"My sister's dead."

"Oh my God, Brandy, I'm sorry to-"

"You should be."

"'scuse me?"

"I know you're not deaf, 'Kari. Said you should be, and for good reason. To be fair, it's more the fault of those idiots in Washington. The point's to keep the control unit protected, that you didn't need to put it out there if you had the clones. They wouldn't have with it, from what sis told me. Damn fools didn't realize the extra stress on the control unit would-"

"Control unit? Clones? What're you talkin' about, Brandy? You sound like a B-movie."

"Meggan said she'd been keepin' you posted…"

"Meggan hasn't said boo to me in six years. Tell me what she says she's been tellin' me."

"'Kari, I don't think I know where to start. She took the psych aspect a whole lot further than we ever thought- the way she does it, it's not just physical changes, it's mental too-"

"But how do you get that without…"

"You get the person you're usin' and you hook them up."

"You helped her with this why?"

"If I'd known…"

"You'd better go on with your tale from Washington, Brandy."

"They finally did realize after the control unit started breakin' down. Actin' erratically, prone to injury, that kind of thing. They needed to get in a new control unit, else the whole thing would come down like a house of cards, but they didn't think they could do a second round of shiftin' without people gettin' just a little suspicious. Good thing they had someone on staff who was 'bout the right size and willin' to step up, now wasn't it?"

"Oh, no, Brandy, she didn't…"

"Oh, yes, 'Kari, she did. Ownership and all'a them called her in, explained the whole situation, laid all the cards on the table, and she thought long and hard 'bout it, but she wasn't 'bout to run the risk of her team dyin' on her. Sis spent too long takin' care of people, she wasn't 'bout to stop. She called me two nights ago, told me they were doin' it the next day and to tell the family not to fuss 'bout her. Lookin' at the highlights tonight, it seems to have worked, since that team looks more stable than they ever did."

"That was a brave thing she did for them."

"Don't I know it. And I still don't know if this makes it worse or better, but I got a package this mornin', special delivery from DC, handle with care. Was a little bottle sealed up tighter than Fort Knox. She said they were workin' out a deal- seems only fair, since she was kinda killin' herself for them."

"They downloaded her before they uploaded the original control program."

"Yeah. Y'know, I should pour it down your throat and run you across a carpet."

"Don't do anything you'll-"

"Said I should, not that I would. Your family might miss you. Besides, you're too short. Can't make somethin' out of nothin'."

"Have you told Sophie yet?"

"Oh, yeah. She said all the right things, but she said them real smugly. Now there's a thought. She always did say sis stole everything from her, hated her near as much as she hated that bitch Jackie. She ain't seen nothin' yet, now has she?"

"You're not thinking straight. Calm down."

"Just funny how it all worked, isn't it? Sophia and I, we helped you work on it so we could give Jackie a taste of her own medicine, and that bitch is still walking around under her own power while my big sister's floatin' around in a bottle of Gatorade. Doesn't seem right somehow. If she were just a little taller, or maybe a little less messed up… but maybe that part's not even a concern…"

"Brandy? Don't do anything you'll regret. Don't do anything foolish. She's got a family too, and they'd miss her if she- Brandy? Brandy? Talk to me, Brandy!"