By 2125, we cracked consciousness. We left our old bodies and woke up in machines that don't age. A mind can be uploaded. Backed up. Restored. Copied. Your mother, your lover, your enemy — any of us can exist more than once. We thought we escaped death. We didn't know yet what else escaped with us.

The 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 followed him into the square. My other two bodies came with me. All around us, shared sources argued with themselves through hundreds of mouths. Some demanded one vote per body. Others held signs: ONE MEMORY, ONE CITIZEN. My hospital fork finally told me why our marcher voted early. The candidate promised a legal path for active forks to become separate people. Me: "You knew?" Her: "Last week I treated three bodies whose decider erased a year they wanted to keep. I didn't know how to tell you I agree with him." And our teacher said nothing. He was backing away from all of us.

The election authority froze every disputed source. Emergency rule: active forks can become separate citizens — but only if ALL of them consent. Until then, our single vote stays frozen. The marcher wants his freedom. The doctor wants reform but is scared of losing our shared life. The teacher finally admitted it: he wants to merge and forget this whole day. And all of them looked at me like the active decider is a parent. Not just another fork. The petition sat on all four of our screens. One source. Four consent boxes. Polls close in 53 minutes. Then the first box checked itself.