The Problems of Another World

The Birth of Twins

1

When small people fail, communities dissolve; When great people fail the whole worlds crumble. Robert and Leslie Flaxx were sitting in the cold doctor's office expecting only one baby, instead receiving the exciting news that they were expecting twins. Robert was the kind of congressman who wore suits all the time with daily subtle differences in shade and tone always adding pocket square for personality. Leslie was a perfect combination smart, wise and kind, wrapped in colorful fabric muted by pristine white lab coats. Sitting together at the doctor's office you could tell, they will make good parents.

If he had any truly negative qualities Robert Flaxx was naive, he's many other things too, kind, diligent, dependable, but it's his naivety made him miss the things that a better husband and father might know how to catch. What does one do when the only person you've spent your entire life getting know to love and trust wholly, is replaced and by a doppelganger using her memories to be an expert at deceiving you. Do you decide to test their trust at every suspicious action, if any, or is it better to trust still? When things change and you don't see it, all one can do is hope the damage is not too grievous. Robert decided to trust the woman he had married all those years ago, because he saw in her the truth of love.

Robert should have noticed that he was married to the most brilliant woman in the world. Robert didn't think that they could even have twins. Robert didn't know that when she did her experiment to open a portal to Tokyo she was opening a portal to another identical earth with an identical Tokyo. Her portal wasn't big enough though, all it did was create a copy of this planet and then scare them into a fight. Neither Robert nor our heroes expected their wife and mother to be taken over, or maybe replaced, by an alien. But to one Robert it happened, his naivety blinded him, risking the fate of the galaxy.

Neither Robert nor his wife is the hero of our story, it is in fact the Twins'. Renner, Otto, Izzi, and Hannah. Before either set of twins were ever a possibility there was a woman too smart for her own good. Leslie had the heart of an artist, the mind of a strategist, and the compassion of a saint. And she knew it, in fact she enjoyed using her power to help others connect. Her current dream is to make the world grow closer by crossing vast distances. If she knew she was pregnant at the time maybe she would have sent in her research aid, but it wouldn't matter. Much like her husband she was a genuine, and good person who knew that her husband was also good. She knew she was doing a great job raising her children. intuitively she knew that she was going to make the world a closer place. It was a few weeks ago, in her lab. With the help of her team she attempted to build a portal to Tokyo in Japan. In a brilliant red flash she, without a doubt glimpsed Tokyo, though her team in Tokyo reported that they did not see anything on their end.

Leslie did indeed see Tokyo but is wasn't the Tokyo she will take her sons to in a few years, but rather a Tokyo created in that moment. A copy of her world with a copy of her and the two recently conceived embryos nestled in her womb. In the first moment everything was the same. However, I didn't stay that way for long. The first change was the number of people that saw the portal. On one side it was just Leslie that saw it, on the other it was Leslie and her team. A few of her crew lost their limbs while one lost her life. Leslie's voice changed after that, not is tone or pitch but instead intent. They were attacked and needed to do whatever they could to stop it. And before long Robert lost his wife without even knowing it.

Before either one of the Leslie's could be replaced by the doppelganger. They both had to give birth to twins. This is when we see the second change. On one side Leslie gave birth to two boys, Renner and Otto. Renner came out screaming while otto made no sound, Instead peeing on the doctor. Strangely enough everyone was laughing including Renner giving up on all that screaming, in favor of giggling with his family.