Everyone’s hand, except David’s, went up. Allan could see their eyes raising to look at him, with determination and resolution in them.
“What about you, David?” he asked quietly, afraid that he had lost one ally.
“I have a lot to lose,” David said hesitantly, in a low voice. “My life even, never mind my lifestyle and my job. Yet I can’t sit on the fence and watch you guys die.” He appeared to have made up his mind. “All right, I’m in, but for the record, I think you’re all absolutely crazy, and a bunch of misfits to boot.”
Allan breathed in relief. All on board, thank goodness.
Before anybody had a chance to say anything else, Tom spoke again, “I’d like to add to our numbers my good friend Serge and a few of our trusted comrades. They would give their lives for me, as I would do for them.”
This is how we became more than the sum of our individual beings. An unusual group, tasked with changing the fate of the city forever. Allan felt his whole being filled with energy and purpose.
“I think we’re all feeling great about things now,” said Daniel. “But have you considered what happens after the attack on the cloning facility? Assuming that we get the clones out of there and safely to our compound, what happens next? All the security forces will come after us, round us up, clones or not, and take us all to the Happy Endings clinic.”
Everyone looked at him in silence. Allan had thought about that as well. It was something he had wanted to talk about later, with Tom, but now he had to deal with the question head on.
But Tom spoke first. “Don’t worry, Daniel. It’s part of what we have to deal with. All of you try to think of everything that we need to do and anything that could go wrong. But for your peace of mind, I thought that I should go to Secure-IT headquarters and face Thomas. He will call the security forces to arms. I can deal with him then and there, while taking control of the small army, and thus of the city.”
“Now we’re talking,” said Lan excitedly.
“All right, then. Think about everything.” Tom reiterated. “I have to talk to Serge before anything else. Then all of us will lay out some plans, discuss the pros and cons, and assign tasks for every individual. Not a word to anybody else until then.”
18
It took Tom a few days to get a hold of Serge and to be able to talk to his old friend about what had happened since their last encounter. Serge had to be careful he wasn’t followed or that his communication channels weren’t traced. Thus, another week passed before they had a chance to reconvene. Tom had met Serge at the entrance to the forest and brought him to the house. Serge looked very much out of place and uncomfortable in the alien environment.
“Come on, pal, it’s not another planet, you’re still on Earth,” Tom teased, to try to put his friend at ease. “These are my young friends, and here we have my two sons. You’ve met Allan before, and Lan knows you very well through his brother’s memories, so you are practically among friends as well.”
“Nice meeting you all,” Serge greeted them, smiling nervously. “I’ve never been here before, so far from the city. I’m glad I came, though. Something to cross off my bucket list, so to speak.” He placed himself awkwardly on the coach in the living room. “Nice place you’ve got, Tom. Surprisingly so, given the state of the buildings on our way here.”
“We do our best to make our life more bearable,” Tom replied, seeing that his friend was trying to calm his nerves by talking.
“It sounds like a great life, close to nature, no noisy neighbours, no taxes… I’m just kidding,” he said, when the others gave him a curious look.
Tom cleared his voice and saw the others looking at him in expectation. Time to start, he thought. “The reason I called you all here is to discuss and put together a plan with the goal of taking control of the city. Each of you has something important to contribute to this goal. You may not realize it at the moment, but you are the best people I could want for the job. The main reason is that I trust you all one hundred percent. Also, you have complementary skills that will prove invaluable to our cause.”
He could see the young people glancing at each other, with great surprise showing in their eyes.
“I thought we were going to release the clones from their captivity and that’s all,” David remarked. “Are you sure you’re talking to the right people when you say that our goal is to take control of the city?”
Feeling all eyes on him, Tom knew he had to be very clear with his statements. The worst thing I can do is to scare them off.
“Yes, David, I’m sure you are the right people for the task. And yes, control of the city must be our ultimate goal. Striking the cloning facility will only do so much. Please give me your undivided attention, and you’ll see how this will play out.”
“Once again, the ultimate goal for this taskforce, which includes all of us here and a dozen security men I trust, is to take control of the city, or more specifically, of the security forces of the city. Without that goal, any other initiative we choose to undertake will be futile, and at best temporary. The five hundred security men under Thomas’ control will raid the Scrappie compound less than an hour after the attack on the cloning facility. Therefore, we must cut off the head of the armed forces, immobilize Thomas, and disable his ability to give orders and cause havoc in the city.”
“Then why didn’t you do it months ago, instead of going into hiding?” Allan asked, apparently uncomfortable with the decisions of his father.
“Because I was waiting to see what happened after my replacement appeared. I thought it was a larger conspiracy and I wanted to crush the whole network of foes. Nothing else happened, though. I was at a loss to what I should do. Do you know the term of analysis paralysis? It means analyzing something to death and yet being incapable to take any action. That was me until a short while ago.
“Then you appeared in the picture, Lan. Due to you, Jules, and Allan envisioned the fight for the clones, I realized that it was not only the right thing to do, but it fit perfectly with the greater objective.”
“Why did you clone Allan, anyway?” Daniel intervened. “You had said to us that you never wanted your own clone to be developed.”
Tom sighed. “I had just lost my wife. I couldn’t bear to lose my only son too. I was wrong, of course. But let me finish.”
“Sorry, go ahead,” Daniel apologized.
“Thank you. Where was I? Once again, the goal is taking control of the security forces. The strategy I propose, in long strokes for now, is the following: we attack the cloning facility and release the clones. Thomas will get the news and according to protocol, five hundred men will proceed to the Secure-IT headquarters to get their orders. I will be waiting there to confront Thomas and reclaim my rightful place as the head of the force.”
A flurry of questions followed. How would they attack the cloning facility? Who had the knowledge of the building and the procedures to release the clones? What would happen in the west wing, where the leaders had their clones under guard? Who was going to do it? How many people were needed? What role would each of them play? What was going to happen after that? They planned for all of these roadblocks long into the night.
Later, when they were taking a breather, Tom stretched his arms and smiled. “I’m glad to see everyone working together so well on this. You can see how your individual strengths come into play. It’s clear now we’ll need to talk to the other Scrappies to employ their help with the rescue. We need some way to transport the newly released clones and bring them here for immediate care.”
“Why not take them to the hospital?” Jules intervened. “After all, aren’t we assuming we would have control of the city?”
“I want to keep the general population unaware of clones being released and in their midst. It would cause havoc. I’m hoping for their gradual integration in the society. This way, we can also bring together the Scrappies.” Tom never expressed to them his greatest fear, that there was no safe haven for any of them, clo
nes or not, if he failed in his mission to capture Thomas and to win over the small army of soldiers.
The discussion kept going into the early morning hours, until all the questions they had up to that moment were addressed. In the end, each of them had certain tasks they had to undertake.
19
During their planning, it was determined that Serge would have to find out how many security guards were posted at the cloning facility and what their locations and responsibilities were. Being the second in command to Thomas, he had the advantage of prime access at Secure-IT. Files with the information could be found and more so, he could visit the facility under the pretense of a routine check. Discussions with several of his security men could also reveal precious intel they could use to their advantage.
Unexpectedly, Daniel became an important piece of the puzzle, due to his advanced knowledge regarding the proper procedures of releasing clones from the amniotic fluid tubes that kept them in stasis. He had performed such tasks before, as part of his basic training while he was taking part in the harvesting of clone organs for the purpose of transplant to the original human beings.
On top of that, Daniel was somewhat familiar with the layout of the building, though he admitted that certain areas had required higher clearance than he had, and therefore he didn’t know what they contained. Those areas were located in the west wing of the cloning facility, the area they knew hosted the clones for the leaders of the city. They had to anticipate a higher level of security, including armed guards, to protect against contamination of any kind that could potentially jeopardize the integrity of the sterile environment and thus of the clones themselves.
From what Daniel had told them, they believed there were no more than two dozen clones in the facility, excluding the ones in the west wing, whose numbers he did not know. The east wing clones would be in various stages of development, from babies to adults. Some of them had been subjected to accelerated growth, while others were developing at the same rate as their originals. These were there just in case of an emergency, such as an unfortunate accident, that required the original to be replaced. The overall small number of existing clones seemed to make sense for two reasons: one, because it was very expensive to keep a clone in stasis indeterminately, even for Elites, and second, because it made more sense for Elites to order a clone on an as-needed basis and use the accelerated growth rate.
Jules offered to procure a few stretchers she knew existed in the Elite hospital storage room. Bruce would give her a hand once again, she was sure of that, by taking the stretchers out of the hospital under the pretense of getting them replaced for non-conformance. Since the number of stretchers at the cloning facility was very limited, the additions would help speed up the transportation of the clones from the lab to the outside. They could be stolen shortly before the attack and brought by van to the cloning facility.
Serge would be in the charge of dealing with the west wing. His job was to gain access to the cloning building under the pretense of an inspection, and then proceed to the west wing with a small group of armed men, where Serge would use his high position in the chain of command to order the armed guards to surrender. Hopefully nothing would go wrong. Then Serge would open the door to the restricted area and determine the situation. The prediction was that they would find the clones of the city leadership and hopefully discover later through formal inquiries that some of the originals hadn’t known they had a clone. Thus, further investigation would help bring everything out in the open.
Upon succeeding thus far, they would send a message to Thomas as bait to gather his armed forces. The most dangerous task was overcoming Thomas and the subsequent takeover of the armed forces. Then David brought up a very valid question. Why not set a trap and capture the head of Secure-IT and be done? Why all the danger of trying to save the clones when Tom could just seize Thomas and take his place.
Everyone seemed taken aback by the simple question, but Tom had the answer, because he had thought about it long and hard. He explained that, in his opinion, if they did that, he would not have solved much. He needed to reveal the face of their enemy. He also said it would be too difficult to convince the city council to go through with the release of the Elite clones. It was better to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission. It couldn’t be reasonably done, not without turning the democratic ruling of the city into a dictatorship, which was not his intention at all.
Tom felt a sense of relief coming from his group. Everything was coming together well, and they were determined without any illusions on what the risks were.
The problem with the transportation of the clones to the Scrappie compound stayed with Tom. He took it upon himself to go and visit other Scrappies to try and build a relationship with them with the purpose of gaining their support. Tom was convinced that he would be successful, mainly because he had already made some connections and had helped some of the Scrappies to solve their differences. On more than one occasion, he’d helped to avoid killings between various groups. Even more so, he had known some of them from the city. He had gained their trust when he turned a blind eye to their departure from their previous positions in the city, having run away from situations they had been unable to cope with.
Vehicles of some sort were needed to move the clones, because at that point of being released from stasis, they would not know how to walk, and they would be in total confusion. This presented a real problem, especially since they would have to cross the forest. Serge came up with the simple idea of using existing plywood from the decrepit houses and building some rudimentary handheld stretchers with long handles to make them easier to carry. They would also have wheels they could scavenge from the properties around them, which contained old lawn mowers and bicycles and whatever else they could find. Serge would also look for wheels in the city, while Allan would lead the building of the carts.
Still, going through the dense forest was going to be exceedingly difficult, no matter how good the wheels and the carts were. They determined that it was too risky to make a path themselves, not only because they didn’t have enough time to accomplish this, but also because it would leave a trail straight back to them.
Tom had the idea to go around the forest instead of through it. At the sight of their long faces, he explained that given the cloning facility’s position in the city, adjacent to the forest and placed right against the wall of fog, they could pull the carts from the back of the building and into the mist, right around the edge of the forest. Once they crossed the forest, they could use the streets of the former city and make their way to the respective homes of the Scrappies willing to take a clone to live with them until it was over.
Even the mere thought of penetrating the fog sent shivers through their veins. Each of them had had an awful experience with the fog. There was no child in Elysian Fields who hadn’t tried at least once during the hot summer days to feel how it would be to get in the mist, only to come out of it shaking with panic, the sensation was of bugs nibbling at the flesh or something equally creepy.
Tom asked them whether the feeling of panic was instantaneous and they had to admit that it took a little while and it happened only when they ventured deeper into the mist. Tom told them that the idea was not to go deep into the mist, only as much as necessary to avoid the forest. He assured them there was no forest growing inside the fog. Everyone felt a sense of relief and agreed that this, indeed, was a very smart idea. Now all they had to do was convince the Scrappies to help them.
Mel had been quiet up to that point, but she raised a question that took Tom by surprise, simply because none of them had thought of it during all their previous planning. The clones would have empty slated brains and would be unable to function in the outside world without having been given some basic routines. They wouldn’t be able to talk, would not understand verbal instructions as they did not understand language, would not be able to feed themselves, their small motor skills lacking any practice at all. None of them would be able
to clean themselves or get dressed. The list of problems the Scrappies hosting the adults would be facing was long. They needed to help them somehow, rather than thrusting them into a world with no guidance whatsoever.
Eventually, David came up with the answer. He was willing to undertake the task of ensuring that basic skills would be programmed into the minds of the older clones. He let the others decide the extent of the information that would be uploaded into their brains.
Nothing else seemed to require clarification. Everyone knew their tasks, and those who didn’t have a specific one would assist the ones who required help.
Tom told them that they would reconvene in approximately one week, when everything was in place for their final revision of the plan. By then, all the pieces of the puzzle would be in place. In the meantime, he would be the liaison between the various groups, ensuring that everything went smoothly.
20
Over the next week, Tom began visiting other Scrappie groups. According to his estimations, there were about twenty so-called families or gangs, plus a dozen or so roaming Scrappies. These were mostly people who were unable or unwilling to join a group due to severe mental problems or psychological issues that caused them extreme anxiety or fear. The Scrappies who succeeded for any length of time were the ones who were able to socialize and belong to a group. The others were doomed to fail either by committing suicide, dying of hunger or disease, or being killed at random by some other mentally unstable or desperate Scrappie. In other instances, those who did not belong were more likely to venture into the city and be taken to the Happy Endings clinic.
Tom knew that there were less than a thousand souls living in the Scrappie compound, probably only a few hundred now, since summer was just beginning. During the summer months, more people got the courage to experiment with their lives by escaping the rigid order of the city. As soon as the weather got colder, most of them returned to the city and resumed their lives, not having the fortitude to weather out the cold and unhospitable environment outside the city limits.
Elysian Fields Page 10
