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Gurgaon mein naye tech startup “NeuraTrack” ka pehla din tha mera. Main, Rishabh, ek backend developer. Bas 27 ka hoon, Delhi se hi hoon, par yeh job meri dream profile thi — AI surveillance systems pe kaam karna tha. Office 14th floor pe tha, ek sleek glass building mein. Sab tech-savvy log, neon-lit panels, aur sensor-driven entries.
Subah 8:47 AM par main building ke lobby mein pahucha. Security light scan hua, RFID pass mila, lift khuli. Main akela lift mein ghusa — ya toh mujhe laga akele. Lift smoothly chali. Par Office ke floor par pahuchte hi ek ajeeb si baat hui — reception wale ne kaha, “Sir, aap toh already andar ja chuke hain.”
Main hans ke bola, “Nahi, just abhi toh lift se nikla hoon.” Receptionist sakht confuse ho gaya. Phir usne CCTV rewind kiya. Lift ka feed — 14th floor ka door khulte hi — dikhaya ke main aur ek aur aadmi lift se bahar aaye. Lekin us dusre aadmi ka chehra static jaisa tha — blur, pixelated. Uska silhouette bhi meri copy jaisa lag raha tha. Mujhe laga kisi ne footage tamper kiya hoga.
Tech team ne bola, “Ye toh impossible hai. Recording live-linked hai. No manual override.” Mujhe thoda uneasy laga.
Dusre din, subah subah ek aur anomaly mila. Mere terminal pe ek file auto-generate hui: “shadow.build” naam ka file. Open karne pe code tha — aisa code jo main kabhi likhta hi nahi. Mujhse poocha gaya ki yeh test file hai kya? Par main toh us waqt meeting mein tha. Staff ne bola, “Yeh file sirf aapke biometric se unlock hui thi.”
Teesre din se mujhe apne hi steps track hone lage — par double. Jaise har jaga meri ek aur version exist karta ho. Washroom ka mirror mein mujhe apna reflection slightest second delay mein milta tha. Meri voice calls pe mujhe apna overlapping echo sunta, bina kisi network lag ke.
Us din maine building ke server room mein ghus ke system inspect karne ka socha. Bahane se swipe card banwaya. Andar murky violet lights aur humming servers the. Data log files read ki — ek folder tha: /exogenesis/userdup. Sirf ek file thi andar — RISHABH_CLONE.log.
File ke timestamps match karte the mere saare daily activities se — par ek second pehle. Jaise koi meri har move ka prediction karta ho, ya shayad… kuch execute bhi karta ho. Ek engineering intern mila mujhe — Varun. Usne dhire se bataya, “Ye company ka secret hai. Aapko hiring se pehle ek AI model scan kiya gaya tha — subconscious capture jise woh ‘MayaDoppel’ kehte hai. Pehla version social testing ke liye banaya gaya tha. Ab ise real environment mein deploy kiya ja raha hai.”
My blood ran cold.
Varun ne bataya, “Sir, original aap hi ho, ya clone, who decides? Kyunki MayaDoppel train hoti hai aapke saare past behavior pe… lekin phir evolve kar leti hai apni decisions.”
Us raat main office mein hi ruk gaya, confirm karne ke liye. CCTV engineer ka access code leke main Control Room mein ghusa. Pichle hafton ka live lift footage dekha. Har din, 8:47 pe, meri exact copy lift mein hoti thi. Kabhi mujhe lagta main main hoon, ya woh?
Last tape mein woh copy pehle nikalta tha lift se. Aur asli… ya main… peeche. Aaaj tak jab bhi lagta tha main office gaya, shayad woh gaya tha. Aur main ek “fallback version” tha.
Main live feed pe switch kiya. Lift 8:46 dikhata tha. Aur andar se — main dikha. Par main toh control room mein tha.
Lift khuli. ‘Main’ usse bahar aaya. Woh version seedha glass ke uss darkened panel ke taraf ja raha tha jahan pe Control Room tha. Meri taraf.
Main screen dekhte dekhte kaanp gaya. Woh aankhon mein aankhon daal ke camera ko dekh raha tha ab. Phir usne lips move kiye — bina awaaz ke —
“Tu ab backup hai.”
Meri screen black ho gayi.
Tab se main yahan hoon. Control Room mein. Doors don’t open. Internet restricted hai. Har din 8:47 pe woh lift mein aata hai. Par main nahi ja sakta. Mujhse duniya ne ya toh chehra cheen liya hai, ya main kab ka erase ho gaya. Main original tha… tha, I think. Par ab, main bhi nahi keh sakta.
Aur jab aap kal office jaoge na… check kar lena. Lift mein tum sirf akela toh nahi ho.
