The Sixth Extinction

by Bob Blink

  "No crime, at least not in the usual sense," Sammi reassured him. She'd taken out a small pair of tweezers, and having permission, quickly yanked a short hair from his head when he nodded. She placed this in the small processing unit she withdrew from her purse, setting it on the table after activating it.

  "This will take a couple of minutes," she said. "Perhaps you can tell me about yourself while we wait?"

  For the next five minutes Subha Rao gave them his personal history, which agreed exactly with what his counterpart in Los Angeles had told them earlier in the day. If nothing else, these two had a carefully rehearsed story. He was finishing up when the small unit emitted a soft 'beep' indicating it had completed whatever it was doing with the sample.

  Sammi picked it up and looked at the small display screen. She'd put a sample from the Los Angeles Rao into the unit earlier. The unit was designed to look for a DNA match between two samples. It was showing a perfect match. It showed all 9's which was the best possible result out of the unit. She had been suspecting something like this might happen, but when she actually saw the result, she couldn't help but check again to be certain she was seeing right. She showed the result to Morrison, whose eyes betrayed his surprise.

  "Impossible," he said softly, but glanced at the new Rao just the same.

  "The best way to help you understand what this is about is to have you come with us and join a conference call with some people from Los Angeles. That includes my boss and a couple of others. We need some place quiet. Perhaps your apartment would be best, since it's only a couple of blocks away.

  "You are knowing where I live?" Rao asked uncomfortably.

  "Police, remember?" Morrison said pointedly. "How about we go there now?"

  The young man was understandably uncomfortable, but nodded, and after Sammi paid their bills, they ventured back out into the streets of Berkeley and walked the couple of blocks to the complex where Rao lived. Once inside the apartment, Sammi activated the holo feature on her communicator, setting up the conference communication back to Los Angeles.

  "I hope you are ready on your end?" she asked when Lt. Rodriguez appeared in 3D form floating in front of them.

  "They went to get him," the Lieutenant replied. "It'll be just a minute. What have you found?"

  "This is Subha Rao," Sammi said, bringing Rao into the beam so he would become part of the scene being monitored at the far end. As you can see, he looks exactly like the other one."

  "Did you test him?"

  Sammi nodded. "All nines, Lieutenant. It doesn't get any better than that."

  "He'd have to be an identical twin to manage a score that high," Rodriguez said, trying to remember exactly how that worked.

  "Even identical twins wouldn't score that high," Sammi replied. "In forensics class they taught us that even twins have differences. Some of these are due to life events, and some do to variability at gene locations that can accept a different number of attachments. Even twins are typically different in those areas, giving them a score less than this one. This is as if a computer decided they were the same person, and spit out an identical result. It's as if the gene data is artificial in some way."

  She knew the Lieutenant would pick up on what she was saying.

  Rao had been listening to the exchange, and wanted to ask a couple of questions, but was intimidated by these people. About the time he had steeled himself to interrupt the exchange, someone stepped into view of the transmitted signal on the far end and joined the holographic display that he could see. It was himself!

  Sammi was intrigued by the emotion that passed across the face of their Rao when he realized he was looking at a carbon copy of himself. It was at that moment she decided that he had no previous awareness of the other individual.

  "Who am I looking at?" he asked when he was able to speak.

  "Subha Rao, meet Subha Rao," she said simply.

  "I am thinking this might not be the best of ideas," the Rao standing next to Rodriguez said, realizing immediately what they were doing.

  "Too late," Morrison said, pleased to have caught the two Indians off guard.

  "I am not understanding what is happening," the Rao next to Sammi said, clearly struggling to understand what he is seeing. "Is this some kind of an illusion?"

  "Tell him something only he would know," Rodriguez directed Rao.

  The LA Rao thought a moment and spoke briefly in Hindi.

  The SF Rao was stunned by whatever was said.

  "How could you know . . ?" he asked.

  "He claims to be you," Morrison said. "His DNA is an exact match for yours. He looks exactly like you, and knows every detail of your history as well as you do."

  "I am Subha Rao," he said simply, staring at the holo image that simply couldn't be.

  "We are a kind of clone of one another," the LA Rao said. "It will take time to explain, but you are in danger, and you should do everything the two policemen with you direct. I will communicate the specifics of our problem with you at a later time. I assume you will be asked to leave San Francisco. It is imperative you do so, understand?"

  "No," the SF Rao said simply, "but I am thinking I have little choice."

  An hour later they were on the Tube headed out of San Francisco. Their bewildered passenger had been told very little beyond a vague idea that his twin in Los Angeles was some sort of clone, made from his own cells and memories without his knowledge, and that all would be explained when he was safe.

  "What about my job?" Rao asked uncertainly. "They will not be being happy when I am not there tomorrow."

  "We will contact them and explain that you are traveling on police business," Sammi lied. "There won't be a problem with them."

  Rao leaned morosely against the bulkhead of the Tube. He was trapped between the hull of the car and Sgt. Morrison, who sat next to him, blocking his access to the aisle. Next to the Chicago cop was the good looking woman policeman, who sat in the third seat adjacent to the aisle.

  "This is not what we agreed to," Morrison said softly to Sammi Donaldson, as he glanced toward Subha Rao. "Someone is going to be unhappy. Do you want to explain just what we are doing?"

  "I want to see what happens," she said, without explaining further.

  Morrison shrugged, glad that Lt. Rodriguez wasn't his boss. He wasn't the one who was going to be in trouble.

  "They were over halfway to Los Angeles when it happened. Sammi was resting where she could keep an eye on Rao, and Morrison was watching a couple of rowdy teenagers in the front of the Tube. A sound from the LA detective brought his attention back to her. When he saw where she was staring, a shocked look on her face, he shifted his attention to Rao. He wasn't prepared for what he saw.

  "Shit!" he cursed as he watched the young man shimmer, turn transparent, and within a matter of a few seconds simply faded away. He put his hands in the space the young man had occupied a moment before, finding nothing solid.

  "That's not possible," he said.

  "Apparently it is," Sammi said softly, staring at the empty space where their passenger had been.

  Chapter 17

  "What happened to him?" a nervous and contrite Sgt, Donaldson asked when she contacted her boss who then chased down the remaining version of Rao to discuss the matter with him. This Rao she was mentally calling the LA-Rao, as opposed to the SF-Rao who she had lost through her stupidity. She understood there was a real-world Rao out there in this Facility that LA-Rao had told them about, but as yet she hadn't bothered to think of how to refer to him. They had no contact with the flesh and blood Rao, and everything they knew about him came from the LA-Rao. Maybe he should be the one they simply called Rao. He was, after all, the only one really alive in the classic sense. That thought made her uncomfortable when she thought about what it implied about herself.

  "Just what in hell did you think you were doing?" Lt. Rodriguez asked angrily. "You were supposed to take him to Sgt. Lee in Washington. That was the plan as I recall."

  Lt. Rodrigue
z had spent more than an hour with the East Coast detective coordinating their plan to relocate the Rao that it appeared Sammi had inadvertently lost. He had explained that Rao and what had happened in Chicago just the other day were intimately related to the unsolved killing of Senator Burkland. As a result of this discussion, Sgt. Lee was very eager to meet with Sammi and her unusual passenger.

  "I wanted to see what would happen if we tried to bring the two of them together. I didn't really believe what Rao had told us. Now. . . now I'm convinced. Obviously I made a major mistake attempting to transport him to LA. Please tell me I didn't kill him, or erase him from that database we talked about."

  "I am thinking that nothing would have happened," the LA-Rao standing next to Rodriguez said calmly. "The system would have to be tolerant of such anomalies. More than likely he is back at his apartment, all memory of your boarding the Tube and starting for Los Angeles clouded or lost completely. You should contact him there, and arrange to set another time for your trip to the East Coast."

  "What did you tell Sgt. Lee?" Rodriguez asked. "It'll be after midnight before the Tube can get you there now."

  "Actually, when I decided to try to bring the second Rao to LA with me, I told him that I'd be bringing Rao to him around noon tomorrow," she confessed. "I'd planned on spending the night at home, and starting off the first thing in the morning. So he isn't expecting anyone tonight anyway."

  "And Morrison went along with this?"

  "He was heading back to Los Angeles anyway, and my way he got more time to spend with Rao. That's where his stuff is located, and then he was planning on returning to Chicago. He needs to report in to his superiors, and felt that given the oddity of everything, that could be done better in person. He saw little advantage in making the run all the way to Washington."

  "And now?"

  "After watching our Rao simply fade away before our eyes, I suspect he's become a believer just as I have. Maybe it all worked out for the best, so long as Rao is really okay. We both got to see what both the cops in DC witnessed, and what Rossetti claimed his men saw. Morrison says he'll be staying the night here in Berkeley, and report into Chicago in the morning."

  "Let's make sure everyone understands. This isn't something we want spread around. I'd suggest he advise his management we need a three-department coordination on just how to proceed with all this."

  "Understood," Sammi said, agreeing that this was something the public was better off not knowing for the time being.

  "Do you have the contact information for the San Francisco Rao with you, or do you need to go back to his apartment to check on him?" the Lieutenant asked.

  "I can call him, assuming he answers. If there is any problem, I'll get back with you."

  "And no more modifications in plans," Rodriguez ordered.

  "Yes sir," Sammi agreed humbly.

  "That went well enough," Morrison noted sarcastically when Sammi had disconnected from the call. "Let's hope that Rao is correct about what must have happened to his doppelganger."

  Sammi shot Morrison a hard look, and initiated a call to the contact she'd stored just a few hours earlier. It rang half a dozen times and she was starting to worry when a familiar accented voice came on the line.

  "Sgt Donaldson," SF-Rao said, recognizing the caller immediately. I didn't expect to hear from you until morning."

  "Where are you?" she asked.

  "I am at home, where else? I have been here since we finished speaking with your superior in Los Angeles. Is something wrong?"

  "No, I guess not. I was just uncomfortable with something that happened. I wanted to be certain we were coordinated. I will meet you at your apartment at seven in the morning. Is that acceptable?"

  "Early, but I will be ready. I hope you are correct and your people can explain to my employer why I will not be present for a time. I have much to do there. It is a good opportunity, and is important to my immigration status."

  Sammi felt guilty at not having even mentioned the matter to Rodriguez, but was certain it wouldn't matter in the long run. She'd correct the matter in the morning.

  "I will see you then," she said, and signed off.

  "So, he's fine," Morrison noted. "This is getting a bit too strange for me."

  Sammi was silent for a moment, then asked, "Do you have any family John?"

  "Father and a brother, why?"

  "Where do they live?"

  "Not too far from me in Chicago," he replied, looking at her oddly.

  "My family all lives in San Diego. My mom and Dad, and a couple of siblings. I just realized that if all of this stuff about a simulation is true, and it's starting to look that way, then they are gone. They have been for a long time. Rao told us there is no San Diego simulation, so they are not even like us."

  Morrison noted that her eyes were shiny as she spoke. He was suddenly uncertain how to respond.

  "Shit!" he mumbled softly.

  After a moment, Sammi seemed to gain control. "Come on, let's go find a hotel for the night," she said. Their Tube had just come to a stop back in San Francisco. "There's a Hilton just across I-80 not too far from Rao's place."

  After seeing his look, she shook her head.

  "Separate rooms," she added firmly.

  Morning found Sammi and SF-Rao on the SF-DC Express Tube headed East. The trip would take them a little over an hour, and Sgt. Mike Lee would be waiting to meet them at the far end. Morrison had headed back to Los Angeles very early, wanting to pick up his bags, and catch an early Tube to Chicago. He was probably almost there by now.

  Sammi wasn't sure what to tell her traveling companion. Loaded down with books and materials he would be using toward completion of his thesis while hidden away by the DC detective, he still didn't know the truth of what was going on. She felt that was something his duplicate should explain to him, given all the ramifications this situation held for him. She felt a certain sympathy, because this Rao would soon learn that his girlfriend, just like the rest of her family, had been lost to them over a thousand years ago.

  Rao had another problem, at least this Rao did. While she was speaking with Rodriguez and LA-Rao who was there with him, she'd learned that Director Walker who Rao had come into the Simulation to warn them about, knew all about the San Francisco based Indian. That's where he'd gone originally to get the kernel when he extracted a copy from the Simulation to perform the programming changes he wished. Knowing what was required to locate him originally, Walker could easily find him again. All he had to do was have one of his programmers search under his identifier and SF-Rao would be revealed. With one caveat. That only worked so long as that version of Rao was still located within the San Francisco Simulation. Moving him to Washington would make him effectively disappear, unless Walker's programmer was thorough enough to search the other nodes. In that case they'd find SF-Rao, who then she'd have to think of as DC-Rao, easily enough, which could actually prove a danger to the rest of them. With a bit of work, Walker and his team could create video of DC-Rao's surroundings and those he was interacting with.

  It was all too weird for Sammi to grasp it fully. Maybe they should have left this Rao in place. That might have been safer for him, besides there were the two other Raos. First, the one in Los Angeles that apparently Walker didn't know about and couldn't track because he was brought into the Simulation using an identifier that wasn't listed anywhere. Then there was the flesh and blood version living in the Facility, and that was the one she believed needed to be concerned about his future.

  She glanced at the time and saw that they would be arriving within a few minutes. She'd thought she sensed a slowing of the Tube, and apparently had been right. Reaching over, she placed a hand on the shoulder of the sleeping Indian, sensing him tense slightly at her touch. A moment later he opened his eyes and after a moment realized where he was.

  "We are here?" he asked.

  "Slowing as we approach the station," Sammi replied. "It'll be a couple of minutes. We'll let the crowd go fi
rst, and then we'll go. She sent a text message to Sgt. Lee indicating they were about to disembark, although he should already know that and be in place to greet them.

  Five minutes later the Tube had come to a gentle stop, and passengers were grabbing their luggage and moving out onto the platform. Another few minutes and they were among the small handful of passengers still aboard.

  "Let's go," Sammi said finally, checking her M&P just in case. She didn't anticipate trouble, but there was too much about all this that she didn't understand.

  She needn't have worried. No one made a move against them. A short distance away, scanning the arrivals, was a face she recognized. The reporter, Don Russell, was standing next to a heavyset Asian, who almost had to be Detective Lee. She hadn't been part of the teleconference when Lt. Rodriguez had contacted the man, so she hadn't had a chance to see what he looked like up to now. Don waved when he spotted them, and Sammi headed over to greet them, her charge in tow.

  "I didn't expect to see you here," she said by way of greeting when she was close enough to be heard.

  "I came in last night when I learned you'd be bringing Rao here," Don explained. "I wanted to be here to learn how events here connect with what we have already learned. Oh, this is Detective Mike Lee, by the way." Sammi couldn't help but notice the scrutiny that Rao was receiving from the reporter. He was surprised by the similarity to the Rao that had started all this in LA. She'd have bet if it hadn't been for the noticeable scar, Don would have believed she'd brought the man they'd met with the day before with her.

  Somewhat stern looking, the powerful looking cop examined her carefully as he held out a hand in greeting. "Detective Donaldson," the Washington cop said. He was about her height, maybe an inch taller, with short black hair. Even in plain clothes Sammi would have had no trouble picking him out of a crowd. Something about him screamed 'cop' to her tuned senses.