Hollowgirl by Sean Williams

even though the dupes didn’t want us to go and were trying to hold us back their own way.”
    â€œAnd you’re okay with this?”
    â€œWell, it’s not the same thing as d-mat, is it? No one’staking us apart. We’re moved as one piece, instantaneously. And even if we weren’t, it’s like Dad says: the damage has already been done.”
    â€œAs in, he’s already been copied, so what difference does it make?”
    â€œI guess so.” Jesse shrugged. “At some point we have to take it on faith that something that feels real is actually real. As long as I don’t have to use d-mat again, I can live with it.”
    Clair bit her tongue on the knowledge that her version of him had used d-mat outside, before he had died. Willingly and unwillingly. She didn’t think he would want to know that yet.
    Raised voices came from the other side of the cave. Clair peered out of their niche, conscious of Jesse moving closer to do the same.
    Her friends were arguing. She figured she’d better do something about that.
    â€œWait,” said Jesse, before she could leave. “You never said what became of me. Out there.”
    Another subject she had deliberately avoided.
    â€œDo you really want to know?”
    â€œI think I need to,” he said, “particularly if he’s, you know, still on the scene.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œWell, there’re two of you. Why can’t there be two of me, too?”
    That would make things so much easier, she thought. Or harder in different ways.
    â€œClair One doesn’t remember you like I do,” Clair said, trying not to sound too harsh. “None of that has happened for her. None of . . . us . But if you want to take your chances—”
    â€œNo,” he said. “I like this version of you better, and not just because you want to kiss me.” A smile flickered across his features. “But at the same time . . . I don’t want to get hurt. What if he shows up one day? Better to let me down now, don’t you think?”
    She swallowed. “He’s not going to show up.”
    â€œAre you sure?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œYou seem really sure.”
    It never got easy, telling the people she loved that they had died. With Jesse she didn’t need words.
    His face fell. “What happened to him?”
    â€œHe was trying to stop Wallace. That’s all you need to know.”
    â€œNo, I mean what happened to him . . . in general. . . . What am I missing?”
    She couldn’t break away from his wounded stare. They were both agonizing over the same thing. But what could she say? You saw a dupe of your mother being shot at the muster. You accidentally destroyed the world. You loved me, and I never got to tell you that I loved you back.
    This wasn’t something she could fix, no matter how much both of them wanted it to be.
    â€œYou’re not missing anything,” she said. “Just be yourself. How can that go wrong?”

[15]
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    â€œEVERYTHING ABOUT THIS is wrong,” Clair One shouted. “You can’t make me stay here. I’m not a prisoner!”
    The disagreement between her friends had blossomed into a full-on argument. By nature, Clair didn’t like confrontation or anger, but when pushed too far and there were no other options . . . giving in wasn’t her style.
    Together she and Jesse hurried over to where the others were sitting in the lee of a pile of boulders that had fallen from the limestone ceiling. Clair One was standing with fists clenched, the echoes of her cry still flying around them. Ronnie and Zep stared up at her in shock, their mouths open in almost identical expressions. Tash reached one hand out from under her blanket to pull her back down, but Clair One yanked furiously away.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” Clair asked, coming up to them with her hands tucked nonaggressively, she hoped, behind her back.
    â€œStay out