It started off just like any other weekday night. I had just finished my shift at the shop and was sitting at the lonely bus stop, waiting. Most nights there was no one else there but me. It was rare to encounter another person this late and when I did find someone else there, it was usually on a Friday night, the usual drunks who were going home after a night of drinking.
However, that night, it was different. As I approached the bus stop I saw a man sitting there. This was strange, but nothing improbable. But as I approached the stop and got a look of the man, there was something about him that radiated a sense of foreboding. I wasn’t sure what it was, but he felt different, as if he didn’t belong.
Giving him a quick study, I tried to figure out if he posed any danger, but it didn’t seem like he was any threat. Hunched forward and sitting with both hands tightly clasped, he held a stressed expression on his face, as his eyes stared forward at the empty street in front of him. Based on this initial observation, I assumed that he must have had a rough day. Probably a bad day at work, I had assumed. Because of that, I did my best not to disturb the poor guy as I sat on the opposite side of the bench.
For a moment I felt sorry for judging him so badly at first. He was just a guy having a bad day, that’s why he was giving off the bad vibes. However, deep inside me, something was telling me that there was something more to that. He felt off, misplaced.
I was busy debating in my head, trying to convince myself that I was overreacting, when he suddenly spoke.
“You know, the government clones the Earth.” He said, in a low tired voice.
This caught me by surprise and confused me. Cloned the Earth? What did he mean by that? For a second, I was tempted to leave right there and then. However, I decided to keep my composure. If this man was crazy, then suddenly running away might trigger him to do something rash that may result in me getting hurt. Then again, staying may have also been a bad idea, so I readied myself to sprint away at the very first sign of danger.
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying to sound calm.
“They clone it.” He simply said, still staring forward, hands still clasped. “They clone everything. The planet, the plants, the buildings, the animals, and even the humans. They clone it all. Well, maybe not everything. They still have to make sure that they don’t clone the artifacts and technology responsible for the process, as well as the people working on it, so that we won’t have a situation where clones are making clones.”
“Okay…” I said cautiously, finding everything he was saying to be completely ridiculous. But seeing no immediate danger from him, I decided to continue the conversation. “So the government is just casually cloning the Earth, without anyone knowing about it or seeing any of these clones up there?” With that I gestured up at the night sky.
His response came quickly, as if he was expecting me to ask that.
“It’s a closely guarded secret under a classified department in the government. It’s buried deep within the institution, with layers and layers of cover ups and security. It’s known only to a few public officials and to those who work in the department. As for the clones…well they’re not hard to hide when you can put each clone in their own small universe, away from the far seeing gaze of most of humanity.”
I simply nodded at this. Although I still didn’t believe his crazy story, I decided to continue and amuse him, as long as he continues to act as calmly as he is now.
“So, the government clones the Earth. Okay. But why?”
“To experiment on them of course!” He said, as he suddenly turned towards me, revealing his wide bloodshot eyes. I was taken aback by this, but remained seated, not wanting to do anything drastic that might set him off. “Sure, computer simulations can predict how humans or the environment would react to this or that situation, but nothing beats the real thing. Besides, from what I was told, the use of some kind of ancient artifact from the stars makes the cloning process much cheaper than one would think. So the government uses these clones to conduct experiments. From testing the spread of new viruses to seeing how wars would go, they change and manipulate the environments and societies of these Earths as if they were ants in an ant farm.”
At that point he sighed and sat back. Looking up at the night sky he then shook his head.
“But not all clones are perfect, they rarely are. Glitches would often occur in the process and the clones would come out wrong and vastly different from the original. These differences could be minor, salt is sweet and sugar is salty or there are no green leaves only indigo ones. However, they can also be major, like the atmosphere being so hot that they can cook everyone alive or one where every living being’s shadow is some kind of sentient entity and is constantly trying to kill them.”
That last one brought a chill to my spine. Despite the fact that what he was saying was completely insane, the tone in his voice and the deadpan expression on his face whispered to me, as if it was telling me to believe him.
Letting me ingest all that he said, the man remained silent as he continued staring at the sky. For a moment we remained like that. Sitting there and staring at the man, I debated if I should walk away now. It would have been the perfect moment to do so, while his attention was away from me.
However, instead of leaving, I remained there, sitting and waiting.
Giving a quick look towards the road, I tried to check if there was any sign of the bus. There was none. Checking my watch I realized that I would be stuck with him for a few more minutes. Giving a sigh, I shook my head and studied this strange man.
My caution towards him was still there. Clearly he was a mad man and there was no saying what he could do next. But, so far, he seemed tamed enough and at the time I thought his ramblings were quite entertaining. I thought that I could just sit down and listen to this man until the bus arrived. A good way to pass the time. Besides, if he did try to attack, I still believed that I would be able to quickly jump up and run away from him. So I stayed.
Sitting there, we remained there in a few more seconds of silence before the question circling in my head finally came out.
“If this Earth cloning business is such a secret, how come you know all about this? You seem to know a lot about it.”
“Because I work for the government.” He said.
“You work for the government?” I repeated, as he stopped gazing up at the sky and turned towards me.
“Yes. I can’t say I applied for it, I don’t think anyone applies for that department. Instead, they find you, if they think you meet the requirements. Somehow they thought I was qualified for certain tasks they needed, so I got recruited.
“So you clone the Earth then?” I questioned, trying not to roll my eyes at how ridiculous that sounded.
“No.” He said with a shake of his head. “I’m not smart enough for that. I’m a reconnaissance officer. Me and a hundred others have been trained to visit the clones, inspect them, and, after a month of initial assessments, we present a verdict on whether they are suitable for experimentation or not. Basically, we’re there to make sure that there are no anomalies in the clone’s were assigned to check.”
“So you check the Earth clones and make sure they’re similar to the original?” I asked.
“Not just similar.” He corrected me. “They must be perfectly exact. Sure, minor changes may not seem to be a big deal, but if you want to run experiments to see how the Earth and everything in it will react, then the clone must be a perfect match. For example, a world where pigs don’t exist may seem minor at first, but when the science boys want to test the effects of swine based viruses, then that’s going to be a problem. One small change can affect everything. Basically, the butterfly effect.”
I nodded at this. Despite him losing his sense of reality, this fictional world he created at least followed some kind of logic.
“I had so many clones erased over details seemingly so small and insignificant.” He said, looking away as if ashamed.
“Wait, erased? How does one simply erase a world?” I asked.
“Yes, erased.” He said. “There’s no use for a world that can’t be experimented on, so they get erased. But it’s not a simple task. After I mark a clone for erasure, the department would send a team that would begin the process. The clean-up crew, as I like to call them. First they would wipe every living creature on the planet, every single one. That’s a quick process, only takes a few minutes. Then, once all life is gone, they would begin to harvest the planet for any useful resources. They somehow still got to get their investment back after all. The last part usually takes around a year or so, but in the end we are left with a ravaged, hollow, and empty planet drifting in a void that would never again be visited by any living creature.”
I slowly nodded at this, feeling a sense of dread at the idea, before calming down as I remembered that none of that was true.
“So what happens to those clones that pass?” I then inquired.
“Well, I mark them as qualified, then the department sends in the research teams. I then pass on my data to these research teams, who would then conduct a year long study of the clone, to ensure that everything there was indeed a complete copy of Earth with no irregularities.”
“Wait, if there are research teams, then why not just send them to conduct the initial assessment? Would that save some time?” I asked, finding myself deeply involved over something so ridiculous.
“Because seven out of ten clones are imperfect.” He stated. “It would be a waste of resources to send research teams to every single clone, only for them to immediately find an obvious issue on it. It would be better to have the research teams go to those that seem qualified. So I’m a scout, there to pick the good clones and order the termination of the bad ones.”
“So you’re like a god then? You have the ability to choose which worlds live and which worlds die.” I stated, unable to hold back a chuckle at the thought that I just compared this delusional man to a god.
“No.” He said, shaking his head, as his voice revealed a hint of sadness. “I’m no god. A god would not feel so much guilt over the worlds he’s destroyed.”
He then turned away from me and hunched forward once more. Opening his arms, he stared at his palms, keeping his eyes fixated on them.
“Sometimes I wish that I didn’t report the minor inconsistencies. Sometimes I thought of letting it slide, so that billions of people may live. But I knew I couldn’t, it would do nothing but get in trouble, since the research teams would eventually find out.”
At that point, I didn’t know what to say. He was devastated, it was obvious, but how could I have comforted a man who was devastated over loss of something that never even existed?
“It’s okay, you were just doing your job.” I said, in an attempt to calm him down.
However, he just shook his head, as he spoke with frustration in his voice.
“You don’t believe me.”
“I believe you.” I quickly said, as I felt my heart beat faster in panic. He was getting agitated and I began to prepare myself. I thought that it was now the perfect time to leave.
Deciding not to waste another second, I started getting up. But, before I could, I suddenly felt his arm block me. Now in full panic, I was about to push his hand away, when he used his strength to push me back against the bench.
Shocked and frightened, I turned my head towards him, wondering what he was going to do with me. Staring at me with his bloodshot eyes, I saw an expression of determination on his face.
“You don’t believe me, but I’ll make you believe.” He said, as I tried to push against his strength.
Realizing that I won’t be able to escape unless I knocked him out, I prepared to give him a punch on the face. However, before I could do so, he suddenly grabbed my arm and pulled it towards him. He was way stronger than I expected, so I was unable to stop him when he placed some kind of bracelet on me.
“This might sting a bit.” He said, before letting my arm go, freeing me. Seeing this as an opportunity, I quickly got up and started running away. I knew that I needed to get as far away as possible from him, so I wasted no time turning back to see what he was doing. But I was only able to get a few steps away when a sudden pain erupted from my wrist, right where he placed the bracelet. I tried to ignore it and did my best to continue running, but then the pain spreaded and engulfed my whole body. This forced me to drop to my knees and before I could comprehend what was going on I blacked out.
When I opened my eyes I realized I was laying down on the sidewalk. Quickly, I sat up and looked around, confused and scared. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but clearly it was still night. Looking around, I examined my surroundings and felt my heart drop when I saw that the man was still there.
Sitting on the bench, he stared at me with an expressionless look on his face. Feeling my heart race again, I tried my best to get up. But my body was in so much pain, while my head spun around like crazy, making it nearly impossible to get on my legs.
“What did you do to me?” I asked, both fear and anger in my voice.
“I brought you to one of the worlds I scouted out. One of those that failed, this one due to creatures that plagued the world at night.” He said calmly.
I shook my head at this. “Listen, man, I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I’m not playing along with your fantasy. You’re delusional and you need help. Just leave me alone!”
He said nothing in response. Instead, he simply stared at me.
Letting out a growl of frustration I slowly tried to gain the strength to get up. Eventually, through sheer will, I managed to stand, although a bit wobbly. Taking a step forward, I still felt intense pain all over my body. But I ignored the pain and started walking away, cursing myself that I couldn’t go faster.
However, as I tried to walk away from the strange man, I noticed something ahead of me. At first I felt relieved. I thought it was another person, someone who could help me against the deranged man behind me. But as I walked closer toward the figure, I noticed something strange.
The person in front of me had abnormally long legs. Studying the person, it looked like his legs were ten feet long. In fact, it seemed like they were mostly legs, with only a short torso. At first I thought it was the pain that was making me see things, but as it got closer towards me, I knew my eyes were not lying. Right in front of me was not a person. No, it was no human. It was a strange creature, with long legs, long arms, and a wide mouth with sharp needle-like teeth. It was a creature of nightmares and it was coming towards me.
Taking large steps and quickly closing the distance towards me, it approached with what seemed like hostile intent, as it raised its pole-like arms and waved it forward towards me. Terrified, I began backing up, realizing that the delusional man behind me was a safer option than the terrible creature ahead.
However, despite my efforts, I couldn’t move fast enough. In what seemed like a blink of an eye, the creature was soon only a few feet ahead of me. For a moment I thought that was it. It seemed like it was the end for me. Closing my eyes, I held them shut tight, waiting for the inevitable.
Then I felt the pain. But, it wasn’t the pain I was expecting. No, it was coming from my wrist. Just like the one I felt earlier. Before I could open my eyes to check what was going, my whole body was engulfed with a familiar painful sensation before passing out again.
When I opened my eyes I was laying on the sidewalk again, body extremely sore from the pain it has been subjected to. Sitting up, I groaned in pain, as I did my best to look around me. Remembering what happened earlier, I felt my heart race, trying to find the strange creature that was about to attack me earlier.
But before I could strain my pained neck any further, a familiar voice called from behind me.
“Don’t worry, we’re back.” The voice said, as I heard heavy footsteps behind me. I tried to turn my head to look behind me, but the pain was too much and I quickly gave up. Soon enough, the delusional man approached from behind and moved towards my front.
For a moment we stared at one another, saying no word. I didn’t trust him. In fact, I was scared of him. But I was helpless. My body was in too much pain to do anything.
“The pain will wear off after a few minutes. It always hurts a lot after jumping universes. Even more after two jumps that are back to back.” He said, before offering his hand.
“Yea and how come you’re not on the ground in pain?” I asked, staring at his hand before reluctantly accepting it. It’s not like I can do anything else with the state my body was in.
“I’m used to it.” He said, as he pulled me up and supported me once I was on my legs. “Years of doing this has made me accustomed to jumps.”
“Well lucky you.” I muttered, as he guided me back to the bench.
After that we were quiet again. Once we were in front of the bench, he slowly lowered me on it, before gently taking my arm and removing the bracelet he placed on my wrist. As he was doing this, I couldn’t help but wonder about something.
“Why?” I asked, as he finally got the bracelet off.
“Why what?” He said, as he stood there in front of me.
“Why did you tell me about this?” I said, as I wondered why out of all the people I was chosen. Was it just a mere coincidence that I just so happen to have encountered him?
He gave me a somber look in response.
“Out there, in another universe, I made a promise. In one of the Earth clones I was scouting, you became my friend. When that world turned out to be a failure, I broke protocol and told you. You were angry at first, which was expected. But then you did something unexpected, you asked me to do something for you, for all versions of you. You asked me to never let any version of you be clueless to the truth. So I made sure to do my best to honor that. Whenever I’m assigned to scout a new clone, I come and find you and make sure to tell you the truth.”
Before I could say anything he backed away from me, pressing a bracelet he had on his wrist.
“I’m sorry, but your Earth failed. The clean-up crew will arrive a few weeks from now. Make the most of your time.”
With that he disappeared, leaving me alone at the bus stop.