An Excerpt from The Tomorrow Paradox (Book Two in The Adventures of Mackenzie Mortimer):
Gemma laughed. “I have all we need.” She held up her opened
palm. “I’m the clone of a rich woman’s granddaughter, remember? We share the
same DNA. My fingerprints are her fingerprints; my eyes are her eyes.”
“So what?”
“Everything is purchased with credit, deducted
electronically from people’s bank accounts. Money isn’t something you carry
around; it’s digital data stored in cyberspace and accessed through
biometrics.”
“Bio-what?” Mackenzie asked.
“You must know. All my knowledge comes from what I’ve
gleaned from living vicariously on the neural net, but you live here in the
outside world, not locked away in the institute like me.”
“Um, I’m visiting my relatives here but I’m from another
place that’s a lot different, so you’ll have to fill me in on some things.”
Gemma squinted at Mackenzie, but proceeded to explain. “All
the stores have scanners. They read your eyes, your facial features, or your
fingerprints whenever you buy something. That’s how they know who you are and which
electronic bank account is yours.” She wiggled her forefinger. “We can buy
breakfast with my fingerprint.”
“You have a bank account?”
“Of course not; I’m a clone. But my original has one, and
I’m sure it’s a very, very big one. And I have her fingerprints.” Gemma
laughed.
Mackenzie cocked his head. “Isn’t that like stealing?”
Gemma shot him a reproving glance. “You mean it’s all right
for her to take my organs but not to buy me breakfast?”
Mackenzie grimaced. “I suppose, when you put it that way, it does make sense. Let eat.”
Time is running out… fortunately, Mackenzie Mortimer has a few more minutes than anyone else!
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