Chapter 12

New Zealand is really far. The 737, loaded up with only first class seating borrowed from SwissAir, was barely pleasant. We left at 4pm on Tuesday, flew for 25 hours, stopping for fuel in Dubai, Bangkok, and Brisbane, before finally arriving at the Dunedin International Airport.

We arrived at 6am Thursday, on the other side of the world. The group was ready, as I forced them all to sleep a full eight hours before landing. I had enjoyed planting pearls along our route, and occasionally blink kidnapping people that we flew over, so I could copy their memories, and learn their language. This all while the body on the plane watched movies, ate food, and mostly slept.

A bus picked up myself, Nora, Em, and an Amy shaped Val, because she didn’t have documentation to travel as Val, Benjamin and Konrad because Doris and Christian didn’t want to be the old people in the group, Mike because Thomas didn’t want to go as a fat guy, even though he was losing weight and Alex because David insisted on a vacation, since he was working twice as hard as everybody and doing it in the cold, and he thought Alex being younger was more likely to hook up with a girl on the trip.

Frederick and Angelina decided not to go, as they couldn’t leave things undone, her not having been twinned. Frederick could have gone as himself, having been twinned, but Angelina didn’t want him off on his own without her. Karl also decided not to go, since he couldn’t go as Amy. I offered to pay for another vacation elsewhere, after we got back, but he declined, said he was happiest on Mars anyway, and didn’t see the point of flying, when teleportation was available. He recommended buying a tropical island so we could have twinned selves live on vacation permanently.

We weren’t tired, and I had given everyone a power cleaning before landing, so we were ready to hit the sites. Instead we had a two and a half hour bus ride to look forward to. I made a command decision, and we all headed north to Dunedin to explore the coastal town instead. Breakfast was first!

We enjoyed the salt air, and the octagon. A nice little place offered our group a filling breakfast. We followed that up with walking around town and visiting shops and museums. By the time it was ten, we could all face the prospect of sitting some more, so the bus took us to our hotel, where given the final size of the group, I had booked it in its entirety, and a late lunch was waiting for us.

We unpacked after lunch, enjoying the mountain views over the vineyards. The newest vintage was just as good, maybe even better than the bottle I had discovered in Grindelwald. I was enjoying a glass on the balcony with Em while Nora was still working at unpacking. She had packed, and now had to unpack, four bags. Recently, I had noticed that there was an increasingly marked difference between the three versions of her.

Nora had split her inheritance from when I died as Adam Senior with Em. They both were nearly identical at the time, and officially trying to trick me as to who was who. Soon after Em became Emilia Kaczka, instead of pretending to be twin sister Mora Jansen, their personalities began to separate. I wondered if it was the inherited memories I had given her in case she ever met someone who knew the real Em, or if the change in body made her want to work harder to be loved by me, because I had been in love with Nora first.

Whatever it was, Em usually sought out affection first, planned less for the future, and was willing to spend money for new weather appropriate clothes at her destination, instead of packing everything she might need. When the two had discussed this before leaving, Nora had claimed that the lack of luggage restrictions, because we had the whole plane, meant that she could do both, so why was she limiting her options?

Em was snuggled up on my lap, as I sat in the big lounger, we both had our wine glasses, but she sipped slowly, her head leaning against my chest, while I laid back, enjoying her curvy body, right arm wrapped around her, as her left cheek rested against my shirt.

My mind slipped into hers, as I flickered through her memories. I couldn’t read her thoughts, or intentions, but her experiences, what she saw, heard, felt, that was like watching a movie. I’d do the same later to Nora to see if I could discern a motivational pattern in their differences.

I took another sip, the wine was very good, and I was enjoying it in the warm air. I’d decided to buy a case of every vintage they made, and arrange for continual shipments of future cases. I had the room to carry around my own wine cellar. I already had a collection of dishes from restaurants around the world, some I hadn’t even tried, but thanks to the locals I had kidnapped copies of, and their memories, I’d gotten a copy of what they considered the best food.

I was contemplating the warm sunshine in this Central Otago valley, when I remembered that the solar map showed an area in the center of the south island as being particularly excellent for solar power, some place called Mackenzie Country.

I lifted Em as she sat her empty wine glass on the table next to us, and carried her to the bed. Nora would be a while, so we could find something fun to do. She giggled the entire way, as she started unbuttoning my shirt. I gently set her on the bed, kissing her, as she started pulling at my belt.

The door opened, and Val/Amy walked in, with another girl. We paused, “You are interrupting,” Em said crossly.

“I found someone to join the party!” Amy answered brightly.

I rolled over Em, laying on the bed next to her. “Who’s this?”

“This party girl offered to be our native guide in all things kiwi.”

“Hi, I’m Adam, Em and I were about to enjoy a little fun in the afternoon breeze. What’s your name?”

“I’m Kimberly!” the small brown haired girl answered. Her bright green eyes were focused on the muscles of my chest, exposed by Em. My power reached out and examined her. About 20, plump but muscled, nice large breasts, thick pubic hair, a terrible yeast infection, and signs of drug scarring, a couple abortions, and recent treatment for chlamydia.

“Have a seat, and tell us about yourself Kimberly,” I offered, my hand directing her to the foot of the bed.

As she sat, my power put her to sleep, and she slumped over, then slid off the bed. Amy went to pick her up, but I waved her off. I scanned through her memories, she had been a nice girl once, but drugs had led to prostitution, and then harder drugs. She claimed to be an independent sex worker, but all her money went to her boyfriend and his drug supply. His other girlfriend did the same.