The Phantom of Kansas
By John Varley, first published in Galaxy Science Fiction
In a futuristic lunar colony where stored memories and accessible clones ensure someone can resurrect themselves infinitely, Fox has been murdered three times. Determined to survive this time around, Fox must catch her murderer before they catch her.
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On the futuristic lunar colony where Fox lives, human consciousnesses are stored in memory cubes that can be easily uploaded into a clone to resurrect someone after they die. When Fox awakes on the operating table, she quickly realizes she has two years of missing memories - two years where someone hunted her and murdered her repeatedly, evading the watchful eyes of the lunar colony's CC, an AI monitoring its inhabitants' every move. This time, detectives are determined to keep Fox alive, confining her to her apartment to protect her safety while the CC tries to narrow down suspects and find her killer. A composer of weather symphonies performed in the colony's lunar biodomes, Fox dives into her work and spends the year crafting her new masterpiece - "Cyclone." The controlled climate of a biodome can be manipulated by weather composers like Fox to enact astonishing feats like artwork made from lightning, dances performed by tornadoes, and extreme weather of all kinds, a treat for the inhabitants of a colony with no real sky. Fox insists on attending the first orchestration of "Cyclone" despite the protests of detectives and family. Amidst swirling clouds, she recognizes a storm element she didn't craft and realized her killer created it to send a message. Escaping the watchful gaze of her guardians, Fox runs through her choreographed twisters to the edge of the biodome, where she knows her killer is manipulating wind instruments. His identity comes as a horrifying shock - Fox's killer is none other than a male clone of herself. Grown by terrorists and convinced of a reality that doesn't exist, Fox's other self lives off the grid, evading the CC's watchful eye to pursue his quarry: her. However, he promises he won't kill Fox again; he only wants to die himself. Disconnected from the CC, he survives off nuts and berries from the biodomes and has nowhere safe to live. He's been horrifically scarred by a past clone of Fox whom he killed and remains unable to rejoin society despite realizing the terrorists' lies. They huddle together for protection from the storm and ultimately make love. Fox decides to escape the colony alongside her once-killer, now-lover. The CC realizes her intentions and identifies her fugitive passenger, but disobeys its protocol and allows them to go free. They take a rocket to another colony where their love - and his existence - will be accepted.
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