The 1001st Copy

CHAPTER 1: SEVEN IDENTICAL DEATHS

New Tokyo, March 15, 2145 - 4:32 AM

The blue neon glow from skyscrapers filtered through broken windows, casting dancing light patterns across the cold concrete floor. The acrid smell of ozone mixed with the metallic tang of blood made Liora Kane wrinkle her nose. She stepped over shattered glass, her tactical boots squeaking faintly against the damp surface.

"This is the third time this month, Liora."

Jax Mercer, the digital forensics tech with AR glasses covering half his face, knelt beside the fourth corpse. His fingers hovered over the unblemished skin of the dead man as holographic data streams erupted from his wrist display.

"Each body appears exactly forty-eight hours apart," Jax said, his voice hoarse with exhaustion. "But tissue analysis shows they all died simultaneously—around 3 AM this morning."

Liora crouched beside the nearest body. Daniel Kael—or at least one version of him—lay on his back, eyes wide open as if staring through her at something more horrifying beyond. The wound in his left chest was unnervely precise—a perfectly straight incision between the fifth and sixth ribs, straight through the heart, without a single drop of spilled blood.

"Plasma scalpel," she muttered, gloved fingers tracing the air above the wound. "Someone knew exactly what they were doing."

A sudden beep came from across the room. A tiny quantum drive sat in a pool of faint blue liquid, its red indicator light blinking insistently. Liora pressed play.

Daniel Kael's voice filled the room, eerily calm:

"If you're hearing this, I am dead. But I'm also still alive... somewhere. Find the Echo Engine."

A rustling sound made Liora spin around. On the eastern wall, words written in still-wet blood gleamed:

I HAVE SEEN MY OWN DEATH

Jax shot to his feet, staring at the doorway. "Liora... seven corpses. But security footage only shows one person entering."

"Who?"

"Daniel Kael."

The lights flickered violently. In the darkest corner of the room, a figure materialized—a face identical to the seven corpses. He wore a pristine lab coat and held a glowing blue plasma scalpel.

"My apologies for the wait," the eighth Daniel Kael smiled. "But I'm afraid you've seen too much already."

The scalpel flashed through the air—

BOOM!

The laboratory window exploded outward. Liora barely caught a glimpse of Kael's silhouette vanishing into the night before SWAT sirens wailed through the building.

Jax grabbed her arm. "The Echo Engine... it doesn't just copy bodies. It replicates consciousness. And someone's cleaning up the evidence."

Liora looked down at the seven identical corpses. "We need to find the original. Before more deaths happen."

From the corner, the quantum drive automatically replayed Kael's final message like a grim prophecy:

"Find the Echo Engine..."