Chapter 2: Green with Envy
Sometime later that day, I heard Alex open the door to head outside and immediately shout “Why is everything green?”
“It's because Felix is looking for a red-clad doppelganger,” I replied.
Alex sighed and closed the door on the way out. If I'm completely honest with myself, Felix probably does a little too much for someone who is trying to keep the “digitized” part of their digitized civilization a secret. Consider any other town. Say, Detroit. Would you expect the mayor of Detroit to paint every roof green just because he is trying to find someone wearing red? No, of course not, that's not how things work. Felix, man, he's something else.
That evening, Franklin texted saying that he and Nathan were at the arcade and asked if I would want to join in. Anything to get my mind away from Felix's really dumb plan, I guess. I was able to pass through the door without a pass or anything, and right at the front was an unnecessarily large and extravagant Flappy Bird cabinet. Nathan and Franklin were gathered around a Mortal Kombat cabinet. “Hey, Ash,” Nathan said.
“Hey. So, how do you guys feel about the color green?”
“Why was that?”
“Felix is looking for a doppelganger who should still be wearing red.”
“Oh,” Nathan replied, “so the Felix I spoke with like 10 minutes ago wasn't him?”
“Did he insult you or something?”
“No, he seemed rather polite. I dunno, maybe he did, but I sure as heck didn't catch any ill will.”
“Where was he?”
“Oh, he was right outside.”
I looked out the windows for the man, but couldn't see anyone. Felix (clad in green) entered the building a moment later. “Ash, we need to speak for a moment,” he said.
I nodded. “Well, I saw the duplicate Felix just a moment ago, so if that's...”
“No, not that, about the... the other thing. Come meet me in the workshop, please. And bring your Modifier, if you still have it.”
I headed home, grabbed the thing off my desk, and headed down the Capitol. The workshop door was open, and he was standing at his terminal. He pulled out a little remote like a garage door opener, and clicked it. The doors closed. “First off, that's pretty neat. You gotta admit.”
“Okay, but what did you want me for? Is this about the other kids?”
“Yeah. They keep fighting me for priority on edits. I keep getting blocked and having to log out and back in, and it's getting kinda frustrating. I thought maybe we could lock the terminal so I always have top priority. Hand me the Modifier, please.”
As I handed it to him, I heard Felix call from upstairs. My heart skipped a beat. “Ash, are you down there? Oh, there you ar--”
Both Felixes had green jackets. They stared at each other for a moment. “Now wait just a minute,” the one at the top of the stairs said, “What are you doing here?”
“Working on the town. I'm the real Felix. I can confirm that one, too. Can you?”
“Wh... of course I can,” he exclaimed as he pulled out a driver's license.
Felix was the man on the stairs' first name, and the last name was crossed out with black marker. The address matched this one, New Infinity, OR, with the non-specific birthday of 1 January 1985. How anyone considers that legit in any capacity is beyond me. I turned to the one at the terminal. He handed over a license himself. Felix Judas Morrison, with an address that matches a house in New Infinity (but not the capitol) and a more specific birthday of 7 August 1982. “See? That one is trying much too hard to be correct,” the Felix on the stairs quipped.
“Okay, but do you really believe someone with that much vague information, Ash? Is that Felix?”
“Yep, pretty much,” I said matter-of-factly, dropping both cards on the desk.
The Felix at the terminal stared at me for a second before pressing enter on the terminal keyboard. He vanished suddenly.
Felix stepped up to the terminal and took off his green jacket, now just wearing black pants and a white long-sleeved dress shirt. “What was he trying to do?”
“Lock the terminal with my Modifier.”
“Oh, of course. Sounds like he is related to me getting locked out all the time. But where did he head off to? Looks like he built a timescale modifier to give himself plenty of time to run off, and then started time remotely.”
“No clue. I'll keep you posted. Th-- the ID. Is that--”
"--is that legit? Of course not, but you recognized that ID, that's what counts. Honestly, you wouldn't have ever recognized my actual ID."652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvoLl6HOak3
"O...okay then. Well, what about the green thing? You keeping that? I mean, you went through all that wor--"
“No, probably not. I do have an idea to flush out the duplicate Felix, though. Sorry about your summer, Ash.”
“Wh--”
I suddenly realized I was back in bed, and it was the same day. The curtains were shut (they weren't usually), and the sky seemed a bit dim. I got up. The first thing I realized was it wasn't that warm anymore. And when I threw open the curtains, I saw why.
It had snowed. 652Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOHtHbK6iJ
Felix, you are going to be the death of me.
ns 15.158.61.42da2
