53 lines
2.0 KiB
Plaintext
53 lines
2.0 KiB
Plaintext
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A plan was forming.
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Custom clones were all the rage back on Earth. It had become so
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easy to manufacture them that people had clones for all kinds of
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things - attending meetings or parties you were too busy or lazy to
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go to, taking care of your kids while you were at work, driving
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your car for you, and, well, you get the idea. Of course, with all
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those clones running around, people also started to get nervous
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about all the kinds of accidents that could happen.
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"Honeysuckle, you know what I do for a living?"
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"Funny, I never even thought to ask!" she giggled. Back then, her
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giggle was thrilling, later I realised it was all a simulation, she
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already knew everything about me. Remembering it now, half of me
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wants to fall into the arms of that giggle, the other half hears it
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for what it was - the mechanical ticking of a time-bomb.
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"I work in insurance."
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"Wow, sounds complicated!"
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"It depends on what kind of insurance you're in. I'm in the
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uncomplicated kind." I rolled the ball down the lane. It veered off
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course and knocked a single pin.
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"Anyway, there's a new clause that's in a lot of life-insurance
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contracts, especially tailored for people who use
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cloning-technologies."
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"Oh? What does this have to do with anything, my sweet
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hummingbird?"
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"Hummingbird? Where'd you get that name from?" I rolled the ball
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again, I hit another handful of pins, but this was a game I'd
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already lost. I made a mental note not to go bowling with an
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android again.
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"The clause is called 'Triple Indemnity'; If you're killed by your
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clone, the insurance pays out three-fold."
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She had picked up her ball and threw it as I spoke these last
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words. The ball went straight to the gutter. My mouth opened. I
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thought to myself that she was either a quick learner or had a dark
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mind; she had understood perfectly what I was suggesting. Too
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perfectly.
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I should have followed the path of that bowling ball and veered off
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course right then. I should've sensed what she was capable of and
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ran the other way.
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