Clone Legacy: Book 3 in the Clone Crisis Trilogy

by Melissa Faye

  I poured us some lemonade from a pitcher in my kitchen. Names and information were coming so fast that it was hard to keep track. I couldn’t help laughing. Charlie would find Imani very entertaining. I imagined him sitting back in a chair, arms folded, nodding along and asking clarifying questions.

  “Nothing wrong with feeling different with everything going on,” I said, handing her a glass. “It hasn’t been very long. And it’s new.”

  “Not just new!” Imani said. She paused to gulp down some of her drink. “Different from everything else ever! And now, I’m...”

  I sat back on the couch next to Imani. She blinked rapidly, holding back tears.

  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” she said quietly. “If I can have kids. Am I supposed to go have kids now? Someone said the government wants all of us together so we can have biological kids. But I was just dating Abbas three days ago! It’s too weird.”

  I smiled sympathetically. Things were changing fast, that was true. And I didn’t know what Imani was supposed to do. I didn’t want her to have to decide.

  “Your friend had a child, right?” Imani said slowly. She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, taking small sips of her drink and watching for my reaction.

  “Yes, she did,” I said. I uncrossed my legs and turned towards the girl. “Are you worried about what that’s like?”

  “Yeah,” she said. “I can’t even imagine it. I don’t get how it works.” She blushed. “But what about the Chancellor? What does he want from me and the others?”

  “He wants something from all of us,” I said. I cocked my head to the side. “I’m not convinced that what he wants from one group is better or worse than the other. I think we’re all in trouble.”

  Imani’s eyes widened.

  “I don’t mean it to be scary,” I said. “But he’s greedy. I think he wants to be in charge of everything. Of all of us, and everything we do. And that includes having kids, and work assignments, and where we live...everything.”

  Imani didn’t speak. She traced the seams of the couch cushion next to her leg with her hands mindlessly.

  “Your friends will come around,” I said. “And everyone is trying to figure out how to protect the community. That includes you and me, even though you’re fertile and I’m not.”

  Imani looked down at her TekCast.

  “Do you think...Do you mind if I stay here tonight?” she said quietly. “I live near all my friends in the dorms, and they’re not speaking to me. I don’t want to tell them about my test yet.”

  I smiled. “Of course you can stay here. Before I came here, I was staying with several friends so this place can be lonely by myself. I’ll find some extra blankets and pillows. We can grab a bite in the morning before you go to class.” I stood up to go to the closet, then turned back. “I guess I don’t have friends here anymore either,” I said. “Not really. We’ll be ok though.”

  A while later, I lay awake in bed trying to force my brain to shut down. Imani was young to have this strange label attached to her. Then again, Etta was pregnant at twenty. And we had no idea what we were doing. Imani would be ok. I’d send her back to her friends the next day.

  Testing was going well; we would be able to finish within the week. But it wouldn’t tell us what the government’s next move would be. Knowledge wasn’t any good if we didn’t know how to use it. Still, it seemed to be the one source of comfort for people: knowing who was fertile or not. It was a small, solitary light in a sea of darkness. But at least it was turned on.

  I AWOKE TO THE SOUND of my TekCast buzzing and pushed it so hard along my nightstand that it flew off the edge. Charlie messaged me most mornings, and I expected more of the same. There was more buzzing as I brushed my teeth and got dressed. I went into the living room to wake up Imani, but the pull out couch was empty.

  Not only was it empty, but Imani’s things were still there. I poked my head into the kitchen and then into the hallway to see if she stepped out. I came back to the couch and saw her TekCast laying across the room from the bed. Her hoop earrings were on the end table. I had lent her an old t-shirt and shorts to sleep in, and her own clothes still lay in a mess next to the bed. I panicked and finally looked at my TekCast.

  There were a dozen messages, and they all said the same thing.

  “Come to mansion ASAP. Two people gone.”

  It was from Omer.

  “Imani, the teenager from yesterday, stayed with me last night. She’s gone now.” I nervously waited for his response. I didn’t want this to be related.

  “Three people gone. All fertile from yesterday.”

  I looked around the room. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought Imani was just taking a shower before school, except that her TekCast was on the floor. Teenagers usually carried them everywhere. I used to leave mine on the bathroom counter while I got ready for school.

  I couldn’t breathe. I looked at my door. When I looked out in the hallway just now, had I unlocked it? I couldn’t remember. Someone had come in. Did Imani let them in? I wasn’t a heavy sleeper. I would have heard her let someone in. I would have heard her leave.

  I grabbed my things, locked my door, and sprinted over to the mansion.

  “Yami!” Gianna stood near the door to the council chambers where most of Omer’s work happened. She hustled me into the room with her and we took a seat facing Omer, who was deep in conversation with a woman I didn’t know. His face was long and drawn, and worry lines creased his forehead. I tried to whisper to Gianna, but she shushed me. “Wait for Omer,” she said brusquely.

  “This isn’t good enough,” Omer told the woman. “Go over it again. We have security at every gate. Someone must have seen them leave.” The woman ran out of the room and Omer finally noticed us.

  “Yami, you spoke with the three people yesterday, right? The three people with positive fertility test results?”

  I nodded. I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off.

  “The two men disappeared overnight as well. One disappeared from his bed while his wife was asleep next to him. The other man lives with a friend. In both cases, all their belongings were left behind, including their TekCasts. That’s what made the man’s wife and the other man’s friend nervous.”

  “That’s what happened to Imani,” I said. I felt my voice quiver. “Her clothes are still at my place. Her TekCast. It’s like she was just pulled out of bed without a sound. I don’t know – I couldn’t remember if the door was locked. Did I forget to lock it? How did they get into the men’s houses?”

  “It’s not your fault, Yami,” Gianna said. “It’s no coincidence. These were three people who we found to be fertile just twenty-four hours ago. Someone was after them.”

  Omer bobbed his head up and down. He looked like he was about to speak, but instead he collapsed into a chair and started messaging people.

  “Where are the people who found out the men were missing?” I asked Gianna, kicking my chair out from below me. She led me to a room nearby where several adults were sitting a small cluster.

  “We also need to let Imani’s friends know about her. Can you find them please? There’s a girl named...Debbie. And a boy. Abbas.” Gianna ran out.

  I joined the small cluster and we shared recounts of the disappearances.

  “My husband Adrian,” a teary-eyed woman said. “He was right in bed next to me. A foot away from me, no more! I didn’t wake up during the night. He was just gone in the morning, an hour ago when I woke up. No note. His TekCast was sitting on his nightstand. Here.” She passed it to me. “His slippers were on the floor next to his bed. I don’t understand. Where is he?” I took the TekCast gently from her hands and looked at her sympathetically.

  I moved on to the next guy. The other man’s roommate.

  “Pete is in the bedroom down the hall from me,” the man said. “Same thing, though. His TekCast was just left there. None of his clothes look to be missing. There may have been a struggle, though. His bed
sheets are on the floor several feet away, like someone pulled them off.”

  “Did you see any signs of struggle?” I asked Adrian’s wife.

  “No, none,” she said. “If there was a struggle, I know I would have waken up.”

  I flipped through Adrian’s TekCast. Some messages from his wife, some notes about work, a calendar for the day. He was supposed to be doing a shift in the farm that morning. Nothing else.

  “It was the same with the girl. Imani. She was in my apartment when I went to bed, but gone when I woke up. I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Someone knew how to remove them discretely,” said Omer, who stood behind me now. “I haven’t heard of other disappearances. So far, there are communities where the government has gone in and rounded people up for testing. People who are fertile have disappeared after they were tested. No one was stolen out of their beds.”

  “So something else is going on,” I said. I covered my face with my palms. Imani’s disappearance filled me with panic and guilt. I hadn’t eaten and couldn’t imagine having a bite of anything. Her disappearance reminded me too much of the others I’d suffered: losing my mentor, Alexis, when I was in middle class. Losing Vonna only a few months ago because of something I had asked her to do. And now Imani was stolen from my own apartment behind a locked door.

  And something else made me collapse into the nearest chair. Charlie. If someone was coming after people who were fertile, he was in danger. I didn’t know how anyone could stop it; whoever did this was skilled. I had to let him know.

  I clicked open my TekCast and looked at the stream of messages from Charlie; I hadn’t replied to a single one. There were other messages from my friends. Etta, Breck, Alexis. I decided Alexis was the safest contact.

  “Someone came to Young Woods and stole the three people who tested positive for fertility. Please warn the others!”

  That was it. Alexis would know I wouldn’t talk to my other friends, and she could figure out what to do with the information to keep Charlie safe.

  I sat off to the side while the others guessed where their friends had been taken and by whom. Gianna returned a while later with Imani’s friend Debbie. The boyfriend was nowhere to be found.

  Debbie had no information. She hadn’t spoken with Imani for a few days. When she found out Imani’s test was positive and that she’d been kidnapped, she fell into hysterics. Gianna sent for one of the younger Underground leaders to take her aside and comfort her. It was the best we could do.

  Alexis wrote back later. “Got it. Are you ok?” I didn’t want to say anything else; the wall between myself and my friends, between me and Charlie, were still too brittle. Still, I owed them something, so I answered in the affirmative.

  Omer joined us a few minutes after that, asking for my and Gianna’s attention. We spoke quietly in the mansion’s entryway, our voices hushed.

  “Someone else is missing,” he said. “A researcher. Lamar. He was in Silver, food technology, and since he had a research background, he’s been training to help out in the F-Lab.”

  “Was he fertile? I thought those were the only three.” Gianna looked between us with concern.

  “No one else,” I said. “We’ve been keeping track. I haven’t missed anyone.” I frowned. “What are you not telling us, Omer?”

  He looked around to see who else was within earshot, then leaned in. “I don’t want to start a panic,” he said. “Lamar’s disappearance is different. His closet is empty. His TekCast is gone. His place is actually neat – he made his bed, cleared off his counters. Packed a bag, probably.”

  “So what is it? He stole those people?” Gianna asked. “He’s a traitor.”

  “He couldn’t have done this alone,” I said, shaking my head. I thought back my apartment. Someone broke in and took a teenaged girl without making a sound. That wasn’t a one-man job.

  “So who’s he working with? Omer, is anyone else missing?”

  “Not that we know of,” he said. “I’ve asked sector leaders to check on their attendance and let me know who’s absent today. So far we have one guy who stayed home with a cold. Someone from the Med went to check, and he’s at home sleeping it off. No one else is missing.”

  “It will be hard to tell,” I said. “Job assignments are messed up right now. But there’s not much else to do.”

  “Omer, if there’s another traitor...A mole...” Gianna covered her mouth with her fist. “I don’t want this to be like the Chancellor. We can’t keep secrets. But if this gets out, everyone will panic.”

  “I’ll think about it,” he said. “I’d like to get your input when I have a plan in mind. Bring in some other people as well. Meanwhile, I’ll tell the friends and relatives.”

  “I told someone at Gentle Acres,” I said. “I can try to get this message out to others.”

  Omer nodded, and we went our separate ways.

  My mind whirled. Ever since we took over the compound where biological kids were being kept and indoctrinated, ever since my friend Sven was killed doing what was best for everyone, ever since I finally felt like I understood the scope of what was going on around us, I’d barely been able to stop thinking and breathe. I was turning into a perpetual motion machine. I worried about Charlie, but I couldn’t help him. I worried about Imani; that still felt like my own fault.

  I looked around the room while I sent messages back and forth with other Underground leaders around the country. Who else in here was a mole? Who else was willing to sell us out for some unknown reward from the Chancellor? Everyone was suspect. I thought everyone was on our side, particularly here, where the Underground was in charge. I was wrong.

  Chapter 4 – Charlie

  Alexis told us what Yami shared: someone came into Young Woods and stole the three people whose fertility tests were positive. And it didn’t seem like it was the Chancellor’s men. It was someone within the camp.

  I walked around the town eyeing everyone suspiciously. Breck was still helping with testing, so he asked me to spend more time with Etta to keep an eye on her. The three of us, plus Zheng, were fertile, and there could be someone in the community coming after us. All we could do was stick together.

  Etta’s background was in cloning research, but since there was no cloning to make happen, she spent a lot of time in the nursery with Hope and the other little kids. I liked being with her there. Hope was getting bigger every day, and seemed to recognize me. Etta was trying to be more helpful at the nursery, and joined another teacher in watching small groups of kids. While she worked, I spent more time with Hope. I walked her around the community and whispered silly songs to her. I found a series of faces that made her laugh, a high pitched chortle that rang out loudly, and people stopped to watch us amuse one another.

  We told Zheng what was happening, and she became my tail. Everywhere I went, there she was. I couldn’t blame her. We needed to be on the lookout, and we were safer together. After a few days, Javi thought to find a few armed townspeople to walk around with us. They were volunteers, and traded off shifts. I was glad we decided to stay at Gentle Acres. It did feel much safer to know that others were looking out for us.

  Etta’s clone, Etta 2, along with her son Teo, decided to stay at Gentle Acres. Etta 2 joined Etta at the nursery. They got along very well. Except for the age difference, they were exactly the same, and within a few days they’d developed their own secondhand way of speaking that no one else could keep up with.

  Teo was sent to school every day. He complained about it, but I couldn’t help noticing how happily he took to the consistent schedule and company of kids his own age. Javi had a few people rotate between following him around, too. Even though he was only a kid, he was fertile as well. The Chancellor probably had some plans for what to do with the bio kids until they were older, and we couldn’t let him get his hands on Teo.

  With Alexis’s approval, we all stayed at her house. She was a good cook, and I liked helping, so we made and ate big meals together in the evenings. Th
e dining room table was too small, so we took our food outside and ate on the grass. Teo played with Hope or met with his new friends. He taught them how to play the rock throwing game he learned when he stayed at the ACer camp with us, and earned some popularity points for bringing it to the group and being the best player.

  A week passed and we all settled into a routine. Shifts at the nursery or F-Lab. Most of the citizens were tested by now and no one else was fertile. Zheng was a few years older than me and worked in technology before the uprising. She took me with her to the tech building, where I could play around with their programming tools as much as I wanted. Zheng kept following me around, even after we had our own guards. Now there was the added benefit of getting to learn from her and develop my own skills.

  Every day I thought about Yami. Breck shot me down when I brought up the possibility of taking a truck to follow her. She didn’t want to be followed, he reminded me.

  Having the community guards and a clear routine eased all of our fears. After that first week, my defenses were way down. Guards started to skip shifts. Which probably explains why I went to sleep one night on Alexis’s pull out couch and woke up somewhere completely different.

  I WOKE UP STIFF ALL over. I couldn’t tell what time it was. I felt a familiar rocking sensation, but my senses were all over the place. I was groggy and couldn’t see anything. I felt a stabbing pain on the right side of my neck, like something stung me there. I slowly took in my situation.

  The air smelled fresh but dry. I couldn’t see; there was a hood over my head. I couldn’t yell out because there was a gag in my mouth. I couldn’t move because my hands were cuffed over my head to something that felt like a pipe. With no concern for the futility of the matter, I did everything I could to get someone’s attention. I hollered through my gag. I pulled at my cuffs and the pipe they connected to. I kicked my feet, first against the ground, then against the sides of the truck I realized I was in.