Duplicate Minds

One

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***

Rajeev Sundaram’s eyes flickered to life and saw only white.

He blinked, but his eyelids felt odd. Nonexistent. Even so, when he closed them, the blinding whiteness blinked out of existence. He kept them closed—the light was nauseating.

What’s the last thing I remember? He racked his brain, but it was no use. His mind was foggy and he couldn’t think of any reason he’d be . . . wherever he was.

He opened his eyes again. Still nothing but white. But he realized now that he was lying on his back looking up at a clinical white ceiling, like one would find in a hospital.

Maybe he was in a hospital. But he didn’t remember getting into an accident or having a heart attack. But then again, he wouldn’t remember something like that, would he?

He sat up and scanned the room. What he saw appeared to confirm his suspicions. The room’s walls were as blindingly white as its ceiling. In front of him sat a stainless steel sink similar to ones he’d seen in hospital rooms; to its right was a door that presumably led to the rest of the hospital. Against the wall to his right sat a small wooden chair with navy blue padding.

There was one peculiarity: Above the door was a circular green light. As Rajeev gazed at the steady green glow, it suddenly began flashing red. He didn’t know what that meant, but in his experience, flashing red lights were rarely good things. A wave of panic washed over him, but he suppressed it. Panicking wouldn’t help anything and besides, he didn’t know for sure what the red light meant. He wasn’t going to wait around to find out, though.

His legs felt odd as he dangled them over the edge of the hospital bed. It was like he didn’t quite know how to control them. He wondered if he’d been in a coma and his leg muscles had atrophied.

Before he could stand and put his theory to the test, the door swung open and a short, rotund man walked through the door. He carried himself with authority, but his smooth, light-brown skin betrayed his youth. He wore a long, white lab coat, which made Rajeev think he must be a doctor.

The men stared at each other for a long moment, as if each of them were dumbfounded by the presence of the other. The doctor broke the silence.

“You’re awake,” he said.

Rajeev tilted his head. “No shit.”

The words felt strange coming out of his mouth. In fact, his mouth itself felt strange, like he barely had to move it to form the words he wanted to say. And the sound of the words leaving his lips . . . there was a slight buzz to it, like something out of a nightmare.

“What happened to me?” Rajeev asked, a hint of panic creeping into his voice.

The doctor flashed a reassuring smile. His face was cherubic, devoid of facial hair, and he wore a pair of thick-framed black glasses over his chocolate brown eyes. He reminded Rajeev of his brother, Ajay.

“You’re in my laboratory at Next Level Technologies,” the man said. He pushed his glasses back up his nose as he spoke.

“This is a laboratory? I thought it was a hospital.”