Five Minute SciFi Stories

too smart for your own good

Jane's other, less intelligent self was sitting on the floor in the corner trying to piece together a puzzle. Cindy loved puzzles. It took her hours to finish even the most simple one but she never became frustrated or angry unless Jane tried to intervene. And she never gave up. Octavia would oblige by bringing Cindy a new box of puzzles whenever she visited.

Octavia brought Jane other distractions. Books smuggled from the past. News feeds from the outside world. Stories from Octavia's life. 

She brought them these gifts in exchange for their blood. Their youth.

"You remember the plan, Cindy?" Jane said. Cindy didn't answer, absorbed in trying to twist carbon rods into a circle. Jane crouched down in front of Cindy and put her hand over the puzzle.

"No. Mine," Cindy yelled, snatching up her toy. 

Jane raised her hands, surrendering to her other's demands. "I don't want to take it. I just want you to look at me."

Cindy cradled her puzzle pieces against her chest and stared sullenly at Jane.

"Now remember. Octavia wants to steal all of your puzzles."

"Mine." Cindy leaned away from Jane, pressing her precious puzzle against the wall. 

"I know they are yours but Octavia thinks they are hers and she wants to steal them. But we won't let her, will we?"

Cindy shook her head.

"When she comes in, we're going to jump on her and stop her."

Cindy nodded.

"Good." Jane smiled at Cindy.

The next day Jane told Cindy the same thing.

And the next.

And the next.

Until the door opened and Octavia, old and wrinkled, frail and foolish, invaded their space. "I have some new puzzles," she said.

And Cindy ran at Octavia, screaming, "Puzzles mine. Puzzles mine." She knocked Octavia to the floor and Jane jumped on top of her, pinning the old woman's torso between her legs. She bent over Octavia and stared into her own eyes, her own face.

"Get off me," Octavia said.

"No. I'm not giving you any more blood. I'm not staying locked in this room anymore. You're going to stay here. With her." She jerked her head towards Cindy who was rifling through the box that Octavia had dropped on the ground.

"Puzzles," Cindy said, grinning.

"The door isn't locked," Octavia wheezed. "You can leave whenever you want."

"You're lying," Jane said but she shifted some of her weight off Octavia's chest, letting her talk.

"That black box next to the door is a bioreader. Press your finger to it and the door will open."

Jane didn't want to let Octavia go but she wanted to try the door. "Cindy. Cindy," she said, but Cindy was absorbed in her new puzzles, taking pieces out of the box and lining them up on the floor.

Jane pushed herself up off Octavia and hurried to the door. She pressed her finger against the bioreader, watching Octavia over her shoulder. The door clicked open. Jane was through it before Octavia had finished rolling over. Jane banged the door shut. She was free. And she was in some sort of corridor with a door at either end. She went to the left and used the bioreader to open that door too. To think, all this time, she could have walked out. The door opened onto a room, smaller than the one she shared with Cindy. It was filled with a big grey machine. 

Something stabbed Jane in the middle of the back and a searing pain spread through her flesh. She stumbled, trying to turn, and saw a fuzzy Octavia standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry Jane. You were too smart for your own good."