Duplicate Minds

Eleven

Sarah grabbed the drone out of the air and brought it inside. She set it on the kitchen table for her discussion with Rajeev.

He had a lot of explaining to do. He described waking up in Next Level Technologies' laboratory in a robotic body. Contrary to what Dev had told him, she'd had no idea there'd been any effort to duplicate Rajeev's mind and place it in an artificial body. Rajeev got the sense that she understood the philosophical implications . . . that the Rajeev she had known and loved was dead, even if the Rajeev speaking to her through the drone was an incredible approximation of her one-time love.

The conversation then turned to their son.

"I've only spoken with Dev a handful of times in the past two years," she said. "I haven't seen him in person the entire time."

"Wrapped up in his company?"

"I guess. He always says he's too busy whenever I try to get in touch with him."

Rajeev sighed. "That's exactly what I was afraid of. Dev has forsaken his family in favor of pursuing riches. But I know you can get through to him, Sarah."

"I've tried. I don't know what else to do."

Rajeev shook his head. "Well what about Mira? She was always close with her brother."

"She's tried, too."

Rajeev was growing frustrated. "There has to be a way to get through to him."

"Hey," Brian whispered, nudging Rajeev. "Remember to tell her about our imprisonment."

Rajeev nodded. "Hey, Sarah? There's something else. Dev is keeping us here against our will. The company line is that because these artificial bodies are the property of Next Level Technologies, we're not allowed to leave without permission. And if we try to do it anyway, some kind of built-in failsafe stops us in our tracks the second we step outside the building."

Sarah looked horrified. "I'm sorry, Rajeev. I had no idea any of this was going on."

He nodded. "I know you didn't. But we need your help. I don't know how, but you need to get us out of here."

She shook her head despondently. "I have literally no say in the company. Dev owns it all. I can try to talk to him, and I can ask Mira to as well, but like I said, I don't think he'll listen to us."

"Do what you can," Rajeev said. "Keep the drone. We can use it to communicate periodically. It has solar panels, so if you leave it out in the sun from time to time, it'll stay charged."

"Will do. This is all so odd. I just wish—"

A creaking sound cut her off—a door had opened and a voice called out, "Hi, honey. You'll never believe the day I've—"

"I have to go," Sarah hissed suddenly. "I'll be in touch." Then the feed went dead.

None of the androids said a word. Rajeev felt the eyes of the others on him. He could only imagine what they were thinking. Poor Rajeev . . .

Of course, they weren't aware that he had been out of Sarah's life for fifteen years. Knowing that, the fact that she'd taken a new lover didn't seem unreasonable. Still, it had come as a bit of a shock. Sarah had remarried, presumably. Maybe it was less serious than that. But the man who had walked in was clearly more than a roommate—he'd called her "honey."

The realization that Sarah had moved on and found someone new to love stung. In a sense, he felt like he'd been with her just a couple weeks ago. But at the same time, he'd already begun disassociating from the life of what he considered the "original" Rajeev. It had also helped seeing the age Sarah had accumulated over the years. She was not the same woman he'd loved. She was undoubtedly far more mature than he was now; his personal growth had stalled for fifteen years.