The Problems of Another World

Clones

Otto and Hannah sat at the table of bounty eating and drinking. "It feels different without them." Otto said trying to make conversation.

"What should we do?" Hannah asked.

Otto pulled out his sack of rings. "Want to see what these other colors show me?" Otto said spreading the rings in front of them. He paired them all together twelve different colors.

He laid them out in a rainbow pattern starting with the pink ones. He put them on.

"be careful it's going to show you the perspective of the one you love the most." Hannah said excitedly.

A perspective formed in his periscope. He could see a strong pair of hands holding an axe he reached up high then come down hard on the log sitting in front of him in a single swing. The man turned around to reveal a simple off the grid cabin. He picked up some of the wood he was cutting and brought it into the cabin where he threw it on a fire that was starting to die. He sat in a chair and picked up a book and began reading it. Otto recognized the book, it was time machine by H.G. Wells

"Well, that is weird" I wonder what that means. Hannah giggled.

"Renner doesn't know" Otto laughed awkwardly.

He took off the pink rings and put on deep red rings and returned to his periscope. This time it was distorted view is a slime filled sac. It was Izzi "she must be a little mad at me because she had to be the clone." he reasoned , "that's fair" he thought aloud. Then switched to orange rings. The periscope was low to the ground and moving rapidly across the forest floor of ZYG until it appeared at Hannah's feet. It was Bunkr. She was expressing worry to Hannah about a certain, missing, Renner. "This must have something to do with animals Bunkr is the closest I have to an animal companion. Maybe that's what it is." Otto guessed as he removed the orange and put on Yellow.

This one showed the view of a small child. It was playing in a playground. Little friends all around exploring their imagination together. "I don't know what this means at all." He took off the yellow rings and switched to a kind of yellow green.

This one showed his mother's point of view she was currently in a meeting with various officials discussing important news. Uninterested in his mother's life he switched to the green rings in this periscope. Hannah was staring into her own view she closed her eyes and looked off somewhere else. "That's me." She said as he closed it and switched to turquoise rings.

He looked at Hannah who was rubbing her eyes, then let out a great big yawn. When she finished, he opened the next periscope. Renner's view was uninteresting.

So he switched to Blue this one caught both of their attentions. It was dark it the room they both leaned in to carefully study the scene when a large butchers knife entered the view menacingly.

"ZYG!" Otto shouted he appeared under his tree. "W... what do the blue rings show me?"

"The person who most needs your help right now." ZYG explained

"Where is she how can we help." Otto asked desperately

ZYG nodded to them. Then Hannah was in the room in view of the hostage. Living metal flew out of her around the room. Hannah was back, after the view of the person showed it being helped by police kicking down the door.

"That's enough of that." Otto said putting his rings back into their pouch. "Let's get some rest." They retired to the canopy for the rest of the night.

***************

"So this is what it's like having two attached hands this is so strange." Renner noted while trying to remove his firmly attached, left hand.

"Didn't the plant supplant the human consciousness?" Otto asked.

"Not this variant. It allows the host to maintain connection." ZYG stated proudly.

Izzi walked out of the other room shivering "I hate how I can feel everything." Izzi said scratching at the back of her neck.

"Nobody told us we that we wouldn't." Renner pointed out.

"this isn't going to be pleasant." ZYG reminded them. "He knows you're coming. Be ready for anything."

Renner was still playing with his left hand when ZYG dropped them off on the roof top. Otto opened the portal and handed Renner the seed.

"Good luck." He wished them as they walked through with nothing but the seed and the cloths on their back.

"Let's plant this as fast as we can." Renner said running for the Planter they were to put it in.

It was the last thing he said as infraZygmyst exploded out of his back.

"Little girl" he said grabbing Izzi. "I only need one of you, the others will come for you won't they, or you can bring them to me Winch." They Disappeared.

Where did they go?" Otto looked confused

"It seems InfraZyg has taken Izzi, I'm not sure where, now we only have your periscope to keep an eye on her." Zyg explained worried.

Otto put on the black rings, hoping desperately not to see anything gruesome after what happened to Renner.

Hannah never left Izzi alone in the plant. Her worries extending to her brothers, who repeatedly brought her food and drink giving her company when she needed it.

Otto watched all he could of the black rings. But watching his sisters suffer was taking its toll.

Renner didn't forgive himself for dying so quickly. He often stayed around his brother as he anxiously watched his sister for any excuse to pull her out of it

Izzi was having no fun either. InfraZyg kept her in a box, occasionally suffocating her hoping that it would urge her to bring in the rest of the siblings for him to eliminate. She couldn't cave and her laughing only further enraged The monster holding her captive. He would only take her out of the box to mercilessly beat her.

It took three days for the monster to say anything other than "where's your siblings." To which she would simply laugh having no real other alternatives.

One day she decided to say something which was hard when you've been screaming in pain for hours. "You fool," she coughed up blood. "We are going stop you, in fact, your failure will be our success."

"Child, soon I will have your world." The Evil ZYG shouted "and when I do every nation on every earth will do as I demand." Her gentle laughter screamed back at him enraging him further.

"Every nation then, not just America, so what you've been talking to other nations." Izzi concluded "God you're intolerable. How were you ever a part of something as pure as ZYG." She coughed out only to be beaten in response, laughing all the while. "You have other nations building portals. I wonder if ZYG can prevent them from his side." She laughed "please tell me that's enough I am so done with this idiot."

Inside her something happened she was feeling particularly bad. Fire erupted out of her mouth Blasting InfraZyg full in his surprised face. Next thing she remembered Hannah was standing over her slimy body, crying with joy. "You did it!" she said holding her sister close. Renner came in holding the bag in his prosthetic hand reaching in with his right hand to pull out some food for her.

Otto walked in a few minutes later with news from ZYG. Izzi was eating. "Japan had opened a portal but only three people made it through ZYG stopped six other portals only seconds ago. The Japanese authorities had them. So I went down and put them back" He looked at Izzi, her mouth was full. "you want to see what your hard work accomplished?"

Izzi, with her mouth full, nodded standing up "that was easy, let's go see what that idiot failed to do." crumbs came spilling out. Hannah kept her arm around their sister as they climbed up to HQ. When they entered ZYG greeted Izzi like a hero thanking her profusely for her contribution. After adulation was passed around ZYG showed them the eight sites around the world, That he successfully prevented from spawning new portals.