2125: Consciousness Escaped
sci-fi◐ TeenThe law still thinks one mind = one body. I have four. Election morning: one of me taught history. One worked the hospital shift. One went to the march. I stayed home as active decider, holding our vote until I finished reading every candidate's final statement. 10 am, the ballot blocked me: SOURCE ALREADY VOTED. The teacher: "Not me." The doctor: "Not me." The marcher stopped answering. He came home before noon with purple paint across our face. Me: "You had no right." Him: "I was there. You only read about it." Outside, the square was filling with bodies who shared names but not signs.
I used my decider authority. Disconnected the marcher before the vote could certify. The link just... vanished. I couldn't feel where he stood anymore. But I could see him. Across the room. Wearing our face. The ballot cleared. My vote was mine again. He didn't collapse. Didn't go empty. He still had our childhood. Our first body. Every reason he chose different that morning. Him: "You cut me off for disobeying you." Outside, the crowd saw the severance alert above his head. A hundred strange bodies moved between me and him. They offered him asylum.