Doubles
DOUBLES
By J.A. ALFORD
Isaac whistled while he pushed the book cart down the deserted hallway. He let the tune drop off as he stopped outside the elevator door and looked around. Still clear. Detouring from his assigned route, he swiped a prism shaped key by a panel outside the elevator. The doors opened and he took it down to the basement. That was where they kept the unwanted and the unsightly.
“Doctor Welsh?” he called as he exited the elevator.
The place looked empty. It was dark and cluttered as usual. Light shone dimly from overhead lamps and electronic devices. He walked by the tables of experiments. Some things he recognized, like the pickled animal specimens. Other things were foreign to him. He stopped to examine some gadgets, the purpose of which he couldn’t guess. Most no doubt the doctor had invented. Isaac knelt down to look at one and when he stood up he had a slight shock. He was face to face with the warped image of the spectacled doctor. Doctor Welsh stepped out from behind the screen that had distorted his image and smiled at his young friend.
“Isaac, it’s good to see you. I missed you yesterday.”
Isaac nodded. “They’re doing more rounds lately so it's hard to sneak away.”
“Hmm. Must be difficult to find a moment for your art as well.”
Isaac shrugged. “It’s so hard to find materials that lately it seems pointless. I make pictures of better things I can see in my mind… but it won’t change our reality.”
The Doctor grabbed him by the shoulders and stared intensely into his eyes. “Isaac, you must never stop creating,” he said. “If we let them take away our ability to enjoy life then what is the point of having breath in our bodies.”
The doctor let him go and led the way further into the lab. Isaac followed hardly phased. Welsh was emphatic by nature. Isaac was always left to decipher which of the Doctor’s statements were really important when he replayed their conversations during the more boring aspects of his work assignment.
“Now Isaac, I’m finally ready to show you a project of my own.”
The doctor disappeared into a storage chamber then came out pushing a preservation cylinder on a dolly. He parked it by Isaac and then they both stared at the casket for the living.
“These things remind me of one of the books I hid,” Isaac said. “It’s like Snow White’s glass coffin,” he whispered, stepping closer. The full length door of the cylinder was clear but condensation coated its surface hiding the contents within.
“Who’s in there?” Isaac asked.
The doctor used his sleeve to wipe away the condensation and show the face of the cylinder’s prisoner. Isaac jumped back. Inside was the image of every child’s worst fears; what humankind had come to know as the embodiment of absolute and unbeatable tyranny.
“Is that… the Queen Laurent?” he asked, knowing it was impossible.
Welsh smiled broadly. “Looks like her doesn’t it?” He stepped closer and looked in awe. “Exactly like her.”
“But, what did you do?” Isaac asked.
“I finally found her,” he said, bending down and wiping away more of the droplets to reveal her wrist. He squinted at a bracelet inscribed with her name. “Now we have a real reason for hope.”
Welsh went to his desk and opened a program as he explained further. “She’s a political prisoner captured about two years ago. The seize order said that she sympathized with our plight. Imagine if she were giving orders rather than the Queen.”
“But it’s not possible,” Isaac said, still examining the woman in the preservation cylinder. He bent down to look at the other section the Doctor had cleaned. “What’s that say on her wrist?”
“It’s her contact and health information. They all wear them on their planet. Very interesting place. They look like sisters by our perspective but this one is particularly like the Queen--in height, complexion, physique-- her exact double in every perceivable way.”
“It’s not possible.” Isaac repeated.
“It’s not possible now,” Welsh agreed as he continued to work. “But it was and so it is. And you are going to do it.”
Isaac wanted to say “Huh.” Instead he looked at the Doctor waiting for him to explain.
“My project is operational.”
“The converter they wanted you to build? I thought you’d never build it. You said it would only help them destroy us faster.”
“I didn’t, and I never would, but they didn’t need to know that. I needed to build two devices. The machine I just finished solves the locality problem.” He loaded another program then pulled out what looked like a watch from a drawer where they were charging. He handed one to Isaac. “Put one on. We can wake her, go back, explain what happened and then have her switch places with the Queen.”
Again the “Huh” look crossed Isaac’s face, but the doctor didn’t seem to notice.
“Well what if she doesn’t agree?” Isaac asked.
“Impossible. She already did.”
“What? But—”
“You wear this,” Welsh said, strapping the watch to Isaac’s wrist. “Now I’ll get you her address then you simply need to meet me at the flight station. We’ll come back here for the exchange and eradicate this reign of torment. I wish we could erase the Queen’s entire reign but this will have to do.” He crouched down by the cylinder with a notepad.
“Wait, you want to swap her out for the Queen?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Doc, I think you may have been down here too long.”
The doctor turned sharply to him. “Do you think that you’re working here by coincidence?” Before Isaac could answer an alarm went off. Doctor Welsh rushed back to his desk and pulled up the surveillance system. Isaac followed him and watched the screen in stunned silence.
“Darn. They’re earlier than I thought,” Welsh said. “What time is it? 14:36! I’ll stall them.” He ran from the room shutting the door behind him.
“Wait!” Isaac ran after him but the door was locked. He went back to watch the security footage and saw the doctor shutting doors behind him until he was finally confronted with the Queen’s defense force. Isaac turned from the screen knowing what was coming.
He opened the preservation cylinder, ripped the bracelet off the young woman’s wrist and ran for the back exit. The machine the doctor had been working on whirred as it charged up. Isaac was through the emergency exit door and up two flights of stairs when the door above him opened. He stopped dead as two defense agents entered the stairwell ready to fire. He closed his eyes and heard a beep as the timer on his wrist reset.
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