Replication: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #6)
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“That’s not bad detective work,” Mouse admitted grudgingly. “It’ll be interesting to see what BT comes back with, but what about the others? Have you contacted them?”
“Uh...not yet,” I said a bit timidly.
“Get on it,” Mouse ordered. “I’m still at home, but I can be at HQ in an hour. Meet me in my lab when you’re done.”
He then hung up without waiting for any acknowledgment.
Chapter 38
There were three names for me to check out: Li, Smokey, and Electra. I decided to take them in reverse order and started with my girlfriend.
In an ideal world, I would simply have called her on her cell phone. However, like Sarah, I expected Electra to be in class by this point, and since cell phone use was prohibited during the school day, I had to go to Plan B.
I teleported to her school, popping up in the student parking lot at the rear of the campus. Electra actually attended a different high school than I did, so – while I had a vague notion of her schedule – I didn’t know exactly where she was.
It was chilly out and I hadn’t worn a jacket, so I adjusted my body temperature to compensate. Unbothered now by the weather, I reached out empathically, extending my ability in the direction of the school. Almost immediately, I started picking up a number of typical adolescent sensations: teen angst, high school crushes, simmering rebelliousness… In a similar vein, there were vibes with a more mature undertone that presumably originated from faculty and administration, including pent-up frustration, joy of accomplishment, and hopefulness mingled with worry.
Much like I could recognize her voice, being around Electra on an almost daily basis had allowed me to become attuned to her empathically. Thus, it only took me a minute to lock in on her emotional vibe, so to speak, and thereby pinpoint her location. I phased and simultaneously turned invisible (which automatically switched my vision over to the infrared), then flew towards the school building – bypassing the doors in favor of simply going through the walls.
I found her in what appeared to be a math class. Still invisible, I floated up into a corner of the room and hovered there for a second while I cycled my vision through the light spectrum to something approaching normal. Then I spent a moment looking at my girlfriend.
She was dressed in jeans and an oversized, maroon turtleneck sweater. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, revealing a pair of tear-shaped earrings that I had brought back for her from Caeles. As to cosmetics, the only thing I noted appeared to be a light application of shiny lip gloss. All in all, while not as stunning as she had been at the party, she was still storybook beautiful – and as it turned out, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
Electra was actually watching the teacher, who had his back to the class and was writing something on the board about polynomials, when a girl at the desk next to her passed her a note. Obviously surprised, Electra took the note, which had been folded over several times and had a little heart drawn on the outside. She turned to the girl who had given her the note with a perplexed expression, and emotionally I sensed genuine confusion coming from her.
Rather than reply, the girl who had passed the note hooked a thumb over her shoulder. Glancing in the direction indicated, I saw a guy sitting there and took a moment to look him over.
Even though he was seated, I got the impression that he was tall, and he had dark hair that he’d allowed to grow to his shoulders. Good genes had blessed him with a handsome face, and he had a physique that suggested he worked out regularly. He wasn’t wearing a letterman jacket, but I got the sense that he belonged to one of the school’s cool cliques – probably the football team, or something along those lines. Emotionally, I detected a degree of confidence that maybe just crossed the line into the region of arrogance, along with smugness and a roguish sense of entitlement. All in all, he exuded something of a bad-boy element that girls probably found attractive.
Like me, Electra had followed her classmate’s thumb-pointing with respect to who had sent the note. Seeing that he had my girlfriend’s attention, the guy winked at her and flashed a thousand-watt smile. Based on what I was picking up empathically, he was probably used to that routine melting hearts, and thus expected Electra to give him an encouraging smile or something along those lines. What he got, however, was a response he likely hadn’t seen in a while (if ever).
Rather than smile back, Electra frowned in irritation and rolled her eyes. She then crumpled up the note without reading it and flung the wadded ball of paper back at the guy. It hit him in the chest and then flopped to the floor, despite his valiant attempts to catch it.
I smiled. That’s my girl.
A general round of snickering followed Electra’s actions, causing the teacher to turn around. By that time, however, Electra was sitting face-forward again and stone-faced. The teacher eyed the class warily, knowing that something had happened but unable to discern what, then turned back to the board and continued with the polynomials instruction.
I waited a few seconds and then reached out to Electra telepathically.
Slightly startled, Electra promptly looked around, head jerking about as she replied.
She looked up, then almost immediately turned her head towards the upper right corner of the room, where I was hovering. She had obviously used her powers to pinpoint my location, and confirmed the fact by giving me a surreptitious wave.
She sighed mentally.
I quickly explained to Electra what had happened. Using telepathy, it only took a few seconds to make her fully aware of the entire situation involving my evil twin. Needless to say, she was quite surprised.
I frowned, not sure what she meant, then the truth hit me: Electra was one of the people my double wouldn’t be able to fool. Her power let her recognize people by their bioelectric fields – for her, it was as good as a photo. Thus, unless he could change his bioelectric field to match mine (which was a tall order), he’d be wasting his time trying to siphon info from Electra.
And bearing that thought in mind, I suddenly realized I was wasting my time. It was good to have warned Electra about my double, but she was in no danger of being conned by him. That being the case, I wished her well on her quiz and teleported.
Chapter 39
The next person on my list was Smokey. Initially, I tried to locate him the same way I’d pinned down Electra: by going to his school and searching for him empathically. It didn’t work; Smokey wasn’t at school – at least not as far as I could tell.
Strike one, I thought.
Reflecting on it, I supposed he could have been on a field trip, out sick, or anything in between. In essence, there are lots of reasons why a student might not be in school on a particular day. That said, the situation was serious enough that it warranted me putting a little thought into trying to ascertain my best friend’s whereabouts. And then I laughed as the truth hit me.
Of course Smokey wasn’t in class
. I had completely forgotten what Mouse had told me: Smokey was in the same boat I was in terms of being AWOL regarding his academics. He and I would be going through the crucible of being instructed by Mouse together, so he wouldn’t be wandering the hallowed halls of his high school any more. More than likely, he was at home.
Pulling out my cell phone, I gave him a call. It rang several times, then went to voicemail. The same thing happened when I tried a second time.
Strike two. I put my phone away without leaving a message and then spent a moment thinking about what to do next.
The fact that Smokey hadn’t answered didn’t necessarily mean anything. In today’s society, with technology so prevalent (especially communication devices, like cell phones), it’s easy to simply assume that people are always in a position to take a call. That, however, is far from true. The person you’re calling could be in the shower, taking out the trash, or just have their phone off. Thus, Smokey failing to pick up wasn’t anything I could assign meaning to, but I still needed to talk to him.
With that thought in mind, I teleported to Smokey’s neighborhood, popping up about a block from where he lived – evidence, once again, of my attempt to avoid excess attention. I then sauntered towards my destination in a leisurely fashion, thinking about the conversation I’d had with Sarah.
In truth, it wasn’t my business, but I had promised I’d speak to Smokey on her behalf. He might tell me to butt out (and that was his prerogative), but I didn’t think he would. Previously, when he’d thought I was mistreating Electra, he hadn’t hesitated to let me know what he was thinking. I felt certain he’d appreciate the same candor from me.
By this time, I was on the sidewalk in front of Smokey’s house. I put the issue of Sarah on the backburner momentarily as I reached out empathically in the direction of my friend’s home.
Strike three, I muttered internally a few seconds later. No one was home.
That shouldn’t have been completely surprising. Smokey’s parents worked and his siblings were, presumably, at school. That just left one question: where was Smokey?
I stood there on the sidewalk for a moment, debating. Smokey could take care of himself, so I wasn’t too worried – plus I had the issue of my evil twin, which was the whole reason I was here. I didn’t need to get distracted, but at the same time this was all so uncharacteristic of Smokey that I couldn’t help being slightly worried.
The sound of footsteps striking the ground in a rhythmic pattern drew my attention. I turned in the direction of the sound and saw what I assumed to be a fairly new mother, jogging towards me while pushing a stroller. She eyed me with deep suspicion as she went by, and I suddenly realized what I must look like: a kid who obviously should be in school but instead was standing out there on the sidewalk, unmoving, not dressed for the weather, seemingly staring at a house whose occupants were all gone for the day. She probably thought I was planning to burgle the place, and would call the cops as soon as she put some distance between us. (In fact, she appeared to be pulling out a cell phone at that very moment…)
I sighed. I didn’t need any more misunderstandings regarding who I was or my intentions. That being the case, I decided to put the Smokey question on the backburner for now and began swiftly walking – almost high-stepping – in the opposite direction of the jogger. I turned as soon as I reached the corner, and teleported the moment I was out of her line of sight.
Chapter 40
I popped up at League HQ – in the residential section. More specifically, I was outside Li’s apartment. I rang the bell and then waited. Approximately fifteen seconds later, it was answered.
Li opened the door wearing a black Mandarin shirt with matching pants – pretty much the same ensemble that he was wearing when we had first met. I smiled, thinking back to that time, when Li had proven himself to be a strong and resourceful ally, as well as a great friend.
“Please come in, Jim,” he said, motioning for me to enter.
“Thanks,” I said as I went inside. His quarters were generally a replica of mine in terms of layout, so I went to the living room and plopped down on the couch.
“Is this a social call?” Li asked as he closed the door.
“Not exactly,” I replied as Li came over and took a seat in an easy chair. “I’m dealing with an unusual issue…”
As he was an android, I couldn’t share anything with Li telepathically. Still, it only took a few minutes to lay everything out for him, including the reason for my visit.
Li seemed to ponder for a moment after I finished, then said, “So you think this individual may have attempted contact with your friends and associates in an effort to glean information about you?”
“I’m not sure if information about me, per se, is his endgame, but I’d wager he wants to know enough to be able to present himself as me without anyone knowing the difference.”
“I see,” Li murmured thoughtfully. “In any event, I can assure you that he has not attempted to make contact with me.”
I frowned. “How can you be sure?”
“Because I have means of establishing identity that go beyond the mere visual.”
“What do you mean?”
Li appeared thoughtful for a moment. “I know that I appear human and everyone treats me as such, but I am not. For instance, what you designate as eyes are ocular implants which allow me to see well outside the visible light spectrum. What you denote as ears are auditory devices that let me perceive sound well beyond the scope of human hearing.”
“I don’t think that would surprise anyone. We’re all aware that you have enhanced senses.”
“That would probably be an understatement,” Li noted. “In essence, I have internal systems, constructs, and configurations that permit me to detect, observe, and examine the world around me in ways that most of your contemporaries cannot. By way of example, when I look at you, it is not merely your physical traits I see – your height, weight, the shape of your face, and so on. I hear your heart beat, the rush of blood in your veins. I note your respiratory rate as you breathe, the air capacity of your lungs. As I speak right now, I sense the bones in your middle ear vibrating.”
I stared at him, almost in shock. “Li, are you saying that you perform an X-ray of some sort when you see me?”
Li shook his head. “No, that would be dangerous. X-rays pose a risk of harm due to radiation. I would never expose my friends to perils of that nature. What I have described is, practically speaking, just taking an assessment of certain bodily functions at a particular point in time. If necessary, I can compare those to an established baseline to determine if there are notable variations.”
I frowned, concentrating on what I’d just heard. “So basically, you take biometric readings every time you see me?”
“Biometrics typically refers to verification of identity through unique signifiers such as fingerprints, facial recognition, and earlobe geometry. What I can do goes well beyond that, but the short answer to your question is yes. And it is not just you for whom I take these readings – it is everyone. But it is not with a specific purpose in mind; it is simply the way I am designed.”
“But if we apply that to the issue we were originally discussing, you’re saying that my doppelganger couldn’t mislead you because, biometrically, you know what I look like.”
“Precisely.”
“But I’m able to alter my biological systems at will – tweak things internally so that I can go without sleep, don’t feel hunger, and so on. What if my double can do the same thing and tries to match the internal functions you monitor when you see me?”
“Any attempt to replicate the biometrics of your internal physiology is doomed to fail.”
Li’s statement caught me a little by surprise. Intrigued, I asked, “Why is that?”
“Because your heredity is unprecedented, which lends itself to a biology that is not only extraordinary, but particularly anomalous and exceedingly rare.”
I nodded, but stayed silent. Li
’s statement alluded to the fact that my father was actually from another dimension. That, combined with the fact that I also had alien DNA, meant that I pretty much made up my own species. In short, if I ever needed a blood transfusion, the odds of finding a match were going to be pretty low.
Interrupting my thoughts, Li went on, saying, “You have internal organs and systems that no one fully understands and which don’t exist anywhere else in nature. In essence, you are sui generis – one of a kind.”
“And that being the case,” I concluded, “the fake Jim isn’t going to be able to mimic my biometrics. For instance, if I’ve got a supernova for a heart, he can’t replicate my biometric readings unless he has a supernova heart, too.”
“I sense hyperbole in your analogy, but your statement is generally correct.”
“Great,” I said sincerely. “That means two of the three people I’ve been hunting for can’t be fooled by my evil twin. Now I just need to find Smokey.”
“Smokey?” Li echoed, sounding perplexed.
“Yeah. I need to talk to him about my evil twin, but he’s not at school and isn’t at home. Apparently he’s missing in action.”
“But he is not missing,” Li stressed. “He is here.”
Chapter 41
“So this is where you’ve been hiding out,” I said to Smokey.
We were in his apartment at League HQ, sitting at a small table in the breakfast area, where my friend – still dressed in pajamas – was eating a bowl of oatmeal. After Li had advised me of his whereabouts, I had quickly reached out to Smokey – via the internal landline as opposed to his cell phone – and moments later, I had teleported to his quarters. Now, watching him enjoy his morning meal, I was reminded of the fact that I had missed breakfast myself, so I tweaked my internal systems to stave off any hunger pangs.