The Scan

Val couldn’t deny that she was a bit apprehensive about having a CT scan done but that was only because it was a new experience for her. She was taken back to a small pale green room, where the middle-aged, red-haired technician had her lie on a table and placed a pillow under her legs, explaining that Val would hear a male voice telling her to inhale, hold her breath, and then breathe as the table moved her in and out of the x-ray tube.

The woman smiled comfortingly, “It’s completely painless and over quickly. Now put your arms up over your head, and keep them there.”

As she slid in and out of the tube, Val could hear the machine softly whirring, and there was a slight cracking sound as if some arcing had taken place on the last passing. Then a female voice was saying, “There we go, all done.”

Val’s eyes fluttered open. She was a bit surprised to see the technician now had black hair and was about twenty years younger. She held her hand out to help Val sit up.

I guess somebody went on break. Val thought while noticing the walls were not green at all but blue. She noticed while going back to the reception area, where her friend waited, that things seemed a bit off. She laughed at herself for being weird.

“Done already? That was quick!” Jan said as she stood up.

Val smiled at her and frowned slightly. “I could’ve sworn you were wearing a different outfit.” She laughed lightly. “Maybe that radiation affected my brain.” She pulled a face.

Jan laughed and suggested they go for lunch. When they got their order, Val bit into a burger that had all the flavor of cardboard. It was the same with the soda. She looked at Jan, intending to remark on how tasteless it was, when she noticed Jan had an extra pinky.  She’d known Jan for years and knew her friend had no such deformity.

What is going on here? She looks like Jan. Sounds like Jan. But this isn’t Jan. Maybe I really have gone nuts.

“You alright, Val?” Jan’s voice was laced with concern. “You’re figuring it out, aren’t you?”

“Figuring what out?”

“That things are a bit different than when you took your scan. It’s simple really. You’ve changed places with your doppelganger.”

“My what?”

“Doppelganger. You know, your look alike. Yours is in your dimension, and you’re here now.”

“That crackling in the tube. That’s when it happened. Right?”  Val fought to keep her emotions in check.

Jan nodded. “Yeah, we’re still working on that.  We really would like it to be a seamless trade.”

“But why? Why take my place?”

“It isn’t just you, dear. Little by little, we’ll all transfer. We’ll get a chance to experience real life instead of this bland copy. To taste, feel – it must be amazing. And it isn’t like your kind appreciate it.”

by Judy Snyder