Babylonian Bedlam

An object loomed in the dark. It was a massive structure and at first resembled a large Victorian style house. It was mostly surrounded by tall fences and garbage. A lot of garbage. There were fires burning but no faces to behold. Numerous were cars spread out amongst the other debris and some were in better condition than others. Some of those were on fire too.

I looked up. To take in the entire structure meant that I had to crane my neck way back. Though it was dark and the smoke from the fires made it hazy I thought it began to look familiar. I thought about it and looked down. I took a few steps back and looked skyward again. Yes, now it was beginning to take shape. It was not a house at all. It wasn't a building of any sort. It was the Statue of Liberty. I was standing behind the State of Liberty and staring straight up at her. I was surrounded by mountains of trash, unattended fires and who the hell knows what else lurking in the shadows and the smoke.

I'm being hunted by a doppelganger. The man already had my face, but that wasn't enough.

Entering the building might have been a bad idea in hindsight, but at the time it was the best option I had. The darkened exterior of the building did nothing to betray the blindingly bright exterior. I was really, really out of place. This was like something from the future or something. Come to think of it what year was it?

Inside it was white and rounded. The hallways, I think, resembled the slides you might find on a child's playground. There was beeping and humming. I had unwittingly entered into the last place I had ever wanted to be. I was in the duplication institute now. I had a strange sense of Deja Vu. I felt like I had started here one way or another. Some how I'd escaped and now I'm back.

This of course led to more questions. How did I know I was being pursued? How do I know where I am? If we look the same, could I be the copy? Is it a clone, or are we both human and simply look similar? My head hurt and the room began to spin. I put my hand on the wall to break my fall and a door opened.

The room was full of tubes running from the floor to the ceiling. The tubes were filled with some sort of liquid. For now the tubes were empty. The bright green pulses of light did nothing for my queasiness. I crawled behind the tubes and spread out on on the floor. Sleep. Oh precious sleep. Don't fail me now.

I woke up running. I was jumping from slide to slide and moving down hallway after hallway as if I knew where I was going. My shirt was dripping with sweat and some sort of ooze. I didn't remember having a gun before. Where did I get a gun? As was inevitable my literal run of good luck couldn't last forever. I turned a corner and was faced with a wall. No amount of touching the wall opened any saving passages. I was soon surrounded.

There were three of them and one of me. My back was literally against the wall. I dropped the gun and two of them grabbed me by my arms. I was led down another long and fairly bright hallway. Two had me in tow and one led point. My feet were beginning to get wet.

We were all soon underwater. The floor was smooth as glass. Attempting to to move was now like trying to walk out of the deep end of a swimming pool. There was the faint sound of an alarm and lights were flashing. The water began to drain and the alarm grew louder and louder. The water was all quickly evacuated and the hallway locked down.

A duplicate had escaped and was missing. As this hallway was one of the main ways in or out of the facility, it was flooded and locked down as a security measure. Many of the facilities clients demand anonymity so any breach in protocol, or security, is dealt with swiftly and effectively.

It will probably come as no surprise to you to learn that one of the four of us trapped in the hallway had been identified as the missing duplicate.

An interesting thing happens to the Mark IV Spliced Duplicates when they become submerged in water. They shutdown and are rebooted and much like animals imprint to the first thing they see so do the Mark IV's.

We were quickly surrounded and significantly outgunned by security forces. Even if the water-logged pistols they had would still have fired they would have been no match for their phasers and laser rifles. Those pistols in new condition would have had the same effect as the water pistols they now had become against such superior firepower.

We were pulled to our feet and led down the hallway. We were led to a room. I know this room. It was the room with the empty tubes and the painful green light. There were a lot more tubes in the room than I remembered and regardless they only needed four.

We were each placed into a tube. From behind thick glass the faces of the men and women of science watched on as they increased the volume of the tones and the intensity of the green light. It was test to weed out the duplicates from the original, flesh and bone human. I was pretty sure I was me and not a duplicate, but this test was hell. I was beginning to hope for anything just for it to stop. I didn't know how much more I could take. Duplicate or not.

The power surged and the sound and vision of that was way worse than anything so far. My ears popped and the ringing began. Blood ran down my cheeks and dripped from my shoulder to the floor. My eyes saw rings of green fire. Lights exploded above us in showers of sparks. The glass of the viewing platform rained out and speckled the room with glint and glass.

The machine guns rang out from the five figures in black. They were all wearing masks of my face and when the smoke cleared and the last round had rang out, I was the only one left alive.

I watched all of this through the glass tube I'd been placed in.

When the masks came off only one had a face.

My face.

It was him.

The places on the other's heads where faces would normally reside were hollow shells. Red robotic eyes darted around. They started and stopped with agendas. They were scanning. Assessing.

I'd seen what they had done and what they were capable of. Force wasn't necessary, but they didn't care. In the coffin I thought about how I'd gotten here. How had I gotten here anyway?

Of all the dumb things I'd done and gotten myself into in my life I really didn't think it would end this way. Killed by myself and his faceless android goons. I had time to think. I was going to fight back. Hell. No I'm not. I'm screwed. Maybe I'll at least find out what is going on before I kill me.

I felt the truck stop and my coffin began to move.

The lid was opened and I was staring at more of my face.

I was ushered up and into a room located behind a very thick door.

"Mr. President," said a voice that I thought I'd recognized.

"Thank God you're still alive. Holy shit you have no idea how relieved I am to see you," said the vice president.

He was relieved? "Umm. Err. John." I said. "Would you kindly tell me. Just what in the fuck is going on?"

"Our defensives against the duplicates failed seven days ago. It's been anarchy ever since." I was still lost. "Sir, the United States has fallen.

"It was a coordinated attack on too many levels. We didn't have the resources, or the intelligence to counter the attacks. You, me, and the four you see here are all that remains of the United States Government."

He continued. "All of it."

"The only way to get you safely here was to shut down the security that remained in the facility." "The androids? Sir. Don't you remember? We had over a hundred made in your likeness for this very event. It's a shame we've actually had to use them."

"The Capital was one of the first to fall. We had relocated here to New York City, but that was a strategic error. The city went offline three days ago and they are shooting humans on sight."

"We are secure here, I think, but I don't know for how long," the vice president said.

There was a low rumble and the bunker shook. Years of dust fell from the rafters and filtered into my lungs. As the rumbling continued, I stopped suddenly and felt the lump in my throat when one by one they began to take off their masks.

"John." I was silenced when the vice president stood and silently put his hands to his face.