Aria's POV
The silence that followed Aldrin's revelation was broken by something I didn't expect.
Laughter.
My laughter.
Not from the duplicate standing across from me, but from me. Genuine, slightly hysterical laughter that bubbled up from somewhere deep in my chest.
"You know what?" I said, wiping tears from my eyes as I stood up. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."
Aldrin blinked, clearly not expecting this reaction. "I beg your pardon?"
"Memory implantation. Artificial personality construction. Perfect duplicates." I gestured around the room. "Do you have any idea how insanely complex that would be?"
"The technology exists—"
"Does it? Because I'm looking at my supposed 'duplicate' and noticing some pretty significant flaws in your perfect replacement theory."
