Just the fax please

My latest entry in instant short science fiction is a love story of sorts.

The scene is a planet circling the star alpha-centauri in the near future.

Morgan had be on planet for some time and though he loved space and exploration more than life itself, he was lonely. Morgan opened up the door to the import station and walked over to the check-in to get some new instruments when he noticed a person in a Quick-Jump suit. He went over to see who had made the trip. As she removed the suit it was an immediate sense of knowing someone forever and being completely unique at the same time.

As the years went by they became so close that their laughter would almost be in harmony. Morgan and Marie stopped in to the import station for a data upgrade on some molecular equipment and to their surprise there was someone new there in a Quick-Jump suit. As she removed her suit it was obvious this was the "original" Marie in delayed transmission. Morgan and the "older" Marie looked at her and the older Marie was horrified. As quick as a snake's strike, the new Marie drew her hand fabricator and rearranged the old Marie to a cube. It was the individual sovereign right of the physical born to remove any dups at their discretion.

That was the day that the phrase "Not if you were the last man on alpha-centauri" became the catch phrase for accidental relationships between physicals and dups.