“Is he all right? Should I call 911?” the man was asking, but Mat was already getting to his feet.
“No, no, he’s all right,” said Mat. “He needs space, though. I’ll help him. Thank you for your assistance.”
“Should I—” the man began, but Mat shook his head, smiling in a reassuring manner, and ushered him from the room.
“No, but thank you. He’s fine. Thank you so much,” said Mat, shutting the outer door. He returned to the inner room to see Edward sitting up, fixing his mask back in place.
“Not much point to that now, is there?” Mat asked. “Let me see.”
Edward sighed and took the mask off, revealing Mat’s own face, perfect down to the last detail. He grimaced.
“Sorry you had to find out this way,” Edward said in Mat’s voice.
“So—who are you?” asked Mat.
“You,” said Edward simply. “I’m a copy of whatever you bring to me.”
“But what are you when I’m not here?”
Edward shrugged. “You don’t know, so I don’t know. Someone else, I suppose.”
“How did you know you were supposed to train me?”
“You knew that walking in. I only remember our previous sessions from your point of view, too.”
Mat shook his head, processing this. After a moment, a question occurred to him.
“Are you…happy like this?”
Edward shrugged again. “I’m not unhappy! And from what just happened, I certainly don’t want to leave this room.”
“So you remember that.”
“Not exactly. You do.”
“This—sorry, this is going to take me a minute to wrap my head around.”
“Yeah,” said Edward. “I know.”
Later, Mat confronted Akerman about the trainer. “Is he even a person? What is he?”
“Oh yes, he’s an Augment.”
“Okay, then, who is he?”
“We have no idea,” said Akerman.
“How can you not know? Can’t you set up a camera or something and see who he is when no one’s around?”
Akerman turned to his computer. “We can. Here, look at this.”
He swiveled the monitor to face Mat. It showed a view of the trainer’s room, with its familiar living room setup. Slumped in one of the chairs was Edward, mask on, unmoving.
“He sleeps in that room?” Mat asked. “With the mask on?”
“He’s not sleeping,” said Akerman. “And the mask is on the table.”
Mat looked, and saw that Akerman was right. Yet Edward’s features were as blank and undefined as the mask itself.
“When there’s no one around,” said Akerman, “he shuts down. Goes to a blank state and just waits.”
“Does he—does he suffer?”
“We’ve run every test we can think of. As far as we can tell, when there’s no one around to mimic, he’s just not there. There’s no mental activity, barely any physical. He just goes into this torpor.”
“Is it fair to just use him like this, though? To keep him as some kind of a slave?”
“Someday,” Akerman said seriously, “that’s going to be your decision to make.”
Graduation came soon enough, with more of the attendant fanfare than Mat would have liked. He tried to talk his parents out of showing up, claiming that it wasn’t even that big of a deal, but they would have none of it.
“You’re finishing college!” his mother protested when he told her that they didn’t need to bother coming out for graduation.
“Yeah, and tomorrow I’ll be right back at work at the same place I’ve been for two years,” he said. “Nothing changes! It’s just another day.”
“Is there going to be a ceremony?” asked his mother. “Will you walk across the stage?”
“I mean, there’s going to be a ceremony, but I wasn’t planning on going,” said Mat.
“You’re going, and so are we,” said his father.
“It’s just—”
“Keep up the protests, and your mother and I will bring a banner with your name on it or do something else embarrassing,” cautioned his father.
Mat laughed, knowing he’d lost this argument. “Okay, I’m cutting my losses. I’ll see you next weekend.”
The night before graduation, Raul and Mat organized a party for their scholastic class. Although not all of the interns were graduating at the same time, they all came out to support those who were—and for the free food and drinks, of course. Of the original forty recruits, thirty-eight still remained, beating even Akerman’s boast of a ninety percent retention rate. Many of them invited along friends or significant others as plus-ones, and soon the house was packed with people laughing, dancing and generally celebrating.
Mat was lounging against the wall, enjoying the rhythm of the party, when Alyssa slid through the crowd and took him by the hand.
“Come here!” she said, pulling his hand. “I have something I want to show you.”
Mat allowed himself to be led through the crowd and out onto the front porch, where things were quieter. The music still thumped dimly through the walls, but they could hear each other talk easily now.
“What’s up?” asked Mat.
“I’ve been wanting to say this for a while, and I didn’t know how. Tonight seems like the right night, though. I’ve got a huge crush on you, Mat.”
“Alyssa, I—” began Mat, blindsided.
“And I know it won’t work out,” she continued, “because you’re obviously carrying a torch for Judah.”
“I’m what?”
“And that’s beautiful and I hope it works out for you two, but I still wanted to let you know.” Alyssa took both of Mat’s hands in hers and looked deep into his eyes. “And you totally bought that this was her.”
“What?” asked Mat again, totally lost.
A snort of laughter came from off to the side, and the bushes rustled and parted as Alyssa stepped out from hiding. Confused, Mat looked from her back to the Alyssa in front of him. Still holding his hands, she winked, and then her face shifted, her features fading to reveal Judah grinning beneath.
“Fooled ya, muchacho!” Judah laughed, then winced away as Mat punched him in the arm. “Uncle, uncle!”
“You should have seen your face!” Alyssa chimed in.
“Yeah, you two are hilarious. What if I’d been into it, huh? What if I’d kissed you as Alyssa? Who’d be laughing then?”
“Still me,” said Judah.
“Yeah, me too,” agreed Alyssa.
“Oh, I get it,” said Mat slyly. “You do have a crush on me, Lyssa. This was your way of confessing. Since you weren’t brave enough to do it yourself.”
“You’re going to eat those words, Roche,” said Alyssa, her eyes narrowing. She sprang at him and the two tussled briefly before she jabbed him in the ribs, seized control of his wrist and twisted his arm behind his back.
“Okay, ow!” cried Mat, tapping his own chest. “I take it all back. Your only interest in me is as a mobile food source in case of apocalypse. Ow!”
Alyssa released his arm after a final twist. “And don’t you forget it, meatbag.”
Mat rubbed his shoulder. “Where’d you learn that move, anyway?”
“While you were sitting behind a desk and studying party planning, some of us have been getting field experience.” Mat raised an eyebrow, and Alyssa admitted, “Well, field experience training, anyway.”
“Uh huh. Well, since we’ve seen your skills in action, care to come inside and see how my party planning training went? Or are you just going to let your doppelganger enjoy it in your place?”
“You have to admit, I make a pretty good Alyssa,” said Judah, letting the disguise momentarily flit across his features again.
“I wouldn’t fall for it a second time,” said Mat. “Your hands are much too soft.”
“Hey!” said Judah indignantly, as Alyssa laughed. “You wound me, Alter.”
“When are you going to quit pepp
ering your speech with random phrases from other languages?” asked Mat, opening the door to the party. The music spilled out, washing over them.
“As I shift between forms, so I shift between languages. I am a citizen of the world,” said Judah loftily.
“Yeah? Well, you sound like an idiot of the first order,” retorted Mat.
“You’d say that to your own mother?” asked Judah, his features starting to blur.
“Do not put on my mom’s face,” said Mat, raising his fist threateningly. “Wait, why do you even know my mom’s face that well?”
Alyssa shoved them both. “Quit blocking the door, you lunks. In or out? Party’s a-wasting.”
“I’m in, I’m in,” said Mat, suiting action to words.
Raul entered the front hallway from the kitchen and spied the three in the doorway. “Hey! Mat, is this your brother?”
“No, it’s—” Mat began, but from behind him, he heard a voice suspiciously similar to his own say, “Yes, I’m Mat’s twin brother, Schmat.”
“Judah, I swear to God!” Mat barked, wheeling on him. Laughing, Judah pushed past him and danced off into the party. Mat turned back to Raul, sighing.
“I apologize for my idiot friend.”
“Good to see you’re taking your Augment outreach seriously!” Raul commented.
“High school friends. What are you going to do? Ow!” Mat flinched as Alyssa punched him in the shoulder.
“You could try remembering that they’re right here, maybe,” she suggested.
“I didn’t mean you.”
“Well, work on your word choice, Augment Ambassador.” With that parting shot, Alyssa made her way off into the thick of the party as well.
“So anyway,” sighed Mat, “how’s your night going?”
“Pretty great!” Raul replied enthusiastically. “Just relaxing and letting the good times roll.”
“It is a good party!” Mat agreed. “Well done, us.”
“Yes, well done.” The two clicked their plastic glasses together in a toast.
As they were drinking, a new calendar notification popped up in the corner of Mat’s vision. He flicked his glance down to it to see that an event had just been added to his work calendar. It was set for 9 AM the upcoming Monday and read simply, “MEETING WITH GAMMALOCK.”
Across from him, Mat saw Raul making a similar eye gesture. “Got the same notification?” he asked.
“Big Monday meeting? Yeah,” Raul confirmed. “I wonder what that’s about?”
“Outreach, I suppose. Maybe some sort of tech equip? You think it’s everyone?”
“Looks like it’s just you and me on this.”
“Not even Akerman?” Mat asked, surprised.
“He added the invitation for us, but it looks like we’re soloing it. Well! They don’t waste any time once you’re done with the scholastic part of this program, do they?”
Mat felt his stomach knot up. It was the same way he’d felt meeting the Reader August Mooring, a knowledge that this event had the potential to shape his life and it was completely out of his hands. Mat had no idea what this meeting would be about, and the uncertainty drove him to picture the worst.
As an Augment-5, Gammalock essentially had carte blanche to do anything he liked, as long as he kept producing his technological wizardry for the government. If he took a dislike to Mat, he could probably have him reassigned, even dismissed from the DAA. Frankly, he could probably kill Mat, and the government would cover it up. Not that he’d even need them to. With the amount of lethal radiation Gammalock produced, he could just fake a suit leak and claim it was a tragic accident.
“You don’t seem particularly excited about this,” Raul commented, snapping Mat out of his reverie.
“Oh, yeah. No, sorry. Just got lost in my thoughts. It’s kind of nerve-wracking, don’t you think?”
“Not really, no.” Raul looked thoughtful. “Nerve-wracking like your augment is sounding off?”
“No…no. It doesn’t work like that. I’d have to actually see Gammalock for it to kick in with an approval or a warning. And even then, it’s hard to be certain. It’s just a gut feeling.”
“So this isn’t a gut feeling?”
“I mean, it is, but more literally. This is a feeling in my guts. Like indigestion, not intuition. You’re saying you’re not concerned about this? This guy could make or break our careers with a single word.”
“And we can’t do a thing about it, so why assume the worst? Pick happy thoughts, Mat.”
“Thanks, Tinkerbell, I’ll do that.”
“Second star to the right, and straight on til morning!” said Raul, cheerily. “Come on, enjoy the party. You can stress about things you can’t alter later.”
“That sort of lackadaisical attitude is going to get you in trouble when you’re my second-in-command,” Mat told him as they walked into the main room together.
“Oh ho! Bold words for a man dependent on my reflected popularity.”
“Well, you know how we have to settle this,” said Mat, setting down his drink and rolling up his shirt sleeves. As if at a prearranged signal, the crowd began to clear a small space around the two young men.
“Dance-off?” asked Raul.
“Dance-off,” said Mat.
The graduation ceremony itself went seamlessly. Mat donned a robe, walked across a stage and posed for countless pictures afterward with his family. However, despite Raul’s advice, Mat couldn’t stop thinking about the upcoming meeting with Gammalock. He spent the entire day distracted, wondering whether he’d come this far down this career path just to have it all ripped away from him.
“Aren’t you happy?” Mat’s mother asked, startling him from his reverie. “You’re graduated!”
“Hm? Oh, yeah, of course I am. I’m just thinking about work on Monday.” Mat was reluctant to mention Gammalock to his family. He knew that they would consider the meeting a very positive sign, never thinking about the possible negative reasons for it, or the ways it could go badly.
Mat could just about handle calling his parents Monday evening to tell them that he’d been fired. He didn’t think he could manage it if they’d been expecting that phone call to be full of good news.
“Mat’s too important to be happy now,” his sister informed their parents. “He has things to do.”
“We can’t all just sponge off of Mom and Dad forever, Sylvie,” Mat told her, grinning.
“I’m fifteen, you jerk! It’s not sponging. I’m still in high school. And don’t call me Sylvie.”
“I’m very sorry, Miss Sylvia Roche.”
“Whatever. Some of us like our whole names.”
“Kids,” admonished their mother. “Sylvie, this is your brother’s day. Stop baiting him. Mat, call your sister whatever she wants to be called.”
“You just called her Sylvie,” Mat pointed out.
“I’m her mother. I’ll call her what I want.”
This spurred a new thought in Mat’s mind. What was he supposed to call Gammalock? Mat knew his real name, of course; Gammalock was possibly the most famous person on the planet. But would he appreciate being called Mr. Ghulam? Or would he consider that an overly personal liberty? Obviously, calling him “Kevin” was out of the question. Mat would sooner address the president of the United States by his first name.
Mat spent the rest of the weekend being sidetracked by thoughts like this. On Monday morning, he woke up at 4 AM to make sure that he had enough time to prepare, review his notes and make sure that no matter what Gammalock asked him, he would be ready to respond knowledgeably.
Though his stomach was in knots, Mat forced himself to eat at least a light breakfast. He scanned through the waves of interviews with Gammalock one final time, trying to get a feel for him as a person. The suit showed little to no emotion, though, and Gammalock’s slightly stilted speech provided Mat with few context clues. He knew this, of course. He’d been through all of these waves already, found all there was to find in them. De
spite this, he combed through them yet again, looking for anything he might have missed that would tell him how today’s interview was going to go.
Mat arrived at work at 7:30 and attempted to act casual.
“Morning,” he called out to Akerman as he entered the office and took a seat at his desk.
Akerman looked surprised. “You’re here? You did get my notif about your morning meeting, yes?”
“Sure, but that’s not until 9,” Mat said.
Akerman frowned at him. “Son, I appreciate your dedication to the job, but you don’t have to play nonchalant here. Anything you do this morning I’ll have to double-check anyway, because I know where your mind is, and it’s not on the work. And there’s no point in me telling you to relax, because you won’t.
“You know what? I’m saying it anyway. Relax, son. Gammalock wants to see you for his own reasons. You won’t know what they are going in, and you probably won’t know when you leave. So quit stressing. Take the next hour to relax. Take deep breaths or whatever you need to do.”
Mat opened his mouth to object, but Akerman forestalled him with a raised hand. “Don’t want to hear it. If you can’t bring yourself to relax, then go view the waves of his interviews again.”
That brought a guilty grin from Mat, and Akerman responded with a smile of his own. “I did the same thing when I got called in to see him, and I had almost a decade of experience on you. It’ll be fine.”
The next hour passed at a crawl, but finally it was time to travel to meet Gammalock. Mat walked out to the transport deck and found Raul standing there, leaning casually against a cement pillar. Raul looked calm and confident, and Mat felt a twinge of jealousy.
“Looking sharp, Mat!” Raul greeted him. “Lemme guess. You got up an hour early to obsess over your outfit like some kind of teenage girl?”
“Nonsense,” said Mat. “I got up half an hour early to obsess over my outfit. The other half-hour was to fix my hair.”
Raul laughed as the two climbed into an available pod. He input their destination and they both settled in for the short trip. Mat looked out the window for the launch, as he always did. It amazed him to see the world whip by while he sat motionless and nearly unaffected by the acceleration.
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