No Spade

“So, are we ever going to talk about... this?”

Phi lifts her gaze from her cards, thumb rubbing the edge of the two of heart. She can guess, pretty easily, that this does not refer to the game of no-spade they’ve been playing. Unfortunately, that does very little to narrow down what Diana means. The trauma of Dcom? The whole parallel universe shifting thing?

Sigma reaches out slowly (he’s always so slow around Diana, as if he were afraid to spook her) to set a hand on her arm. “What do you want to talk about?”

Diana looks at Sigma, then at Phi, then back at Sigma. She stays silent for a few seconds, then sets her cards down. “Are you familiar with the genetic sexual attraction theory?”

Phi glances at Sigma. She’s a philosophy major with a tendency to get lost on wikipedia articles, not an expert on every single pseudoscience there is. Unfortunately, he seems to be in a similar boat. Figures. His trade is robotics first and cloning second.

“The theory,” Diana continues, folding her hands together, “is that people tend to be attracted to those who have a similar genetic code to theirs. From an evolutionary standpoint, it is disadvantageous to reproduce with someone too close to you, such as a sibling- hence why the Westermarck effect prevents people who grew up together from being attracted to each other. However, having offsprings with someone similar to you, such as a distant cousin, might lead to more kids and thus more genes being passed down.”

Something

Cold

Trickles

Down

Phi’s

Neck.

“Ah. I vaguely remember reading about this in college, yes.” Sigma responds. His face is blank. His fingers are tapping on Diana’s arm. “It’s a very controverted theory. Most scientists worth their salt consider it pseudoscience-”

“Did you and Phi have sex, Sigma?”

His tapping stops. Phi can’t breathe.

“I- I have always been faithful to you.”

“That is not what I asked, Sigma.” She sounds so calm. Why is she so calm? Phi can’t get a read on her. Angry or disgusted or accusatory, that Phi would understand, so why- why is she speaking so casually? “I know the two of you were close long before Dcom. You didn’t know you were related, did you? So, I ask of you-”

“Have you ever heard,” Phi interrupts, “of the phenomenon called the uncanny valley?”

Diana turns her attention towards her. Phi wills every cell of her body to sit still.

“In 2004, a movie called the Polar Express came out. Outstanding CGIs. Pretty cool story. And yet... many people despised that movie. Found it deeply uncomfortable to watch.” She hadn’t actually watched the movie herself- it was long outdated by the time she’s been (born) (cloned) (transported) but her (mother) had much to say about it. “A lot of people have looked into it, and it seems that the problem was the very selling point of the movie- the CGIs. The characters looked rather humanlike- but they were just short a few things to truly master the illusion. It quickly became apparent that humans affectionate things similar to what they know, or completely opposite to what they know, but there is a small gap- a valley if you will- where something looks close enough to what you know, but not enough to completely fit, and it the end results is very creepy.”

Phi reaches out, and taps her fist against Sigma’s shoulder. “Sigma is, to me, in that uncanny valley. Most of my memories of him were back when he was twenty-two with greying hair. He’s the same person, but different enough to set me off. No offense, Sigma.”

“Some taken, but I’ll live.”

It’s true, though. The Sigma she’d known had been brash, bullheaded, and way too willing to talk about his dick. This Sigma is so much more... subdued. They have the same core. They’re the same person. She still sees her Sigma, in him. But it’s also so, so much easier for Phi to see the man who doom nine people to a death game in the slim hope that he could save six billions. This is Sigma, but... not her Sigma. And it feels weird.

Diana stares at her for a couple seconds, silent. “Sigma is too different from the person you knew to be attracted to him.”

“That’s right.” Phi nods. Genetic attraction theory or else- it cannot possibly concern her.

“So you were attracted to the Sigma you knew before?”

The cards fall out of Phi’s hands.

“Phi,” Diana gets up her chair, reaching out. Her fingers graze Phi’s chin. She jerks her head away violently. “That day. In the incinerator. You said you loved me. Us. What did you mean by that?”

“I don’t know.” Phi replies with a trembling voice. “It didn’t happen. That wasn’t me. I never lived this.”

“But it could have been you. You must know, don’t you? You’re so smart. Even if you don’t remember, you must know. So tell me. Look at me in the eyes and tell me. Why?”

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