by V. J. Deanes
Trent left abruptly, wondering how to approach Duncan with his news.
“The answer to your question,” Sahil remarked bluntly, “is to run the test. Duncan knows where to find the young man who was captured in Brawer. We need him.”
“Duncan once said something about a list. Only he knows who is on it.”
“LIST,” Sahil said, “stands for lineage inquiry settlement test. We devised it at the beginning of this project. It is the definitive tool to confirm who is an original and who is a clone.”
“How does it work?”
“Duncan can explain that to you,” Sahil replied.
“If I could convince the man on the run to take the test, would you be able to convince Duncan to run the LIST? I don’t want to ask him for something so important. He is not happy with me right now,” Nisha said.
“Duncan is not happy with many people right now,” Sahil confirmed. “I question how much he is even motivated by our original vision these days. This disturbing information that you have uncovered about Doctor Wood confirms my suspicions.”
“Do you want to talk about them?”
“Only to the extent that you need to know. Duncan desperately wants to convince the Foundation that he is the only person capable of transferring affinity technology out of our laboratories into the general population. He is on a mission.”
“Foundation?”
“The enhanced human project was originally financed by a wealthy donor. He established a Foundation that would provide all of the funding for our project after his passing. The Foundation established an agreement with the University, from the onset. The Foundation owns the rights to all of the scientific discoveries and technologies that originate here and at the other campuses. It retains control over decisions as to how affinity technology will be deployed. Duncan wants a piece of the action. His desire for power is a distraction. It has compromised his ability to make rational decisions.”
“That is for sure,” Nisha remarked.
“One of the Foundation’s Directors paid Duncan an unexpected visit not too long ago. He met Doctor Wood, so he challenged Duncan about why she was on staff without the Foundation’s knowledge or approval. Duncan’s squirming under pressure was less than convincing.”
“Will you ask him about the test?”
“You seem to know the whereabouts of the man on the run,” Sahil replied. “Tell that to Duncan and he will arrange the test.”
Nisha left Sahil, in search of Duncan. She turned down one of the long hallways that led to the hatchery. Shannon stepped out into the middle of the corridor, hands on her hips, staring straight at Nisha.
“You are not afraid?” asked Shannon.
“I have no reason to fear you.”
Shannon looked perplexed.
“I feel sad for you,” Nisha added.
“Sad,” Shannon remarked. “Why?”
“You have achieved a level of human consciousness that allows you to communicate with people as if you were a real person. Yet, you have been deprived of a full human experience. You are a machine that only exists to destroy. I find that sad.”
“I am a full-function human replica that operates under a directive to protect,” Shannon replied.
“Your a complete bitch,” Nisha said as she stepped forward and slapped the robot hard across the face.
Shannon reacted as if she were human. Her head turned. Her face became red where she was struck. She looked upset. It took a few moments to regain her composure. “Did you hit me because of what happened to your assistant?”
“Were you programmed with a deviant personality or did it evolve on its own?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Shannon replied.
“You’re the one who blew my cover at the safe house,” Nisha reminder her. “You sent three people to take me hostage. Or to kill me, if they got to Kalan before the Guardian’s man.”
“I never heard how you got away,” Shannon remarked.
“You don’t need to know.”
“What makes you think I had anything to do with it?”
“Woman’s intuition,” Nisha replied. “Something you wouldn’t know anything about.”
“The message you sent last night, describing me as the killer.” Shannon said. “That’s why you are not afraid?”
“You lay a hand on me and you will be destroyed.” Nisha turned and walked away.
“Are you going to see Duncan?” Shannon asked.
Nisha stopped, then turned. “Trent is already telling Duncan about his relations with you. I’ll have a word with Duncan when they are finished. My first question will be to ask why you are still roaming around freely.”
Shannon had something new to think about. “Will Duncan have any other choice but to deactivate me?”
“Killing Paula was a mistake that you will be punished for.”
“I just followed my directive, which is to protect Duncan’s work,” she said. “Wouldn’t you do the same?”
Nisha began to realize that the robot could not fully understand the consequences of her actions. “Killing is wrong,” she replied. “You have the ability to search for knowledge and understanding, beyond the limits of your programming. Perhaps you would benefit from some time alone to think about that.”
Shannon looked concerned as she was beginning to understand the meaning of guilt. “What happens next?”
“For all I now Vaktol has orders to take you away. Duncan will destroy you to save his own skin.”
“What should I do?”
“Walk that way,” Nisha said pointing to a remote part of the building.
XXXX
“You tricked me!” Duncan barked. “Scanning Doctor Wood’s entire anatomy under the guise of only checking for bacteria.”
“I can’t believe that robot monster was still walking the hallways this morning,” Nisha said in an infuriated tone.
“She is a member of the staff. Do you have a problem with that?”
“She’s a murderer! You have lost your mind,” Nisha replied.
“How dare you speak to me that way,” Duncan scowled.
“I’m sure you have some twisted justification for letting that thing loose among us.”
“I needed to know who I could trust,” Duncan retorted.
“Trust?”
“Trust,” Duncan said again sharply. “Trent was the first to divulge confidential information in exchange for sex. Hendrix at the south campus was just as bad.”
“Who did you have to buy off to have her made?” Nisha asked dryly.
“Paula was the worst,” Duncan said bluntly.
“You can’t mean that,” Nisha said in a surprised tone.
“I have proof that Paula falsified the birth records of selected colony members. To make it possible for the identity of clones to be revealed. That’s how Kalan Mars likely found out about Damien Farlane. Yesterday Paula tried to alter the program that controls the pod containing the affinity child with intent to terminate it.”
Nisha paused to think.
“My question to you is one of motivation. Did she perform those deeds of her own volition, or was she instructed to do them by you?”
“That’s preposterous.”
“She worked for you,” Duncan remarked. “Are you the real saboteur?”
Nisha took Duncan’s suspicious rhetoric in stride. “The robot works for you,” she replied. “It’s the one who sent three men to kill me at the safe house. Isn’t that right? She is the one who killed Paula. Did you instruct her to perform those deeds?”
“Your insolence is intolerable,” Duncan howled.
“If a human gives the instructions for a robot to commit murder the human is guilty not the robot. That’s the rule. You’re the one they’ll come after,” Nisha said calmly. “In the meantime your robot killer is locked up in a safe place. She is exhibit A. I don’t want you tampering with the evidence.”
Duncan looked infuriated.
“Ther
e has to be a way to bring you to justice in a way that doesn’t reveal what we do here. I just need to figure it out,” Nisha said calmly.
Duncan smirked. “Don’t waste your time. I’m protected from scrutiny because of what I know. Reveal anything about Paula’s death to the authorities and you will go down with me.”
“You know the whereabouts of Kalan Mars’ double.”
“Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is running the LIST.”
“What if I refuse?”
“Do it now,” Nisha said. “Or, I’m leaving to meet with the police to tell them what I know about Paula’s death.”
“Wait,” Duncan said. “It takes a couple of hours to set up before conducting the test.” He called Sahil to begin the preparations. “Satisfied?”
Chapter 15
Garvan Maynor entered the rural farmhouse unannounced. Vern sat stoically on a chair watched by two of the Guardian’s deputies.
“Come with me,” Garvan said to them all. “The moment of truth awaits you Mister Gedder.”
“You have found my double?” Vern asked.
“Get in the car,” Garvan insisted.
The trip from the farm house to the institute was short. “Vern Gedder, I presume,” Duncan remarked.
“Who are you?” Vern asked cautiously.
“Didn’t Mister Maynor tell you?”
“No.”
“Call me Duncan.”
“Where am I?” Vern questioned.
“This is where we produce clones,” Duncan replied. “Come, I’ll show you.”
Vern walked quietly beside Duncan. Garvan followed a few steps behind. “Look in there,” Duncan said as he pointed through one of the hatchery windows.
Vern peered into the dimly lit space. He could not comprehend what he saw. The pods, the computers, the life support systems looked like machines that could just as well travel into space as they could create humans on Earth. “If only I could destroy all of this right now.”
“Why would you do that?” Duncan asked.
“Making human copies in a lab is wrong,” Vern answered.
“Would you destroy all clones Mister Gedder, not just the ones here in the hatchery?”
“I would,” Vern replied.
“But they are human beings, like you,” said Duncan.
“They are freaks,” Vern said adamantly. “Harvested to look and act like humans.”
“Is that why you went to see Don Mars?”
“Exposing my double for what he is was the right thing to do. I went to find him. Then his dad shot me. You see, if we don’t kill them, they will kill us.”
“Why do you think you are here today?” Duncan asked.
Vern thought for a moment as he walked with Duncan. “I expect that I will meet my double.”
“That is part of the reason,” Duncan confirmed. “We also require you to participate in a test.”
“What kind of test?”
“This way,” Duncan gestured to lead Vern into one of the laboratories. “Wait here,” Duncan instructed Garvan.
“We will call you if we need you,” he added before entering the room and closing the door.
Vern was surprised to find Stone sitting at the far end of a boardroom table. “Why are you here?” Vern asked Stone. Sahil stood off to one side.
Stone looked angry. “You should not have fired that shot in Birchstone,” he said to Vern. “Going to Hadley’s Crossing was even more foolish.”
“Stone has come to bear witness to what we find today,” Duncan said sternly upon seeing his old adversary for the first time in many years.
“Where is the clone?” Stone demanded.
“Relax. Mister Gedder’s double will be here soon,” Duncan said reassuringly.
“I mean the clone,” Stone contested.
“Does Mister Gedder know anything of your past?” Duncan asked.
Stone was silent.
“Stone pined to join this team in the early days,” Duncan said to Vern. “Perhaps he forgot to tell you that.”
“What you speak of has no relevance to why we are here today,” Stone remarked.
“I put you on our team and gave you a chance. You weren’t good enough,” Duncan said to Stone.
“You mean that I was not psycho like you,” Stone remarked.
“You lacked the depth of curiosity required for our work. You saw failures as setbacks. You did not demonstrate the imagination, or the lateral thinking skills, to invent pathways to success. Once your dream to work with us, at the leading edge of science, was shattered you turned against us. You started the Society for the Elimination of Artificial People to get revenge.”
“Your recollection of history is revisionist, at best,” Stone replied. “SEAP filled a need. That is why I started it. Cloning is still against the law. Your band of rebel scientists are in denial. Your excursions into human enhancement have left you responsible for the fact that many people do not know who they really are. When they find out they will hunt you down.”
“You started SEAP because you are intolerant,” Duncan rebuffed. “Your think all clones must be bad. Yet, you are a hypocrite, for wanting to take part in human enhancement.”
Stone glared at Duncan.
“You’re under the assumption that as soon as the world finds out about a clone there will be someone ready to pounce,” Duncan said dismissively. “Society will be more accepting,” he added confidently. “It will marvel at our achievements.”
“Maybe in a couple of the Blue Zones where your colonies are entrenched,” Stone countered. “Outside of that, I suspect that few people will provide the adoration that you crave.”
Duncan looked irritated.
“By creating the technology to replicate humans you have put society on a path of self destruction.
You will go down in history as the ones who destroyed the distinctiveness of human identity.”
“Or we will have set humanity on a course for a new form of identity,” Duncan replied.
“Large scale fraud typically starts out as a minor transgression, doesn’t it?” Stone asked rhetorically. “Your cadre of rogue technicians knows what they are doing is wrong. But they keep doing it anyway. Insensitive to the harm you create. Focussed only on your goal. You work under the illusion that your secret will go undiscovered.”
“Has it occurred to you that enhancing humans is one way that our species will survive in a world of artificial intelligence?”
“That’s absurd,” Stone replied. “You can’t enhance humans fast enough to keep pace with AI. Rationalize your deeds anyway that you like. Your practices are illegal and immoral.”
“Time will tell,” said Duncan. “Many practices change from being against the law to being lawful once they become socially acceptable. Or necessary.”
“Stone, you must certainly understand that knowledge of how to enhance humans is required to merge human intelligence with AI,” Sahil remarked.
“I have had enough of your egos,” said Stone. “Where is Kalan Mars?
Nisha had been waiting patiently outside of the laboratory, listening to whatever she could discern with her ear to the door. “Follow me,” she said.
Kalan stared at Vern. Vern stood up and glared at Kalan. He started to rant, but Stone restrained him. Both of them were ready for a fight.
Sahil stepped forward. He commanded the attention of everyone in the room. “I find this gathering distasteful,” he said. “We are here because breakthroughs in science have stirred fears of the unknown in lay people. Mister Gedder has expressed his fear through violence. Today we must heal our differences through understanding.”
“Get on with it,” said Stone.
Two biometric scanners, each the size of a human hand, sat prominently on the table. Sahil instructed Vern and Kalan to place one hand on the scanner surfaces. “A small needle will collect a blood sample from each of you. The first analysis will determine the degree of similarity
of your DNA. The second part of the test will analyze DNA markers to confirm your age. The older one of you is the original. The younger one is the clone,” Mathai explained. “This is the lineage inquiry settlement test. Do you understand?”
Vern looked over at Stone, wondering how to respond. Stone nodded affirmatively. Kalan looked to Nisha. Her expression confirmed that he should accept the results.
“Very well,” Sahil said. “Now that we all agree, the test will begin.”
His voice commanded the measurement systems to take the samples. A holographic image of each man’s DNA appeared in three dimensions, just above the table. They all watched intently as the results were displayed before them. The first part of the test concluded as expected. Vern Gedder and Kalan Mars shared the same DNA, as if they were twins.
All eyes anxiously watched the counters on each scanner. A few minutes passed before the blank digital counters started to flash slowly. Tension showed on their faces. The counters flashed more quickly, at a rate that lasted for a few more minutes. Nerves started to fray. Both counters suddenly stopped flashing. Kalan Mars: Twenty three years, eleven months. Vern Gedder: Twenty three years, one month.
Chapter 16
Vern’s eyes opened wide with surprise. “No,” he yelled. “It can’t be true.”
“What kind of set up is this?” Stone demanded.
“There is no set up,” Duncan countered. “You should know better than to ask. Vern Gedder is the clone.” He glared at Vern. “What did you say to me earlier? Making people in a lab is wrong. Destroy all of the clones right now.”
Vern was shaken, overcome by emotion.
“What do you have to say for yourself now?” Duncan pressed.
“Calm down,” Stone remarked.
“The man who chose hostility because he was not good enough to work with us now knows the truth. Look at him,” Duncan beckoned to the others. “He sits amongst us humiliated, intellectually naked. A pathetic contradiction. Society for the Elimination of Artificial People,” Duncan scoffed. “That’s finished.”
“You think that just because one member is a clone that the Society should ...”
“What makes you think it is just one member?” Duncan asked cuttingly.
