Duplicate Minds

Twenty-Six

As soon as Rajeev was safely inside the elevator, he summoned Daniel.

"What can I do for—"

"Daniel, is everything I see recorded?"

"I'm not sure I understand your question."

"My eyes are basically video cameras, right? So are the images they pick up stored anywhere? Can they be played back?"

"Ah, I see what you mean. Yes, the images are stored anywhere between eight to seventy-two hours, depending on the user settings."

"That's more than enough. How do I bring up the footage for review?"

"I can do that for you. It appears your settings are configured to record and store up to eight hours of footage."

"I just need footage from the past twenty minutes."

"Very well."

A small rectangle appeared in front of Rajeev, appearing to hover about five feet in front of him at eye level. It began playing footage from Rajeev's perspective, showing him walking down the hall with Dev toward The Hub.

"Is there any way to speed this up?"

"Sure," Daniel replied cheerily. Almost instantly, the footage began playing at double speed. Rajeev was afraid he'd miss the moment he was looking for, but he saw it coming.

"Stop!" He shouted. "Play it at normal speed." The footage returned to normal.

"Clairemont," he said in the recording. "Try it." He watched as Dev entered the name into the computer. When it worked, Dev pumped his fist and told Rajeev he was awesome.

"Freeze the picture," Rajeev said. The recording froze, displaying the computer screen Dev had been working with.

"Can you zoom in on the text displayed on the screen?"

"Sure," Daniel said, and the picture magnified. It was a list of all the security questions Dev had had to answer. At the top of the list were the two questions Dev had successfully answered before calling Rajeev in for help:


WHERE DID YOU HAVE YOUR FIRST KISS?


WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO TRAVEL TO AS A CHILD?


Rajeev thought back to his conversation with Dev in his office; the one where he'd given him the experimental orb that was supposed to taste like Scotch. He'd casually brought up his childhood. He'd asked Rajeev if he remembered hearing about Dev's first kiss. He hadn't. But then he'd asked about his favorite place as a child, and Rajeev had handed him the answer on a silver platter.

Alarm bells rang like crazy in Rajeev's head. His mind reeled as he tried to figure out what to do. Because he was fairly certain the man back there claiming to be Dev was not his son. And whoever he was, Rajeev had just helped him unlock the keys to all of Next Level Technologies' most closely guarded secrets.

***

Rajeev hurried to the entertainment lounge, eager to speak with one of the other androids to ensure he wasn't as crazy as he seemed even to himself.

Three of the androids were huddled together by the couch, talking among themselves. Rajeev walked through the doors and approached them.

"It's me—Rajeev."

"Hey," one of them said. "Ted."

"Brian."

"Natalie."

Good. His most important allies were here.

"I have some big news," he said.

Natalie glanced at her compatriots and nodded. "So do we."

That surprised him, but he couldn't imagine anything they might say could be more revelatory than what he was about to unload on them.

"Okay," he said. "You go first."

"That room you found on the sixtieth floor—I found it," Ted said.

Rajeev had forgotten all about the room. Now, given what he knew about Dev, or whoever was passing himself off as Dev, it seemed like the least of their concerns. But he encouraged Ted anyway.

"Did you get into it?"

Ted nodded.

"What did you find?"

He hesitated. "I think it would be best if you saw it with your own eyes."

Rajeev shook his head. "We don't have time for that. The man I've been calling my son is an imposter. He isn't Dev."

Ted glanced at Natalie, then turned back to Rajeev. "We know."

"You—you know? How?"

"Like I said," Ted answered, moving toward the door, "you really need to see for yourself."

He walked out the door without another word. Rajeev turned to Natalie as if appealing for help, but she just nodded her head toward the door. "He's right," she said. "Go."

He sped out the door, hurrying to catch up to Ted. When he'd caught up, Ted had just pressed the button for the elevator. It was already on their floor, and the door opened immediately.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?" Rajeev asked as they stepped inside.

"They're not coming. It'd be too conspicuous to have four of us walking around together."

He pressed the button for the sixtieth floor and they stood in silence as they rose up the building. The elevator dinged, the doors opened, and Ted stepped out, confidently striding away.

"Ted," Rajeev hissed, doing his best to run after him while also moving silently, "be careful—we could get caught."

"I'm over it," Ted said. He continued speeding away, refusing to slow his pace for Rajeev, forcing him to abandon caution if he wanted to keep up.

"What's so important that you don't even care about getting caught?

"You're about to find out."

They rounded the corner and approached the door Rajeev had been unable to penetrate.

"How were you able to disengage the lock?"

"One of the other androids used to be a computer hacker. He came up here and was able to figure out the code. To whit—" He punched a string of six numbers into the keypad and a green light lit up. Ted turned the handle, opened the door and walked inside.

The room was dark and the walls were painted black. It was the antithesis of the all-white room Rajeev had first awoken in. The only light came from a small lamp built into the side of one of the walls.

"What's so important about this place?" Rajeev asked. "It looks like a living space. Like one of our—"

He'd caught sight of the far right corner of the room, where a small bed sat. He'd seen it as soon as he'd walked in, but what he'd missed was the silhouette of a man sitting on the side of it. He was short, with an ample build, and even though his face was obscured by shadows, Rajeev recognized him at once.

"Dev?"

The man stood and took a step forward, letting the low light wash over his face.

"Hi, dad."

"How is this possible?"

He beckoned his father toward the bed. "You'd better have a seat. I'll explain everything."