by Lynn Crain
“Henrietta, can you scan the whole ship for true life patterns?” I drummed my fingers nervously against the console.
“Stop it.” The lights blinked red.
“Stop what?”
“That noise…I can’t stand it…and I can’t think. I know you’re drumming your fingers against my console and it’s annoying. What was it you wanted me to do again?”
I sighed and pulled my hand from the desk. In this room, everything was accentuated to the point of irritation. “Fine…I’m sorry…can you scan the ship for human life forms?”
“Yes.”
“Well, do it,” I retorted, impatiently tapping my hand against my leg.
“Keep your britches on, missy. Scanning now.”
A complete scan of the ship could take anywhere from two to twenty minutes. As I waited, I tried to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together, to no avail. The pieces I had didn’t fit; a dead clonedroid that I thought to be Charles, another woman who appeared to look exactly like me, an overridden computer interface and a set of memories where I couldn’t quite grasp the most recent events.
“Scan results,” came the monotone reply of the ship’s computer. This was not Henrietta as I knew her.
I grimaced. “Why do you sound like—well—like a computer? I didn’t waste all that time programming personality functions into you just so you could sound like a cold fish. I wanted something with a little more warmth, since you’re about the only other mind I have daily contact with on this ship other than Aidan.”
“More professional,” Henrietta finally replied. “You did program me to maintain the correct professional attitude in certain situations.”
“Great,” I muttered. “Are you sure you don’t have a chip loose or something?”
“I most certainly do not. Besides, if I did, I wouldn’t know it. And like I said, here are the scan results. Of the three hundred person crew, one hundred and fifty-nine have a strange reading.”
“Strange, in what way?” I questioned, looking at the small screen.
“Strange in that they’re not completely human and not completely machine.”
I sat back in the chair for the second time that night. “Clonedroid,” I stated simply.
“That is possible. They are a new phenomena taking the universe by storm, to coin a phrase.”
“How do you know this?”
“I was programmed to record all subspace messages by you and Aidan. You studied the complete readout just two weeks ago. Aidan looked at it just two hours ago.”
“Of course,” I answered wryly. “Why can’t I remember all this?”
“I personally believe you were tampered with in some manner.”
“Berserked, he said,” I muttered to myself and knew that the person I am would never do that. Then again, I usually didn’t kill anyone either, but being berserked was much worse than that one kill…wasn’t it? Except, of course, if I were a machine with no moral compunction. My eyes widened. Oh, my God! My brain spun over and over again as I asked frantically. “I’m human, aren’t I?”
“As far as I can tell.”
“Just how have I been tampered with?” My question hovered in the air as my heart beat frantically. I feared that I truly did not really desire an answer.
“Well…” Henrietta paused as if teetering on the brink of some great discovery. “It appears that what was done to you has been done to people for ages.”
“Just what is it?” I gasped.
“Brainwashing,” came her near monotone reply.
“Brainwashing? Just how does that relate to mindswiping?”
“Brainwashing is the forcible application of prolonged and intensive indoctrination, sometimes including mental and physical torture, in an attempt to induce someone to give up political, social or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas. The keyword here is sometimes.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” I shook my head in disbelief. “That sounds like it came from a dictionary.”
“It did. I had to look it up myself. No one uses brainwashing anymore, at least not that I could find,” Henrietta quipped. “Now the difference is that with mindswiping, someone erases one’s personality by replacing it with a totally new set of ideals and puts the person back in their life without skipping a beat. Basically, they take out the personality traits that they don’t like about you…like political affiliation…and replace them with more desirable ones. But a lot of times, things that one might want to keep get taken out along with the offensive stuff. This is done in a matter of moments with some sophisticated MRI computer equipment. None of which is on this ship that I can detect.”
“So you told me what mindswiping is…but how does that relate to brainwashing…just what is the difference between the two?”
“Brainwashing does the same thing without the fancy computer equipment. But the real difference can be summed up in one word. Torture,” came the blunt reply.
“You’re saying someone tortured me,” I rubbed my forehead vigorously. “So why don’t I remember any of it?”
“That’s the idea. You don’t and won’t. Whoever did this realized simple mindswiping would alter your person too much, and that wasn’t the effect they wanted. A ship’s engineer must be creative. Engineering creativity is usually lost in mindswiping. The most obvious thing they wanted to replace was your political ideas, so you could be converted to their way of thinking. And it’s obvious they wanted to change how you respond for your government in a crisis.”
“I suppose I can understand it, even though I don’t accept it. Whoever set me up knew that I wouldn’t agree to live in a society run by computers. So just how did they torture me?”
“If you really want to know…”
“On second thought, I don’t want to know. Just tell me if I have any permanent mental or physical damage.” I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath.
“None that I can detect.”
I exhaled, slowly opening my eyes. “Thank God. Now tell me about these clonedroid things.”
“What I can. They were developed about four or five years ago to be used as workers in areas where humans could never go. You know, areas with high radiation levels or areas where there were toxic gases in high concentrations, so that humans wouldn’t have to be placed in dangerous situations for any length of time.”
“Yeah, I suppose it’s easier to replace fake flesh than the real thing.”
“Cheaper, too.”
“That’s for sure, Henrietta. Just think, no insurance costs, you don’t have to feed them and maintenance is usually low. Go on.”
“I believe a fanatical group, called the United Freedom Front obtained a copy of the plans and infiltrated stellar ships with them. I still have yet to ascertain what their purpose for doing this might be currently. I also have no idea where they are building them or where their home base might be. I understand that there is an internal war going on within the UFF because the clonedroids have minds of their own and attempted to become independent, all without the consent of their fanatical makers. There are some very serious battles to get them back under control.”
“A civil war among the clonedroids.” I stopped to ponder what this might mean to us—the humans. “How are they made? Can we use them to our own benefit?”
“Basically, they are human clones with a bio-computer for a brain. They are different in the aspect that they don’t have to eat or sleep, just like you said. They do have a rest period and the fluid in their veins is more like hydraulic fluid than blood, but it does have some of the same components as blood. Therefore all their internal human-like systems have been altered slightly to recognize the components of their blood-like substance. But they feel no emotion or pain. At least they aren’t supposed to, but I think that is incorrect.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Why go to war if you have no emotion? If you don’t really care what happens outside of your little sphere, there is no r
eason to pick a fight with anyone or anything. There is more to these clonedroids than we know.”
“Henrietta, that sounds reasonable.” I sighed. “But you have to remember, not many computers think like you.”
“That may be…but you ’taught’ me to think. So if they are even close to a human in construction, why can’t they learn? Why can’t they become near sentient like me? Or even go that one step beyond and become sentient?”
“No reason, I guess, if they are a sentient human-like computer,” I murmured, closing my eyes. “How are these things programmed? Do they just have a specific job to do? And just how human are they?”
“I believe a lot of them have been programmed along your AI models. I don’t know if they are programmed for more than one task. The new ones are supposed to be more human-like than ever with real tears, sweat and some even bleed what could pass for blood. And in case you forgot, I’m one,” came the huffy reply.
“I wonder if Charles was an older model.”
“I said, I’m one.”
I stared at the console. “One what?” I inquired.
“A computer,” Henrietta finally managed to blurt out.
“I know, but you’d never try to hurt me.”
“You don’t bite the hand that feeds. Besides you taught me everything I know on a mental level. I wouldn’t be who I am without your input.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
“Aidan!” I whirled and stared at the source of the voice. This man wasn’t Aidan, although he looked enough like him to be his brother. “Readout, Henrietta,” I barely managed to whisper.
“He’s human, all right. And if my scan is correct, one gorgeous hunk of a man. He kinda looks like Aidan, doesn’t he?”
“Can it, Henrietta. Keep us under continual scan.” I whispered while I stared at the intruder, my breathing becoming more labored. “Who are you?” I asked, mesmerized by the eyes so much like my lover’s.
“I’m Devlin Chapel, one of the fanatics your computer just told you about.” He walked around looking at the small dismal room. “And Aidan is my brother.”
My mind tried to process this information, this bombshell that he had just dropped on me. Was Aidan spying on me for the whole five years we had been together? What exactly was Aidan doing with me? I tried not to show any outward emotion at all. Still, Devlin stood there surveying me.
“I can see that little mind at work. He told me that you were brilliant.” Devlin came and ran a light finger up my arm and came to stand behind me, his hands running through my hair, pulling it from the clips that held it in the ever-efficient bun. “And don’t worry, Fallon, he was never party to any of my plans for you at all. I wanted you all to myself…and if he knows what’s good for him…he’ll have never touched you. He didn’t, did he?”
Inwardly, I relaxed. Aidan had never knowingly betrayed me. I wondered where he was and if he fared better than I. I had to get the situation under control. He had never betrayed me and I would not do so, either. “No…No, he didn’t. So you came to see your game in action, did you?” I retorted suddenly, a small amount of control over my body returned.
“No, my dear. You see, Fallon Montgomery, I came across space and time for you. I couldn’t very well let one of the most brilliant minds in the universe be killed or mindswiped for any reason, could I?” He leaned down and licked the side of my face. “Nor could I let that devil of a brother have you.”
Run, flee! my mind told me. I stayed rooted to the spot. My body did not respond to any of my mental commands. It was as if he telepathically held me so I could not perceive or comprehend what was happening. It was as if he was the very one who brainwashed me. I tried very hard not to panic…not to let any of my outward emotions show. He didn’t know that while he held sway over my body, my mind was still my own.
“You must stop the vicious circle. Only you have the brilliance and expertise to do it. Only you can help us conquer the universe and get the rest of the clonedroids under control.” He came forward, taking my hand. “I made a place for us to rest.”
I simply stared at him. Henrietta was right. This man was clearly the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen, with the same shoulder-length curly brown hair and aqua eyes as Aidan. My body seemed to respond to Devlin while my mind screamed in terror in a way I couldn’t understand. I wanted Aidan…he had a realness about him, a normalcy that I wasn’t seeing in Devlin. Was one the crazy brother and one the sane brother? Or was one the creator and the other a clonedroid made from his master? The look on my face must have shown my dilemma.
“It’s quite useless to resist. I can do what I please with you.”
He proceeded to show me he was as good as his word. Devlin walked to a much larger space within the area, lay down on the mat he placed there and drew me to him. Running his hands down my length, he gently cupped my butt and my back. My body responded even though my mind continued to scream in revolt. Each stroke started to fuel a passion my mind never felt—it was as if my body was on fire while my mind remained ice cold.
He kissed me deeply, his tongue gently warring with mine and my arms immediately wrapped around him of their own accord, my body arching, straining to meet his as if by some prearranged programming. I just couldn’t get my clothes off fast enough. My body’s response was so deep that when the brilliance flashed in my mind, I knew no more.
* * * *
I awoke in what I assumed to be the middle of the night. I moved around and discovered that my mind and body were again totally my own, released from what I did not know or understand. I gently extracted my body from Devlin’s and made my way to the computer console. I had to hurry and be back by his side when he awoke. But the need to figure out what happened to me drove me forward. How could I have betrayed Aidan’s love so easily?
“Henrietta?” I whispered.
“Where the hell have you been?” came the answer.
“Shush. You must keep quiet.” I glanced over my shoulder.
“Well? I’m waiting,” came the whispered monotone reply.
“He has some sort of mind hold on me I can’t break. I don’t know how, but when he’s sleeping and on certain occasions, I’m allowed to take control of my body again. It’s really bad because I have control over my mind, but can’t physically respond at all.”
“I take it he got you into a compromising position.”
“Henrietta!” I whispered feverishly. “It was so different from when I’m with Aidan.”
“Ask a simple question…I’m sorry that he wasn’t Aidan.”
“Thank you, and I’m not sure it’s that simple. There’s something here I don’t quite understand.” I ran my hand over my face as if trying to clear the cobwebs.
“How can you not be sure what’s going on with a hunk like that? Sorry, I keep forgetting he’s not Aidan.” If the computer had a face, I knew what expression it would hold.
“I don’t know, it was all so strange. My mind screamed no while my body screamed yes. I just don’t understand what happened.” Shaking my head to clear the cobwebs yet again, I continued, suddenly knowing what was required if my hunch proved right. “I need you to give a subsonic blast which will jam all the clonedroid’s neural computers and any links they possess to each other or the outside, when I give the word. Once that is done, their processors should be scrambled enough that they can’t function anymore. They will either drop in their tracks or become statue-like, I’m not sure which. Do you understand what I need, Henrietta?”
“No problem. Do you want it so they’re scrambled forever?”
“You can do that?”
“Absolutely.”
I thought about it for only a second. “Forever and completely. I want those things out of commission—absolutely dead, if possible. I need to get back to the real world, to my real life, and so do you. I’m afraid if we don’t act now, we’ll have nothing to go back to on Earth. Or anywhere in the universe, for that matter.”
I shuddered to think what ac
tually might happen if we couldn’t get control of this problem in the quadrant where it started. I didn’t want it to spread like a disease to everywhere in the universe. And frankly, at this moment, I didn’t know which side was the better one…the human fanatics who had created the clonedroids, or the clonedroids who apparently just wanted to be free.
“It will take a little work to get the components diagrams and correctly tone the subsonic blast, but I’ll find a way. I’ll just work with that hunk of junk you left on the floor about three levels up. And I could always track down Aidan…maybe he knows something. By the way, what’s the code word?”
“Fluke.”
“Fluke? Why fluke?”
“Because this whole thing is such a fluke, a damn anomaly. What ever is happening on this ship is not normal for me or anyone else. And I’ll bet my last dollar that there are those like me on this ship who can’t get a grip on what’s normal or right anymore.” I muttered the last to myself and shook my head.
“Okay. That’s what the word means, I guess. This is an anomaly, all right.”
I turned to go but whirled around again. “One more item, Henrietta. Reprogram yourself to be like you used to be—you can still do that, right? Just pull out the old program or whatever you have to do to make it happen. Just make sure you can respond to my verbal command from anywhere I am on this ship. And find Aidan. I know that he will help you if he can.”
“Will I need to use your override code?”
“You have my permission to only use it as necessary.”
I ran back to where I had left Devlin and breathed a quiet sigh of relief at his still-sleeping form. Easing myself down, my heart stopped when he turned in his sleep and murmured my name. I started breathing again when he flung his arm across my body. I decided to wait out the rest of the night with the best remedy, sleep. Maybe in the morning life would have a brighter outlook.
I awoke to aqua eyes staring into mine. My body felt the same irresistible tug, my mind numb from it. These eyes looked so much like Aidan…but there was something cold lurking in the depths of them…something not quite in touch with reality.
