A short story by Brandon Sanderson, set in the same multiverse (but not the same specific world) as The Reckoners Trilogy, though unconnected to that story.
In the city of New Clipperton, "Snapshots" of a day can be created, recreating a single day down to every last detail. Anthony Davis and his partner Chaz are detectives sent in to investigate murders as they are happening, to help the investigations in the real world. Everything in the Snapshot is fake, but it seems completely real, to the point of the food even being edible. Davis and Chaz have "reality badges" that prove them to be real and everyone else to be dupes, but they are supposed to avoid using them in order to cut down on Deviations that could bring into question the veracity of their investigation.
After easily investigating the petty murder they were sent in for, Davis and Chaz stumble on the scene of a much more horrific slaughter, which was hidden from them in the real world by their superiors. They resolve to investigate and stop the mad serial killer called the Photographer, but need to be careful, as death in the Snapshot is a real danger.
This story provides examples of:
- Black-and-Gray Morality: The heroes are one low-impulse-control, triggery-happy Jerkass who thinks it's hilarious to drive people past their Despair Event Horizon and his bitter, ineffectual enabler who is planning on killing him before the day is over. They inhabit a simulated world filled with millions of sentient, sapient beings who are brought into being every morning and killed every night, all with a push of a button, just to make it slightly easier to solve real-world murders. And they're still more sympathetic than the villain, who is an Ax-Crazy nutcase who goes around systematically exterminating everyone he considers "flawed."
- Cowboy Cop: Chaz has all the makings of one - which is why he was put on decoy Snapshot duty, so that when he inevitably shot someone, it would at least just be a dupe.
- Divided States of America: Implied to have occurred at some point in the past. The story takes place in a city-state somewhere in North America, and there are references to diplomatic relations with the "Restored American Union". The world of Snapshot may have a similar backstory to Reckoners, in which the US became the "Fractured States" due to the chaos caused by malevolent Epics.
- Driven to Suicide: Upon seeing Chaz's reality badge and realising that he's a dupe, Chief Roberts runs back into his office and shoots himself. It's implied that this happens every time Chaz and Davis goes to HQ.
- Fridge Horror: An In-Universe example when Davis explains to Chaz why he always insists on being the one to push the button to turn the Snapshot off: Because every single time he does that, his son dies, and Davis refuses to let anyone else take the load of those deaths off his shoulders.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- Tiny changes can cause massive ripple effects that ultimately render the entire Snapshot invalid for legal purposes. Davis mentions a time he stayed in his room all day to avoid causing Deviations; he slammed a door too loudly in the morning, waking up a woman who was supposed to sleep through a job interview. The process is so seemingly random that the detectives are never blamed.
- The real Snapshot detective giving Davis her phone number reminds him of his chance to move on from his ex-wife, leading him not to kill Chaz when he has the chance.
- Hollywood Restraining Order: Davis is prohibited from contacting his RL son until the custody dispute with his ex-wife is settled, so he works around it by visiting his son's dupe in Snapshots of days when he visits the park without his mother.
- If You're So Evil, Eat This Kitten!: Davis shoots the elderly man to convince Photographer that he is really on his side. Of course, this being a Snapshot, at the end of the day his victim would die anyway.
- In Spite of a Nail: On the other hand, seemingly massive changes can have no real effect. Showing everyone in a police station the reality badge rarely makes a meaningful Deviation—even though the chief of police kills himself the second he finds out he's a dupe.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Davis is killed by the shutdown of the Snapshot as he's talking about how he wonders what it feels like to be a dupe in a Snapshot as it's shut down.
- Logical Weakness: The Photographer uses various methods to hide exactly when his victims were killed, so the police don't know which days to recreate Snapshots of in order to catch him.
- Loophole Abuse: Davis and Chaz are low-level detectives without access to most interesting files. But inside the Snapshot, they're gods, and have access to whatever they want by walking into the replica of their precinct and flashing their reality badges.
- Meta Twist: Sanderson said he expected the reader to figure out Davis was a dupe early on. The meta twist that he was planning to kill Chaz is less obvious. As is the meta-meta twist that the Snapshot is for the murder he committed.
- Magic-Powered Pseudoscience: The Snapshot is created by a captured Epic as part of an old American project, which New Clipperton bought from them at an exorbitant fee. It's repeatedly pointed out that no one has any idea how the effect works, just like all other Epic powers.
- Misapplied Phlebotinum: After New Clipperton bought the Snapshot project, no one had any idea what to do with it. It was eventually decided to only allow it to be used for government work with a warrant, meaning it's typically used to investigate murders, with some petty crimes as side missions if they happen to fall on the same day. Davis and Chaz repeatedly discuss the idea of finding something more useful to do with it, but they can't think of anything much better than just letting the Snapshot run for years to see what happens. The government is using it for spying and more important murder investigations.
- Sanderson mentions in the Afterword that this trope was why he decided to have the Snapshot be created by Epic powers rather than advanced tech: He wanted this one specific application without any of the other things that could logically be done with the kind of tech that allows for the recreation of the past.
- Never Shall The Selves Meet: Davis and Chaz's handlers try to keep them from meeting their past selves to prevent "psychological trauma." Davis and Chaz find the idea silly, and don't seem worried about it.
- Power Perversion Potential:
- The Mayor originally used the Snapshot for "entertainment." That was made illegal the second the public found out.
- Chaz seduces the dupe of Davis' ex-wife whenever Davis uses free time in the Snapshot to visit the dupe of his son.
- The Reveal:
- Davis has been planning to murder Chaz (for sleeping with his ex-wife) and make it look like it was collateral damage during a gang shooting.
- After Davis decides not to shoot Chaz, two real Snapshot detectives reveal that the whole thing is a Snapshot of a Snapshot, investigating Davis' murder of Chaz—which he went through with in the real world.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: The Photographer thinks he's in a Snapshot, and is fighting to kill "Deviations," anyone with a flaw, no matter how minor. Of course he is in a Snapshot, but the real version of him was not, and killed real people.
- Take Our Word for It: In-universe; there are various series revolving around Snapshots, but they never show what the reality badge actually looks like, knowing that they'd never be able to do it justice.
- Tomato in the Mirror: Davis and Chaz are themselves dupes, inhabiting a Snapshot of a Snapshot.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: The only repercussions for killing a dupe in a Snapshot are associated with the Deviations that result from this and whether they can impact whatever the real person was investigating.
- What You Are in the Dark: Showing someone the reality badge gives them an instinctive understanding that they are a dupe, meaning none of their actions matter and the entire world is going to die at the end of the day. Davis muses several times on how their reactions show a lot about them. A hardened gangbanger breaks down crying for his mother before deciding to give all his boys big bonuses for the day, Marie in the precinct reacts with cool professionalism and proves very helpful, while the chief of police immediately commits suicide.
