Doppelganger Girl

by T. R. Woodman

  “Oh, really … Where is she?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Is she coming?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Looks to me like she’s standing you up … just like she did the other day at the lake.”

  “Yeah … looks like it.”

  “You know, Joey, you can do a lot better than her.”

  “I can?”

  “Sure … Her teeth are too big and her butt is too skinny.”

  “Unlike yours, right?”

  “Right … I’ll show you next time we go swimming.”

  “I don’t know, Mish … I’ve known Evie forever.”

  “But she’s not here, Joey. I am. You don’t know it yet, but she’s not coming. She’s a stupid fool, and she knows that you’d be giving up everything to be with her. I may be shallow and vapid, but I’m here and I would never, ever stand you up.”

  “You wouldn’t?”

  “Not in a million years.”

  “So, do you want to come with me to the garden?”

  “I’d love to.”

  “Great … it’s a date.”

  Evelyn watched as a moment later, Joseph and Misha walked away with the kids, a lighter mood between them than what Evelyn felt in her chest. Brushing away the tears that had started to form in her eyes, she knew she had just handed over the boy she loved to the girl she despised, and with him went any chance she might have had at being happy.

  FOOLISH

  Shoving the tent flap to the side, Evelyn stared at her nemesis. She was in no mood to be hassled as she oscillated between being pissed and feeling sorry for herself. She had made her choice about Joseph, but she didn’t have to feel good about it, and taking her frustrations out on Ogre—Misha—Ogre—seemed both appropriate and therapeutic.

  Grabbing the screwdriver off the table, she marched up to the power generator and rapped it on the cover, hard enough to feel the numbing vibration run all the way through her forearm. She jammed the edge of the screwdriver under the plate and yanked it loose, letting it fall into the dirt below. Then, kneeling, she peered through the opening at the coupling in the back. Without any regard for whether or not she might scrape her arm on the housing, she jammed her arm through the hole.

  The jolt that ran up her arm laid her out, flat on her back in the dirt, and she blinked several times, feeling like she had just been punched in the jaw by a heavyweight boxer. Slowly she sat up, bobbling her head and taking a breath, and then she looked at her aching arm. She didn’t know what she expected to see, but the long silvery hair that was sticking out of the end of her finger caught her by surprise. Her brain was still a little frazzled, and she brought her finger close, inspecting it like she had a glob of some unknown goo on the end of it and was trying to decide if she ought to be disgusted by it. As the seconds passed, the silvery strand of hair disappeared into her finger, and where it had gone in, a spot of blood appeared.

  Evelyn started to flap her hand, as if it might help shake out whatever it was that had just climbed into her finger. Wondering whether it was real or not, she felt a strange tingling sensation.

  Her brain lumbered along like the agribot in the field, but after a moment, some thoughts started to click. She realized she had been electrocuted, and pretty severely, as she could attest by her aching teeth. The generator was hooked into a reactor on one of the shuttles, and if she had caught the full force of the jolt … She figured she was lucky to be alive.

  She shook her head again and looked at the spot of blood on her finger. Another click. The silvery hair was a thread of nanites linked together that had extended through her skin. She had never seen that before and was a little weirded out by the fact that twice in just a few days she had seen the nanites in her body, when in her whole life before that, she never had.

  Still wobbly but feeling a little more stable, Evelyn knelt and peered through the service panel. She caught a whiff of something that smelled like sulfur and burnt hair as she brought her face close, and this time, while trying to watch what she was doing through the cables and clamps, she reached in to loosen the nuts on the coupling in the back. A moment later, and without any more drama from Ogre, she threaded the coupling out of the generator and looked at it in the light.

  It was a mess. Turning it over in her hands, she could see one side had been charred, like there had been a tiny explosion inside it that had just leaked out the side. Wrapped around the coupling and wound around the inside of the transformer was a blackened thread of nanites. They were brittle, and as Evelyn brushed them with the tip of her finger, they fell away like a blade of burnt grass turning to ash under her touch.

  Evelyn struggled to understand what had happened—why the nanites would have come through her skin to make a total mess of the coupling, and then another click. Maybe they were protecting me.

  She gently blew away the remaining bits of threaded nanites and looked more closely at the connection they had been wrapped around. Not only was it loose, but it was off center. Evelyn wasn’t sure, but she was fairly certain something worse than a little jolt might have happened if she had managed to get her hand all the way back to the coupling moments earlier when she had stupidly jammed her hand through the casing.

  Evelyn grabbed the screwdriver and bent the nodes of the coupling back to center, and then, as carefully as she had retrieved it earlier, she threaded it back into position and bolted it back into place. She knew she still had a lot to do on this generator before it worked properly, but one jolt was enough for the day. Standing up straight, she wiped her brow. The temperature in the tent had risen considerably in the time she had been there. Evelyn turned, and as she did, the tent flap flipped back as Jane popped in.

  Her hair was pulled back and her white T-shirt was dirty with sweat stains.

  “Jane, what are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you, Evie,” she replied, a note of concern in her voice. “Is everything okay?”

  Of course I’m not okay. I just got electrocuted … and I have silver hair growing out of my finger … and apparently my teeth are too big … How did I not notice that before? … My God, I must look like a freak! … And I just lost my boyfriend to a horrible girl who’s going to take him skinny-dipping and make him forget all about me.

  “Yeah,” Evelyn replied with a long and loopy tone. “I’m fine. Why?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Jane replied, trying to brush the crusty dirt from her shorts. “I just saw Joseph as I was leaving the garden. He said you were supposed to meet him.”

  “Oh, that,” Evelyn said, turning away from Jane to look at anything else just so she didn’t have to lie to her sister’s face. “You know … I just couldn’t make it. I have been so busy with the agribot and the power generator and the Leap Frog and … well … you know … with all the other stuff I’m doing. It just wouldn’t work out … I mean, for us—for me—to go help him in the garden.”

  “Right,” Jane said, and even though Evelyn couldn’t see her face, she knew Jane was probably giving her a cocked eyebrow, crossed arms, and tapping-foot glare.

  Evelyn looked at the tip of her finger. The blood spot was gone, but the memory of the thread of nanites coming out of her finger wasn’t. And neither was the memory of the pool of nanites in her leg suturing it back together, or the memory of logging her brain into a thirty-foot-tall agribot an hour before. She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth, feeling the heat build in her chest, certain she could never have what she wanted.

  “You know, I just don’t have time for boys right now. I’m just too busy … way too busy.”

  “Yeah, I bet you are. You know, it’s probably for the best too,” Jane added. “Joseph is better off with Misha anyway.”

  “Yeah,” Evelyn said absently, and then realized what Jane had said and what she had just agreed to. She turned around to face Jane. “What?”

  “Yeah, what?” Jane said, flipping her arms up in the air in apparent frustration. “What the hell
are you talking about, Evelyn?”

  Evelyn stood with her mouth hanging open, unsure what to say.

  “I know Joseph’s all you think about. Every time he’s around, you turn into a puddle—and don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

  The heat in Evelyn’s chest grew. Having Jane tell her exactly what she already knew wasn’t helping her.

  “Knock it off, Jane.”

  “I’m not gonna knock it off until you tell me why you’re being so stupid about him.”

  Evelyn felt her eyes start to water. Her neck and back burned from the tension. “I’m not being stupid!”

  “You are being stupid, and I want to know why!”

  “It’s because I know what people think of me!” Evelyn blurted, turning away. She felt a tear roll down her cheek and tasted the salt on her lip. “I don’t want him to be an outcast … like me.”

  Jane was quiet for a moment. “So you just figured you’d brush him off and he’d forget all about you … Is that it?”

  Evelyn shrugged her shoulders. She wasn’t sure what she was doing. “I guess.”

  “You know, Evie, you are incredibly smart—the most amazingly brilliant girl I have ever known. I can’t imagine what it would be like to even be a fraction of how smart you are, but I’m telling you when it comes to boys, you are a complete idiot.”

  Evelyn whipped her head around to look at Jane. Most of the time, she could handle the teasing, but right now she didn’t have any patience for it. She started to raise her finger and open her mouth, but before she could say anything, Jane interrupted her.

  “If you knew anything at all about boys, you’d know that you’re just playing hard to get, and that’s only going to make him want you more.”

  Evelyn closed her mouth.

  “But it really sounds like you’re not trying to do that,” Jane added, and then a mischievous smile crept across her face. “If you really want to chase him away, you should be doing what Misha is doing … hanging all over him.”

  Evelyn couldn’t help but let out a laugh, and she wiped her eye with the back of her hand as she leaned against the power generator.

  “Look, Evie,” Jane said, walking close and taking up a spot next to her, “I can’t pretend to know what you’re going through, and I’m not going to tell you what to do about Joseph, but I can tell you this … There is nothing you can do to chase that boy off. He’s already given his heart to someone, and it isn’t Misha.”

  “You think so?”

  “I know so, and I’m as sure of it as I am about me and Marcus.”

  Evelyn felt the heat of frustration in her chest soften, but then, just as quickly, she thought about her conversation with Mrs. Vandergaast. Abomination … She felt another pinch in her chest.

  “I just don’t know if I can … if I should … I’m just not sure who I …”

  A moment passed.

  “Do you remember when we were leaving Earth,” Jane said, breaking the silence, “and Tate asked me to bring all the kids from the orphanage with me?”

  Evelyn rolled her eyes. She couldn’t forget anything even if she wanted to, but that night had a special vividness for her. It was the first time she had set foot on Earth, as a person, and she had had to stow away on the shuttle Jane, Marcus, and Tate were all taking to the surface, to rescue the kids from the orphanage in Ironhead. It hadn’t gone according to plan either. Not only had they been unable to find all the kids, but Marcus had been shot trying to carry one of the girls to safety. “How can I forget? Going back for them almost got us all killed.”

  “Well, if you’ll also remember, I was eighteen at the time, and Tate had asked me to adopt seven kids from his orphanage … and you know how I reacted when he asked me.”

  Evelyn laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think the inside of that chapel has heard talk like that before or since.”

  Jane laughed. “Right. So I was terrified. I was leaving Earth forever. I had no idea who I was or what I was doing, and the thought of taking care of a bunch of kids scared me out of my mind.”

  “So why did you go back for them?” Evelyn said, surprised to realize that she had never asked.

  “Because Tate said he believed in me … and then I found a reason to believe in myself.”

  Evelyn smiled, letting a moment pass. “So what’s your point, Jane?” Evelyn asked with a sideways glance, teasing her big sister.

  “You know what my point is,” Jane said, obviously catching on but giving Evie an elbow in the ribs. “But let me spell it out for you anyway. Like I said, I’m not going to push you at Joseph—even though I do think you are perfect together…” she winked “…because this isn’t about him. It’s about you. It’s about you realizing how special you are. I don’t know what God has in store for you, Evie, but I know it’s going to be great. I just want you to know that no matter what challenges you face, I believe in you … Now you just need to find a reason to believe in yourself.”

  Evelyn turned to give her sister a hug. “Thanks,” she said, her voice muffled on Jane’s shoulder.

  A moment passed. Feeling lighter, and a little more confident that she may actually have a purpose, Evelyn pulled away and walked out of the tent with Jane, blissfully unaware that it would be the last time she would ever hear her sister’s voice.

  DEVASTATED

  With the mystery of the marauding agribot solved, and a renewed sense that she might find her place on this strange planet, Evelyn walked through the pines with a lightness in her step. She wanted to find Joseph and apologize for being a jerk. She wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to say, but she knew she wanted to see him.

  Evelyn wasn’t so excited about her upcoming confrontation with Mrs. Vandergaast, however. Even though she had been a little excited about the prospect of making her look foolish in front of the council, the original thrill had worn off, and now she just didn’t want to deal with it. The council was already in session, and Evelyn figured she’d wait until it was over before she showed up to give her report. She was tired of feeling lousy, and the less time she spent around Vandergaast and company, the better. Until she absolutely had to be there, she was going to stay away, and she had just enough time to take care of something she had been meaning to deal with since they had arrived.

  It was getting late, and the long shadows and thick canopy of pines completely blocked the setting sun’s direct rays from touching any part of her. It was cooler in the trees, and Evelyn relaxed as the light piney breeze washed over her skin. She laughed, remembering how nervous she had been just days before at the prospect of walking alone in the woods, and how comfortable it seemed to her now. She wondered for a moment if it might have something to do with knowing her nanites seemed to want to protect her. An image of a comic book superhero with a skintight leotard, knee-high leather boots, and a too-short skirt popped into her head, and she laughed again. Get a grip, Evie … Nanite Girl just doesn’t have much of a ring to it.

  Moments later, Evelyn came through the trees into the small clearing. Sure enough, the beacon was exactly where she thought it would be—exactly where Marcus and Joseph had found it on their first day on the planet. Just under the cover of the trees on the other side of the clearing, the black cylinder sat on its tripod, blinking at her with its single red eye. Now that they were all here on the planet, the beacon would still serve its purpose collecting weather data, but Evelyn figured the power source would last a lot longer if it didn’t also transmit a homing beacon they no longer needed. A quick snip of a wire, and she would be on her way.

  As she stepped across the field, she thought she heard a high-pitched whine, very quiet at first. It didn’t sound natural, and it froze Evelyn in her spot as she looked around, nervous at what she might find. The whine grew louder and her breath grew shorter, and then she realized it was coming from the settlement. No sooner had she turned her head than she heard the explosion, and a shattering rumble not a second later. Evelyn stumbled back at the force of the shock wave. It sounded li
ke an avalanche and reverberated off the rocky mountaintops around her. Evelyn held her breath, listening, her mind struggling to comprehend what was going on, and then she saw the thick cloud of black smoke billowing up over the tops of the trees, blotting out the red halo of the setting sun.

  “Oh my God!” Evelyn screamed. Dropping her tools, she bolted for the trees, trying to get back to the town. Her mind raced. Her heart raced. She couldn’t imagine what could have happened, but she was in a near state of panic, running wild-eyed through the woods, having no idea what she was going to find on the other side.

  Evelyn tore through the brush, and the branches tore through her arms and legs. She didn’t care. She just knew she had to get back. The thick cover of trees and smoke made it impossible for her to see anything. It didn’t smell natural. It was overpowering, the chemical smell of rubber and fuel burning her eyes and her lungs as she ran. She found herself coughing as she slapped away branches. Her hands were shaking.

  “Oh my God. Oh my God,” she heard herself saying, and then after what seemed an eternity, she came near the end of the forest.

  With fewer trees in front of her, she could see the fire ahead, licking flames thirty to forty feet into the darkening sky. She still couldn’t tell where the fire was located, but as she blasted through the final trees and ran across the field, she was horrified to see the fire looked like it was coming from the camp.

  Evelyn ran harder. Out of breath and still struggling to figure out what happened, she ran past the council building and rounded the corner up the main street. Then she heard the screams. Until then, Evelyn hadn’t heard anything other than the roar of the fire, but as she made her way through the crowd of hysterical people, she realized that there were actually two fires—one just ahead near the tents and then one much further off.

  A mild sense of relief came over her at the thought that maybe it wasn’t as bad as she originally thought. Maybe no one is hurt—please, God, let no one be hurt. But just a second later, she realized where the fire was coming from. The power generator. Ogre was on fire.