This fic is rated PG for violence.

Disclaimer: Rocky and Bullwinkle are owned by Jay Ward.

In this story, the voice of the Narrator is represented by bold italic text.

Rocky and Bullwinkle are standing in front of the entrance to a futuristic building. The whitewashed metal door is covered with electronic devices, including a keypad and a handprint recognizer.

"Gee, Rock," says Bullwinkle, "how're we gonna get through all this security?"

"You could try knocking," suggests his squirrel pal.

Bullwinkle raps on the door three times, and it slides open vertically. The moose and squirrel are greeted by Mr. Peabody's pet boy, Sherman. "Bullwinkle! Rocky!" he greets them excitedly. "I haven't seen you two in ages! Come in!"

Rocky and Bullwinkle follow Sherman into the laboratory. The large room is filled with all sorts of inventions and devices. The familiar Waybac Machine sits in a corner gathering dust, and a similar but more modern device stands next to it. Mr. Peabody is hunched over a table, wearing a visor and tinkering with some electronic circuits. He pushes up his visor when he sees the visitors enter.

"Welcome, gentlemen," says the canine genius. "Bullwinkle, please be careful with your antlers."

"Uh, why?" The moose glances about as if expecting to see something hazardous, and his antler breaks the head off a ceiling-mounted sprinkler. Within moments, water is spraying all over Rocky, Bullwinkle, and several inventions.

"Oh, dear," mutters Peabody. "Shut off the water, will you, Sherman?"

"Okay, Mr. Peabody," says his boy, who quickly pulls a switch on the wall, stopping the flow of water from the sprinkler system.

"Gosh, I hope we didn't ruin anything, Mr. Peabody," says Rocky apologetically.

"Yeah," says Bullwinkle, who then shakes himself vigorously, sending water droplets flying all over the laboratory.

Peabody wipes the drops of water from his glasses. "Not to worry. Those devices are merely failed prototypes."

"Prototypes of what?" asks Rocky.

"I'll let Sherman field that question," says Peabody.

"I've invented a revolutionary new device called the Dublinator," Sherman announces proudly.

"You invented something, Sherman?" says Rocky in surprise.

"I have a Ph.D. in quantum physics," Sherman points out. "It's been more than forty years since I was drawn, you know."

"You haven't aged a day," marvels Bullwinkle.

"Neither have we, Bullwinkle," Rocky reminds his moose buddy. "We're cartoon characters."

Sherman and Peabody lead Bullwinkle and Rocky to a machine that consists of a pair of tall glass booths attached to a computerized control panel. "This is the Dublinator," Sherman explains. It can make an exact duplicate of any person."

"That's amazing!" says Rocky.

"Does it work?" asks Bullwinkle.

"We're still testing it," replies Peabody. "The prototypes made duplicates who either melted or blew up, but this version shows promise. I've remained stable for over a week already."

As Rocky and Bullwinkle shoot confused looks at Mr. Peabody, another white dog with glasses appears through a side door. "I am the real Mr. Peabody," the dog identifies himself.

"And I am a duplicate," says the first Peabody. "Not only do I exactly resemble the original, but I possess all of his knowledge and faculties as well."

Rocky and Bullwinkle watch in stupefied wonderment as the two Peabodies come together and shake hands. "Hokey smoke!" exclaims Rocky. "I don't believe my eyes!"

"What are you gonna do with it, Mr., uh..." Bullwinkle looks back and forth, unable to tell which Peabody is real.

"The Dublinator will eliminate the most basic, fundamental threat to the survival of humanity," proclaims the Peabody clone.

"Reality TV?" asks Rocky.

"I wish," says the real Peabody. "My clone is referring to the ignorance and lack of productivity resulting from improper schooling. No longer will we have to pump billions of dollars into a failing education system."

"Correction," says the Peabody clone. "Those billions of dollars are being spent on the military. That's why the education system is failing."

"Right," says the real Peabody, looking somewhat embarrassed.

The Peabody clone continued the explanation. "What he's trying to say is, instead of having children and putting them through years of schooling, you can simply create a copy of yourself that has all of your knowledge."

"Can I try it?" asks Bullwinkle.

"Certainly," says the real Peabody. "Just step into the booth on the left, and be careful with the antlers."

Bullwinkle cautiously steps into the glass booth on the left side of the device. "Do you think you can handle the controls this time, Mr. Peabody?" Sherman asks his colleague.

"I...think so," says the real Peabody as he closes the glass door to seal Bullwinkle inside.

"Here goes nothing," says the Peabody clone. "Or rather, double or nothing."

The real Peabody twists a dial on the control panel, and the Dublinator begins to vibrate and hum. "Whoooaaa...I feel funny..." says Bullwinkle.

A foggy shape starts to appear in the glass booth on the right; its outline is similar to Bullwinkle's. Then something goes wrong...

"Wait, this can't be right," says the real Peabody as he examines one of the gauges.

Sherman takes a look and gasps. "Omigosh! The photonic charge density is outside of the safety threshold! Shut it down, quickly!"

The cloudy object in the right booth turns dark brown and becomes more detailed. "Too late!" exclaims the real Peabody. "It's forming!"

"Imbecile!" the Peabody clone complains. "You should have let me do it!"

"We've never duplicated anything as big as Bullwinkle before," reflects Sherman as an exact copy of Bullwinkle appears in the right booth.

What have Sherman and the two Mr. Peabodies created? Find out in our next exciting episode, "Deuce Moose", or, "I Think I'm a Clone Now"!