No Duplicates. A short story
A short story I wrote a while back
Of course, we discussed it. In fact, it was the only thing we would talk about after conception. Not just the symbolism behind it, or how harmonious the syllables should be. Sure, we also had our worries with our first one. But it was different back then. We simply wondered if others would mispronounce it. Gladly the UNIphonetic alphabet (technically, an abjad, but you know that better than I do, Doc) made at least that worry disappear.
**
You have to realize there are millions like you, glued to their panels during the first few weeks, across the six planets. Everyone is trying to concoct something they had allegedly dreamt of. Claim it as their own. You know how unlikely... Sorry, I’m not going to go all probability theory on you. Please, go on.
***
Right, so we were trying hard to make it its own thing. Not a derivative. Not a mongrel of Sinitic and Nahuatl origins, like mine. Not something you find in old books. Or something people could speculate on. No inspirations, no heritage. No… duplicates. You do get where I’m coming from, right?
***
I’ve heard this story many times before. After that Eureka moment, people dig deeper and find a meaning in some extinct pidgin from the Upper Volta. And a dirty meaning, while we’re at it. Then they scrap it. Only to find out that some fifty attempts later they are still nowhere near.
***
Oh, fifty is an underestimation, Doc. We’ve probably lost count more times than that. But we were persistent. Until we found the one. We sang it out loud, wrote it on the wall with a light-pen, and typed it in Archaic. I wanted to send out the word to everyone we know. I had been saving for a multi-beam, and thought it was the perfect occasion. What a fool I would have made of myself. It was one of a kind until it wasn’t.
**
Well, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world, right? Only because someone millions of miles away came up with the exact same combination and - instead of going through a line of time-consuming rituals - filed for a patent. Like any rational person would. Sorry, that was not supposed to come out sarcastically. I blame the gravity shifts up here.
**
No, you’re right. Well, I hope they (haven’t decided on the big G yet, there’s still a week to juggle the X’s and the Y’s) won’t blame us. Unless they become famous. A politician or a beam-wave show host. Try climbing the charts with a name shared by hundreds like you. All while some other person (I do hope the patent was for a person and not a yacht or, God forbid, a dog) flaunts the patent-protected name their rational parents gave them. Unique. Like a stellar object. All search queries leading to them. No duplicates.
**
I’m sure they’ll understand. They have the fortune to be born among stars, and a duplicate string of syllables won’t take that away from them. Sounded too poetic, right? I promise to adjust that setting before our next session.
**
Leave it. Makes me feel like I’m still on Earth.
2019 September