Zero

by J. S. Collyer

  “Do we know who his parents were?”

  “He didn't have any, Captain,” Rami said. “His earliest memories are the streets and maintenance ways on Lunar 1.”

  “Someone produced him,” Hugo said. “Has he never tried to find out?”

  “He never wanted to,” Rami said.

  “Run a DNA test,” Hugo said. “First to see if he is a match to Webb and then to see if his parents are registered anywhere. If he is a clone, he’s important to someone. And it's not for piloting or picking locks.”

  “I'll do the test, Captain,” Spinn said, standing.

  “This is too weird,” Bolt said, running a hand over his head. “Permission to get back to the hold, Captain.” The crewman looked stiff, face tight.

  Hugo nodded. “Kinjo?” She jerked her head up. Her eyes were dry but wide and he could see her knuckles were white where her fingers were digging into her arms. “You go with Sub and Bolt. Keep it together.”

  She gave a stiff nod and filed out with the crewmen.

  “Rami, if this turns out to be true...” Hugo took a deep breath. It shuddered in and out. “If he is… has been… cloned… that explains the way he looks and moves and thinks, but how does he seem to know everything? The codes, our last mission?”

  “Someone could have researched it,” Rami said, gazing off in the direction of the corridor that lead to the brig. “Though how anyone knew what happened on the satellite is beyond me.”

  “So?”

  Rami shrugged. “If Spinn is right and cloning a human has never been attempted before, Captain, it's possible no one predicted he could just…wake up with his memories.”

  “You think that’s what happened?”

  Rami took a breath but still didn’t look at him. “That certainly seems to be what he thinks has happened. My guess is whoever did this thought they'd just be getting a body. It would have his potential for skill and intelligence. Maybe thy hoped they could teach it like a child, but I don't know.”

  “What for?” More said.

  “Fitzroy...?” Rami mumbled, eyes widening.

  “What?”

  “Sir,” she started, paling. “Didn't you say that Governor Cho-Jin's aide had been trying to recruit Webb to the Lunar Independence League on the run up to that AI mission?”

  Hugo swallowed. “That's what he told me.”

  “I wonder how badly they wanted him?”

  “LIL had no reason to want him that badly,” Hugo said. “You said so yourself.”

  “Something's been stirring in the Lunar Strip though, Captain,” More said. “I don't think we really know how strong they are, or what they want.”

  “There were rumours in Pole-Aitkin...” Rami began.

  “And Cho-Jin did another speech last week,” More said, skimming through data on the screen display. “Bigging up this conference they’re having in Tranquillity. He's falling over himself to declare his loyalty to the Service.”

  “He must suspect something's going on,” Rami said.

  Hugo shook his head. “This is too big. We can't go declaring the Lunar Governor is a rebel and insurgent, or even an accomplice to one. And even if it's true... to go to the effort and expense of killing our commander and then cloning him? Where's the reasoning?” More and Rami exchanged glances. “Besides,” Hugo continued. “He said he woke up in the Medic Centre at the Academy...”

  “Any number of institutions commission work from the Medic Centre, Captain,” More said.

  “And their data is some of the most secure in the entire Orbit,” Rami said quietly.

  “I don't like this,” More murmured.

  Hugo slumped into the command chair and rubbed at his face, feeling wetness on his eyelids. “This isn't fair,” he said into his hands. “After everything… him coming back…”

  Rami turned away towards her workstation then, shoulders tense. More looked on impassively though there was a hardness in his eyes. “So what do we do?”

  “We run the test,” Hugo said, straightening. “Then we'll go from there. But no one tell him. If this is true, he clearly doesn't know…”

  They all looked at each other, faces drawn.

  “Rami,” Hugo said after the silence had deepened. “Get ready to get me a connection to the colonel.”

  ɵ

  “Are you sure about this, Hugo?”

  “No, sir,” Hugo said. “I'm not sure about anything. All I have is what he's told us and what the DNA test showed.”

  “Which has him a match?”

  “An exact match, sir. He is genetically a copy of Ezekiel Webb. Though beyond that, we found nothing.”

  Luscombe's frown was heavy. “This doesn't make any sense. The Service Medic Training Centre, you said?”

  Hugo nodded. “So he says. Sir, don't you think this is enough to justify looking again at what happened on that satellite?”

  Luscombe looked at him for the longest time. Hugo felt the blood pulse through his head and a thread of panic wove it's way through him. He stared hard at the colonel and tried to figure out if he'd made a mistake.

  “Do you have a picture of this man?”

  “Yes sir,” Hugo said. “We've got the camera in the brig monitoring him.”

  “Send me some footage so I can see for myself. Then I will have Hudson look into this.”

  “Sir -”

  Luscombe held up a hand. “You leave this alone, Hugo. Send me everything you have and then continue as normal. No one is to know.”

  “And what about the clone, sir?” Hugo forced himself to ask.

  “He really doesn't know?”

  Hugo shook his head. “It doesn't appear so, sir.”

  “Well then, as you have been so fussy with filling the commander's position you can use him to get the Zero back to full capacity.”

  “Sir,” Hugo said, once he'd found his voice again. “Sir, once he finds out what's happened I doubt very much if he will be willing to help us.”

  “Then don't tell him.”

  Hugo swallowed. “Sir... it would be very hard on my crew...”

  The understanding that had been in Luscombe's face a moment ago evaporated. “He is a valuable commodity, Hugo. And we need to keep him secure until we know who made him and what to do with him. You either use him or I stick him in the Command Centre brig until we've figured this whole thing out.”

  Hugo was tempted. Sorely tempted. The thought of having to work beside the clone made cold wash through him. But then he thought of having to tell him the truth and swallowed. “We'll keep him on, sir,” he said, voice tight.

  Luscombe nodded. “Good. Keep him close and use him while you have him. I'm impressed with your work of late, Hugo, but Webb was one of a kind. Try and get as much information about his networks and contacts while you can.”

  Hugo stared at the screen for a long time after the colonel had signed off. He felt ill.

  ɵ

  “No, Captain,” Rami said, shaking her head. “Keep him on? Pretend nothing happened?”

  “These are our orders, Lieutenant,” Hugo said. Rami’s lips flattened into a thin line. Kinjo had gone stiff in her seat and was glaring at the galley wall. Sub and Bolt shifted uneasily and Spinn and More just stared at him with unreadable expressions. “We need a commander,” he continued.

  “This isn't fair,” Rami said.

  “Has anyone considered what's fair to him?” More said.

  “To who?”

  “The duplicate,” More said calmly. “How can we let him carry on, not knowing the truth?”

  “You want to explain that to him, Thomas?” Bolt said.

  More looked at the crewman, jaw working, but didn't answer.

  “We have our orders,” Hugo repeated. “This is not our case.”

  “Sir,” Rami said, voice steady now. “With all due respect, if the Service are investigating this... we may never find out why this happened.”

  “We are following orders, Lieutenant,” Hugo said crossing his arms. “
I am not risking getting any more mixed up in whatever this is. Take five minutes back at your posts to get your heads round it because I'm letting him out of the brig in ten. Dismissed.”

  Everyone stood and filed out of the galley in silence. Hugo didn't look at them as they did, instead trying to sort his own muddled thoughts.

  “Captain?” Hugo turned. Kinjo was at his elbow. Her face was pale but her hands were clenched at her sides and she wasn't blinking. “I'm resigning my commission.”

  “Kinjo?”

  “I'm sorry sir,” she said.

  “Midshipman, no,” Hugo tried. “I know this might be difficult -”

  “With respect, you don't know, sir,” she said, voice shaking.

  “I think I do, Midshipman. He was my friend too.”

  “Captain,” she began again, voice no longer shaking but forced and cold. “I was born on Haven. I worked in the bloodgrease refineries since I was four. I didn’t even know what living was until Webb came and took me away. He gave me my life. He gave me everything. And now I wake up from nightmares and find myself at the sink, scrubbing his blood off my hands again and again. I cannot do this. ”

  “It wasn't your fault,” Hugo tried.

  “I cannot work on this ship with that thing,” Kinjo continued. “I cannot. I resign effective immediately. I will stay in my cabin until I can disembark.”

  Hugo wanted to argue further but, though her jaw was clamped shut, her eyes were screaming.

  “You were going to make Sub-Lieutenant in a few months,” he said, though he knew it was useless.

  “There's a resource satellite on the heading More has us on, sir,” she said. “Please drop me there.”

  ɵ

  “What do you want now? A stool sample? Or have you come to hit me again?”

  Hugo made himself stand straight and look the man in the eye. “I'm sorry.”

  “Are you?”

  “Yes.”

  The clone frowned. “So, what? You believe me now?”

  “I do.”

  “And all I had to do was beg, cry and bleed, huh?”

  “I’m sorry. You’ve been... gone a long time.”

  The double sat up straight, looking him right in the eye. “You guys thought I was dead, didn't you?”

  Hugo stiffened but made his face stay blank.

  The clone sighed and got up. “Well my jaw is sorry too. Maybe I should have got on the comm before letting myself into the ship.”

  “Why didn't you?” Hugo said, still concentrating on keeping his tone flat.

  “Honestly?” The clone grinned. “I was hungry.”

  There was a sickening moment when seeing the grin spread across that face made the heat bubble up inside him again. He could feel rain on his skin and smell the fresh turned earth.

  “Captain?”

  Hugo shook his head and he was back in the present. He gestured out of the brig. The clone looked at him a moment longer then preceded him out the door.

  “So what do we do now?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean,” the clone said. “Where do we begin figuring out what the hell’s gone on here? You're the one that's been around the last year... what even happened after I blacked out anyway?”

  “The satellite destabilised,” Hugo said, hoping his clenched jaw wasn't noticeable. “We had to abort -”

  “It's okay, Hugo,” Webb said, a half-smile spreading on his face making Hugo's gut ice over. “I agree with the whole no-retrieval-of-the-dead thing. A shot to the back would have convinced me too. And I’m damned if I can guess what’s happened, but I know it’s not your fault. So where do we begin? AI?”

  “We're to leave it alone. Luscombe's investigating.”

  “Luscombe?” the clone stopped. “Does he know what might be going on?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  The clone scratched his head. “Hugo, are we sure that’s the best way to actually get the truth? I did wake up in the Service Medic Training Centre.”

  “We can trust Luscombe.”

  “How can you know that?”

  “Webb...” Hugo paused, swallowed. “You always trusted him before.”

  “That was before I came to in a Service-owned facility after having lost a year and no one wants to tell me what happened.”

  “Just leave it,” Hugo said, turning toward the bridge. “Let Rami check you over then report to the bridge.”

  “Hold up. Hugo, hold up.”

  Hugo stopped as the clone grabbed a hold of his elbow. He felt his pulse hammer and he turned and looked into that face again, feeling himself go pale. “What?” he managed to say in a steady voice.

  “What the hell's going on that you're not telling me?”

  “Nothing.”

  The clone frowned. “Something's not right. Since when are you happy handing everything over to Luscombe without even knowing what you're handing over?”

  Hugo searched for words. Having the double close enough to be able to see the lines of his frown under the dirt on his face was unsettling. He clenched and unclenched his hands and the frown on the double's face grew deeper. Hugo pushed everything back and made himself think of him as Webb. He had to believe that, somehow, it had been undone. He had a second chance. He had come back.

  If he thought of it that way, maybe he could get through this façade without hitting him or having a breakdown. He blinked until he could look at the man without double-vision overlaying his sight and pushed back the chill of guilt that ghosted around his insides. “Look, Webb,” he said. “I tried to get Luscombe to investigate after everything on X6-119...”

  “And?”

  “He said there wasn't enough evidence. The circuit board we got from the quarry got broken in the fight... as for everything else, he just didn't believe me. Whatever's going on here, Luscombe's not involved.”

  “He didn't believe you?”

  Hugo shook his head. “We investigated everything to do with those missions and that contract out in your name. Anything that we could use to make Luscombe feel justified to look closer to home. But we found nothing. Nothing solid led back to the Service.”

  “Someone had a way of knowing where we... I... was going to be.”

  “That's what I thought,” Hugo said. “But how and who, it didn't look like we'd ever know.”

  “And now?”

  Hugo looked at him, swallowed again. “It seems finally Luscombe has something to move on. But we're leaving it to him.”

  “So we're supposed to just soldier on and pretend nothing's happened?”

  Hugo gave a shrug. “It's like you said. You get screwed, you take your pay and hope you're still useful in the morning.”

  A wry smile tugged at the clone... Webb... Webb's face. “Wow, Hugo. You've gone native.”

  Hugo didn't smile. “Get changed, wash up and report to Rami. Then I need you on the bridge, Commander.”

  ɵ

  “Hey there.”

  Rami didn't turn round. “Sit.”

  Webb watched her not looking at him for a moment then sat on the medbay bunk.

  “How do you feel?” Rami said, finally turning to him and examining his jaw.

  “Feeling like I don't want to piss Hugo off again any time soon.”

  “Anything else?”

  He blinked. “Fine, I guess. Tired. Hungry.”

  “There's some muscle wastage,” Rami said, kneading at his shoulder. “How long were you in that bed for?”

  “No idea. Long enough for them to do some weird overhaul. All my old aches are gone, Anita. They even gave me some real teeth, see?”

  She glanced in his mouth then away again. “Have you been dizzy?”

  “I was when I first woke up...but not now. Anita...” Her fingers froze as they felt their way down the muscles in his arm. “I'm sorry.”

  “What for?” she said. Her voice was quiet.

  “For whatever's happened,” he
managed, feeling his throat go tight. Something went out of her and her face was washed with despair. He felt his chest tighten. He opened his mouth to try and say something, but she crumbled and flung herself into his arms. He held her tight and felt her cling on to him desperately, trembling.

  He felt uncertainty fluttering under his belly again. Rami didn't do desperate.

  “I'm back now,” he said into her hair. She didn't pull away for a long time and he let her hold him, breathing in her smell and wishing he could ignore the claw of doubt that was digging into the pit of his stomach.

  ɵ

  He felt a little better after a couple of protein drinks, a shower and a change of clothes. More's stuff was a better fit than Mac's at any rate, though he had to put a belt on its tightest hole again to convince the cargo pants to stay up. It was odd walking around the Zero seeing new posters and cargo moved or changed. The air tasted different. Hugo must have had the generator upgraded at last.

  “Hey Sub,” he said as he caught up with the large crewman in the corridor. “Are you picking up supplies? Think you could get me some shoes and pants that might fit?”

  “I reckon so, Commander,” Sub said, without looking up from his panel.

  Webb watched him walk away, trying to pick apart the exchange for anything wrong. He shook his head and padded up to the bridge. Hugo was in his command chair, which had been scuffed enough in the last year to match the rest of the bridge and More was at the controls. The familiar bleep and whirr of the ship in flight made his spirit lift back up a rung.

  “Where we heading?” Webb asked, sitting in his chair.

  “Resource Satellite X10-899,” More said.

  “We should pick up some ore whilst we're there,” Webb said. “We could name our price on Lunar 4... hey... what the hell?” He wiggled around in the pilot's chair. “Who the hell has been sitting here?”

  “Sub,” More said.

  “Jesus, no wonder my ass-groove is all out of shape. And what's this?” He bent over the control panel, started keying in commands. “Who's re-calibrated the drive feeds?”

  “Is there a problem, Commander?”

  Webb scowled over his shoulder. “What the hell have you done to my ship?”

  Something flickered in Hugo's face but then it flattened out again. “It's standard Service protocol, Commander. It allows for a smoother response.”