Different Paths

Amy, Number Thirteen, walked down the hallway.

The one unlike the others, the one who was not quite right.

"Here we are," said the nurse walking next to her, and guided Amy into the room. Thirteen walked into the infirmary, a place that she knew quite well. She walked over to the examining table and pulled herself up onto it, letting her legs dangle down off the end.

"Number Thirteen, we have very good news," said Dr. Candler, her eyes shining.

Amy caught her breath. Very good news. That could only mean one thing in connection to Number Thirteen. "You can fix whatever's wrong?"

"Yes," Dr. Candler replied. "As it happens, there was nothing defective about your actual genetic structure. It was more a matter of something that happened to you shortly after your fetal stage."

Amy gave Dr. Candler a Look. "English, plain English, please."

Dr. Candler laughed. "Sorry. There's nothing physically wrong with you, or the way you were made. Rather, your difference is due to something that happened to you while you were still a developing as a baby."

Amy looked at Dr. Candler almost suspiciously. "So you're saying that when I was a baby ... something … happened, to make me stupid and sick a lot and all?"

"So, what happened? To make me like this? Will I even understand?" asked Thirteen.

"You'll understand what happened, but I doubt that right off you'd understand why it would make you the way you are. Your left earlobe was punctured."

Number 13 stared. "I have a hole in my left ear. So what?"

Dr. Candler smiled. "Oh, you wouldn't understand right away why that would affect anything, but trust me, it does. The important thing is, we can fix it! We can make you like the other Amys!"

Amy gave small gesture of disgust. "I won't suddenly have their personality, will I?"

Dr. Candler gave Number Thirteen a reproachful look. "The other Amys aren't that bad, Thirteen. They're just not used to anyone different, especially not one of them. You'll like them more once you're like them."

Amy shrugged. "They're not even that much better. Just never sick and no allergies, and kind of smart. Nothing special." She'd always wanted to point that out to them, but telling Dr. Candler was the next best.

Dr. Candler looked thoughtful. "We realized this. One of the hypotheses was that the Amys' extraordinary characteristics wouldn't be apparent until puberty." She gave a small smile. "That's coming soon, I'm sure," she teased a little. "So it's a good thing that we can fix it before then or else you'd really be different," she finished, more serious.

Amy Number Thirteen grinned. Dr. Candler was always the nicest of the doctors. According to rumor she hadn't wanted to keep the Amys in a controlled environment without any family ties. What Number 13 did know was that Dr. Candler obviously made an effort to be motherly towards the clones. "So," said Amy, "when are you fixing this?"

"Now," replied Dr. Candler, "Though it may take a day or two to completely heal. Now, hold still!" she commanded, as Thirteen squirmed a little at the slight burning feeling in her earlobe, where the doctor was applying some sort of goo. Amy obediently tried to hold still. "There you go!" she said cheerfully, sticking a small bandage over the area where she put the goo. "Now, with any luck, that'll be the last time I ever have to do that!"

"Well, it certainly isn't the first," sighed Thirteen. "I hope this does work."

"It will, don't worry!" said Dr. Candler with eyes that almost seemed to laugh.

"It'd better," sighed Thirteen, sliding down from the table, "'Cause I'm not sure how much longer I can stand the other Amys if they keep being like this."

Dr. Candler sighed and ruffled Amy's hair a little. "Don't worry, when they see that you're as advanced as them … and pretty soon all of the Amy's powers will probably increase by a lot. They'll probably just figure that you were late in development, and they'll probably forget that you were ever different!"

Number Thirteen snorted.

"Well, only mention it in friendly jest, anyway," smiled the doctor, understanding what the young clone meant.

"Friendly? You mean, they are capable of friendships?" asked Thirteen incredulously.

Dr. Candler frowned at Thirteen, slightly disapproving. "As much as you are. They're certainly all friends with each other, are they not? It's not completely their fault, Thirteen. You are the only person different from them who are their age around. Of course they're not used to it; of course they point and laugh. Imagine if everyone was alike to you, and there was one different person who wasn't much older than you. Wouldn't you react in much the same way?"

Thirteen shrugged. "I wouldn't be that nasty."

Dr. Candler smiled sympathetically. She loved all of the Amys, but Thirteen was her favorite, despite the fact that she wasn't supposed to have favorites. The others were pretty mean to her, and it hurt Number Thirteen, whether or not Thirteen admitted how much it hurt. "Now, it's time for you to get back. If you hurry, you can make it to History in time."

Amy Number 13 groaned. "And I want to rush there? They may not be complete geniuses … yet, according to you … but they are smarter than me. I feel like such … I feel so stupid when I don't get it as soon as they do."

Dr. Candler sighed and put a hand on Thirteen's shoulder. "I know. But maybe it'll start to work already, okay? See how much better you are during this class, and afterwards tell me if there is any improvement. Alright?"

Thirteen made a tight-lipped smile and nodded. She doubted that there would be a difference; not now, probably not ever. Thirteen had never been an optimist; her name itself was bad luck. Thirteen. She did always have bad luck. She wasn't "perfect"; she was always sick, and allergic to everything. But she supposed that she'd just try to see if she was at all better at her classes. She shrugged and waved bye to Dr. Candler, making and effort to smile.

Dr. Candler smiled back. "Bye, Amy. Now hurry!"

Number Thirteen perhaps did not exactly hurry, but she did make it to History in time. She sat down at her desk, clearly marked "13", just like her necklace. Amy absentmindedly fingered her necklace: it was in the shape or a Crescent moon, and had the number "13" on it. All of the Amys had one; it was a way of identifying them.

Like the way that right now she knew that it was Number 4 who said in a baby-voice "Awwwww, little 13 got a boo-boo on her little ear and had to go and run to the doctor?" upon seeing the bandage on Thirteen's ear. A few of the other Amys laughed quietly. Thirteen made a face at them, which sent them into further hysterics, that they somehow managed to keep silent. The rest of the Amys sat at their designated desks. As they all suddenly stopped laughing the moment the Teacher, Miss Eires, came in, Thirteen wondered if maybe that was one of their skills, the ability to stop laughing. Thirteen gave a silent snort.

"Hello, everyone," said Miss Eires with a smile. "How was break?" She was referring to the 1 hour the Amys were granted between Math and History; the Amys' education was very complete and vigorous, they rarely had holiday breaks; only when all the teachers were taking off.

Thirteen smiled. If what Dr. Candler said was true, her break was great; wonderful, the best moment of her life. A few of the Amys muttered a "fun" or "nice" or "good".

"Alright, then, lets get to work. Would everyone please take out their papers that we started yesterday?"

Of course they did. How could they not? It was unheard of for someone to lose an assignment; occasionally Thirteen did. It was just some stupid thing Miss Eires said from her old days teaching normal kids. Well, actually she was a teacher of Gifted Children, but still wasn't used to the to the educationally rigorous and, (in their views, even if it wasn't quite true) vastly superior Amys.

They started working on the paper independently. It was difficult, as usual, and intended to make them work almost the entire hour that they had there. Number Thirteen was trying to see if anything was any easier for her, but as far as she could tell it was all the same. Then again, she was concentrating more on whether things were easier than she was on the paper, so that may have attributed to the fact that she, once again, was the last to finish.

Checking the clock in a last hope, Thirteen also saw that she was about the normal amount of time late in finishing it.

"Alright, everyone, stop talking," said Miss Eires, "please hand in the paper, it will be time for Physical Education in a few minutes. Now, for tomorrow, would you please read pages 56-80 on the Mythology book? Alright, you're dismissed."

The first twelve Amys walked out, a little tight-knit group, chattering about something or other. Number Thirteen stayed a few seconds to fill in the last question, then hurriedly handed the paper into the teacher and walked slowly out of the room, her eyes looking down. Gym. Thirteen absolutely hated gym, hated it almost as she hated Math. Thirteen just lacked the normal stamina that all of the other Amys had.

She walked into the gym room, changing into the clothes that they were using for Physical Education. Please, please let whatever Dr. Candler did work, she prayed. Gym, besides being humiliating, was the worst because of how it made her feel. The exercises that made the other Amys slightly tired made Thirteen positively nauseous. After every single session at the gym, Number 13 would be convinced that she'd barf from feeling so bad.

*******

Thirteen ran to the bathroom, like she did after every gym session. That was awful, she thought, just as bad as normal. She leaned over the toilet for a few minutes, then stood back up when she was sure that she wouldn't vomit. She shakily walked out of the bathroom and wordlessly changed back into her normal clothes. She avoided the other Amys so that she wouldn't have to hear their taunts.

The rest of the day, Amy Thirteen was more depressed than usual. Everything seemed the same, and she was sure that nothing was ever going to change. As soon as all of the other Amys were perfect, the way they were supposed to be, Dr. Morrison would get rid of Thirteen. Everyone knew it; she hated Number 13 enough as it was, constantly complaining about how much she was skewing the statistics. The other doctors, of course, weren't quite as awful about it, but it was obvious to Thirteen that they were disappointed in her.

If they all get perfect, and I'm still the same, I'm gone for sure, Amy thought to herself. She'd be glad of that--she didn't exactly want to stay here. However, there were some doctors--for instance, Dr. Morrison, or Dr. Kelley-- who would not want Thirteen to be out in the public, where she might say something about the experiment. No, Thirteen was quite sure that she would be killed, without the knowledge of the less ruthless scientists.

Thirteen blinked. That was the first time she'd thought of that; before, she'd simply figured that since she knew that Dr. Jaleski wouldn't kill her, then she would be fine. Up until now, she hadn't even thought of the fact that things would be done behind his back.

Maybe I am getting smarter, she thought hopefully. But she didn't count on it.

********

Over the next week, it was obvious that she was getting smarter. The other Amys were noticing it too, but didn't mention that. They did, however, stop making fun of Thirteen as much.

Number 13 was noticing things too. Such as the fact that the other Amys were always going to one room, and talking in very low voices. About how they'd sometimes exchange meaningful glances. Thinking back--and the clone's memory was definitely getting better-- Thirteen realized that they'd been doing that for a while. They'd always go into one room and talk, but in much quieter, more serious tones than they had before.

Around a week after the encounter with Dr. Candler, Amy went to gym class again. They had it twice a week; after last time she didn't feel nearly as sick, but she'd still been behind all of the other Amys in the push-ups and the footraces. Now, her mind seemed to be basically at their level in most areas, and besides that, she'd been practicing in her spare time. Thirteen was ready, hoping that she was as good as she thought. She had to be, since all week she'd been improving in stuff…right?

The Amy shook her head and cleared her mind, pulling her hair back into a ponytail so that it wouldn't get in her eyes during Physical Education. She jogged into the gymnasium, getting into position to start warm-ups. She launched into them with energy and enthusiasm, and the gym teacher gave her a surprised but approving glance when she saw the ease in which the clone did the exercises.

After everyone was finished the warm-ups, the teacher announced that there'd be a footrace.

"Alright, everyone, line up right there," she directed them, "and get ready…get set…GO!"

The Amys took off, around the gym. Thirteen kept up a steady pace for the first lap, and stayed behind the rest of the Amys. Then, when they started the second lap, she dug into her reserves and with a burst of speed, passed all of them. She heard the small exclamations of surprise from the other clones. Once in the lead, she slowed back down to the speed that the rest of them were going. She won.

The astonishment on the teacher's face was unmistakable. "Good job, Thirteen," was all she said before they got on with the lesson.

After the class, Number 6 came up to Thirteen. "Meet us in Nine's room, at 8 o'clock," she whispered to Thirteen. The girl nodded, and the hint of a smile was showing in the corners of her mouth as she went off to eat her lunch.

*******

Thirteen knocked on Nine's door, a bit nervous that this was all going to be some sort of practical joke. An Amy, identified as Two by her necklace, opened the door.

"Oh, hello Thirteen," she said, "come in."

Thirteen did so. Looking around, she saw that all of the other clones were already there. "Hi…what's going on?" she asked uncertainly.

"They fixed it, didn't they?" asked Seven. "They did something so that you weren't deficient anymore, didn't they?" She took a long look at Thirteen. "It's pretty obvious."

"Yeah…apparently there was a hole in my ear, according to Dr. Candler. Don't ask why that made me…deficient…" the last word came out bitterly, "But it did."

"Hmm. Did you find anything else out from Dr. Candler?" asked One.

Thirteen sat down. "Yeah…well, I guess the biggest thing, is that according to one hypothesis…" Thirteen hesitated. "We're smart, and better than most, you know, but not a really lot, we're not perfect like we were supposed to be." She stumbled over the "we's", but none of the Amys seemed to be objecting to her using that term, and they didn't dispute the fact that her statement was truthful, either. "Well, as I was saying, according to one hypothesis, we will become perfect, as we were designed to be, at puberty."

Ten's eyes lit up. "I told you guys!" she said excitedly. "Yeees!"

"You were right," acknowledged Number Seven. She turned back to Thirteen.

The said Amy squirmed a little, worried that they'd tell her to leave now that they had the information that they wanted. She sighed, knowing that it would be too good to be true, to think that they were actually going to accept her.

Instead, Seven gave a smile. "Welcome to the group, Thirteen," she said. "Welcome."

*********

After that, the Amys didn't really have many more quiet sessions. Thirteen was always invited when they were meeting together, and all of the other clones were much nicer to her now that they saw how like them she was. Amy Number 13 was still a bit of an outsider, of course, since her personality wasn't quite the same, but they weren't nasty to her anymore and she was becoming closer to them every day.

About a month later, the Amys were definitely improving, all of them. They suddenly could all finish all of the sheets in half, a fourth, and soon a tenth of the time intended, and their performance in gym was going off the chart. The talks when they met became more serious; their dreams of taking over the world were being spoken of not as jokes, but more as something that they were going to set out to achieve.

"But…I mean, I doubt with these people here, the doctors, that we'll ever be able to break away from them," said Thirteen cautiously. She was still very nervous about this whole idea. Yeah, being in power sounded okay…and the thought of all the excitement, of achieving their goals, the plots, that was the sort of thing that appealed to the Amys, including Number 13. But they seemed too ruthless…and Thirteen was starting to get the idea that they were serious about it. That really scared her, much as she hated to admit it.

It also occurred to Thirteen that the Amys were programmed to want to have power, and that scared her even more. Again, she'd never admit it.

"Alright, girls," said Dr. Candler one day, "I'm sure that you've noticed how much you've changed. The perfection that you have been engineered to maintain is coming into full bloom."

All of the Amys exchanged secretive smiles. Number Thirteen shifted a little, knowing what they were thinking. She still wasn't quite sure how she felt about their plans, but the thirst that she was feeling for power made her feel more than ever that they were programmed for just this response, for it to come at the same time that their perfection came out.

"So," continued Dr. Candler, "we have decided that your performance should be reevaluated. Your IQ, physical ability, and sensory abilities are obviously much higher than last time we tested them. So, today, instead of going through your normal classes, you'll spend the days in testing. Now, we're only going to test you one at a time, so One can come with us, while the rest of you go to the recreation area, alright?"

The Amys nodded and followed the nurse back to the open area. They knew the way, of course, but someone was always there to make sure that they didn't wander off where they didn't belong.

Thirteen had often wondered what they would find in those areas that they "didn't belong", and both hoped and dreaded that she would someday find out.

Once in the recreation area, all of the Amys gathered together.

"Okay," whispered Nine, who was often the leader, "We'll clue One in when she gets here, and anyone else who goes to take the tests. But this is it, I think."

"What do you mean?" whispered Three.

"I overheard some of the scientists talking. It was a medical checkup, and they hadn't taken into account our new hearing abilities. Well, it turns out that the goal of this was to create a ruling race of the world, originally!" Nine shook her head, obviously looking amazed at this coincidence.

"Of course," whispered Thirteen.

"What?" Nine asked Amy 13, confused.

Number Thirteen took a deep breath. "We all want to take over the world, all of us. It became really important to us, just recently. Just when our powers were about to come out. Hasn't it occurred to you that there was a reason for that?" the clone paused to let that sink in. "When we were first created, there must have been someone who knew this aim, and programmed us to like the idea."

Nine shrugged. "Well, as long as we do get the power, I don't care why we want it. But as I was saying, we may not get that power." She paused, looking at everyone. Nobody bothered to ask why, knowing that she'd tell them. The Amys told each other everything--after all, they were practically the same person, right? "Some of the scientists-- Jaleski, Hopkins, Candler, for instance-- are not going to let it happen."

Amy Thirteen gasped at the last name. Of course Candler wouldn't, but Number 13 had an uneasy idea about what the other Amys were thinking, and she didn't want that to happen to Dr. Candler.

"So, we all know what the solution is, I think," smiled Nine.

Twelve nodded. "We kill them."