A Story By Sandie May Joyce
As I turned around and walked further down the street, I realized the crowd around me was becoming larger and larger. This small town had suddenly become very busy in a short space of time. I walked into a restaurant and found a table by the door. I ordered sausages and eggs for breakfast. It tasted a little different today than yesterday, although at the moment, I couldn't recall exactly what I ate for breakfast yesterday.
Why can't I remember anything, I thought to myself. Do I have amnesia? Have I hit my head or something? I pinched myself...hard. It hurt, so I knew I wasn�t dreaming. But why was my memory so fragmented?
"Sandie! Oh Sandie! I'm so glad I've found you."
When I turned to look, I saw a little Chinese woman with short hair standing by the counter and gesturing to me to come closer. I did as she bid, since she seemed to know me.
" I've been looking for you all morning," she said to me.
"Yes? Are you talking to me?" I asked, somewhat puzzled by her familiarity.
"Yes, of course! What's the matter with you, girl? Don't you know your own mother?"
Oh yes, she's my mother, I remember it now. I met her this morning as I was coming out of the house. What's the matter with me, I thought warily? Why can't I seem to remember anything?
"Jerry has left home again and everyone is looking for him," she said disgustingly. "Wendy has been crying all night long. I'm going over to her house today to see if I can help. Will you come along too? I'll need your help."
"Why...?" I stammered, and then thought better of it. She would wonder why I was so reluctant to accompany her. "Yes of course. But does anyone know where Jerry could be?" I asked, wondering who the hell Jerry was.
"No, all anyone knows is that he went with a whole bunch of people down to the crop field last night and hasn't returned since. Have you seen the circles on the crop field this morning?"
"No, I haven't seen them. What do they look like?" I asked.
"Well, if you walk up to the top of the hill you can see the whole design; it's two big circles with one tiny circle in between. All three circles are linked together with a key-like rod. And as usual, no one knows how they got there. Some people are saying the aliens did it."
"Aliens? Are you sure? Now I really have to go and see." I said eagerly.
I got up to pay my bill. Now...how much was it? The sign on the cash register read $2.99, so I paid $3.50, hoping it would include the tip for the waitress and any tax.
I followed this short Chinese woman, who said she was my mother, and together we walked up the hill. When we arrived, we saw a large crowd of people: reporters, cameramen, policemen and an assortment of the people from the village. They all seemed to be here for one purpose - to see the big circles on the field below the hill.
I looked down to where everyone was pointing. From this vantage point, I could see they were in their usual key-like pattern, and I wondered why everyone thought they were strange.
When I looked up to scan the crowd that had gathered, I saw the strangest thing. Directly across from me was someone who looked exactly like me: same features, same clothing. She looked at me with wide eyes. Then, not so far from me, to my left, there was another me, and to her left, another! So there were three people who looked exactly like me!
"Devils!" the one across us screamed. "Devils! What are you doing here? How dare you come to this place and intrude on my turf. I was here first."
She then took out her phaser and fired a beam of energy at me and the others. I felt a vibration run through my body and then...nothing.
When the police officers tried to stop the woman, she fired a burst, and they too, had all disappeared into puffs of smoke. Another police officer tried to approach from the rear. She caught his movement and turned and fired at him; the officer and the car disappeared instantly. When the TV cameraman tried to flee, he too disappeared along with his camera equipment.
The rest of the people managed to escape, but it didn't seem to matter to the woman.
She put her phaser away and gave a triumphant smile.
The Chinese woman stepped up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Good work, Sandie, good work! You've disposed of all of them. Now we just can�t let these clones roam all over town. They aren't supposed to reproduce us unless it's necessary. We were here first, and no one is supposed to come and take our places unless we decide to go back."
Sandie stood there with a triumphant look on her face. She had just disposed of three more clones of herself. Once again, the Space Federation had unsuccessfully sent the "Clones" to earth to force Sandie and her mother to leave. For years the Federation had been trying to get them to respond to their summons to return. It would do them no good. Sandie and her mother had been on earth for too long. They had no desire to return to the restrictions of their old world.
Copyright (c) Sandie Angel
February 2005