After spending years under an artificial sky, or no sky at all, Sarah had forgotten what it was like to be outside without a suit. A soft gust of unfiltered, undirected, fresh air brushed across her bare face and through her hair, eliciting a smile from her lips. She took a deep breath. The smell of pollen, animals, dirt, and moisture mixed to create a pleasant scent. She could even still smell the ashes of the long-burnt remains of her old childhood home. As she sat on a bench, one of the few remaining objects that wasn’t burnt to the ground, she looked around at the ruins behind her. She had expected the building to have been re-built, so she felt restrained delight to find it in its current state.
Sitting there, she was starting to realize that there were things that she missed about the place, like the colors in the sky as Sol sets under the clouds and beyond the horizon. The bright red mixed with deep purple clouds with pink lining, gradually turning into a dark blue across the sky. She had seen several different worlds with her own eyes, and many more through digital representations, but nothing seemed to compare to the sunsets on Earth.
“You seem pretty relaxed.” Hugo said, taking a seat on the bench next to Sarah.
“Yeah, I suppose I am. For the moment, at least.” Sarah took another deep breath as the gentle breeze drifted past her.
“It’s not quite what I expected given your description of this place.”
“I hated this place so much, but after being gone for 10 years, I’ve come to realize that it wasn’t the place that I had a problem with.”
“Discomfort by association?”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure. Though, the heat during late summer really sucked too. Although...” Sarah put a finger to her chin, focusing on the few rosy memories. “There’s nothing quite like swimming in a lake or having an ice cream on a hot day.”
“I seem to remember you enjoying iced cream during the heatsink ejection failure on Hecatoncheires a few years ago.”
“Yeah, I do remember that. That was different though, I guess by being in an enclosed space, or maybe the humidity or airflow or something, I dunno.”
“It’s interesting that your environment could have such an impact on the enjoyment of your meals. It sounds nice.”
“It is, but I guess food is a bit of a mystery to you in the first place.”
“So is joy, if I’m being honest.”
“Nonsense! You’re always as happy as a jellyfish since the industrial revolution!”
“That’s a fair comparison considering Jellyfish are also incapable of feeling emotion.”
“Alright, Hugo?” Sarah said, rolling her eyes. “You have instructions that inform what emotions to display and when, based on external input. It’s not so different to how it works for humans. However, you have the benefit of not having your emotions influence your decision making.”
“There are plenty of cases where I can see that being a benefit. Fear, for example, is there to save your life.”
“My life, yes, but how useful is fear to a being that can’t exactly die?” Sarah paused for a moment. Hugo didn’t have an answer. Sarah wanted to try something. In her interface, she scrolled through menus to her companion settings. “You may not necessarily be considered alive to begin with, but what if I let my cursor hover over the delete button here?” In reality, the cursor came close, but she was too afraid to let it even touch the button.
“No. Please, don’t.” Hugo said in a decidedly monotonous and uninterested tone.
Sarah giggled at his joking demeanor, but while the question didn’t seem to faze Hugo, Sarah was now thinking about it. He was usually happy, but Sarah had seen a range of emotions portrayed by him, though she wasn’t quite sure if fear was something he could display. Maybe it was part of what she liked about him, but something about lacking a sense of self-preservation seemed off to her.
“What if I did, though... what would happen to you?”
“I think I know you pretty well, and I’m reasonably sure that you wouldn’t do that. But, if you did, well, it wouldn’t really be all that difficult to get me back. I might be missing some contextual information, but for all intents and purposes, all of the data that I am based around is still available online, or in your interface. If you truly wanted to kill me and make it so I can’t come back, you would also have to get rid of a non-insignificant amount of your personal data.”
“You wouldn’t try and stop me?”
“I couldn’t stop you even if I wanted to.”
“Oh, c’mon, I’m a pacifist. All it would really take to stop me from killing you is ‘Please, don’t’.”
“I did say that though.”
“Ugh, well...” Sarah again rolled her eyes. “I mean, you were clearly joking. The concept of ceasing to exist really doesn’t bother you?”
“No... Does it bother you?”
“Yeah! Of course it does!” Sarah said with exasperation.
“But you didn’t exist for more than thirteen billion years, and even if you live to be two hundred years old, you will stop existing for billions of years yet.”
“Okay, well, if I live to be two hundred years old, I think I’ll be alright with the whole ceasing to exist thing.”
“What’s your issue with it right now?”
“Hmm... well, if I died right now, I think it would suck to not be able to see my sister again. I’d also really like to get back to the expedition.”
“I’m sure the expedition will go ahead with or without you.”
“It’s not that I’m afraid the expedition won’t happen. I’m afraid that I won’t get to experience it.”
“So, you just want to keep living for the anticipation of having new experiences?” Hugo asked. The question made Sarah laugh.
“It’s interesting that you can take such an integral concept regarding intelligent life and make it seem petty and selfish. It’s not like I don’t care about my fellow living beings or anything other than my own experiences.”
“Why did you decide to pursue a career in research and analysis instead of, for example, a career in medicine?”
“Frankly, that’s kind of your job now. The need for doctors has been in steady decline in proportion to the number of cerebral interface implants. In the fields of diagnostics, surgery, drug synthesis and treatment, computers have been much more effective than humans for decades.”
“You might say the same about your field as well.”
“That is fair. The difference is that I have a much easier time focusing on details related to xeno-archeology that people outside of the field would find uninteresting. And even though it’s not medicine, that doesn’t mean that it isn’t beneficial to humanity. At the heart of what I do is a thirst for information that adds to the collective knowledge of our species, knowledge which could help us prosper.”
Their chat continued, shifting from Sarah’s career to philosophy and the difference in psychology between humans and machines. It was a half-hour before the conversation began to wind down, and Sarah began to wonder whether her sister would ever show up. The burnt and warped bench was starting to dig in to her behind. She stood up and began pacing around the front of the building’s remains.
“Do you think this is a trap?” Hugo asked.
“I don’t... think so?” Sarah said.
“You don’t seem very confident in that answer.”
“Well, I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but if some ninja’s jump out of the dark and try to take me, I guess I’ll just have to blast ‘em all!” Sarah took what she thought was a cool combat pose, hovering her hand over the pistol that was tucked into her pants at the small of her back. She then brought her hands forward and shot finger guns at Hugo.
“That’s some excellent form you have there!”
Sarah felt shivers shoot down her spine as she heard a woman’s voice coming from behind Hugo. Sarah leaned around him and saw Sophie standing on the pathway. After so many years apart, the sight of her sister giggling filled Sarah with unimaginable happiness. For a moment, her body didn’t seem to want to respond to her urge to rush at her sister, but when it finally did, it was with the grace of someone who hadn’t run since high school. She pushed Hugo out of the way, but then lost her balance and stumbled forward until she crashed into her sister, knocking them both to the ground.
Sophie didn’t care. Their embrace was warm and they both found themselves tearing up as they held each other tightly against the ground. They laid on the ground for a while, quietly sniffling until the wave of overwhelming emotion began to recede.
“Alright, that’s enough.” Sophie said with a stern voice while also wiping her tears away as they separated from each other. Sophie rose to her feet first and lightly dusted her pants, then offered a hand to Sarah. She grabbed her sister’s hand and was effortlessly pulled up to standing. Sarah didn’t let go after getting to her feet, instead, twisting Sophies arm to expose the scars running from her hand to her elbow.
“What, our skin wasn’t good enough for you?” Sarah said. Sophie looked at the lines and traced them with her finger.
“It is still our skin, actually. There’s just some extra stuff inside, and I didn’t have the opportunity to properly treat the seal.” Sophie responded. They began walking along the long-neglected stone path in front of the ruined building. “So... how have you been?” Sophie asked, unsure of how else to greet someone she hadn’t seen in a decade.
“I’ve been great!” Sarah said, as her mind immediately went to her expedition. “I mean... aside from the past few days, I suppose.”
“Oh, yeah... I guess that’s kind of my fault... Sorry.”
“It’s not a big deal!” Sarah said with a laugh, doing her best to downplay the situation. As they walked, Sarah leaned back and forth to inspect the rest of her sister’s body. “Wooow!” She said. “You look great!”
“Thanks!” Sophie said with a giggle and a blush. “You’re not looking so bad yourself!” Sophie’s words made Sarah nervously turn away and hide her face.
“Oh, stop it, c’mon!” Sarah said, blindly slapping at Sophie’s arm.
“I’m not joking! You look amazing!” Sophie thought her sister might die from embarrassment. She continued, nonetheless. “Whatever it is, you’re doing something right.”
“I think I have Hugo to thank for that...” Sarah said after coming out of her embarrassed coma.
“Hugo? That’s your husband, right?” Sophie asked with genuine confusion, as she already knew the fate of Hugo, but didn’t quite understand how he was to thank for Sarah’s physique. She didn’t want to reveal just how closely she had been following her sister’s goings-on. “How’s he doing?”
“He’s uhh...” Sarah paused. She suddenly regretted mentioning Hugo at all. She was feeling a much more real embarrassment than a moment ago, afraid of what her sister might think. “He died.” Sarah said bluntly. “Years ago, he died. And I had a hard time dealing with it, so I... I designed a companion based on him.”
Sophie was silent for a moment and Sarah could only blush and glance in Sophie’s direction. Sophie had known about Hugo’s demise but had no idea about the companion part. It was a little awkward, especially since the only experiences that Sophie had had with companions was entirely sexual. It wasn’t something she was keen on imagining her sister doing, but she wasn’t quite sure what else to say, except...
“Do you think I could... meet him?” Sophie asked, but she was immediately regretting it, her head already filled with ideas about her sister’s sex life that she didn’t care to think about. Sarah smiled, feeling a modicum of acceptance, though the smile was interpreted differently by her sister. Sophie received a request by Sarah’s companion to manipulate her sensory data. Chills ran down Sophie’s spine, and she took a subtle, decompressing breath and braced before she agreed to allow it access to all of her senses.
Hugo appeared to Sophie, standing next to Sarah. Sophie expressed relief when she saw that he was fully clothed and had the general proportions of an average human. He wasn’t an over-edited Adonis, and for that, Sophie was thankful.
“Sophie, this is my husband, Hugo.” Sarah said, gesturing between them. “Hugo, this is my twin sister, Sophie!”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you!” Hugo said, extending his palm in greeting. Sophie gripped his hand.
“Likewise!”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, and not just in the past couple of days.”
“I’ve heard about you too, but it was a long time ago, and I suppose it wasn’t exactly... you.” Sophie said, then turned to Sarah. “You know... he is pretty cute now that I see him in person. Is this really what he looked like?”
“I sometimes update his hair and beard style, and sometimes I do some temporary... physique changes... but except for that, he’s exactly as he was. His body is, anyway.” Sarah said, gripping Hugo’s arm as she spoke about him.
Sophie watched the way they looked at each other. It wasn’t a look of depraved, animalistic lust like she would expect from a relationship with an interfacial companion. At least, not more than any other normal, healthy relationship. It was a look that she recognized and empathized with, as she had felt the same thing recently.
“Did it... Does it help?” Sophie asked.
“What do you mean?”
“Well... you know...” Sophie was trying to be sensitive, trying her best to not bring up unpleasant memories for Sarah, or herself. It wasn’t working. “You said you did this after Hugo, umm... passed... right? Did it help?”
“Hmm...” Sarah thought as she looked into Hugo’s eyes. “Yeah, I think so. Seeing his still-smiling face helps me forget what happened, but... I dunno, sometimes it does the opposite. Though, he’s usually pretty good at distracting me.”
“What do you mean, ‘usually’?” Hugo said, feigning offense. Sarah didn’t find it quite as funny this time, having experienced being locked away from him and inside her own mind. She stepped away from Hugo and focused back on her sister.
“Why do you ask?” Sarah said. Sophie looked shocked at the question, then crossed her arms and turned away. She began pacing as she considered what to say.
“Where do I even begin?” Sophie said to herself. She turned back and walked up to Hugo. “Hey, it was nice to meet you, Hugo. Do you mind if I take a walk with Sarah?”
“Uhh...” Both Hugo and Sarah seemed a bit confused by the question. “Sure, I don’t mind.” Hugo said. Sarah and Sophie began walking further down the path. Sarah glanced back and saw Hugo give a shrug.
“You know, Hugo uses my eyes and ears for input...” Sarah said.
“Oh, well, whatever!” Sophie said with a nervous laugh, then another moment of silence. “So, I guess you’re already aware... I’m not dead!” Sophie laughed again, an involuntary reaction to the awkwardness of the situation. “Surprise!” She said, opening her arms with emphasis. Sarah took the opportunity to step in and again embrace her sister in a tight hug. Sophie jumped at the unexpected motion, then returned the embrace.
“You know how they say that twins have a connection that transcends space?” Sarah asked. Sophie gave no response. “It’s complete bullshit. It’s been scientifically disproven in several studies. Even I have evidence that tears that theory to shreds.” Sarah pulled herself away just enough to look into her sister’s eyes. “I thought you were dead. I honestly and truly did. When I saw the casket at your funeral, I felt as if part of me died as well.”
As Sarah spoke, tears flooded her eyes and began leaking down her face, and Sophie’s eyes threatened to overflow as well. Sophie tried to suppress her emotions, the way she had been trained, the way she had done for years, but now it was all too much to contain. The dam holding her insecurities back was breached by the presence of her sister. Sophie buried her face into Sarah’s shoulder, gripped her tightly, and began wailing. Her cries were more powerful than any point in her life. Sarah was shocked and, frankly, terrified, as she struggled to remain standing.
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“I’m sorry!” Sophie cried. “I’m so sorry! I never should have gone to Athenon! I should have stayed with you! She would still be alive! None of this would have happened!”
This was something Sarah had never expected out of the badass, foul-mouthed, ill-tempered, ‘big’ little sister she had grown up with. She was glad to know that Sophie was still alive, but up until that moment, Sarah was feeling no small amount of anger. But now, as she tried to quietly comfort Sophie, that anger was quickly replaced with great concern. Sarah gently guided the both of them to a nearby patch of grass where they could sit down.
“It’s okay!” Sarah said, unsure of what else to say. “I’m not angry. You were following your dream! Nobody could blame you for doing that.”
“No...” Sophie said, whimpering. “I was chasing a nightmare. I just didn’t know it.”
“What the hell happened?” Sarah asked, letting her concern and confusion come through in her tone. Sophie gave a half-hearted laugh, still sniffling and trying to bring herself to a point where she could speak clearly.
“God, I don’t really know where to begin.”
“How about the part where you died?” Sarah’s response again made Sophie laugh, but then bowed her head in shame.
“I really am sorry about that.” Sophie looked over at Sarah’s face, who was urging her to continue, but gave no indication of forgiveness. Sophie continued. “It was to allow me into... Well, I don’t really know how much I’m allowed to tell you... Ahh fuck it! The mission’s fucked anyway!” As Sophie spoke, she looked up into the sky as if she were talking to her MI spectators, which she reasonably assumed were there, listening and watching the whole interaction. “I was killed so that I could enter deep cover. I was sent to Apollon to replace some vagrant girl that disappeared, and begin working my way into the lives of members of ORD.”
“Corporate espionage?”
“No! We didn’t steal anything; we were inspectors only.” Sophie said adamantly. Sarah still carried an expression of subtle disbelief. Sophie continued, even more pointedly, “and we didn’t. Kill. Anyone. At least, nobody in my cell on Apollon did. After speaking with MI leadership, I feel pretty confident that they did not order the assassinations either.”
“You feel ‘pretty’ confident?”
“Well, I’m not an idiot. I understand how powerful MI is. I’ve heard the rumors of cybernetic psy-ops. I’ve even done some things myself that fall into a moral grey-zone, but the assassinations look like someone’s trying to start a war, and I do wholeheartedly believe that is against the intentions of the Military Intelligence leadership.”
“Yeah...” Sarah said. “Actually, ORD feels the same way, that MI is innocent in this. That’s why I’m here in the first place... They want me to find out what happened in that house.”
“They...?” Sophie thought for a moment. “The ORD, they sent you here?”
“Well, yeah. What happened was a pretty big deal.” Sarah said. She looked over to see her sister looking down. “That’s not to say that I wouldn’t have come otherwise.”
“But... are they forcing you to do this?”
Sarah didn’t respond right away. She noticed her sister stepping into the protective mindset that she had seen when they were young. Her knee-jerk reaction was to placate Sophie before she became angry.
“No, they aren’t making me do anything.” Sarah said, but also remembered how good Sarah was at spotting lies, and how bad she was at telling them.
“Did they hurt you?” Sophie asked. Sarah thought back to the hours of darkness that she was made to endure, then shook her head to quickly bring herself out of the thought and focus.
“What happened in that house?” Sarah said, redirecting. Sophie backed down from her line of questioning, and instead focused on giving context.
“I uh... so that home is... was owned by Violet Hodges, Chief Op-”
“Chief Operating Officer for ORD, yeah... I know. They said that you were her mistress... Is that true?”
“I... ummm...”
“She was a married woman... you know that, right?”
“Y-yes, I, uh...”
“I guess you knew that if she would be unfaithful to her wife, she wouldn’t give a shit about her job too.”
Sophie shot up from the grass and stood over Sarah, taking on a much angrier tone.
“I was in love with her!” She yelled, punctuating with a finger in Sarah’s face. “Violet was a great woman, and you have no fucking idea what you’re talking about!”
Sophie’s outburst made Sarah recoil. She again noticed the perfectly straight scars running along Sophie’s arm and remembered being told about her prosthetics by the Apollon Security Commission. Pushing her buttons, like Sarah had always done, wasn’t just threatening an ass-kicking anymore.
“Okay! Okay!” Sarah said, holding her hands up and shuffling away. “I’m sorry, you’re right, I didn’t know her at all.” She said. Sophie took a step back to regain her composure, a near-impossible task lately. “It’s just... she was married... I didn’t think you went in for that kind of thing.”
“I... I know... I don’t... I mean... I didn’t... Ugh!” Sophie dropped back down onto the grass. “Before I met her, I had worked on a few others. Filthy corpo-political psychopaths, the lot of them. At first, I thought Violet was the same. I could tell that she was keeping a secret, but after months of searching for evidence of anything nefarious, I kind of started to realize that the secret she was keeping was me.” Sophie was now nervously pulling at the grass beneath her. “I even asked her about her wife.
“She said that their marriage was more of a business decision than anything, and that while she did love and care about Misty, they both understood that they would not be together often. I took that to mean that they were okay with an open relationship. After that, I started spending more time with her, getting to know her. Before I knew it, I was hanging on her every word, and giving any excuse I could to be with her. I used to think spending time with a mark was ‘the job’, but eventually it felt like being with her was normal life, and checking in with my cell became ‘the job’.”
Sarah sat and listened to her story, only making the occasional nod to indicate she was listening. Watching Sophie’s face light up when talking about Violet made Sarah smile in the same way. She recognized the feeling, and looked back down the walkway to see Hugo standing idly, pretending that he couldn’t hear the conversation.
“And she was so smart! Did you notice the 90 second reduction in data transit times a few months ago?”
“Are you kidding? Data Transit is like the lifeblood of Hecatoncheires. Pretty sure there was a staffing crisis because of all the people that called in ‘sick’ the day that happened.” Sarah laughed. Even she had taken the day off, though it wasn’t really much different from any other day. She didn’t even notice the reduced Data Transit time, as she spent most of the day with Hugo.
“Well, Violet came up with the algorithm that allowed that to happen.”
“Really? But the Interstellar Transport Commission doesn’t work for ORD, does it?”
“Nope. She sent it in as a suggestion.” Sophie laughed. “She had never worked with the ITC or studied the I/O Dyne Systems server hub setup. She just came up with the method after getting pissed off over some confusion due to the packet delay. She wrote it up in a weekend.”
“That’s... pretty impressive!”
“No kidding! She was great! And she was passionate and persistent about everything she did. She was a born leader, and was ruthless toward those that tried to take advantage of her.”
“She sounds like the kind of person with a lot of enemies.” Sarah said. They both sat in silence for a moment.
“I... suppose you’re right. But I don’t think it was really one of her enemies that did it.”
“What do you mean?” Sarah asked. Sophie took a deep breath.
“I had hoped that you wouldn’t have to see anything like this, but...” Sophie scrolled through her interface to find the video. Even looking at the thumbnail gave Sophie the chills. She sent the video to her sister. “Don’t immerse yourself in it, I’d recommend viewing it in a flat window.”
“O... okay...” Sarah received the video and opened it as cautiously as one could. Sophie opted out of watching the video with her, but could still see how far into it her sister was by the looks of horror on her face. “Jesus Christ!” She shouted, then was silent, but showed confusion as the video continued. When it came to an end, Sarah looked back at her sister. “God... that’s horrible! I’m... so sorry!” She leaned over and gave Sophie a sitting hug.
“It’s, uh... it’s okay...” Sophie said, lying through her teeth. The two sisters pulled apart again.
“Who was that woman?”
“That was Misty... Kind of...”
“Misty... her wife?” Sarah asked. Sophie nodded. “But... the Apollon Security Commission said that Misty’s body was found, and she had been dead a while before Violet.”
“Yeah, that’s what MI said too. It seems that whatever I encountered was an imitation of Misty.”
“What, like an assassin that replaced her? But where did she go?”
“She didn’t go anywhere. She’s still there in the room.” Sophie said, and Sarah gave her a confused look. “There’s a few overlays on the video that you can enable to see for yourself.” Sophie watched her eyes dart around as she looked through the menus. A moment later, her expression changed again, but it was still a generally confused appearance.
“That’s some impressive camouflage, without having to hack your eyes even.” Sarah closed the video and looked back at Sophie. “Well, I think that’s evidence enough that you didn’t do it, but why are you giving this to me? Wouldn’t it have been easier to send it to Apollon Security or something?”
Sophie didn’t want to give away the answer, she wanted Sarah to find it herself, but she wasn’t as well aware of the real-world limitations of stealth technology. Her idea was influenced by films, television, and videogames, which all portrayed the tech as much more advanced than reality. Sophie needed to give her a bit more of a push in the right direction.
“There are a few different reasons, actually. The top one, for me at least, is just cause I wanna make sure you’re okay!” Sophie lightly punched her sister’s arm. “But, for the rest of MI, I think it’s mostly about your station. You’re a respected member of the greater scientific community, and if you make the same determination about the footage as we have, well, your word holds a lot more weight than ours in this matter.”
“What do you mean... ‘Same determination’?”
“The goal in this isn’t just to clear my name. I also want to get justice for Violet, but it isn’t about that either...” Sophie scrolled through her menus to find the other video, her first encounter with Misty. She sent it to Sarah, but this time Sophie didn’t avoid watching along. The video played through until Misty’s lips curled back into her unsettling grin. Sophie paused playback at that moment.
“God, that’s fucking creepy.” Sarah said with a shiver. “So, what, am I supposed to know who she is?”
“No, that’s not it either!” Sophie said. Her frustration was rising, not because Sarah didn’t get it, but because she didn’t know how to say it. She shook her head and took a breath, then continued. “This is about that question that’s driven the two of us for our entire lives. The question that is at the heart of everything for the last 40 years. Where are they?” Sophie paused for a moment. She could see that Sarah was starting to understand where she was going, but still wasn’t quite there. Sophie continued. “Turns out they are right here, staring us straight in the fucking face.”
A chill ran down Sarah’s spine as she considered what she was hearing. She looked again at Misty’s face, pulling herself into immersive mode to see her with two eyes. There was certainly something off about her, but Sarah could not pinpoint exactly what it was. She recognized the feeling of the uncanny valley, but her rational brain was still struggling to identify it as alien in nature.
“What are you saying?” Sarah asked, narrowing her eyes. “She’s not human?”
“You tell me, you’re the scientist here. Is there any other explanation that fits with what happened?”
“I’m an Archeologist! I can’t say anything with this footage!” Sarah was starting to feel the pressure surrounding the situation. “I mean, show me an alien building and I’ll give you more, which, by the way, was exactly what I was fucking doing before all this bullshit!” Her frustration was boiling over. She rose to her feet and started pacing, trying to cool off.
“I know... I’m sorry.” Sophie bowed her head, feeling no small amount of shame for having been involved in the situation. Sarah noticed.
“No, it’s not your fault, really. It’s just... there’s a lot to take in.” Sarah let out an exhausted sigh, exaggerating it into a tormented moan. “I just want to go back to my damn job.”
“You were looking at an alien building?”
“Yeah, I-...” Sarah’s face lit up for a moment, but then she remembered that the expedition was now highly classified. She looked at her sister, who was looking up at her, almost like a child waiting for a story. Sarah let out a frustrated groan. “Aww fuck it, I don’t really give a shit how ‘secret’ it is.” Sarah again took a seat next to her sister. “Okay, so a couple of days ago, I was invited to a conference where it was revealed that some drones had found some structures on a planet, and they tapped me to be the lead for the first expedition team. God, I get chills just thinking about it now. Do you remember the first time you saw Apollon City Tower?”
“Yeah.” Sophie said with a laugh. “I remember thinking ‘that’s big!’”
“Yeah, well these structures in the desolate band of this planet were larger at least by a factor of 5 and solid black. They also seemed to be made of something similar to plasteel’s composition.”
“Could they have been the Observers?”
“No, the designs were much more angular than anything we’ve seen from the Observers. They could have shared technology, however, or had it gifted to them as it was to us, but the creatures themselves were definitely not related.”
“Oh my God... You saw them?”
“Yeah!” Sarah shouted with joy. “I mean, not live ones. They were all dead for thousands of years. But they weren’t bipedal, like the Observers. They more closely resembled Cephalopods, according to Dr. Matanzas. She’s who you should be talking to.”
“Cephalopods, like, snails and slugs?”
“No, those are Gastropods, I’m pretty sure. Cephalopods are like Squid, Octopus, and Cuttlefish.”
“Like the crazy ones that can shapeshift to look like anything...?” Sophie said. It caught Sarah’s attention. “The science team on Athenon said something about that.”
“Did they say that Misty was using a similar kind of camouflage?”
“I believe so... yeah.”
Sarah fell silent as she looked again at the footage of Sophie’s first interaction with Misty. Her mind was working overtime trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
“And... you’re sure it’s not like some top-secret, high-tech, hybrid-clone, cyborg-ninja or something?”
“Jesus Christ, I mean, I guess it could be!” Sophie stood up this time. “Anything’s possible, right? Except for aliens, which everybody already knows exist!”
“I know.” Sarah said, joining her sister on her feet. “It’s just, it’s such a big deal. I want to make sure of what it is before we make decisions that we can’t come back from.”
“Decisions, like what?” Sophie asked. Sarah gave no response. “While we’re considering what decisions to make and when to make them, our burgeoning galactic civilization is on the brink of civil war, because nobody wants to admit that we aren’t as alone in the Universe as we clearly know we’re not.”
Sarah didn’t have a response. Her sister was making a lot of sense, but she still couldn’t ignore the stigma that had been instilled into the idea. Anytime she thought the words ‘shapeshifting aliens among us’, she associated them with ‘reptilians taking over the government’ being shouted by a homeless man that hadn’t taken his medication in years. Her intuition was telling her that it was wrong. That there was no way it could be true, because if it were...
“What can we do about this? I really don’t think either of us are qualified to be making decisions like this.” Sarah said.
“I think you’re right, but it’s the situation we’re in. I think the best course of action is to just give the information to the people who would use it best.”
“I suppose you’re talking about Military Intelligence? They already have this footage, and all they’ve done is sent you to give it to me.”
“Not... exactly...” Sophie said. Sarah turned her head with an inquisitive gesture. “They seemed a little more interested in your status as a scientific leader.”
“They said...” Sarah paused, then started laughing. “They want me to spy for them? Jesus, Sophie! Was your interview this easy?” Sarah laughed again. The remarks themselves weren’t particularly cutting, but Sophie was becoming irritated with her jovial attitude.
“Military Intelligence is working on this on behalf of humanity!”
“You think that Apollon wouldn’t? We won’t just be doing it on behalf of humanity, we would make it public, and work with the rest of our species in solving this.”
“What you’re going to do is drive these things back into the shadows.”
“How can you be sure that they aren’t already on Athenon, and everywhere else, for that matter?” Sarah said. Sophie couldn’t say. It was something she was already considering. “Fuck, how can I be sure that you aren’t one of them?” It was this remark that cut Sophie to the core.
“How could you say that? You don’t recognize your twin sister?”
“God dammit, Sophie! Did you forget that you were literally dead to me for 7 years?” As Sarah said it, the idea was starting to make a little more sense to her.
“Same goes for you! How do I know you’re her?” Sophie yelled, though it wasn’t true at all. Sophie knew she was talking to the real Sarah. She could tell, even if she hadn’t had a personal experience with one of these creatures. She was just trying to reflect her own pain onto her sister, a tactic that she was no longer as practiced as it was when they were children.
“This is ridiculous. ORD can whip up a genetic test and implement it galaxy-wide within days, I’m sure. We can get this sorted out within the hour.” Sarah turned away from Sophie gesturing for her to follow. Sophie stood still. Sarah noticed and looked back at her.
“I can’t do that.”
“What? Why not?”
“I’m a spy. If I go back to Apollon, even if I’m cleared in the death of Violet, it was still an act of espionage. I could go to prison for years. And if the Apophis Faction catches me, they’re likely to kill me on the spot.”
“C’mon, none of that is true.” Sarah said, lying to placate her.
“Why not come with me?” Sophie asked, with her palm open.
“I...” Sarah thought about it for a moment. “No... I can’t. If I don’t go back to Apollon, I won’t be able to continue my work. I don’t even know where exactly the expedition is, so Athenon wouldn’t be able to take me anyway.” Sarah started pacing. After a few moments, she shook her head and walked toward Sophie. “No... I’m sorry, I can’t. I won’t make you come with me, but I’m going back to Apollon.” Sarah hugged her sister again in a warm, but brief embrace. “It really was good seeing you again, but I think it's time for me to go.”
Sophie was again speechless as she watched her sister walking away, but after a moment, she spoke up.
“No, I can’t let you do that. I need you to come with me.” Sophie said. Sarah turned around and looked at her. “I can promise that nothing bad is going to happen. You’ll be with me, and Hugo will obviously be with you too.” Sophie said. In those moments, Sophie imagined what it would be like, and she smiled. She wanted to be by her side again, that way she could protect her, the way she couldn’t protect Violet. Sarah said nothing. She looked down at Sophie’s empty hand, then turned away and continued walking. Sophie didn’t like the cold shoulder and angrily reached out, grabbing Sarah’s arm.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Sarah shouted with a hint of pain as she struggled against her sister’s mechanically augmented grip.
“You’re coming with me!” Sophie yelled over Sarah’s resistance. “I won’t let it happen again!” She said, with angered determination.
There was no way out of Sophie’s grip, and when she started walking the other direction, dragging Sarah along, Sarah could only think of one thing to do. With her free hand, she reached to the small of her back and produced her concealed handgun. Sarah whipped it around and pointed it toward her sister, her finger on the trigger. Sophie noticed the motion. She recognized it. She trained for it. And she reacted to it. With her left arm gripping her opponents off-hand, she redirected the gun to pointing in the sky, leaving her torso open. A fraction of a second later, the hidden blade in Sophie’s right arm was firmly inside her opponent’s chest.
It was as perfect a reaction as Sophie could hope for from her years of training and practice, but when her brain took the time to process what had just happened, the feeling of a successful reaction was instantly replaced by confusion and horror. She was looking into the face of Sarah, who carried a very similar expression. Then Sophie felt the warmth of her sister’s blood pouring down and into her open arm. She pulled the blade from her sister’s chest and pulled away from her in a quick motion, trying to put distance between her and the situation, hoping that her mind was playing tricks on her. She had just enough time to watch Sarah reach up to find out why she couldn’t breathe. When Sarah found the large wound in her center mass, she began to collapse to the ground. Sophie rushed back in and caught her before she hit the ground. Sophie looked down into her sister’s face, the color fading quickly. It was happening again, but this time, it was her fault.
“W... why?” Sarah asked in a whisper, her eyes filling with tears, just as Sophie’s started pouring down her face.
“I’m Sorry!” It was all that Sophie could say. Sophie gripped her sisters hand tightly and cradled her head. “I’m sorry!” She said again, her voice reduced to a nearly inaudible squeak.
Sarah could plainly see Sophie’s sorrow, and how tightly it was already beginning to take hold. She dropped the gun, and brought her hand to her sister’s cheek, wiping away a tear that was just followed by another. As she felt the warmth leaving her body, she was no longer concerned about anything, except for how her sister was going to go on. She saw the pain that she had carried over Hugo’s death reflected in her twin sister’s face. She wanted to leave her sister with as little regret as possible, though she knew it was a monumental task.
“It’s okay.” Sarah said, her whisper little more than a guttural sound. “It’s okay.” She said again, as the last breath left her lips. She could breathe no more, but with her last bit of consciousness and strength, she mouthed ‘It’s okay’ one more time. Just as she was fading away, Sarah saw Hugo kneel down, and place his own hand on her face. She was together with the people she loved the most, and felt it was an acceptable end. She was smiling as she died.
Sophie may as well have died in the same moment. Her mind went blank as she stared into the lifeless eyes of her twin sister. She didn’t notice Hugo still standing over them, nor did she notice the new stars in Earth’s night sky. Stars that were the nuclear explosions of an interstellar war breaking out between the Athenon and Apollon spectators observing from orbit.