Reconciling: Web Surfer 4.0: Web Surfer Series, #4

By Andrea J. Graham

Malcolm embraces his true identity, Malachi "Kai" Gabrielson, and reconnects with his brother Elisha through King Sander. Now Kai and his friend Justin must get their team back together to defend Digital Earth from a real threat. Xanubis, the Jackals' king, seeks to add their planet to his empire, when Xanubis has earned a gruesome, violent reputation. Justin and Kai's first hurdle is convincing Alex-Sander, Chance, and Elisha to empower and equip them to defend their home rather than raise the planetary shield that had blocked out even King Sander. Meanwhile, Justin exposes Sander's darkest secrets and this destabilizes him to a point where everything is at risk.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reignburst Books
• Release date: Jan 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393918073

Andrea J. Graham

Andrea Graham studied creative writing and religion at Ashland University, has been envisioning fantastic worlds since age six, and has been writing science fiction novels since she was fourteen. Bear Publications released her book, Avatars of Web Surfer, which she wrote with three co-authors. She is the wife of author Adam Graham and edits his novels, including Tales of the Dim Knight and Slime Incorporated. Her own publishing imprint, Reignburst Books, released the Web Surfer Series and the Life After Mars Series. Find her as an author at christsglory.com and as an editor at povbootcamp.com. Andrea and Adam live with their dog, Rocky, and their cat, Bullwinkle, in Boise, Idaho. They're adopting their first child.

Book preview

Episode 1

There has to be a way to reach my fraternal twin. Kai Gabrielson, AKA Malcolm Fowler, sat on the couch in the den he slept in. He glanced to his smartwatch. Its screen gave the date as 9/21/1996 and the time as 9:53 PM. Kai held down the green button like an intercom. Is there anyone I can appeal a dispute to available on this line?

Gah, brothers! Sander sat up in the den’s recliner. He wore his army books with his new royal blue wetsuit with tasteful silver and yellow accents. He glowered at the stairs. Don’t you dare, Chance.

A guy who looked thirty-something jogged down the stairs in jeans with threadbare knees and an orange Boise State Broncos jersey. Chance had slate blue eyes and a rusty, spiky flattop. Bro, I do dare to enter my own den. He glanced to Kai with a look about him of a fan boy struggling to be cool around his favorite celebrity. The original show’s ‘home base’ set is tied up in red tape, so my brother moved you to a replica of my place.

Kai asked, Am I guessing right that you watched the original series as a kid?

You were always one of my heroes. Chance shook Kai’s hand, grinning. I’m the Chief Science Officer at Nimbus Rider Incorporated. As a user, Sander is our media division’s top-level executive and like me he reports directly to the CEO. As AIs, King Sander and I have an equal, three-way division of power with our CEO, so he needs to hear your appeal, too.

Sander asked, Did you tell him?

He’ll be here. Chance grinned at Kai crookedly just like his brother. The boss will agree with me and my bro that you visiting us is unwise. But the bro that you want to reunite with is the CEO of our corporation, so . . .

My brother is coming here? Kai pushed his bangs out of his eyes.

Don’t tell me that I planned this. King Sander’s crinkled eyes twinkled. I’ll humanly misremember saying that with a rather irritated, suspicious tone of voice and facial expression.

A forever young giant crept down the stairs, his hands shoved into the pockets of black jeans. His white tank top showed off a bodybuilder’s muscles.

Kai grinned. My brother’s build, extreme height, and square jaw make him look like he’s Superman. Cool. I must get my far less impressive height from the mother we must get our dark eyes and dark hair from. The rest of Eli’s features must’ve been inherited from our father.

Tears glistened in his fraternal twin’s eyes. I’d have been here sooner, but I was debating whether it’d be vain to come here in my authentic digital flesh. On Original Earth, I’m not so tall, not so beefy, and look my age. Would it bother you if I’m forty-six and a grandfather?

Does it bother you that, in four weeks, I’m turning sixteen for the third time?

That’s not your fault. Eli opened his arms, shaking like this was a big deal to him.

Kai rushed over and hugged the big guy shamelessly. Who am I?

Eli returned the bear hug. Kai, you are my brother, Malachi Isaiah Gabrielson.

Thank you. Now I know what to legally change my name to.

Kai, no. Eli backed away. I promised I wouldn’t interfere with your life here.

And what did I say this would do? King Sander laughed and shoved them both playfully. As an AI, it’s crystal clear to me the Gabrielson fraternal twins belong together. My human mind hasn’t seen that yet, so I need to go before my amnesia treatment backfires. He turned into a hologram and vanished into Kai’s watch.

Good luck explaining this to Alex tomorrow. Chance slugged Eli on the back in a brotherly manner, took the stairs, and disappeared through a glowing portal.

Uh-huh. All Alex is getting is reminded I’ve never tried to keep him from his bio-bro or hidden his bio-bro in plain sight. Eli clenched and unclenched his fists. Bro, your show was a childhood favorite. I’ve had to remind myself Malcome Taber is only a role that you’ve played.

Kai grunted. That used to be my name. Thanks for giving me back my true identity.

You’re welcome. I respect your desire to embrace it. Eli flopped on the couch. Mom and Dad are gone, so I’m your legal guardian back home. But it’s best you live here. I’ll leave the decision to change your name in this world between you, God, and your adoptive parents.

Fair enough, bro. Kai flopped into his orange recliner, his hands behind his head. I can’t imagine wanting to go home to stay, but it’d be nice to visit.

You’d endanger your health unless you teleported out of this universe. Well, or unless Sander or Chance altered this universe’s rate of time and/or your individual rate of time.

Then Chance has the same powers as Sander, but you don’t?

Eli shrugged. Sander the Web Surfer and Chance the Nimbus Rider are able to assist each other—and to check each other. Likewise, I have options available for checking them as a user, and I can arbitrate their disputes, but I’m not presently an admin as an AI. So I only have our ordinary AI abilities. Though, Sander’s disabled your AI abilities, including teleporting.

I could tell. Kai rolled his eyes. Being normal is so overrated.

Eli cleared his throat. I could circumvent his restrictions by taking you with me when I go home, but we’d give your adoptive parents a huge scare. I won’t do that.

Sighing, Kai lowered his hands. We’ll need to tell my folks the truth.

To keep this up, we need to think of something to tell them that’s honest and kind. Eli frowned. It’d devastate them to learn Robert got a false positive on your parentage test.

What if my baby sister is spying on us? Kai whirled around toward the stairs.

On the fourth step stood none other than Robert Fowler.

Kai’s adoptive dad was flushed, his brow furrowed, and his lips pursed. Son, I wasn’t spying. I was coming down to chat with you about Shaina, but then I noticed you had company and that you’re keeping a secret. On top of that, the secret involves a twenty-something, male stranger. He came over, glaring at Eli. That prank wasn’t at all funny.

Sorry, I should’ve introduced myself to you first. Eli stood and shook hands with Kai’s dad CEO-style. Mr. Fowler, I’m Elisha Micah Gabrielson Senior.

Kai snickered. How many young men shake hands like that?

Not many, but Dad had me trained to use good manners by my teens. Eli laughed. I do still occasionally forget.

How do you know my son? Kai’s dad asked.

Eli hesitated before he turned into a translucent ghost. First, I’m an inter-dimensional alien. So is your son. He and I met in our home reality, in our mother’s womb. When we were babies, he was kidnapped. He turned up here, still a teenager when I’m in my forties, despite my appearance. Kai was in stasis before he got planted in Cindy Taber’s womb with Nicholas, who likely is a clone of Kai. For our people, cloning is far easier than it was to recreate Kai here.

You can stop that. I believe you. Fowler glanced to Kai. You’re still my son.

Thanks, Dad. Kai hugged his dad. Why did you believe my true origins so readily?

You two look like full-blooded brothers, and I couldn’t have fathered him. Fowler grunted. Are you from the future of another reality’s Earth?

Eli nodded. How did you guess?

How could I ever get a false positive on a paternity test? My identical twin sister and I must’ve been engineered and planted here ourselves. I figure you and Malcolm must be my sister’s sons from an alternate reality where she was born at a time when medicine was more advanced. When she was born in this time period, we lost Sis to cancer at age twelve.

What? Growling, Eli shook his head. "My mom has a fraternal twin sister. According to my alien tech, you’re a clone of Mom, with your Y chromosome taken from Dad. The false positive came from only testing your Y chromosome. Ooh, just saw that no parentage test done here is thorough enough to exclude you. But my tech does exclude you as just a parental clone."

Well, that was tactless. Kai rushed, Dad, Eli says I can live here. But I want to keep in touch with him and our younger brother, Sander. Also, I’ll remain a Fowler, but I wish to legally change my first name. My late bio-parents named me Malachi Isaiah, Kai for short.

A tiny, pained smile curled his dad’s lips. If Clarice hadn’t insisted that I was out of line, I would’ve changed your first name to Malachi when you were three years old.

Whoa. Kai gaped. Talk about a sign from God.

Eli punched his shoulder playfully. Our dad named me, and our mom named you. He waved at Kai’s adopted dad. His tastes in names are simply this similar to Mom’s.

Cool. Kai grinned. Dad, will you help me explain my name change to Mom?

So long as we leave out the weird stuff. His dad laughed. He frowned. We’d also have to deal with Cindy.

Oh yeah, her. Kai groaned. When will I get used to you and Nicky’s mom legally having joint custody of him and me?

Would that you didn’t have to, but fighting further is too risky, given this news, and my alleged lack of cause to file a child abuse complaint against her. His dad grunted. Son, I’ll support you on getting people to call you whatever you like. But let’s not try to legally change your name a second time until after you’ve already stuck to living as a Malachi for a year.

KAI FOWLER CHECKED the time in the beige hallway outside the high school cafeteria. His smartwatch’s display was pretending it was a futuristic-looking, ordinary digital watch as it gave the date as Sunday 10/12/1997 and the time as 7:05 PM.

He glanced up at Shaina Ferrets, Justin Carpenter, and Dinah Strong. So I’m fashionably late to my own birthday party. Nothing wrong with that. The DJ isn’t even playing yet.

Imagine that. Waiting for the tardy birthday boy. Justin’s crooked grin and the twinkle in his slate blue eyes brought out a slight resemblance to Sander. Justin elbowed Kai. Did you remember what names to put on the cake?

Kai laughed and shoved his best friend. I still won’t let Cindy ‘help’ with such tasks, but I did trust my mom to do that for me this year.

Shaina said, Why risk it? Your mother and stepmother make me look happy that you’ve stuck with your ‘my name is Malachi’ kick long enough to claim your prize.

Kai shook his head. Unlike Cindy, you and Mom are truly trying. It’s time to trust Mom to get my name right on something this important.

Dinah giggled. Nick will appreciate you not being in charge of the cake. Otherwise, it might have wished ‘Kai and Malcolm’ a happy birthday.

Yeah. Justin snickered. I can’t blame the guy for drawing a line at his twin mistaking him for his twin.

I’ve already explained to you how I managed that. Kai’s cheeks warmed.

Justin winked. Kai, I know there’s an explanation for why you mixed up Nick with yourself, but that doesn’t make it any less hysterical.

Dawdling is only making us later, mister. Shaina tugged on Kai’s arm.

In a second, mother. Kai jabbed his finger at Justin. His eyes narrowed as he pointed to his watch. Has a mutual acquaintance of ours given you an early Christmas present?

Justin tapped his head. Someone’s thrown me a phone, but I’m still jealous that you get personal attention from our ‘mutual acquaintance.’ He always dodges me.

When do the girlfriends . . . Shaina glanced to Dinah and sighed. Not sure if Dinah feels entitled to be clued in, but sometimes I sense there’s something you think you can’t trust me with, Kai. That hurt enough without you apparently trusting Justin.

Shaina, I’m dying to share that part of my life with you. I just haven’t yet figured out the best way to go about it. You’ll need proof.

Of what? Shaina shook her head and rolled her eyes. They’re waiting for us.

Kai gulped. Fine, let’s go see the results.

What results? Dinah asked.

Shaina touched Kai’s hand. The results of letting his stepmom tell the bakery the birthday boys’ names. It’s a test of how successfully he’s pulled off his name change.

Dinah stepped closer to Justin as she asked Kai, What if the experiment fails?

It can’t fail. Kai shook his head. A party-sized cake that says, ‘Happy birthday Malcolm and Nicholas’ is a valid test result. Kai slipped his arm around Shaina. I wouldn’t like that test result, but Mom’s mistake would be solved by smearing Malcolm into just Mal.

Justin raised his hand. Have you decided to major in Biology or in Computer Science?

Ha, I’d sooner open a restaurant, and I don’t have to. Eli has helped me negotiate with Dad partnership terms that I like. I’ve decided to take Eli’s advice and major in business.

Dinah snorted. Justin was only teasing. You wouldn’t have roped a CEO into mentoring you if you weren’t eying that career choice.

What can I say? I’m a legacy. Kai sneaked a glance at the white sapphire on Shaina’s left ring finger. A legacy who will marry my girlfriend the day after she turns eighteen, if we keep moving the wedding closer to the date we’ve set to get engaged. I’m truthfully tempted to delay college and just work with Dad for a few years. He’s already teaching me a lot on the job.

The nearest cafeteria door banged open, and Nicholas Ferrets slammed out it. Nick now parted his dark hair on the extreme left, so it fell over the right half of his face. He also wore a silver loop earring in the hole that was in his left ear.

Frowning, Nick folded his arms. Kai, how did I know you four were standing around out here jabbering while everyone else is inside waiting on you?

Sorry. We’re coming. Kai led the way into the cafeteria. The round tables were covered with blue and black tablecloths. Matching streamers and a hand-painted Happy Seventeenth Birthday banner was taped to the dirty, darkened windows across the room.

The DJ near the mailboxes started playing a 1980s Foreigner song called I want to know what love is as Gem Crofton slunk over and latched onto Nicholas. I missed you.

I was only gone a minute. Nick let Gem lead him toward the portable dance floor.

Gag me. Kai tightened his jaw. Would that I could make Nicky understand why he should take Gem’s reputation seriously and stay away from her. I doubt she has the good intentions of Nicky. He’s a sincere born again virgin, but Gem, ever truly change? Yeah, right.

Half the junior class had turned out as well as all of his and Nick’s relations who lived locally. TJ Baine huddled at a table in the center of the room with two other football players and Gem’s cheerleader friends—Maureen Colbertwitz, Farah Price, and Amanda Jones.

Kai swallowed. Once, TJ would’ve come with me. Now he’s only showed up because Nicky is cool enough for TJ’s current crowd. Church is the only place the popular clique acts friendly toward my geek squad. TJ wouldn’t be tied to us at all anymore, if Justin had moved to Peru with his dad last winter. Instead, Justin got left behind with our old nanny, TJ’s mother.

Lord, help me not to be sore. Kai marched to the huge chocolate sheet cake on the rectangular food table by the closed, steel lunch line doors. The frosting roses were blue and two blue candles were pushed into the cake, a one and a seven.

The inscription read: Happy Birthday Nicholas and Malachi!

Yes! Kai hooted, pumping his left arm. Best birthday ever!

Congratulations, Kai! The voice was old but definitely Eli’s.

Thanks, Eli! Kai shouted over the music as he spun. The athletic, graying CEO was in his late forties and only half a hand’s width taller than Kai, rather than being bigger than Michael Jordan. But that face—it had to be Eli, in his user skin. Kai grinned and whisper-messaged him.

Kai: Eli, this is what you look like as a user?

Eli: Yeah, Sander and Chance insisted I wear my Nimbus Rider user avatar to your party. They don’t think I can ‘pull off’ my AI skin, whatever that’s supposed to mean.

Kai: Bro, you don’t exactly act twenty.

Eli: LOL. I didn’t ‘act twenty’ when I was twenty.

The girls were staring at Kai and Eli cross-eyed. Justin raised his hand.

Justin: Kai, are you talking in your head to Eli like this?

Kai: Yes! Cool, huh?

Justin: Not. You look as weird as folks think I am.

He added out loud, shouting over the music, Did we miss something?

Sorry. Eli flinched. That was rude. He shook hands with Justin, Dinah, and Shaina in turn as he said, Elisha Micah Gabrielson Senior. Either ‘Eli’ or ‘Mr. Gabrielson’ is fine, whichever you’re most comfortable with. He glanced to Justin, his lips slightly parted.

After losing a five-second staring contest, Justin pushed his glasses up his nose and spun to Dinah. Could you and Shaina go find us a table? We’ll catch up in a bit.

Okay. Dinah started to walk away but sent another sidelong glance at Eli. Are you related to the Fowlers?

Eli grinned and nodded. My mother was a Fowler.

Cool. Dinah headed to the seating area with Shaina.

Eli: Kai, Justin, this is Eli. I’ll call you so we can hear each other without being loud enough to be heard over the music. Your phones are set to automatically pick up calls from Sander, Chance, and me and to automatically reject calls from twenty-second century solicitors.

Kai: Way cool, bro.

Eli slipped his hands behind his back. I arranged for Justin to be equipped with one of our phones so I could whisper Justin my request for this semi-private audience with you both.

Why? Kai asked.

Justin’s heard of us, so I could arrange for him to receive one of our phones without it terrifying him—and you badly needed the experience of being left out of the whispering loop.

I was? Kai wrinkled his brow. When?

What do you remember happening right before Justin sent the girls away?

You and Justin looked at each other weirdly for several seconds in dead silence.

Eli nodded. That’s what two or more people engaged in a whisper conversation almost always look like to outside observers.

Oh. Kai groaned. Thanks. I’ll resist doing that for the fun of it in public.

Good. Now. Eli bit his lip. What price would you guys be willing to pay to remain in relationship with Sander?

If I had one? Justin scowled. I’d give up anything but my faith and maybe Di.

Whoa, I almost miss Jolt the Clown. Kai shook his head. I’ve never considered the possibility of paying a price for knowing your side of our family, Eli. Why do you ask?

Eli rested his right hand on Justin’s shoulder. They’re coming.

Not the enemies of my fake dad’s people? You’re aware I got dumped on a fake dad?

Eli grunted. I’ve never met your father, or seen his replacement in that disguise. And King Sander refused to explain why he pulled a body-snatcher stunt and had Cleric Shilopup raise you. But, yes, I know about that. And, yes, I meant who you think I meant are coming.

Oh no, Justin groaned and yanked away, shaking his head. The Jackals will figure out that the people here aren’t the Diginati and thus aren’t magical. Jackal technology is so far ahead of ours, they’ll trample us, kill off most of the Sphynx race, and enslave everyone they spare!

If I didn’t know better by now, I’d think he was deadpanning and laugh.  Kai pressed his left hand out. Okay, the Jackals are?

Justin said, I’ve gathered they’re werewolves from outer space.

Eli shrugged. Before their planet’s modern era, they called themselves Jackalmen. Each of their cells has one set of human chromosomes and one set of jackal chromosomes. Same goes for the Labrans, only with Labrador retrievers instead.

Kai cleared his throat. Are the Sphynx cat-men hybrids?

Justin laughed. The aliens’ home planet has pet apes with a name that translates as ‘humans.’ So the aliens call us the Sphynx for not being hairy apes.

And the Diginati are? Kai asked.

Our hope of salvation. Justin rolled his eyes. Diginatism’s scriptures claim, in our own universe, God works solely through delegates. My fake dad is a Christian now, and he still cites Diginatism’s text chapter and verse, albeit he explains that text in the light of God’s Word. Cleric Shilohpup has never cited where it is written that King Sander delegates to his brother Chance.

That’s personal experience. Eli flinched. We the three kings of the Diginati learned the hard way not to reveal our existence openly. The things of this world are our charge. However, the things of the Spirit, like salvation, are God’s alone.

Justin nodded and sang, "We three kings of orient are, bearing gifts, we travel afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star."

Kai laughed. God bless the man who gave you the quirky sense of humor.

Speaking of my father. Justin folded his arms and stared hard at Eli. When do I get to meet the genuine Alex Carpenter? Though, Dad’s real name is Alexander Lloyd McGregor.

What? Eli’s eyes widened and he stepped back. Do you know your mother’s name?

Manna Carpenter, formerly Jenkins, and presumably AKA McGregor, too. Justin’s lip quivered. Is my mom why my dad dumped me on Shilohpup? Mom died when I was born.

Okay, your dad has body-snatched himself. Let me go slap him upside the head. He has it coming, whatever the explanation is. Eli hugged Kai and hurried out of the cafeteria.

Kai: Whoa. If I remember right, Sander’s wife is named Manna—and he’s told me they’ve never had any children.

Alex: Uh, Mal, yeah, my wife’s name is Manna. She’s just entered menopause, so we’re never going to have kids—well, our digital bodies potentially still could—um, any clue why my AI mind pretended to think you’d meant to get me started missing the son I never had?

Kai: Where does Justin get his sense of humor?

Alex: Mine would’ve been my handiest source. Oh, my AI mind can rewire digital folks’ personalities. I’m sure I pulled that on Justin. He’s too much like me for it to be my imagination. I’ve always loved him like a brother. Along with you and Nicky, Justin’s why I bookmarked Ry’s location and ordered my AI mind to lie about any nasty stuff that happened.

Eli’s disembodied voice said with a growl, Kai, King Sander has decided he needs to right away get your Mountain time back in sync with our Mountain time, likewise regarding what month and day of the year it is. So I’ll see you again in six months.

Six months! Kai gaped. That’s an eternity.

"For you, it won’t be. After the six-month hiatus the coward has ‘already scheduled and can’t un-schedule,’ though—once the party is over, and Clarice has safely gone to bed, and Shaina has safely gone home, the real Alex Carpenter will meet his son at your place!"

Episode 2

Justin Flynn Carpenter’s hands sweated as he followed Kai down the stairs at the Fowlers’ house. Do you think my father will be here?

Kai glanced back. Do you think it’s really been six months?

Nah, here in Narnia, it’s been only two hours. Justin pointed at the time on his watch, 9:23 PM on 10/12/1997. We’ll have to trust the guys popping out of your wardrobe on how long it’s been for them since they visited last.

Kai pretended to shove Justin. I’ve known you since I was three, and I’m just finally starting to get the hang of how your mind works.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Justin winked. I might be contagious.

You’re both definitely contagious! Eli called from the den.

What? Kai ran the rest of the way down.

Justin followed. The middle-aged CEO named Eli stood between the television’s black stand and Kai’s orange easy chair and blue couch. Kai’s computer desk was by the wall opposite the laundry room. The band equipment was at Alien Asylum, except for Kai’s guitar. Justin bit his lip. Technically, Kai also owns my bass guitar, Shaina’s drums, and Nick’s keyboard.

Kai patted Justin’s shoulder as Kai eyed his mentor. Where’s Sander?

He’s coming. Eli slipped his hands behind his back. I know it’s been only two hours for you, but it’s been six months since I saw you last, Kai. Would you mind a hug?

Kai hugged Eli like he’d intended for it to be brief, but Eli hugged back like one did when they hadn’t seen a loved one in ages.

Dad’s not coming. Pain emanated through Justin’s chest. I should go.

No. Eli backed off. Your father has had ‘Face Justin at 9:30 PM on 10/12/2139’ recorded in his datebook for a month. I persuaded your uncle Chance to find out for me when your father planned to be here as I wanted to talk to you first.

Face me, eh? So much for there being a good explanation. Justin snorted and folded his arms. It took Dad five months to pencil me in?

Eli extended his hands. That’s just Alex. It’s evident I owe Sander a public apology. He did not slow the rate of time here down because he’s a coward. My anger-driven stupidity did damage that it took months to resolve and the slow down spared Justin from any delay.

Oh. Hey. Justin grinned. There is an Alexander McGregor who is an ordinary person in the Land of the Wardrobe, and an Alexander McGregor who is a stand-in for Aslan here in Narnia? And they do have different nicknames? Is it logical to hope I’m the son of the ordinary guy? Justin gulped. Which one is my father?

Eli cringed. Your father was diagnosed in his teens with Dissociative Identity Disorder, which you’d know as having multiple personalities. He had recovered so much, he asked Kai to call him Sander as a user. Sander is his AI handle. His user handle is Alex. Thanks to me, Alex has suffered a relapse into dissociating his identity from Sander, but he’s stable again.

Dude, don’t lie to protect me!

That’s my dad’s voice! Justin whirled in the direction it’d come from. The closed laundry room door had a glowing yellow light around it. He whispered, D-dad?

His dad’s voice added, I am stable, my mental health is not deteriorating, but my mental health is not good, like I had thought. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have thought that I didn’t have any living children six months ago. Nor would I have spent five months in a fugue as a user, after I ran away from home as an AI while thinking like a traumatized child myself.

My poor father is crazy. Justin nodded. You should remember me. Shilohpup said you personally handed me to him when I was a baby. Um, why are you hiding in Kai’s closet?

Justin, my avatar stopped aging at twenty-one. I’ve shape-shifted into my true user appearance, and Kai hasn’t seen me this way yet. It’s best he hears me before he sees me.

Kai grinned. I recognized Eli fine.

Yeah, he ages well. I don’t. Justin’s dad emerged from Kai’s wardrobe dressed in khakis and a green turtleneck. Alex’s full beard was white, but the balding hair on top remained mostly chestnut brown and wavy. He’d cut it at an even length, just above the chin of his puffy, tad triangular, middle-aged face. Alex was pudgy but his workout efforts did show some.

Whoa. Kai stared open-mouthed a moment. Mr. Carpenter, maybe the guy in Peru really isn’t you, but we have met.

So we have. Alex sighed, his shoulders sagging.

Justin glanced around. Eli had left. Justin squinted at his father. Which one are you?

His dad stood before him, an arm’s reach away, and closed his eyes a moment. His dad’s familiar face faded to translucent, revealing a beardless face that didn’t look a day past twenty-one. This brotherly face cringed. I’m Alex.

As in the delusion? Kai asked.

Mal, my condition makes me delusion-prone, but me and me both exist. Alex wiped his face. Mind telling Justin where you get the name ‘Malachi’ from? It’ll help me explain.

Justin, I’m a duplicate of Eli’s stillborn fraternal twin, Malachi Gabrielson.

You’re a clone? Justin gasped. What about Nick?

Don’t tell Neo-Twin. Kai shook his head. Have you heard of scanners?

Justin shrugged. You slip a photo or a document into the machine. He snickered. Or sit on it like it’s a toilet. It analyzes the original and generates a digital image of it.

Eli’s people—our people—use a similar technique to visit alternate realities like this one. We acquire a duplicate body here while retaining our original body.

Alex nodded. Under normal conditions, our original selves go to sleep while we are in this reality. They have vivid, memorable dreams about what we did while they were asleep.

Kai cleared his throat. When I was a baby, criminals duplicated me as a means of kidnapping me. Sixteen years ago, Sander rescued me along with most of Renata Valley and gave us better lives in this reality. He had to leave me here, since my original body has died.

Oh man. Dude. Justin shook his head.

His father bear hugged him.

Justin squinted. Dad?

Yeah. Alex laughed as his shoulders shook. I am definitely your dad. He took several deep breaths. Son, I’m a duplicate Alexander McGregor. I was supposed to be Original Me and a normal human. Sander was supposed to be an AI created in my image. Instead, he’s Original Me. As a kid, I took that truth hard. Sands has a neurological illness that causes his brain to be controlled by mine, so . . . Alex clamped his mouth shut and put his old face back on.

From behind Justin strode another young version of his father. This Sander wore gloves, his black army boots, and the traditional too-loud Web Surfer wetsuit.

Alex hunched his shoulders and kicked the carpet. Hi, Sands.

Sander smirked at Alex. Hi, Alex. Hi, Sands. Alex, you are Original Me. Really. Sands, stop trying to humanly explain things you don’t humanly understand.

Huh? Alex shook his head. Sure, technically, I am both of Self, operating as a single ‘I,’ but since when do you call yourself Sands, dude?

This might explain it. Sander held his gloved hands out to Alex. Feel my hands and wrists—and please don’t blurt out what you find.

After following instructions, Alex’s eyes widened and he yanked back. My stigmata! Dude, are those real nail scars?

So I truly can’t change history. Darn. Sander hunched his shoulders.

Huh? Justin peered at Alex. Why wouldn’t the scars be real? Millennia ago, the Jackals crucified Sander for preaching the gospel to Dog World by living it out. God raised him as proof Christ is who Sander said Christ is. Later generations of alien dogs mixed up Sander and Christ.

Alex thrust out his hand. History reports I survived being martyred—during a mission trip that I haven’t gone on. If this Sander has gone on it, then he’s, ahem, my future self.

Excuse me? Kai narrowed his eyes. Are you claiming you can time-travel?