“That’s why you ran away.” Lan seemed to realize that, at last.
“That’s right. So you see, I understand how you feel.”
“This ends today,” Lan declared, after a long silence. They kept walking at a moderate pace, leaving the forest behind. “There’s no turning back now. I won’t have to feel like this ever again. We either succeed or die fighting. Either way, our lives will be changed forever.”
“That’s true. I’m glad I had a chance to get to know you. You’ve helped me a lot, by your presence and words, to go through the shock of finding out I was a clone. I don’t think I could have coped with it otherwise.”
“You’d have been fine,” Lan was ready to answer. “You have no idea how strong you are inside. You are so strong that you inspire and help other people. Think of Allan and Mel and Daniel. They owe everything to you, especially my brother.”
“They don’t owe me anything, I just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
“See, this is another thing I like about you. You’re so modest, you never want to take credit for anything. Even your sarcasm is a way of downplaying your role in other people’s lives. But you don’t fool me.”
“So perceptive, so unlike your brother… are you sure you’re related?” Jules tried to change the conversation away from her.
“See, you’re doing it again; trying to hide by changing the subject.”
“Sorry, you’re right,” she finally admitted with slight surprise. “You know you’re the first person to find that out about me.”
“Maybe the others are thinking it too, now that they know you better, and they just aren’t saying anything. I meant to say something to you for a while now, but I didn’t have the courage. This is my last chance. If we survive this, will you go out with me?”
Jules felt her cheeks getting red with emotion. “I’ve never been out with anybody,” she finally admitted.
“That doesn’t matter. Will you go out with me?”
She felt a well of emotion inside her soul. It’s coming so late, my first date. What if we die? Instead, she said, “I will, of course I will, if you’d like me to. That is, if you don’t forget about me, since if we survive this you’ll publicly be Lan, son of the head of Secure-IT, which I’m sure would score huge points with Elite girls.”
Ignoring her freshly renewed sarcasm, Lan made a confession, “In spite of having my brother’s memories, I can tell you that I personally have no experience with any Elite women or any other woman, for that matter. Can’t you see how little I understand about life? I’ve never even kissed a girl, so you should realize how hard it was for me to bring up the courage to ask you on a date.”
“I haven’t been kissed either, so that makes two of us.” Jules felt much shakier than she let out.
“Do you think I could kiss you now, and remember it as our first kiss, no matter what happens after that?” he asked in a low, unsteady voice.
They were in front of Tom’s house at that point.
“I think it would be all right,” Jules agreed. Is this really happening to me? What am I supposed to do? How do they do it in movies? Now that’s a stupid thought. She moved a step closer to Lan, facing him, and lifted her face towards him. She felt his arms surrounding her body, in a light embrace and she saw his head coming lower and closer to her. Jules closed her eyes and puckered her lips waiting for the touch of Lan’s lips on hers.
When it happened, Jules felt lightheaded all of a sudden, with wobbly knees, and she was glad for Lan supporting her in his strong arms. The kiss was ever so gentle, with closed lips pressed together. Jules had a sudden realization that this young man was truly new to the world of passion, in spite of his brother’s memories on the subject.
After the kiss, Jules placed her head on Lan’s chest and they just held each other a while longer, two kindred spirits, frozen for a moment in time. The kiss was theirs to keep forever.
Jules was the first one to let go, noticing a flutter of curtains behind the front window of Tom’s house. “Time to go now,” she said simply, and took his hand to go to the back of the house, where she could hear people talking.
As they turned the corner to the backyard, Jules saw David talking to his brother, Daniel, who was bent over a wooden structure on top of a large table. They greeted each other and listened to the ongoing conversation.
“Well, what’s the conclusion of your test?” David was asking. Jules could see some sort of a maze, with walls made of wood planks, in which a mouse was trying to find its way to some cheese placed at one end of the labyrinth.
“Maybe I should start with the hypothesis,” Daniel started his explanation. “I was trying to test the effect of various foods on the development of these two groups of mice. One group was fed food the Servers eat in the city; I call them the city mice. The other group was fed food we prepare here at the house, including cheese; they’re the country mice. They have unlimited access to food at all times.
“As you can see, the city mouse I have here had a heck of a time getting to the cheese. And he’s been constantly craving food. He’s been eating a lot and has no meat on his bones. The same goes for the other mice in his group. On the other hand, the country mouse never ate too much. He wasn’t even hungry at the time of the experiment, yet was much faster in getting to the cheese. And look at him: he looks healthy, with a shiny coat on his back.”
“What does it mean?” Mel asked.
“I don’t know yet. It’s hard to draw a conclusion based on a small lot experiment and a series of observations. I’m not in my lab at the institute, but I think something is wrong with the food. I can only say that at the turn of the century, the food was laced with all kinds of chemicals. This made people crave food more and more, and it wasn’t even healthy food.”
“I saw pictures of very heavy people, eating a lot of what they called junk food.” Jules joined in the conversation.
“Like garbage?” asked Mel, wrinkling her nose.
“Actually, junk food meant food that was bad for people because it had lots of sugar and fat and little protein, vitamins or minerals, but people loved eating it,” Jules replied.
“But these city mice are skinny,” David observed. “If they were eating junk food, shouldn’t they be fat?”
“So maybe the food has chemicals that don’t allow the nutrients to be assimilated by the body, who knows?” Daniel concluded.
“What does that have to do with who’s finding the cheese first?” asked Jules.
“If a mouse that is constantly hungry is not getting to the cheese as fast at the mouse that is not hungry, we have two conclusions: either the country mouse is smarter, or the city mouse is addicted only to food laced with chemicals.”
“Or he simply hates cheese,” laughed David.
As they were talking about the experiment, Tom appeared in the doorway and asked them to come inside. When everybody was seated around the living room, Allan and Lan, Jules and Mel, David and Daniel, Tom began.
“This is our last meeting before the mission. Serge is already with his attack team. The Scrappie leaders are with their people now, the carts already at the edge of the forest and close to the mist. Stay calm and focused. Tomorrow we’ll look back and we’ll be proud of what we accomplished today: freedom for all. I promise you that. I love you, friends, and I know for a fact that what we do today is worth everything we can give. Allan, you will lead the group including Daniel, Jules, Mel, and the Scrappies. At 2200 hours you will be waiting for the signal from Serge to enter the cloning building through the east wing entrance. Everything else should already be clear. Are you ready to proceed?”
“Yes, we are,” they all answered in one voice.
Tom continued. “I will lead the small team of Lan and David and proceed to Secure-IT headquarters. When Thomas and the troops arrive and gather in the gymnasium, I’ll make my presence known and proceed as we’ve already established. Everything clear on our side, guys?”
; “All clear,” Lan answered, while David just nodded his head affirmatively.
“Then there’s nothing else to say. Good luck, friends!
Jules went to hug her friends one by one, as tight as she could, maybe for the last time.
23
Serge and his men approached the east entrance to the cloning facility, where the night guard was on duty. A second one was inside the building, watching the closed-circuit camera monitors.
The guard looked surprised to see a high ranking officer come to a routine inspection, but Serge didn’t give the man much time to think, and neither did he provide a detailed explanation. Instead he asked if the guard knew the regulations he had to follow while on duty and congratulated him for the excellent answers.
Then Serge demanded to be let inside, where he would inspect the performance of the second guard. He was let inside and moved in with one soldier, while the other one was left outside with the first guard. It proved to be no trouble at all to disarm them both.
As soon as the guards were disabled, tied up, and inoculated with a serum that would keep them sleeping for a few hours, Serge gave the signal to Allan’s group to come inside the building. Allan had his team pull the carts they had been rolling behind them close to the entrance, and they entered the cloning facility, proceeding to the holding chamber where the clones were kept in stasis.
In no time at all, the east wing became frenetic with activity. Working from the main terminal, Daniel issued the commands to have all the clones released, first the adult ones, then the young ones, exactly like they had planned in great detail.
In sequence and with great precision, the electrical connections to the tubes were turned off and the drains opened, releasing the amniotic fluid from the containers that held the clones. The tubes lifted in a fluidic movement, being raised by the antigravity field devices, and then the robotic arms let go of their precious charges.
Naked clones were everywhere, throwing up the amniotic fluid that had filled their lungs. The helpers gave up using pumps for suction; there wasn’t much need for that. Some of the clones fell to the floor as the helpers had a hard time holding on to the slick bodies. They all cried their very first cry, the noise a splendor of the human victory over death and the tragedy of their clean slated brains, now awakened from their slumber.
The Scrappies were true to their word. Together with Mel and Jules, they worked tirelessly as they loaded the clones on stretchers or carried them in their arms, and took them outside. There, they placed the clones in carts, trying to cover them as best as they could. In the span of ten minutes, their task was accomplished.
Everyone went outside, forming a long column of people and carts. Allan led the carts back to the Scrappie compound in a long line, advancing through the mist at the forest’s edge like an enormous, mythological serpent.
In the meantime, Serge had sent one of his men to the electrical room, to be ready to shut down the power through the facility at Serge’s signal. It was their insurance in case the negotiations with the armed guards of the secured area were unsuccessful. If that happened, every soldier carried night goggles.
When five minutes had passed, Serge and his remaining six men proceeded to the secured area in the west wing. As expected, two guards were placed at the close end of the long corridor. They raised their laser guns, ready for attack.
Serge approached casually, his men a few steps behind him, and addressed the armed guards, ordering that they lower their guns and be ready for the inspection. One of the guards stated that there was no such thing and asked that Serge and his men withdraw.
Serge maintained that he was a high ranking officer, as they surely must know already, and demanded obedience. The guards refused and pointed their arms at Serge’s chest. As a result, Serge told the guards that it had been a test and that he was proud of how well they did while performing their duty, then turned around and asked his men to follow him.
They turned a corner to another corridor, then Serge sent the signal to his man in the electrical room to shut down the power, while his troops put the night goggles over their eyes.
Everything was enveloped in darkness. Serge could see everything bathed in a green light. He took a good look at his men, night goggles over their eyes, all clad in black with laser guns in hand, looking strong and determined. “You and you,” Serge said, pointing at two of his men. “Proceed without firing to the west wing entrance and start crawling through the corridor until you reach the guarded door at the far end. Take the two guards out. The rest of us will create a diversion and take out the guards at the entrance, then we’ll meet at the clone holding room. Good luck.” They started to run, covering ground very quickly.
The rest of the mission proceeded with surprising speed. The attack force led by Serge started to fire at the armed security guards, still confused about what had happened with the power, yet prepared for anything. Red laser beams flashed through the darkness and the two guards dropped to the ground. Unfortunately, one of Serge’s own men went down as well.
The armed guards at the other end of the corridor were splicing the air in all directions with their laser beamed guns, unable to see was going on. Serge and his men kept them distracted, creating a crazy dance of flashing beams while the two men made their way down the floor of the long corridor. Come one, guys, Serge was thinking. Faster, faster…
At some point, one of his crawling men had a clear view and fired his gun at one of the armed guards, who crumpled to the floor with a scream of agony. Hearing that, the other guard dropped his gun to the floor, lifted his arms above his head and yelled that he surrendered.
Serge and his troops moved as fast as they could to the far end of the corridor, while his men who had been crawling stood up and immobilized the guard. The lights came back on as soon as Serge signaled the order to his man in the electrical room.
Everyone took off their goggles. Serge saw the walls of the corridor stained and scratched by dark marks from the laser beams, and the body of the unfortunate guard sprawled on the floor in a pool of blood, with deep gashes across his body.
He took a good look at the surrendered guard and asked him to open the door to the room holding the mysterious charges. The guard replied that he was unable to do so because he didn’t have the code. Serge could tell that the young man was not lying by the frightened look in his eyes and the drops of sweat on his brow.
”We blow the door,” said Serge, signaling to his team. It was imperative he get through.
Upon receiving the order, one of the soldiers placed an explosive on the lock of the door to the cloning chamber. The force of the explosion propelled the door to the opposite wall of the corridor. The entrance to the chamber was open.
But before anyone had a chance to move, a much bigger explosion enveloped the whole room and sent pieces of the adjacent wall in all directions. Two of Serge’s men and the remaining guard were hit in full force, and were now spread lifelessly on the floor. Serge himself got hit by several small shards that dug into his flesh.
Damn it! Damn it to hell! Serge’s head was pounding. What the hell was that?
He helped the others get up. He looked into the room and could see human flesh and blood everywhere, plus structures that looked like they had been clone holding vessels. Serge signalled for retreat and the team moved out, carrying their wounded.
Serge sent Tom a quick message to let him know about the explosion, It was rigged, I should have checked better. He felt absolutely torn at the thought of losing three of his men.
It took only minutes before sharp siren sounds broke the silence of the night for the second time. Ambulances started to arrive and sleepy people in pajamas walked into the surrounding streets to see what was happening. Meanwhile, at the back of the facility, the last of the Scrappies were erasing all traces of the rescue before vanishing into the foggy night. The remaining tactical team members, Serge included, rushed away in the van they had come in, carrying their wounded.
&nbs
p; 24
Tom was hidden in a small office, just a few feet away from the large gymnasium. He knew the gym was where the security troops would gather, called to duty by their commander, the head of Secure-IT. Lan, his newly acquired son, was behind him. David was hiding nearby in a closet and was ready to come when called.
Lan had all the knowledge of the facility, of the training, and even of some of the people from his brother’s memories. Although Tom was nervous about putting him in danger, he felt it was important to show Lan that he trusted him, so he’d made sure he was a tactical team member in the perilous mission.
As for David, he was very good with computers and codes, and his help would be invaluable if they had to force their access into various rooms and lockers within the perimeter. That would ensure Tom would have full control of the armed forces and of their armament in the locked containers.
They waited in silence until the soldiers were in formation. In the end, there were about five hundred young and fit men, but obviously with no real battle experience other than virtual combat, for they had never had to fight anyone in real life.
Suddenly, Thomas appeared from a side door, dressed in a tux, as though he was coming from a cocktail party. He moved to the large podium, towering over the soldiers. Tom watched from behind the office’s window, the blinds providing cover.
“My men,” he started, hands locked at the back, shoulders pushed back. “We have been attacked by unknown, hostile forces. They destroyed our cloning facility, the place where our hope for the future resides no more. Your mission is to hunt down and terminate the enemy. The tracks start at the facility. You have your orders. Execute them!”
At that moment, Tom stepped inside the gym and yelled at Thomas, “You have no right to give that order on my behalf. You are an impostor, a clone.” He walked to the podium with a decisive step, trying to look assured and powerful, accompanied by Lan, who was modeling his stance, while the soldiers looked from Tom to Thomas and back in utter confusion.
Elysian Fields Page 12
