Copy/Paste (short story)

Copy/Paste
Main character(s):	Lucy, Hobo
Main enemy:	Meme Lords
Main setting:	Ogmore-by-Sea, 29 March 2020 Cyberspace
Key crew
Publishers:	Candy Jar Books
Editor:	Shaun Russell
Writer:	Jonathan Macho
Cover by:	Steve Beckett
Release details
Printed in:	Lockdown
Release date:	7 April 2020
Lucy Wilson series
← Previous	The Llanfairfach Rebellion
Next →	File #161229

You may be looking for the comic story of the same name.

Copy/Paste was a The Lucy Wilson Mysteries short story released by Candy Jar Books freely on their website because of the Coronavirus isolation of 2020.

Publisher's summary

It's 2020 and Lucy Wilson is stuck at home, locked down with her family and feeling glum. She's used to being the hero, but this particular type of heroism is hard and slow. Luckily, her friend Hobo is just a few clicks away. Isn't modern technology amazing?

But why does the video keep glitching? Who's that smiling with Lucy's face? And can she really save the world when she can't even leave her house?

Plot

While stuck inside due to the COVID-19 lockdown, Lucy and Hobo begin using a videochat service known as "Whoosh" to communicate with one another. During one of these chats, Hobo notices visual glitches in Lucy's chat before an identical duplicate of Lucy splits from the original. Shortly after this, a similar duplicate emerges from Hobo's computer and pulls him into the computer.

Hobo finds himself falling through a neon-and-black realm. After landing in a chamber, Hobo is found by a mysterious vaguely-humanoid being that seemingly rules over this domain. The creature reveals in a gloating manner that it is a native of the "cyberspace" similar to a computer virus. It plans to replace the "heroes of Earth" with copies using Whoosh and reveals that it is called a "Meme Lord" (a title which makes Hobo laugh).

While the Meme Lord gloats about its plans, it is interrupted by Lucy Wilson. Lucy reveals that she used the Meme Lord's Copy/Paste function to summon all of Earth's heroes (including various essential workers). The massive amount of people in the same space is too much for the Meme Lord to handle and it is soon lost under a seething horde of copies. Lucy and Hobo are left to wonder how they will get out of the Meme Lord's domain.

Characters

• Lucy Wilson
• Hobo Kostinen
• Lucy Wilson (Meme Lord)
• Hobo Kostinen (Meme Lord)
• Megan Kostinen

Worldbuilding

• Lucy is in day six of lockdown.
• Lucy wonders what socks are good for if one cannot go to school, play in a park or run through an alien ship after sabotaging the evil dark lord Zhregg's plan.
• Lucy's teachers are called Miss Mayhew, Mr Johnson, and Mrs Garrick.
• There are reruns of The Billy Bandril Show on the TV.
• Lucy sees and chats with her friends and family through Whoosh.
• There are many digital worlds in the cyberspace.
• Hobo recalls that meme means idea.

Story notes

• Although many short stories were released online during the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first one to explicitly take place during the actual pandemic, as well as the first to reference the virus itself (albeit indirectly).
  • The releases themselves are referenced as well, noting, "Her favourite shows and writers were releasing special free content to keep their fans upbeat and excited, and they could all share that excitement online".
• Released in the same document was File #161229. This wiki considers it to be a separate story.

Continuity

• Lucy has invited more people into the Whoosh! group chat, including alien hunters from Cardiff (TV: Everything Changes, et al.) and people from Ealing who protected the Earth when they were Lucy and Hobo's age. (TV: Invasion of the Bane, WC: Farewell, Sarah Jane)

External links

• Official Copy/Paste page at Candy Jar Books