Doppled in Gray [Discontinued]

Doppled in Gray [chapter one]

CHAPTER ONE

It is almost sixth months until there is another pixelation. Everyone counts their blessings daily until he  appears. He is a man of average size, clean shaved. His dark brown hair looks like plastic when it lays there unmoving as he walks. No one knows where he has pixelated from. The man, he calls himself Doctor Teng, will not reveal his origins to any of us. He simply insists to gather in the town square so he can tell all of us together.

“Maybe he doesn't remember where he came from, that happens often enough,” I muse.

“No, he sounds too urgent for that to be the case,” Amber insisted.

I smile at him gingerly. Ever since Pher has left I have been living with him and Deeva, the woman that has taken care of him since he was a child. We are becoming incredibly close after seeing each other so much more. One of the reasons Pher had never liked him is because he is lanky instead of extremely muscled. He uses his brain instead of his fists. Pher thought that is useless. I still don’t know if Pher’s thoughts ever changed. Amber still refuses to tell me what they spoke about the day Pher left no matter how much I coax him. As time goes on, I have started asking less, trying to forget the pain that comes every time I hear, or even think of, his name.

I shrug and walk with him to the town square where everyone waits patiently. Our looks compliment each other, I think, with his lanky tall exterior and golden tan compared to my short paleness. As my eyes flit around I notice some sitting on their hover-boards, while others fiddle with their armexes seeing what all the others think. It is a sea of green hair and green eyes as I watch people mill around. Some have full heads of dark green hair while others, like me, only carry a tentative streak or two with another natural hair color. Although we are all different, it is the natural green that keeps us all similar.

I put my palm up opening my armex that is forever attached to me. It is a mechanical structure set deeply into my skin so only the sheen of the top layer is seen creating a second brain within our skin. Armexes help communicate silently, tell us all of the details of the inner-workings of our body, educate us and more. With the right app, you can do just about anything.

The hologram levels are left on low so I am the only one to see. About a month has passed since Amber has made an app that allowed him—and now me—to see what people are chatting about even when the chat is private. I know it is wrong and so I usually refrain, but this time my curiosity is too great. I scroll through conversations. People are confused and rightfully so. I look into Amber's bright green eyes with worry but he isn't looking down at me. Because of his height he is able to see above most of the crowd and straight to the one about to speak.

Doctor Teng clears his throat.

“You must be wondering why I asked you to all to come so I can tell you why I am here. Well, it's simple. I'm from Earth and so are you.”

Murmurs spread through the crowd. Earth? What kind of place was that? And how are we all from there? The hover-boards carrying people come closer.

“I don't understand, what do you mean?” someone calls. It is Amber.

“What I mean is that you are all clones, doppelgangers, mostly human people that are controlled by us scientists. You are not robots, just biological duplicates.”

Doctor Teng's eyes glide over his audience and the look on all of our faces are the same, a mixture of confusion and shock.

“You may be wondering why I am telling you this. At the moment, you are in a digital world, a shared consciousness in your brains directed by our technology, that is mostly like earth. All the while on earth, you are all in compartments in a laboratory. Your originals have decided that they need you in the real world for various reasons. In twenty-four hours you will be woken up from your coma-like state, and you will finally be introduced to the real world.” His voice is accented, crisp, but monotone and factual. But how can we believe him?