Cloning. The ability to create a copy of oneself. Finally, Aaron had completed the technology and processes necessary to make a perfect clone of an individual, with no side-effects. In a matter of weeks, his idea would be swept up by the company, and his patent would become their patent... well, whatever. At least they would give him a promotion, pay raise, etc. Aaron took a sip of his self-bought wine thoughtfully. The important thing was that he'd make an important contribution to society, and he was now set for life...
And yet, something was missing. He dwelled on that thought with closed eyes for a minute or two before realizing what it was. Questions. He still had questions he wanted answered, and once the patent was taken, he'd never be able to answer them. For instance: If two different individuals led identical lives, would they have the same reactions to the same problems poised to them? Aaron Gregiro had always wondered that as a child and never found a satisfying conclusion. It was one of the reasons that he became so interested in this field as he grew up. Of course, now, he realized, such an experiment was impossible- to make identical fields for a child to live their lives in, even with cloning, would still take billions of dollars that he didn't- and wouldn't- have, even with his forthcoming raise. He lost most of his interest in that matter anyway. He grew out of it, he supposed. And yet, now, with his work completed, the question nagged at him again...
Perhaps he was being mischievous, perhaps he was genuinely curious, or perhaps he was just killing time, but Aaron decided to make a real clone with one of the blood samples he'd collected. The machines started up, the capsules buzzed, and Aaron was left with two babies which were perfect clones of each other in a matter of hours. He then took them to similar orphanages on different sides of the city and put them in. Many people would've thought this nothing short of despicable, toying with human life on a whim, but Aaron Gregiro was the kind of person who didn't really have a firm moral structure. It might have even been because of this that he had managed to complete such a project. Well, in any case, the deed was done, Aaron thought while driving. Years from now, in my early retirement, if I should be so inclined, I'll have something to look at. Well, okay, a large deal of this is being left up to random chance, but whatever it's not like there'll be any serious repercussions towards me.
All of a sudden, he was fantastically bored; he now had nothing else to do. He brought up the programming code for his machines and ran through them again. Once again, like the many other times he'd done this, Aaron saw no mistakes. Scanning programs were fine, graphic data reconstruction programs were fine, enzyme, protein, and molecular distribution programs were fi-
Wait a sec. This one, the one for the left cloning chamber, had been exponentiated too much.
Aaron looked at the program with a cocked eye. Here, it was meant to be raised to the second; apparently, his finger had slipped, and it had been raised to the twenty-second. He fixed the error, then ran through the software again with his estimation program. Okay, THIS time it checked out. But then what does that mean about the other program?
Aaron make his mistake again, then ran the estimations one more time. His stomach instantly dropped into queasy hell.
According to the program, the cloned girl who came from the left chamber would store and duplicate nutrients and chemicals abnormally well, showing no outward physical changes or health conditions at all until the sixteenth year. At that time, the stored nutrients would release themselves, creating a massive explosion in development and growth far faster than normal speeds, for an unpredictable amount of time.
Aaron had created a time-bomb teenager giantess.
"How... what..." Aaron stuttered, then fell on a chair suddenly. He now understood very well what was meant by karmic retribution.
It isn't understood what happened to Aaron, but he was never seen again by his benefactors, who, not knowing how his machines worked or anyone else who could use them, deemed it a failure and closed down the experiment.
Both children were soon brought into decent homes, with decent families. If Aaron had cared any more about how his half-hearted experiment, he would've been pleased with the results, and how closely the developments related each other. Against all odds, they ended up going to the same high school. Fifteen years passed, with the girls' sixteenth birthday coming up very close...
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