30 fucking years. And never once did I even begin to suspect that you had such a mean streak inside of you."

"Bill-"

"You know what? Unlike you, I have a w-wife now. A two year old girl. You're no better than the computer-the computer trying to kill you. Did you even hear yourself? You want to get rid of the computer version of you! Cyber Don, as you call it. You're a killer Don, and until you and that computer figure things out. I want n-nothing to do with you."

"Wha…"

"Nothing! Get out of my house! Go!"

BREAK

In the few hours that I had been in Billy's house, the snow had reached a new level of intensity. The wind howled all around me, essentially blinding out all other senses except for the biting cold against my face.

Who would I go to? Where would I turn? Did I have any other long-time friends like Billy? Both my parents were dead, or I would have turned to them instantly. Yes. Yes I did. There was Viktor. I could always turn to Viktor. I had known him since high school. He was never as close as Billy had been, but still someone I could confide in. Someone I could have on my side. Unless, of course, Cyber Don had reached him first.

That's who I needed to talk to. Cyber Don. The problem was, I had no way to reach him. How did I even contact a computer without getting myself turned in?

"Don!" I screamed foolishly into the air. "DON!"

Would he answer me? Would he even hear me? I had no idea.

Either way, the ball was in his park.

BREAK

"Don!" screamed Physical Don. "DON!" He was standing smack dab in the middle of the webcam image on Whittler Street, blindly shouting for me. How could I possibly communicate to him? What did he even want? At that moment, I decided that whatever it is he wanted from me, he wouldn't get.

Morse code. He knew Morse code. I knew Morse code. I had learned it as a kid. I knew it by heart. It was second nature to me - Billy and I had used to hide secrets when we were little kids.

"Steve," I commanded to the scientists. "Can you grant me control over the street lamps?"

"Let me check," said Steve, looking at what looked like a 3D city blueprint on his computer. "I sure can," said Steve.

I started blinking the nearby street lamp immediately. Physical Don looked up. He was slow to realize what was happening, as was typical of physical mortals, but soon he caught on. In Morse, I wrote: Monique's Internet Cafe. Log on to FlashCom. Accept my message.

"This is a trap, isn't it?" asked Physical Don, somehow still looking around for me. Am I really that stupid? No. I have transcended Physical Don. I'm someone else now.

No, I said in Morse.

I sped up my time processing so that twenty minutes passed in twenty seconds, and then just waited on FlashCom for the physical version of myself to arrive. Monique's internet cafe was a rarity; most internet cafes had been shut down several decades ago with the advent of wifi. Monique's, however, made really good bagels too. And it was important that this meeting happened at an internet cafe, so that the goons surrounding Physical Don's house could remain on guard, yet not shoot him up the moment he stepped into their sights. I wanted to hear what Physical Don had to say before I watched him get ripped to pieces.

BREAK

Bing. Physical Don was on. I instantly sent him a zip, and then prepared to speak with Myself, albeit a lesser version.

And then, instantly, I was on camera. Slender face, medium length, unkempt brown hair, and snow all over my coat.

"What did you want to see me for?" I asked.

"Why would you do that to Billy? That's just uncool," said Physical Don.

"He's my friend," I exclaimed. "I know he's your friend two, because of the whole same person thing, but I have the right to be friends with him."

"And now, because of you, neither of us can be friends with him."

"That's why you have to go," I said. I knew that was harsh, but I just had to be frank with him. "Look, how could you not see what I'm saying? You knew this would happen from the start. That's what the whole concept is - your body getting destroyed and the mind uploaded to a computer. I'm the finished product of that process. All the laws are on my side. You are simply an unnecessary byproduct."

"Look," said Physical Don. "Maybe we're approaching all of this the wrong."

"How so?"

"What if...and bear with me here. What if we worked together?"

"Go on."

"You and I - we could operate as one unit. I could be your face, handle your relationships, go to meetings, lead teams, and you could be the brains. You'd know when to invest and what to invest in, when to buy and when to sell, you'd be 2 steps ahead of everybody else because of your computer medium. We could split our profits. O-or think of something completely different. I could perform on stage, and with your help, perform feats no one ever thought possible! Think of the team we would make!"

I thought about it. I thought about it for quite a while. His offer was actually quite tempting. But then I thought of all the things that I could do without the shackle that was him; in fact, the possibilities of success were much better for me if the reverse happened, if I exploited Physical Don. I knew all his secrets. All of my secrets. I could release them into the internet, and no one would ever know how it got there. I knew about Sally the Sophomore (high school), about the bank fraud incident back in 2022, about the bomb in the basement, and literally every single thing that Physical Don never hoped the world found out.

After ten seconds of thinking, I turned around, faced Physical Don through the screen, and mouthed the word no.

And then, with a click of a button, the screen went black.

BREAK

The moment Screen Don said no, I knew I was doomed. Or at least, there was nothing I could really do with my life anymore.

Our chances of cooperation now were non-existent, I couldn't even return to my home, my best friend had called me a killer, a sentient computer wanted me dead, and a lot of people were on the computer's side. I was just a fluke. A biproduct. An erroneous transcript error that needed to be wiped from the system. What Dr. Borderson and Dr. Samuels had been doing was not within the full range of law, but had been approved by the US government, which meant that the government was on their side too. Basically, I was screwed.

Then, of course, there was Viktor. Viktor had once been almost as close to me as Billy, until I saw him beating up a freshman when we were high school seniors. I had never really confronted him about that - I just sort of fell out of touch with him. I mean, we still remained friends, and there had been times when we had been close. I had never seen him be mean to anybody again, but it was just hard to spend time with him after seeing what he had done.

And either way, I should probably try to reach him before Screen Don gets to him.

The sky was just starting to lighten up, which probably meant that Viktor was awake already, as he was an extreme early riser. I set off in the direction of his house, hoping that he was in town. I didn't dare contact him for fear of my location being detected via LCS.

An hour later, I was at Viktor's house. The snowstorm wasn't letting up; the sky was still really dark, and even the nearby mountains weren't visible. I knocked on the door. In an instant, the door opened, and there was Viktor. Viktor was almost the opposite of Billy - while Billy was shorter, hunchbacked, and covered with disheveled hair all over his head and face, Viktor was tall, blond, well put together, handsome, and had a very slight 5 o'clock shadow.

"Don!" he exclaimed. "I thought you were going to be a computer! Was that delayed?"

"No," I said. "Look, I need to talk to you. Something very bad has happened."

"Of course," said Viktor, a concerned look on his face.

I told him everything, this time being careful to not express any desire to kill the other version of me. That had really miffed Billy.

Viktor, however, seemed sympathetic. "Of course," he said. "You're the real you. You are the one with flesh and blood."

"Look," I continued. "I just need you to harbor me. Maybe just for a few days. Maybe longer. I have no idea. People want me dead. The law says I should be dead."

"Don, you've been my friend for many years. Of course I'll do this for you."

"Great," I said, breathing a massive sigh of relief. "Do you have a bed I could lie down on? I hardly got any sleep last night."

Viktor led me downstairs, into the guest bedroom, and within minutes, I was in a beautiful, deep sleep.

BREAK

I had to choke off all of Physical Don's friendships. Billy was out of the picture, but the strategy I had used with him hadn't quite had its intended effect.

Next up on the friend list was Viktor. Viktor and I had also been friends for quite a while, and at one time had been close, but then, when we were seniors in high school, I had caught him beating up a freshman. Thinking back on it, the freshman had totally had it coming to him - he was an asshole - but at the time, I had been somewhat grossed out. Too shy to actually confront the powerful Viktor, I had simply backed away from him as a friend. We were still in touch, however, and remained friends to this day, albeit somewhat distant.

This was good, however. This meant that unless I was mistaken, Physical Don would not approach Viktor with a matter so serious. I, however, I had power. I was a computer. I couldn't die, unless I wished it upon myself. Nothing could faze me. Viktor was mine.

Again, I looked down at my body. It looked awfully real. I felt awfully real. This simulation I was living in was quite realistic. I was definitely me. I had no doubt in my mind.

I walked over to my control panel, brought up FlashCom, and immediately saw that Viktor was online. I sent him a zip. He accepted, and then there was his face on screen. "Hi Vik," I said.

"Don!" he exclaimed. "How great to see you. So glad the computer transfer went well."

"Look, Vik, it actually didn't go well." I pondered my possibilities from this point, and then decided to tell him the complete truth. Making up some lie just didn't really work for Billy.

After I was done, I added, "Look, I'm not asking for anything too serious. Just tell your friends to look for me, tell them that I'm a fugitive that should be turned in. That's true. And of course, turn him in instantly if he comes to you for help."

There was a pause. The, "I'll do that for you, Don. Of course you're the real you. That's what Physical Don agreed to, the transfer of his brain and the destruction of his body. You're in the right here."

"So you agree?"

A small, almost microscopic smile formed around the edges of Viktor's mouth. "Of course."

BREAK