Cracked

Following the kitchen clear-up, Kim suggested Xavier go to his room and rest. Fortunately, obedience being firmly programmed into their guest, he mounted the stairs immediately. Shutting the door to the spare bedroom, he settled himself onto the comfortable bed. He tapped the node behind his ear and once connected, repeated the reference ex-vee-huff-din to begin his report.

Downstairs, Joe was bringing Kim up to date.

‘That other clone, Emma, is apparently not that far away. Jean-Claude said the people who ordered her were so uneasy when they realised she was a conscious entity, they sealed her up back up in the box.’

‘How does he know that?’

‘Seems she’s communicating with him. I was forgetting they could do that.’ Joe scratched his head, thinking.

‘Who can do what?’

‘Communicate independently. Remember, yesterday, we walked in on Xavier chatting on your phone? When we asked him how J-C knew to call us, he said he had let him know where he was. And he’d already reported we’d given him food and some clothes, hadn’t he? I’m beginning to think this situation’s not all it’s cracked up to be.’