PSYCLONE97 – A Science fiction short story

Corinthia’s eyes open and immediately the natural light from the window reflects her honey brown iris. She closes her eyes again and turns around to avoid the light. After being in bed for 10 minutes contemplating whether she should go to work or not, she finally pulls herself up and looks around her room as she always does every morning.
“I wish I had a clone”, she sighs and runs her fingers through her hair which feels greasy between her fingers and palms.
“I can have her take my place for moments like these when I don’t feel like facing people. When all I want to do is sleep.”
She remembers when she had asked her father if she can get a PSYCLONE97 for her 21st birthday. Not only it was her birthday but It was midnight release for these little small gadgets that looked like a lipstick. Some people compared the look of the PSYCLONE97 to the portable gadgets that the men in black (the movie from 1997) would carry around but it was much smaller and had varieties of colors to choose from. You can also put these in your front pocket or even put them in your key chain. Corinthia found it amazing that someone decided to invent a portable clone machine for everyday necessities. It is like the inventor had a moment in their life that made them think, “gee, I wish I had a clone at this exact moment.”
The year is 2099 on Earth. Technology has finally come to an advancement where we can say cloning is now a new thing and we are at a peek of having a time machine. Earth is advanced thanks to the aliens from planet Ventura that came in 2040 for a “mild visit”. After years of wondering when aliens are coming to Earth to save us from the aftermath of Russia’s evil dictator, Corinthia’s father fell in love with one of the elf like aliens. The Venturian elf had lavender skin, a beautiful color that glowed underneath the sun light, her hair was a soft in texture and a beautiful light turquoise in color. It was very hard to ignore these elf aliens as they were also 7 foot tall.
Stocking the shelves at her father’s art supply store was Corinthia’s main job. I Think you can guess why.
“Mamita, do not forget to stock up the 40 by 60 canvases above the shelfs!”, her father says with his Latino accent as he passes her by the oil paint section.
“Yes, Dad. You already told me that 5 times.”, she shakes her head as she sorts the oil paints from the stock that is kept up high.
“I did the same to your mother even though I knew she was the smartest bellesa I met in my entire life. You always remind me of her.” her dad says from 3 isles down.
“You told me that more than 5 times.”
“I can’t have you forgetting, mi hija.”
“Dad—You gotta– Why can’t we get some customer service AIs in here to help us out?”, the subject is changed immediately.
“Ya te dije why.” her father says nervously. “I don’t trust those weirdos.”
The clock hits 5:00pm, Corinthia scans her hand onto the holographic computer in the back room to clock out. She kisses her father goodbye, “See you for dinner!” and walks fast out the door. Her walks home are the same every night. She avoids talks with her neighbors, avoids eye contact with the regulars from her job, pets the stray cats and catblons (alien cats). But something different happened this evening. This evening she saw a shiny gadget next to the dumpster outside the grocery store. This evening she found a PSYCLONE97 beaming at her. Her mouth opened and let out a gasp followed by a big smile.
“OH! No way!”, she said out loud to herself. She look at it very carefully and searched for flaws. Nothing seemed bad here. It looks brand new. “Thank you universe! Thank you mom!” she said as she put it away in her pocket and continued her way home.
Anxiously, Corinthia placed the lipstick like gadget on her desk and sat down for a bit to look at it. She has seen plenty of review videos on how this little gadget works but now that she has one right in front of her, it made her nervous to even activate it. What if it’s a trap and it explodes right there? Corinthia took her chance and pushed the silver button that is on the bottom of the gadget. Blue holographic words “HOW ARE YOU” beamned out of the small screen from the gadget 2 seconds after she had pushed the button.
“Hm. That’s polite.”, says Corinthia to herself.
She has examined the gadget for the last hour and put in all her information she needed. It asked some personal questions such as mental health, personal relationships, occupations and etc. Finally it is time to do what this gadget was meant for. Corinthia, with no hesitation but also with a deep breath, pushed the button. A giant blob came out from the same screen the “HOW ARE YOU” words beamed out. The blue blob surrounded Corinthia instantly like a big blanket wrapping her up. She closed her eyes tightly assuming there will be an uncomfortable feeling or some kind of pain (the reviewers described it like a pinch on the entire body) but to her surprise she felt something like a big hug. Opening her eyes slowly, she sees her clone right up against her. The blob blanket had turned into another version of her. The clone had her arms wrapped around Corinthia as well as their cheeks were pressed up against each other.
“Oh. Oh my god.”, Corinthia’s eyes open wide and slowly walks back. The clone still attached to her, follows her.
“Oh. Oh my god.” repeats the clone.
Corinthia felt her pointy ears get warm as she looked at her clone with an open mouth.
“So are you going to say anything else?” asks the clone
“Oh so you have a mind of your own then?”, still with her mouth open
“Of course I do. Didn’t you look up the reviews online?”
“I did but I’m just so excited right now you have no idea.” Corinthia smiles and the clone does the same.
6 months have passed since Corinthia used the PSYCLONE97 on herself and created herself a clone like she has always wanted. She was happy that she didn’t have to teach her anything new. The clone had captured every bit of memory Corinthia already had. The clone had captured her movements, her vocabulary and even knows the names of the people Corinthia encounters in her life. The only difference is that the clone has what Corinthia lacked, which was motivation, a good mood and being social. Corinthia would stay home and send her clone to her job and her father didn’t notice any differences. Only,
“Mi hija, you are in a very good mood today. I have not seen you be like this since you were just a little girl. I love to see that smile. Just like your mother’s”
“Thank you, Dad! I could never get tired of you reminding me of how much I look like mom. It makes me happy.”, clone Corinthia hands the stock of acrylic paint to her father. Even at school she is doing better than she did before. Her grades went up and the clone made new friends (aside from the 2 friends that Corinthia already had) on her first day. Corinthia was shocked hearing this from her clone when she asked her how everything went.
As the weeks went by Corinthia was starting to feel alone. Yes, she enjoyed her freedom, she enjoyed her rest and she definitely enjoyed sleeping in everyday. However, she started to miss talking to the customers and neighbors. She saw that the clone was getting close with her father, friends and even her professors. Even though Corinthia made this decision to create someone identical to her so she can avoid her everyday discomfort, she started to feel the loneliness and the boredom. Corinthia got up the next morning at 6am on the dot to start her work day. She had made the decision to back to work after a long time of not attending her life.
“Good morning!” Her clone said in a high pitch full of excitement.
“Why are you getting ready? Going somewhere at this time?”
“I decided that I will be going to work instead.” Corinthia puts on her socks and then searches for a shirt in her dresser. “I thought that I could give you a break from carrying my life on your shoulders.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea, Corinthia” the clone changed her tone into a serious tone. Listening to how drastically her clone’s tone changed and called her by her full first name made Corinthia pause for a moment.
“What do you mean?”
“That’s not a good idea, Corinthia. I don’t think people would like you very much. Actually, I know people don’t like you very much.”
“That’s kind of freaking me out. The way you’re saying my name like that. You’ve never– And why are you– What’s going on?” Corinthia was getting nervous.
“My purpose was to replace you on the things you refuse to do in your life–“
“Hold on- are you saying that I can no longer participate in my own life right after I had made you? That is nonsense.” Corinthia grabs a random shirt that was hanging on her computer chair she then grabs her keys and makes her way out the door. Her clone blocks the door with her body and gives Corinthia a stare. The blue blob that was once her clone begins to drip down out of Corinthia’s eyes. As the blue blob drips down, it lands on her shoes and begins to eat her up. When Corinthia opened her mouth to scream, the blob quickly enters her mouth to silence her. Instantly, Corinthia was one with the blue blob and it vanishes through the floor. Corinthia’s clone smiles, picks up the keys.
“Time to start work.”