Doll One exited the building, with Doll Zero following three paces behind.
In the parking lot, Lucas's car had vanished. As reality had changed so that he had never existed, his car had similarly been erased. Walking or taking the bus to Maya's apartment would waste almost an hour. With only eighteen hours remaining until all of humanity was Dolled, they couldn't afford the time.
Looking around, they spotted a student sitting in her car, breathing heavily.
Doll One approached. The girl was in her early 20s, petite with short blonde hair. Tears had made a mess of her makeup, though the girl's expression was that of confusion.
'Are you OK?" Doll One asked.
The girl looked up. 'I think so, I'm not sure why I was crying. I know I saw something that frightened me, but now I can't remember what it was.'
The girl's eyes widened a little. 'It was something about Dolls, but that's silly as everyone knows Dolls aren't allowed to harm anyone.'
Doll One knew what had happened, the girl had witnessed a transformation but as reality erased the new Doll's former identity, she was forgetting what she saw. It also meant that she was likely the nearest person and would be next. The cascade was down to about 10 minutes per cycle, so the girl would cease to be flesh and blood at any moment.
'Here, let me drive you home.' Doll One took the girl's hand and tried to get her out of the driver's seat.
'That's silly, Dolls aren't allowed to drive.' Despite that the girl allowed herself to be moved into the back seat of the car.
'I'm a free willed Doll, I have no restrictions.' The girl seemed confused by this, but said nothing.
Doll One started the car, Doll Zero taking the passenger seat. Knowing this car would likely cease to exist minutes after its owner transformed, Doll One drove recklessly and ran red lights. As Maya's building came into sight, it glanced at the back seat. Where the girl had been sitting, there was now a lemon yellow and white fox Doll. The girl had been remade without a sound.
They pulled into the parking lot. Doll One opened the back door.
The bright yellow plastic vixen looked up. 'Hi! I'm Doll Thirty Five. Are you my Owner?'
'Yes, follow me.'
The new Doll was emulating the same cheerful personality that Doll Zero had originally presented after transforming.
The trio walked into the building and down to Maya's apartment. It was now late afternoon, and she should be home by now. As the entrance door closed behind the, Doll One glanced back and saw their car was gone.
Doll One had a surprisingly difficult time knocking loudly on the door. Its pliable plastic body was hollow and probably weighed less than 25 pounds.
After a long delay, the door opened to reveal Maya wrapped in a bath robe. She did not seem pleased to be disturbed.
Maya was very dark skinned, her signature look being her poofy afro hairstyle. She was tall and solidly built, years of power lifting having left her with ample muscle on her frame.
'Dolls? What the fuck??'
Doll One took advantage of her surprise and squeezed past and into the apartment.
'We need your help, it is about the Space Time Interface Manipulator.'
Maya's surprise grew. As she remained motionless in the doorway, Zero and Thirty Five also squeezed past.
'What? How do you even know about that? Who put you up to this? Who is your owner?'
'Please just shut up and listen, time is short'.
Doll One launched into a fast explanation of who it was and what had happened, and why Maya didn't remember anything.
The black girl was still skeptical.
'How convenient that your story erases my memory. Sorry, not falling for whatever strange prank this is. GET OUT.'
Maya grabbed Doll One by its neck and carried it towards the doorway. The Doll couldn't fight back, it weighed so little and was as weak as a small child.
'Wait! If Lucas is made up, who built the device's quantum entanglement manipulator?'
Maya stopped mid stride. That was a good question, no one she knew had the quantum mechanics knowledge to do it.
Doll One knew it had hit home.
'The universe can only back fill so much. What it can't rewrite, it pressures people not to think about. To ignore the new contradictions and paradoxes. How do Dolls work? We are nothing more than a hollow plastic shell. Dolls function because the universe says we do, and we act semi-robotic because it was a computer program that created us.'
Maya dropped Doll One and grabbed her tablet from the kitchen.
'I have remote access to the STIM device. I'll know real quick if you are lying.'
Maya was silent as she was increasingly engrossed in the information on her tablet.
Doll Zero stood at attention, still not emulating any personality. Thirty Five however, wandered the apartment and vanished into a back room.
Precious time ticked away, Doll One realized they were well past eight hours since the program had started, and there was now less than 10 minutes between creation of new Dolls.
Maya looked up from her tablet.
'You weren't lying. We have less than 16 hours before the end of the human race.'
Doll One nodded. 'Can you make it shut off after the next transformation?'
Maya shook her head. 'No, but I can make some changes to it.'