Twinsouls

Robert Palmer, a surgeon, is returning to Ellay in the year 2097 from a medical conference in Frisco. He places his hand against the recognition screen in an LSMT (Light Speed Matter Transmission) cubicle and nothing happens. That is, seemingly nothing happens. Actually, he is transmitted to Ellay. There was a glitch and his pattern is retransmitted back to Frisco as a kind of "echo." In effect, an identical Robert Palmer has been created. This created Palmer is a Doppelganger, a double with the status in the given society of a Nothing. The two Roberts are mortal enemies, and each seeks the destruction of the other.