The Call of Oracle

A loud explosion rocked the courthouse. Looking up, Philippe saw Diego standing in front of him. A cloud of smoke and a handful of acrid wires were present where his head used to be. Slowly, Diego’s headless body fell forward towards Philippe and crashed to the floor. Looking behind him, he saw Armstrong standing in front of the door to the holding cells, his rocket launcher still smoking in his hands.

“You forgot to lock the jail cell,” said Armstrong sheepishly.

Pinki ran over to Philippe and started healing him. A warm comforting feeling flooded through his body as he felt his ribs and lungs repairing themselves. “Armstrong,” he said weakly. “I knew I could count on you.

“Diego was a robot?” asked a very confused Armstrong. “Where’s the real Diego?”

“Can’t a guy get some sleep around here?”

Everyone turned around. It was Diego. Everyone drew their weapons and aimed them at him. He looked around confused, and then saw his replicant’s headless body on the floor. “Uh, what just happened?”

“Are you the real Diego?” demanded Leo?

Diego scratched his butt and burped. “I think so. I was this morning.”

Garu rolled his eyes. “He’s the real Diego. Robots don’t burp” Garu looked down at the replicant’s body “It’s the same tech as Bone Maiden’s arm.”

“There was no way for us to know until they get blown apart,” said Sun Wukong. “We must be very careful that we don’t destroy an ally.”

Philippe nodded in agreement. “We need to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. Let’s not get separated. We need to form teams of five so we can keep each other in check. If we meet up, we can swap around to make sure we have the best team for each scenario. Hacky, do you have the coordinates to Mosshaven?”

Hacky beeped and smiled. “Yes. I’m ready to share.”

“Good,” replied Philippe. “Remember, we’re trying to rescue Magessica, but there is also someone out there pretending to be her. Be careful about excessive force.”

Leo stamped his foot angrily. “I’m not going to wait to find out if it’s the real Magessica or not. It’s too dangerous. I can’t tell if they’re real or not. I can’t even tell if you’re real or not!”

Everyone gasped as they looked at Philippe. “Let’s not all get crazy here,” exclaimed Philippe. “VIMworld is founded on trust. We have to trust but verify. If you see someone you know, assume that they’re for real, okay?

The door to the courtroom opened. Bone Maiden and Azi walked in carrying an armful of shopping bags. They were laughing and giggling until they saw the scene that laid before them. Quickly, everyone turned towards them and aimed their weapons at the two. “Would someone like to explain what’s going on?” asked Bone Maiden.

‘How do we know you’re the real Bone Maiden?” asked Leo. “Prove it!”

The crowd nervously mumbled amongst themselves. A few shouted “Yeah! Prove it.”

Philippe threw his hands in the air. “That’s not being trusting, Leo!”

“I don’t have to prove anything,” she replied.

Thor stepped forward and pointed his hammer at her. “I’m detecting that it’s truly her.”

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” said Pigsy. “You might be a replicant too! All of you might be fake!” The crowd stared at each other cautiously and started to spread out cautiously.

Philippe stood up and leaned against the wall, holding his side. “Everyone, calm down. Let’s get to the bottom of this. Bone Maiden? Did you get one of those robocalls about a car warranty?”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “OMG. I was trying to go to sleep when I got that stupid call.”

“What happened afterwards?”

“I went right to sleep,” she replied. “That’s not weird, is it?”

“I was trying to tell you,” said Armstrong. “I got that same phone call when I was at home doing my work out. Next thing I knew, it was a few hours later. But someone said they saw me leaving the island. But, it couldn’t have been me.”

Philippe looked down at the fake Diego’s body. “Someone is using these calls to copy us somehow. They’re able to somehow digitally download a soulless copy of ourselves from our phones. And these replicants also have the same abilities as we do. Who else got this call?” A swarm of hands went up. “Ok, let’s try again. Who didn’t get this call?” All hands went down.

“You’re the only one who didn’t,” said Leo. “Diego answered your call.”

Pinki stepped forward. “Oracle didn’t. She’s been in isolation for the last month. She said something very important was coming. She said she would contact us when the time was right. I only assume that this is all related.”

Philippe nodded in understanding. “Then Oracle is the only one we can trust.”

“What do we do now?” asked Leo.

“First we get to MossHaven. And we wait for the call of the Oracle. Until then…” he looked around the room sadly. “Trust no one.”