Scott’s face reclaimed its usual austerity and he looked Jeremiah hard in the eyes.

“Morality isn’t always the best judge of what is right, Mr. Adams,” he said stiffly. “And the medical implications, that’s just one benefit. There are other interested parties who see even more potential in what we’re doing, and they are providing the bulk of our funding for this entire endeavor. Those deep pockets might suddenly dry up if this experiment were to fail somehow. But so far, it’s been an astounding success. It’s working seamlessly.”

“If it’s working so perfectly already,” Jeremiah said, “why do we need an entire year for this? Why not three months? Why not just end it now?”

“Science takes time,” Scott said. “Besides, there are other factors at play here. It’s more than just the behavioral aspects we’re monitoring. We need to ensure that the clone is physically viable, as well. There have been some issues with vital organs in earlier attempts. Nothing for you to be concerned about. Dr. Pike seems confident that these issues have been addressed. But we need to be certain. We need the full year, as your contract clearly stipulates.”

Scott turned quickly and retreated out the door without another word, leaving Jeremiah with an unnamable feeling in the pit of his stomach and a sudden resolve to prove the man wrong. This clone couldn’t be an exact duplicate of him.

He began to scrutinize the clone during every viewing, trying to decipher some flaw, some minuscule difference. Something wrong and unexpected. I don’t walk like that... That tie? Really?... I would have used a different word there... I’d take the back roads if I were him—doesn’t he know the traffic will be murder this time of the day?... But every single time, without fail, the clone did everything exactly as Jeremiah would have done himself. He could say he would have made a different choice, done a different thing, but there wasn’t a single time that this was actually true. On one morning, in fact, Jeremiah got up early and made himself waffles for breakfast, something he never ate during the workweek, preferring instead just a quick coffee. Implausibly, on the monitor an hour later, the clone popped a frozen waffle into the toaster. Diana had looked mildly surprised but didn’t question it. Jeremiah was absolutely shocked.

“Is it startling to you to see all of these similarities?” Natalie Young always began their sessions with a question. They had begun meeting twice weekly in her small office located on the same basement floor as his apartment. Despite the fact that it was only down the hall, she always came to escort him. He wasn’t allowed to go even that short distance on his own.

“No. Not surprising,” he said. “Just, I don’t know, getting annoying, I suppose. I know everything he’s going to say, exactly what he’ll do. I yell at the monitor for him to call a specific person at work, for a quote or something, and before I finish talking, he’s dialing the number.”