“We’ll be back soon children, after these beats take over your auditory senses,” he signed off and moved away from the microphone to look at Reilly and Mollie.
“Hey Razz,” Mollie said in between breaths, the wound on her side still weeping blood. “Could use some help.”
“Damn, what happened to you Moll?” Razz hit a button on the large control panel in front of him and a young woman appeared.
“Get Moll’ some treatment ASAP please Cassandra,” he addressed the young woman, who took Mollie away.
“She’ll get help my friend,” Razz addressed Reilly now. “You and me though, we have some conversation to have,” he offered him a seat.
“Thank you,” Reilly sat, and for the first time in a long while, he felt safe and relaxed.
“My name’s Razz, nice to meet you, there’s a whole lot of people looking for you my friend, you’re pretty important, but how about you tell me your life story first and maybe I’ll try to fill in the gaps.”
Reilly looked stunned, he had no idea what his life story was; he had no memories he could rely on past earlier that day.
“I… I don't really know. I think I was being brainwashed at the Grand Falls Hotel, but I don't know what memories I can believe and what they put in my brain,” he explained.
“I see, makes sense. How about you let me enlighten you on my knowledge and we can see what sticks yeah?” Razz replied. “You see, the Grand Falls Hotel, that’s a place of clones my friend. Everyone that works in that place is a clone of someone else. Of who? Well, that’s the million credit question, and the truth is a little sparse on that respect. Either way, someone made a copy of him, like the perfect employee of the year, you know what I’m saying. Before you know it, that place is a place of clones who all work perfect you see?”
Reilly took the information in, as bizarre as it seemed to him, it also made perfect sense.
“Now all those Clones had to be controlled, made to be compliant and know their role, so the man in charge there, some cat named Jacob, he developed this system where he could both write and wipe a mind, and he tested it on you guys over there. So you wake up and you get programmed to be whatever you need to be for the day, then you go back to sleep and start all over again the next day.”
Razz held up a hand as Reilly began to ask a question. Razz moved over to the microphone as the song that was playing finished.
“A classic no doubt, my children, but next up we'll take you to a higher level. Keep those ear canals clear and let the Magic flow like a creek murmuring into your mind,” Razz announced the next track and muted the microphone once again.
“Now you, you my friend, you escaped, you broke that programming and became your own person. So the question is, how did you do it? Who are you?”
Reilly sat there, the question stumped him.
“I… I had some head trauma, and when I went to leave, I think the mind wipe they usually do didn’t work, I didn’t lose my memories. So I ran, tried to escape as I didn't know what else to do.”
Razz smiled and nodded.
“That makes sense, but there's a reason you ran. There’s some small trace in your mind that remains from the cloning,” Razz tapped his head as if to indicate a secret.
“What trace? Do you know who I am… was…” Reilly was struggling, his mind working in overdrive to understand what was happening.
“Oh yes, I know who you are my friend. You are Clone Prime, you are the first clone!”
Razz laughed a deep and echoing laugh.
“How can that be? All the clones are the same age, if I was the original, wouldn’t I be much older than the rest?” Reilly asked, trying to understand the logistics of the situation.
“Ah no, you see those chambers which they have there, you sleep in those and the systems rejuvenate your cell structure, making you the same as you were on the morning of your creation.”
Reilly was accepting the situation, but a burning question had to be asked.
“How do you know all this?”
“Ah, well. That’s the secret isn’t it my friend. How indeed do I know?”
Before any more talking could occur, Mollie ran into the room, her side had been bandaged up.
“Hey guys,” she said.
“Moll, you doing ok?” Razz boomed as she walked in.
“I’ll live. Hey, I just want to say I’m sorry,” she turned to Reilly. “We were just doing what we had to do to survive, Koenig always pays well.”
“I understand, and I’m sorry about JJ,” Reilly put a hand on Mollie’s shoulder. “He died protecting you.”
Mollie nodded and gave an appreciative smile.
“OK so what’s the plan guys? Those Hunters will not stop anytime soon,” Razz interrupted.
“You said I’m the first clone, but the clone of who?” Reilly asked, the information was sinking in.
Razz ignored the question, but handed him a small disc, On it was a logo which flickered as the light caught it, creating an image of the letters ‘C’ and ‘B’ to twinkle. Reilly turned it over, revealing etchings on the back which read ‘CyBio’.
“That will lead you to answers my friend,” Razz said, before turning to his desk. “The receiver in your head might come in useful. If you don’t mind?” Razz had searched several drawers in his desk, before finding a metallic device shaped like a bowl. He placed it over Reilly’s head and attached a cable into a computer which was sat on the desk.
“What are you doing?”
“This should let me access the receiver , if I can adjust the settings, I should be able to make you change frequency like a radio, and also maybe transmit too.”
Mollie caught on to the idea.
“You’ll be able to hear the Hunters radio signals!”
“Bingo Moll, and maybe even send signals to them, to misdirect if needed,” Razz grinned.
“Do it,” Reilly nodded, and Razz activated the device. A burning feeling roared through Reilly's head, like a rolling headache which echoed around his skull.
“Is he ok?” Mollie asked.
“I’m… fine…” Reilly strained through the pain.
“Will only take a moment,” Razz’s fingers were dancing over the keyboard of the computer, as numbers and letters scrolled over the monitor.
“One moment….” He shouted out.
Reilly screamed as the pain became unbearable to him, he gripped the desk hard with his hands.
“And… DONE”, Razz shouted, deactivating the systems.
“How you feeling?” Mollie asked Reilly.
“I’ll be ok.”
“Try tuning in?” Razz said.
Reilly closed his eyes and tried for a moment to concentrate. He was hearing waves of voices and sounds filling his mind, like a radio being tuned across several stations; white noise filling the spaces.
“It’s working…” He said, trying to focus on one channel.
“In there! It’s the last building we haven’t checked. Breach the wall,” Reilly couldn’t help but shout, his voice authoritative as he tuned to the Hunters radio frequency.
“What?” Mollie asked, glancing at Razz.
“Guys, I think they may have found us.” Reilly said.
A moment later, the wall at the far end of the corridor caved in. The force of the explosion rocked the building.
“You guys go, get out of here,” Razz shouted. “I can hold them off. Now go!” Razz pushed them away down a side door which was hidden by several pieces of equipment, handing Mollie a revolver and a box of bullets.
As Reilly and Mollie made their way down the corridor, they heard another explosion and several screams. They couldn’t distinguish them but they hoped Razz wasn’t amongst them.
A few moments later, they emerged back onto the streets, the light of morning was rising in the distance and they made their way through the winding streets.
“Where do we go now?” Reilly asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mollie replied. “What di
d Razz tell you?”
“That I’m the first of a batch of Clones made by a man named Jacob.”
Suddenly he fell to the ground, his mind was becoming a cacophony of voices and sounds.
“Mollie….I can’t…control them…The weather will be warm with…Murder on the Boulevard …Cy-bio conference will be a surprise unveiling of….Can anyone hear me? I’m trapped here…Hunters seen in the Nexus….My name is Xander Draven, if you can hear this…are augmentations dangerous to our health…” The words changing like a radio station.
Reilly lay there, his thoughts racing as he tried to focus on his own mind. Until he couldn’t control it anymore, and he blacked out.
His mind was filled with staccato memories and fragments of hundreds of thoughts, all bustling through his mind.
He pictured himself stood in a room, all around him were television screens depicting images that matched the voices in his head. On one, a news report showed an image of a police car, dead bodies around it, including an MPD officer. On another, there was an obituary of Maxwell Owens, a co-founder of CyBio who had lost his life three months ago. Another showed a reporter talking to several residents of a high rise where a faulty fire escape had caused several injuries.
Then one stuck out, it was of a man standing in a police station, talking on a walkie talkie. The voice spoke but he couldn’t hear the words clearly as they were drowned out by the cacophony of other voices.
He closed his eyes and tried to turn off the sounds that echoed around him, after several moments, he opened his eyes and saw someone else.
Standing before him was a man who looked just like him, staring at his face with a grin.
“Hello Prime,” the voice spoke. “Nice to see you again, though I bet you don’t remember me.”
Reilly shook his head, a strange feeling coming over him, a feeling of anger.
“That’s ok, in fact it’s expected. You see, I’ve been here for a while now, watching you, guiding you. But it’s almost time for you to go and for me to come back. Not yet though, now you need to wake up!”
Reilly opened his eyes and jumped up, the memories of the man fading as fast as he woke.
CHAPTER 27
Ally
Ally had made her way across the rooftops and down the buildings until she was at street level. Glancing back, she saw no sign of anyone following her. She approached a small hatch on the ground which had ‘NO ENTRY’ stenciled on it. It was an access point to the Underpass, though most of the Boulevards' residence would hardly notice the hatch, she knew exactly where it lead. She opened the hatch using her staff as leverage, revealing a ladder which descended down. She began the climb down the ladder which stopped after a few metres and gave way to a stairwell. The steps were concrete and surrounded by walls of similar material on all sides, covered in graffiti. Originally built as access points for the construction of the Boulevard, they were now one of the few ways to travel between the two areas, and even then most people didn’t cross from one to the other.
“Quartz, can you still hear me?” She asked, the further down she went, the more oppressive the walls became. Flickering, caged, fluorescent orange bulbs were the only illumination.
“Just, the signal is weakening, I won’t be able to reach you once you get past a certain point,” he replied.
“Okay, thanks by the way, for helping me get away from those guys.”
“No problem, always happy to help,” came the reply.
“Any ideas on who they were yet?”
“Not yet, I’ve been tracking the ones who attacked you and they seem to be heading towards GigaCity now, no idea where yet though, I’m afraid.”
“OK, let me know where they end up. How’s Julian?”
“Julian is tracking a lead from the information Yuri gave him and is in BitVillage, but I’ve lost signal from him as he entered a church there, I hope he’s ok,” Quartz replied.
“I’m sure he is."
“I hope… so… I think…signal is going…” Quartz’s voice stuttered in and out.
“No worries Q, I’ll catch you soon,” Ally shouted, thinking it would help the signal.
She got no reply. She was alone now.
She hadn’t been to the Underpass in a long time. Back when she was younger, her parents died in the civil unrest caused by the influx of residents which forced the segregation of Boulevard.
There were so many people in different classes in such a small space that inevitably, trouble would rise. When several families in Zeta wanted their areas to be clear of anyone they felt were below them, they hired personal bodyguards who slowly formed what could only be described as a small army, all working under the same company. This lead to streets becoming checkpoints where only people of wealthy backgrounds could cross. Slowly, the people who had homes in the area were being forced to move out, despite having lived there for years.
On the other side, there was more and more anger coming from the Bit and Mega areas which lead to attacks on the checkpoints, causing a cascade effect which only gave the Zeta Army more power and allowance to become more aggressive.
It took a long time for the violence to settle down, and only when GigaCity was declared a safe zone where no violence was tolerated, with the MPD taking over jurisdiction from the Zeta Army, did things really settle.
Ally's parents were one family which had been moved out of Zeta at the start of the wars, she was only three at the time, so her memories were clouded. She still had vague images of the house they had, a large building that had been built in the times before technology had surged.
Her parents were shot by the ZetaArmy when they had tried to return to collect some of their belongings at the house, her father was a proud man and he was determined to get through the checkpoint, but a trigger-happy soldier had other ideas.
She was taken in by an orphanage in the Underpass, who took on many refugees and orphaned children from the war. She had quickly learned to look after herself from the fights and disruption that came with the mixture of children all dealing with the trauma of losing their entire lives from the unrest. In time, she had got away from the orphanage and found work at a small cafe where she was looked after by the owners and became part of their family. Until one day the Gunners had shown up, demanding money from the cafe. They had told Ally to hide in the back when they arrived.
The Gunners were a splinter group who had spun out of the Zeta Army, who had officially been disbanded during agreements to restore the peace. Unofficially however, they had continued as an army for hire to anyone who could pay well.
The cafe’s owner ran into the back to find her, he had transferred a large amount of credits into her account and told her she needed to get away fast and not to come back. At first, she refused but when an explosion at the front of the cafe erupted, she ran and kept running until she found herself on the Boulevard, after hiding in one of the access tunnels.
Ending up in the GigaCity area, she got work in several bars, enough to maintain the modest apartment she had been in. She had trained to fight, as she never wanted to feel so helpless again.
Now she was heading back to the Underpass, she hoped that the cafe owner was still alive, but she had never returned because of the promise she made. She felt she had nowhere else to turn to now; the people chasing her knew where she lived and she had no idea why they were still chasing her. She hoped that her adoptive father would take her in.
She reached the last few steps of the tunnel and was greeted with a large metal door which had the words ‘Underpass Only, No Entry for Boulevards’, which she pushed open. It creaked from lack of use.
Outside, she took a deep breath, the air in the Underpass differed from the Boulevard, where air filtration systems gave it a neutral smell. Here, a mixture of concrete and damp were the initial smells, though underneath there were more complex smells that arose from the mixture of cultures that inhabited the area.
She knew where she was heading, while she hadn’t been back fo
r a long time, her memories of the area came flooding back.
“Quartz, you hear me yet?” She asked, on the off chance a signal would come through.
No reply, she had thought as much, whilst Julian had an impressive set up she didn’t think he’d have transmission gear that could reach as far as the Underpass.
She smiled at the locals she passed, they all gave her a wide berth. Her clothing and style was more akin to the Boulevard now, whilst nothing elaborate, it stood out more in the more ragtag styles of the Underpass.
As she approached the building she was heading to, she could see smoke billowing out of several windows. Memories of the cafe she had ran from flooded her mind, but this time she ran towards the smoke. A large hole in the wall seemed to be the closest entry, she made her way through the rubble which scattered the floor.
Further down, she could see two bodies laying on the floor, blood pooling under them but still fresh. She slowed her pace and pulled out her staff, extending it ready for attack.
The smoke swirled around her as she moved closer to the room at the end of the corridor; she heard a movement making her pause.
“Who goes there? Friend or Foe?” A voice shouted out from the smoke.
Ally relaxed her pose, putting her hands up in a surrender as she emerged into the room.
“Hey, how’s it going Pops?” She smiled as she spoke.
From inside the room, Razz stepped forwards, a moment’s hesitation while the recognition sank in. Then he dived forwards and hugged the girl he had raised as his own so many years before.
CHAPTER 28
Jacob
Jacob had got the body of Julian down to the lab where Owens was still working.
“I hope you are on schedule with the dispersal system,” he said as he approached. Owens didn’t look up from the monitor.
“As much as I can be, I’d be able to work much faster if I had a connection to my research at HQ,” he replied.
“I’m sure you would but that’s a factor I can’t risk Owens, you know that,” Jacob smiled. “I do have a gift, however,” he motioned to Julian who he had placed on the table.
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