Our world is a cruel place, a place that favors the strong and the ruthless. Especially, if you’re born a double. Doubles, Duplicates, Shadows, and a number of other colorful terms are used to refer to any number of identical siblings. Siblings which face a harsh reality in this world of ours. But some are luckier than others… I was luckier than others… I was spared.

My number is 79312S4. I don’t have a name, but I am alive. I am one among the numbered… a Utility. We serve as the civil servants of this society, laborers both skilled and unskilled, paramedics, firemen, law-enforcement, soldiers, and so on. Each of us is graded, by what we adapt to, what we excel at. I’m an S4, Skill Level 4, meaning I have a great range of jobs to which I am suited. S5 is the highest grade, and they are eligible for special assignment. Those who do not earn a grade often become menial labor workers, or something worse… subjects.

We all learned the basics from four to eight, to prepare us for General Education. From eight to 12, we explore general studies, mostly to determine what we were good at.   Then from age 12 to 16, we study for our calling. We must chose a primary field of study, from those allowed to us by grade. After the four year training period, we are assigned to our calling. It is possible to learn auxiliary skills during that time, particularly if we excelled at many things during general studies. Though we must excel at our core studies, and create the time to engage in secondary studies. In this way we can sometimes improve our grade, or even qualify for other callings. In most instances, it only means that we may be called to support or stand-in for others in times of need.

As I said before, we have no names only numbers. In fact, we must wear masks at all times, which eliminate our identity and suppress individualism. We have no families, and no real homes from which we come. We are never accepted past the age of four, so few of us remember much of the ones who gave us away. Maybe a name, or a face… our face, or rather the face of our double. Mine was named James, or I guess James was our name… and then it was just his. But this was the kindness our parents provided for the two of us. They told me I was smarter, so I would do better here, have a better life than my brother might have. They told me with tears in their eyes that they loved us both, and only wanted to find the best lives they could give both of us. Maybe they did love us, but I wonder if this was really the best choice. Not selecting me to become what I am, that doesn’t matter. But rather, making a choice at all. You see, in this world double must fight to survive. The choice our parents made belonged to the two of us, it was supposed to be decided between brothers, by our wills. Our parents chose instead, to spare us…

By the age of puberty, any doubles who still live, must fight to the death until only one remains. However, there is no reason why one double cannot eliminate another before then, it even has a name… Natural Selection. Most parents prevent their doubles from finding out about their fates, until they are at least eight. While some, don’t even discover it until their 12th birthday, as mandated by law. All doubles have one year to prepare for Forced Selection, during which time they may not cause harm to each other. By the age of 13, they must fight. Though Selection is not considered murder, as doubles are considered a single person under the law, it is no less an act of cruelty.

The act of killing one’s self, has a profound impact on an individuals psyche… especially if they have grown to think of each other as siblings. For this reason, many of the survivors are cold, and quite likely dangerous people. Though they are treated to a sort of elite status, which provides them the best education, and medical treatment available. Survivors have the very best chance to make something of the lives they fought for, or in some cases were given to them through sacrifice. You see, sometimes, as an act of love, one double will give their life to strengthen another. See, many doubles have bought in to the lore, that they are parts of a whole. Given a single name at birth. Living in the same room, dressed in the same clothes, and so on. They believe they can feel each others feelings and even sense each others thoughts. They also believe, that when they die they become part of the whole. That their spirit rejoins that of the surviving half, making them stronger. It is believed that this process is more likely to take place through sacrifice, a willingness to become whole. That resentment at the time of death, will diminish the survivor, as they will have lost a part of themselves.

As for their elite status, this is the guarantee the government has provided, to compensate the loss. But it is such a privileged status that many seek it out deliberately for their children. Even going as far as to get hormone treatments or gene therapy, to promote the chances of having doubles. Though often, gene therapy tends to lead to triplets or even quadruplets. Most of these parents belong to the class of the under privileged… the wage slaves. But the favorable treatment is so great, that sometimes even the wealthy seek out this opportunity. Survivors are never forcibly enlisted into service, they gain highly preferable interest rates, and gain priority in all matters. Though this is not the case for those who have had their doubles erased.

Those like my brother, lead a normal life. Of course, wealthy people might easily avoid Selection, by having one of their children cosmetically altered, alongside any records suggesting the existence of doubles. Sometimes, the poor who either have no birth records or pay to have them disappear, will even disfigure one of the doubles, so they cannot be identified as such. But for most, this is the more reasonable option. To surrender the extras to the government, between the ages of two and four, and have their existence expunged. Extras is a term sometimes used to described doubles in general, specifically the unnamed, and more specifically triplets and higher. This is considered the most preferable outcome to having any more than a pair of doubles. As it allows one child to become Elite, with the sacrifice of another, while sparing the rest, with the weakest often offered up as the sacrifice. Then as if we never existed, our others go on to live their lives… normal or otherwise, and we become The Numbered. It is said, however, that not all of us were born of this system, though most are extras. Other orphaned children are believed to be consigned to this fate as well. It is certainly true, that the government no longer sponsors orphanages, and that very few are still in existence. Mostly, those that remain cater to older children who lost their parents sometime after the age of four, and had no relatives to take them in. Most of these orphanages operate as public boarding schools. These “Schools” have become the subject of scrutiny in recent years, because it has been rumored that they take in doubles who have been reported to have been eliminated through Natural Selection. Which is why I find myself here today, as a special investigator on the Selection Affairs task force.