Duplicate Minds

Thirteen

The van pulled up to a nondescript brownstone in a less-than-decent part of town. Samuel slid the door open, then helped Rosa carry Rajeev into the building. The driver and another passenger Rajeev hadn't seen earlier led the way into the building.

They carried him up three flights, then down the hall to the last apartment on the right. The driver knocked on the door and after a moment it opened to reveal a young man with a Mediterranean complexion and hair rolled into tight dreadlocks.

"Damn," he said. "That was quick. Come in." He stood aside as the group marched into the apartment.

"You can set him down here on the couch," the dreadlocked man said. Rosa and Samuel set him down gently, then stepped away to make room.

"Holy crap," the dreadlocked man said, taking in Rajeev's artificial body. "This is remarkable." He crouched above him and slid a hand down the silicone. "Gah! I wish I could tear this off so I could really see the inner workings of—"

"Please don't."

The man jumped. "Right. Sorry. Easy to forget we're working with an actual person here." He retrieved a chair and placed it beside the couch. "I'm Zane and I'm here to help you. I'm getting my master's in mechanical engineering and I know a thing or two about software engineering as well, so between the two, there's at least a chance I can get you moving again. My understanding is there's some kind of failsafe preventing you from moving as soon as you step foot outside of NLT?"

"Correct. Think you can disable it?"

He brought a hand to his chin. "Possibly. It depends on whether the failsafe is something built into the underlying software allowing your mind to communicate with its body, or if it's mechanical. Either one could be a challenge, but I think we'd have better luck if it's a software issue." He grew serious and placed a hand on Rajeev's shoulder. "I feel it's imperative that you understand the risks before we proceed. We're walking into uncharted territory here. This is state-of-the-art, experimental technology and once I start poking around, I don't know exactly what I'm going to find. It's possible that in trying to fix you, I could break you even worse, or wipe you out altogether. If we proceed, I could kill you, Rajeev. Now that you understand the risks, do you still want to proceed?"

"Absolutely."

Zane smiled. "Okay, then. Let's get started."

***

Zane found the port that gave access to the underlying software controlling Rajeev's mind and body. It was at the base of his neck, under a silicone flap that protected it from dust and grime. He plugged one end of a cable into the port and the other into his laptop, and spent the next hour sorting through code that looked to Rajeev and everyone else in the room like gibberish.

"Where's Mira?" Rajeev asked, trying to take his mind off the fact that Zane could accidently erase his entire existence with one stroke of the keyboard.

"We told Mira and Sarah not to come," Rosa said. "They're the first people Dev would suspect of helping you escape. In fact, I think he already has a tail on both of them. It's safer for them to stay home and act like they know nothing about this."

"That makes sense. I—"

"Shh!" Zane was suddenly rigid, typing furiously on his keyboard. "I think I found something! If I'm right, you'll be walking again within ten minutes, Rajeev."

"I hope you're right."

"Everyone shut up for a couple minutes and let me concentrate."

The room fell silent, save for the click-clacking of the keys as Zane typed. After a few minutes, he raised a finger into the air.

"If I'm right, once I hit the enter key, you'll be able to move again, Rajeev. You ready for this?"

"Of course!"

Zane lowered his finger and hit "enter." There was a pause and everyone in the room watched with bated breath. For several moments there was nothing. Then Rajeev's right index finger lifted, almost imperceptibly at first, but soon accompanied by his middle and ring fingers. He lifted his right arm, then the left, and propped himself up on the bed. He stood and stuck out his hand to Zane, who accepted and shook it.

"Thank you so much," Rajeev said. "How did you do it?"

"They didn't put much thought into it, really," Zane said. "The bodies are equipped with GPS hardware that pinpoints your location. They implemented a simple program that runs off the data provided by the GPS. As long as you're within the bounds of the NLT campus, it has no effect. But the instant the GPS detected that you'd left, it severed the connection between your mind and body."

"And you deleted the program?"

"No—I left the program intact. I just spoofed your location. As far as the program can tell, you're safe and sound at Next Level Technologies headquarters."

"That's awesome, but . . . if I'm equipped with GPS, doesn't that mean NLT can track me?"

"They can't anymore, because it'll always say you're on the NLT campus. Up until I made the switch, however they would have been able to track your location—which means we all need to leave."

"But what about your apartment?"

Zane laughed. "It's not my apartment, man—we're just borrowing it."

"You broke in?"

"I still prefer to say 'borrowed.' But seriously, we need to split."

Zane gathered his laptop and cables, and everyone filed out the door to the van.