The Apocalypse Contract

CHAPTER 41 - SAMANTHA

Samantha awoke to a brilliant night sky. Stars spilled across the canvas of night in a stunning riot of light and color. They seemed so close, she wondered for a moment if she had died and ascended to heaven. She half expected to hear the voice of God.

"If you persist in eating all the biscuits, you can jolly well fetch the next tray yourself."

God had an English accent. And spoke in non sequiturs. Samantha found herself questioning her theological assumptions.

"Oh look, I think she's waking up," another voice announced. This one sounded American and familiar.

Samantha pushed herself to a sitting position. "Sydney, is that you?" She experienced a sudden sense of deja vu.

"I'm telling you, that's my cable installer." It sounded like Sydney again, but different in some subtle way. "I don't know why aliens would abduct my cable installer, but I really think that is her."

Samantha focused on the source of the voices. Three people clustered around a glowing table. One was an unfamiliar fellow in a tweed sportcoat. The other two were Sydney. Different, but both Sydney. "I was sure this day couldn't get any more weird." She squeezed her eyes shut, counted to three and opened them again. Still two Sydneys. One looked mostly how she remembered her but wearing a cosplay Star Trek uniform. The other wore something like a black toga and sported feathers in her hair.

"Uh, sorry," " Star Trek Sydney responded, "I'm not sure I remember your name. Sandra? Sabrina?"

"Samantha. We met a few weeks ago."

"Yeah... not so much, Toga Sydney replied, "it was actually a few years."

"You said that earlier. Only that wasn't you, was it?"

Toga Sydney shook her head. "No. That would have been Adra. She was my fragment. I made her."

"She saved us, but then she said she couldn't come with us." Samantha looked around the massive, star lit room. Peter was snoring on the floor next to her, but there was no punk rock version of Sydney.

Toga Sydney frowned. "She sacrificed herself. You can't copy an active mind over a low bandwidth tether. You have to basically knock a person out and transfer them while they sleep. She had to stay awake to manage the file transfer and defend you while the ship escaped."

Peter snorted, then bolted upright. "Aliens!" He spun around, taking in the strange room. His eyes landed on the three people near the glowing table. "What the..."

"Hi Peter," both Sydneys greeted him.

"Sydney?" His eyes bounced from one woman to the other.

"Over here." Star Trek Sydney raised her hand. "And that is my sister Mel." Toga Sydney waved.

"Sister." Peter's eyes wandered around the chamber, eventually landing back on Sydney and Mel. "You never told me you had a sister."

"I didn't used to. It's... complicated."

"Complicated." Samantha resisted the urge to burst into uncontrolled laughter. "Try completely absurd. Nothing about any of this makes any sense."

"I've been exactly where you are," the English gentleman offered, "and I understand how confusing this all must be. Would you like some tea?"

"Tea...sure... why not." She took the offered cup and marveled that her hand was not shaking. "And your name is?"

"Oh good heavens how rude of me. Professor Roger Edward Heathcliff Pritchard, at your service." He executed a slight bow as he said it.