Wew. I’m glad CrimLaw was over. Professor Bansa couldn’t have been ever more boring. And my classmate Ramello kept hitting on me. I kindly told him I wasn't able to do anything after school because I was spending time with Deen going shopping. Hopefully, he understood I wanted him to fuck off.
That just left two more classes before I was done for the day. The first was National Security Law. The second was Consti. I originally tried registering for the ‘US Bureau of Interdimensional Defense and the Panderton Act’, but unfortunately, I didn’t get in. However, I did manage to get into National Security Law for my elective class.
If I was tested, I was more likely to be accused of being an Adumbrae rather than a Corebring. The Panderton Act elective might be a good idea to take given my situation. Still, National Security Law, or NatSec, would probably still be useful for me.
Meanwhile, SpookyErind was back at my condo reading the news app on a copy of my phone. It was actually pretty impressive how my cloning power worked. SpookyErind had appeared with both the clothes I wore on the way to Deen’s mansion, as well as my phone.
During my last class, SpookyErind would be going through various articles, such as ‘Five Possible Outcomes Of The Adumbrae Crisis in Madagscar’, ‘New Poll Numbers Show President Goodwin Crushing Opposition In the General’, and ‘10 Steps to Shield Your Mind From Adumbrae’. She was giggling while reading that last one. If I wasn’t afraid of her taking control of my body, then I would have probably done so too. It was so full of clickbait. One of the steps was to make daily prayers to the Mother Core after drinking Almond milk. Who is writing these articles?!
Sadly, I don’t think any of the steps would help me against SpookyErind. She had already taken over my clone. What if it got worse and she started controlling my main body? I hope I could find a solution to that. No offense SpookyErind if you’re reading my thoughts. Well, I guess she’s always reading my thoughts.
SpookyErind smirked and said, “I didn’t take over your clone, I was always your clone.” And there’s another nonsensical statement - it didn’t change the fact she was still controlling my clone.
She scrolled and pulled up a new article. This one was titled ‘President Goodwin Signs Executive Order To Increase Coastal Monitoring of Adumbrae.’ Speaking of the President, I wondered what he would think of me. I was both an Adumbrae and a Corebring, two things he very much hated. It was kind of fascinating that a person like that could exist. What made their brain tick?
Furthermore, how does a guy who hates Corebrings get elected? Most of the population worships the Mother Core. That really just proves how bad the previous guy in the White House was. He literally tried cutting the BID budget in half.
Though, I think I might be sharing his position on the BID soon. I’d rather it have less money now. It’d make it easier for me to not be bothered by the BID. You know what, how about we defund the BID and remove all testing requirements? That would make my life a thousand times easier.
“Alright, let’s get started for today,” Professor Silva said.
Professor Silva’s teaching style was an unorthodox experience. With a class size of 20, she’d call on two random people at the start of each class. The first question asked was easy. Just some typical law recitation stuff. The next question was difficult…
“Ms. Hartwell,” Professor Silva called out. I stood up.
“Mam.”
“Last week, we covered Executive Orders. What are executive orders and what is an example?”
“Executive orders are directives given by the president that direct federal agencies to perform or cease a course of action,” I answered. “For example, Presidential Policy Directive 40, created 8 years ago, directs the BID to implement rules for hacking and ransomware incident reporting at Adumbrae test centers.” This wasn’t in our textbook, but after doing some research, I found an executive order relating to her experience in cybersecurity law.
“Good job going above and beyond with that example,” she said. “You actually researched some executive orders. So next, how might the president use an executive order to deal with the crisis in Madagascar?”
And this is where most students would falter. Professor Silva had a treasure trove of knowledge about current events, and proceeded to ask questions about them and their applications to law. Studying the textbook would get you nowhere here.
But thankfully, SpookyErind had just finished reading the article about this question.
“Well, President Goodwin recently signed executive order 14321, which directs the BID to cooperate with the Maritime Transportation Sector in order to increase Adumbrae monitoring critical infrastructure along coastal areas,” I said. “Additionally it also requires the strengthening of BID nodes that oversee the six non-continental states - Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands, The Philippines, Guam, Hawaii, and Alaska. This executive order essentially reduces the risk of Adumbrae reaching the US if they manage to bypass the Madagscar blockade.”
Professor Silva smiled for the first time and said, “Impressive Ms. Hartwell. Very few students have shown the same level of commitment you just showed over my entire career as a professor. You may sit down.”
SpookyErind giggled as I took a seat. I now had a good first impression with Professor Silva. In addition to the generous yet timid persona I gave off, I have a nice placement in this class’s hierarchy. Thankfully, NatSec didn’t feature a curve, so the grade I got was independent of any of my peers.
As Professor Silva was questioning Carmen, who was fumbling her response to the current events question, I thought about what just happened.
SpookyErind had just read an article that was relevant to the question Professor Silva gave. Was this just a councidence? Or did she somehow have outside knowledge of what the professor was going to ask? SpookyErind had implied earlier that Kelsey may not have actually been dead. And now there was this. How could she know?
SpookyErind giggled some more.
“As they say, knowledge is power,” SpookyErind said. “Since the news is a great way to get knowledge, why not read it? Having power is fun right?”
Well, it was certainly fun to be praised for something I didn’t even study for. Although, I’m not sure if reading news articles all day is what I’d consider fun.
“Anything I do is fun though!” SpookyErind said.
Please don’t tell me you’re going to be doing math problems next.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Maybe I will,” SpookyErind taunted.
Uggh. Math and numbers. Eww.
Still, I found our shared senses power to be pretty useful. Maybe I could use this for other assignments? It probably wouldn’t work for exams - I should be prepping for those beforehand. Homework and essays? Nope. I can just use my laptop to search any info I need.
“Oh! I know, why don’t we study together?” SpookyErind suggested.
You know I don’t like studying with other people right?
“But we’re the same,” SpookyErind said. “Meyoumeyoumeyou.”
Such a weird chant. The main issue was that I didn’t have access to SpookyErind’s memory or thoughts. That would really help me study.
“I can give you hugs to help you study!” SpookyErind said. I internally groaned. I hope she turns back into her mask form when I get back home. “Think of it as emotional support.”
I’m sure I don’t need emotional support. What I truly need is some alone time.
Meanwhile, Professor Silva was in the middle of her lecture. “A common trend we see is that many executive agencies that were not originally created to deal with the Adumbrae threat were eventually modified to assist in the war. For example, The Office of Censorship was originally only created to keep US military secrets from leaking to the press during World War 2. However, with the passage of the 22nd Amendment, a new executive order was issued.
“The Office of Censorship would now have the obligation to censor any pro-Adumbrae content that circulated the media. Ah yes, Mr. Northern, what question do you have?”
“The Office of Censorship still retained its directive to protect US military secrets, right?” John asked.
“Yes, of course,” Professor Silva said.
“So that means they probably had a duty to hide the experiments of QR Zephyr. However, I was researching earlier and couldn’t find any new legislation or executive orders that strip the Office of its initial powers after the Labor Day Purge. So, why hasn’t any branch of government stepped in to limit the powers of the Office?”
“Yes, that is a good question,” Professor Silva replied. “Would anyone like to take a shot at answering that?”
SpookyErind had stopped reading articles and instead started playing Tappy Dash. Thankfully, I didn’t need an article to know the answer to this.
“Go ahead Ms. Hartwell,” Professor Silva called on me after I raised my hand.
“Dr. Seymour, the head of the Office of Censorship, managed to keep the agency’s approval ratings above water. She did this by aggressively targeting those that tried speaking out against what the Corebrings did during the Labor Day Purge. Of course, Adumbrae do not have the right to due process nor protections from cruel and unjust punishments.”
I guess I don’t have those rights either. Or would I since I was also a Corebring? What would the courts decide if they ever found out about my dual nature? Maybe I’d have half those rights? What the fuck am I thinking? I should get back on track.
“Furthermore, Dr. Seymour cheered on the passage of the ‘Ending Adumbrae Experimentation Act’,” I continued. “She even helped to testify against other government officials for helping out with QR Zephyr. So, through the shrewdness of one department head, the Office of Censorship was able to avoid any major political backlash as a result of QR Zephyr.”
“Another good job Ms. Hartwell,” Professor Silva said. Another point in the good impression column. I was doing great today. Except for the fact that Ramello had started hitting on me earlier. Knowing the answers to everything in class was a nice stress reliever. Although, I should probably tone it down. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m a know-it-all.
One time in high school there was this really annoying kid named Zoe. She was the teacher’s pet in US history class, and every day she would somehow manage to have several back and forths with the teacher. Some of them even went past the bell, forcing us to stay in class longer that I ever wanted to. And it was the last class of the day too! She should be glad nobody beat her up, because I was really tempted to. I think holding me hostage after school is fair game under Rule #4. Although, I wouldn’t actually assault her.
“Dr. Seymour was definitely an important figure at that time,” Dr. Silva continued. “Never before had an executive agency head shaped public opinion so significantly while being potentially at risk for public and political backlash.
“With that said, I’d like to also add on to Ms. Hartwell’s answer. The Office of Censorship has enormous power to censor what circulates in the media. It is highly likely that Dr. Seymour knew about and hid the details of QR Zephyr. Back when I was a lawyer, some of my colleagues had gotten to know the attorney general at the time. Apparently, Dr. Seymour had been impeding their investigations into the Office of Censorship’s involvement in QR Zephyr.”
All this talk about the Office of Censorship reminded me that the Artificial Core I got was part of a secret BID project. How much was the Office keeping from the public? What other secret projects were going on?
As I was about to ruminate more on this topic, I noticed that SpookyErind had managed to beat the current level I was struggling with in Tappy Dash. What was more impressive was that she managed to beat the whole level in one go. She didn’t even make a single mistake. Next, she pulled up another level, which was rated to be more difficult than the last one.
“Well, you didn’t want me to read articles, so I decided to play some video games,” SpookyErind said. “Isn’t it so cool when I beat a level? And since you’re me, it’s like you beat the level too!”
But, thinking back on that, wasn’t it weird that SpookyErind had been simply reading articles and then somehow managed to read the one I needed right when class started? And here, she’s doing so well with this game, which she definitely has not played before. Something just seems off. I couldn’t put my finger on it. I could feel SpookyErind’s lips turn into a smirk.
“Well, since I’m you, I have all your memories of how to play this game,” SpookyErind said. “That’s why I’m so good at it.”
But if that was the case, she shouldn’t have been better than me. She should be doing around the same as me. I’d only manage to get halfway into the level before dying, but here she is completing a nine star level in one go. Also, look at that! She just beat a ten star level.
“Yay!” SpookyErind cheered. “We beat another level! I’m so cool.”
She was also way more playful than I was. And way too touchy feely as well. If I was trying to pretend to be someone else, I would at least try to act the same way they do. It felt like SpookyErind just put in 10% of the effort to pretend to be like me.
“Hey!” Spooky Erind said. “Don’t be like that. I put in 100% of the effort to be the cutest and smartest girl in the world!”
Well, I can’t deny that. At least our appearances were the same. And yes, I was the cutest and smartest girl in the world.
As we approached the end of class, one topic Professor Silva discussed piqued my interest. “National security goals and policy are often dictated by the president. Can anyone describe the national security goals of our current president?”
I kept my hand down this time. Carmen raised her hand quickly. She probably wanted to make up for how bad she did with the current events question.
“Yes Ms. Sanchez?”
“President Goodwin has a strong focus on US sovereignty,” Carmen said. “He would rather focus on improving the Bureau of Interdimensional Defense and Adumbrae Intelligence Unit than rely on Corebrings and the UN organizations.”
“I’m glad you brought up the UN Ms. Sanchez,” Professor Silva said. “The president doesn’t just want the Corebrings to not interfere in the US, he also doesn’t want the UN to interfere either. It is essentially a modern version of the Monroe Doctrine. While past presidents may have been more friendly to foreign intervention in the US, President Goodwin has been trying to enforce a more isolationist national security agenda.
“One of the strongest examples of this is the Philippines. He has been trying to get Congress to revoke the Manila Accords, which gives the UN power to oversee the Devlyosian Sinkhole.”
That’s where Dad worked before he ‘died’. However, given that Mom never found his body, it’s most likely that he joined the Corebring Hive. What would he think of me now? Would he try to kill me if he found out I was an Adumbrae. Maybe I could show him I was a Corebring? But then, I don’t think the Hive would like it if they found out I had an artificial Core.
“I’m sure it’ll be interesting when you meet him again,” SpookyErind said. Meet him again? Does that mean she knows he’s alive?
“Maybe you can come with me and pretend to be mom,” I jokingly said. With that white hair and glowing eyes, I think we had a good chance of convincing Dad. The only issue was SpookyErind’s marble skin. Maybe we could apply a lot of makeup to her?
“If I’m your mom, then let me give you lots of hugs like a caring mother would,” SpookyErind responded. Nevermind, scrap the mom plan. I don’t want to do it anymore.
At least it will be a while until I have to go back home to SpookyErind. Just have to endure Consti and then shopping with Deen. Ughh. Shopping.