Topher awoke and realized he was on morphine. That was the only way Bennet could be sitting there in a denim skirt and oversized sweater, barefoot. What was more, both her arms were in the air holding toy dinosaurs.
"Thats her on a good day."
Topher turned to where a man he didn't know was pulling a needle out of his arm.
"She might be a hallucination. You aren't."
"That's River. She's my sister. I'm Simon. The captain suggested I sedate you and ask some questions."
"Ask away." Topher glanced back at River. "She looks just like Bennet."
"First question. Who are you, are you dangerous?"
"Topher Brink. Cloned or something, then had my mind put back in. Unless I'm imprinted, I'm less dangerous then River." He stated and Simon laughed.
"Bad subject, but I get your point. What does imprint mean?"
"Its like when a program is uploaded into a computer, but an imprint is a program and a doll's mind is the computer."
"What does 'doll' mean?"
"A human who offerred up their mind. The original mind gets backed up to be uploaded later. Then it gets wiped. The they get rewired. Sometimes they get trigger words."
"What do the words do?"
"Varies. It could make them a ninja or make them self destruct. There's also a code to turn it off." Topher glanced back at Simon and realized he was looking at his sister with concern.
"What is this place?"
"The Los Angelos Dollhouse. We keep dolls safe here. It's pretty much self sustaining. Solar pannels above here, in every window of the Rossum office building above. They go into generators, and the gardens grow hyperponicly. The freezer might have held, I'm not sure. Water is constantly recycled in and out of the treatment system."
"Is it safe?"
"600 feet under ground. I'd think so, but it all depends who gets in."
"Why did you think you were dead?"
"I was pretty sure I blew up. What's the date?" Topher wondered how long he'd been dead.
"I suppose I could tell you. 2620."
"Woah."
"When did you die?"
"Blew up in 2019."
"Who was Bennet?"
"The only person smarter then me. The only girl..." It came rushing back. Saunders shooting Bennet in the head...and River dropped the toys before screaming and grasping at
her own head.
"No! These memories aren't mine! That's not how I die!"