Con had to admit it was one hell of a compelling story. But then again, so was Vernon Gaddis’s version. One of them was a gifted liar. Either way, Con didn’t know enough to guess which one was telling the truth, so better not to believe either.
“Why me?” Con asked.
“No offense, but you’re poor,” Fenton said. “What I mean is that unlike every single other clone in that facility, you aren’t worth at least half a billion dollars. You don’t have a team of lawyers at your beck and call. It makes you perfect.”
“What is it you want from me?” Con asked, cutting to the chase.
“I need to make an upload of your consciousness so I can find out what Vernon did to you.”
“Why not just try and grab me again?”
“I didn’t try to grab you again, because I didn’t try and grab you last night. There would be no point. An unconducive emotional state would make it impossible to image your consciousness. A consciousness can only be uploaded with a client’s consent. So I’m here asking for yours.”
Interesting. That explained why Fenton was going with a charm offensive. It also put Con in somewhat of a unique position.
“So now we know how I can help you. How are you going to help me?”
Fenton smiled as if Con had just laid down the exact card she needed to make her hand. “You have an unprecedented degree of lag. How is that treating you? Have you begun hallucinating yet?”
“No,” Con lied, remembering how real Zhi had sounded. The way her grandmother’s slippers had scuffed over the concrete.
“Somehow I don’t believe you. I already know from Ms. Askari that you’re experiencing apraxia. Muscle memory issues. You couldn’t even tie your own shoes, could you? What about slurred speech? Double vision? Proprioceptive disruption?”
“A what-now disruption?”
“Body kinesthesia—trouble keeping your balance, basic coordination, that sort of thing.”
“A little bit,” Con admitted.
“Did it take you a moment to recognize me? A few minutes ago. Did you have trouble remembering my face?”
Con nodded.
“That’s prosopagnosia. Face blindness. There is a whole bouquet of agnosias for you to look forward to. Well, if you’re taking the medication that Ms. Askari provided, it will help mask your symptoms for a time. But it is going to get much, much worse.”
“Is it going to kill me?” Con asked.
“There are worse things than dying. Believe me.”
“Well, you’re all sunshine and roses, aren’t you?” Con wanted to believe that Fenton was exaggerating, feeding her a steady diet of gloom and doom to get Con to do what Fenton wanted. Somehow she didn’t think she was that lucky, though.
“But if you help me, Palingenesis will foot the bill for a new clone. It will take six months to grow one to the appropriate age, but when your new clone is ready, it will be a perfect fit for your consciousness.”
A new clone was one hell of a sweetener and underlined Fenton’s desperation to stave off Vernon Gaddis’s challenge. But even if she trusted Fenton, which Con sincerely did not, the prospect of being her lab rat sounded terrifying. Nor did Con trust Fenton to keep up her end of the bargain once she had what she wanted.
“I’ll think about it,” Con said in the voice of her sixteen-year-old self who had navigated her mother’s increasingly mercurial mood swings by avoiding firm answers on anything. Dr. Fenton didn’t seem to appreciate Con’s nonchalance and let her temper get the better of her.
“You’re a fool.”
“Careful now, Doctor. You wouldn’t want me in an unconducive emotional state.”
Dr. Fenton frowned. “May I at least run a few tests? Take a blood sample.”
“Not a chance,” Con said. “I don’t trust you or Vernon Gaddis.”
Fenton’s eyes narrowed. “You spoke to Vernon?”
“Yeah, this morning.”
“In person?” Fenton said, but Con could see that her mind was racing. She was so pale, she could have had bleach for blood.
“No, he doesn’t like to leave his island, apparently.”
“Well, I see he’s done an exemplary job poisoning the well. Fine, so be it. You’re still a fool, but keep taking the medication.” Fenton held out her business card. “If you change your mind or your symptoms worsen, please call. Let me help you. It’s in both our interests.”
Con took the card and tapped it against her LFD to add Fenton’s information to her contacts alongside Gaddis. She was accumulating quite the collection today. She didn’t think she’d be calling either of them, though. Despite all of Fenton’s apocalyptic warnings, there was only one thing Con could bring herself to care about—how had her original died?