The Clones of Mawcett

by DePrima, Thomas

  "Any sign that the Tsgardi have entered the tunnels?" Jenetta asked.

  "None at all. They're probably not even aware of the existence of the sewers."

  "Let's hope," Jenetta said. "Tomorrow morning we'll start moving our base. We'll need enough food and water for a month, plus whatever other supplies we can carry. We won't move the less ambulatory civilians and wounded until the new base is completely set up, unless the Tsgardi get the door opened sooner."

  All personnel not on security duty were pressed into service the following morning. That included all of the civilian laborers, people accustomed to hard work. A line of workers, stretching almost a quarter of a kilometer into the tunnel, was formed from the shaft entrance out into the sewer tunnel system so food and supplies could be moved quickly by being passed from individual to individual. All supplies were first moved into the main tunnel and stacked along the walls so that the base could be abandoned quickly if the Tsgardi broke through the entrance. A hose found in the kitchen was used to fill collapsible polyethylene containers carried empty into the main sewer tunnel, averting the chore of having to negotiate the narrow shaft beneath the facility with the tenuous water containers. Then the job of carrying everything to the new base began. It took the better part of the day to move everything to the new base, just two kilometers away.

  That evening they enjoyed their last showers and hot meals for a while. Enough water for drinking and food preparation had been moved to the new base, but no one would be bathing. On the plus side, as soon as the floor panel had been removed, communication and sensor information had been restored. The bottom side of the tile appeared to be surfaced with the same material as the door. They learned that there was still just one ship in orbit, so the situation hadn't worsened. It was small consolation.

  The entrance door was beginning to show obvious signs of buckling as explosion after explosion was heard in the facility, and with time running out, the besieged group completed their evacuation. Jenetta closed and password locked all the doors in the facility before also climbing down the shaft. Captain Greene was the last to descend into the sewer, and after using the Nordakian commands that Jenetta had taught him to turn off all lights and life support systems, he carefully lowered the large, heavy floor tile into place and climbed down the metal rungs. When the Tsgardi Raiders broke through the entrance door, they would be faced with an empty, darkened corridor and locked doors of similar construction to the one they had spent weeks trying to open.

  By midnight, everyone was settled into the new base. All tracks showing their passage had been carefully swept away, and simulated barriers of decayed debris had been carefully assembled in the tunnels leading to the facility and to their new base in the pumping station. Even if the Tsgardi did find their way to the pumping station, the cover on the shaft leading up into the facility was securely latched down.

  The pumping station was dry, but filthy, and the silence seemed deafening after days of listening to the increasing assaults on the facility's main door. Over the next couple of days the station was cleaned as much as possible. An office area was cleared to serve as the command center. The scientists were delighted with the find and spent their time examining the pumping equipment and any artifacts that they could find. The laborers did most of the cleaning and took everything that they found to a central collection point for the scientists to examine further. The dryness of the station had helped preserve everything in it.

  After several days, Captain Greene began seeking permission to send out scouts to see what was going on. Jenetta at first refused, even though she knew she needed intel. When several more days had passed, Jenetta finally gave permission, with the understanding that the scouts were to avoid contact with the Tsgardi at all costs. If discovered, they had orders to lead the Tsgardi away from the pumping station encampment.

  Each team of scouts sent out, returned safely, and their reports were always the same. Raider support personnel were observed relaxing above ground near the tunnel entrance. Most of them were Tsgardi, but there were a few Terrans working with them.

  The days wore on slowly. Jenetta could stand the cold food, but was dying for a steaming mug of coffee. They couldn't risk having the Raiders spot smoke or smell hot food, though, so cold food and plain water would have to suffice. The scientists had resumed the classes in Archeology, but interest had waned in the primitive, dirty, and uncomfortable living conditions.

  An excited scout team returned one evening with news that the Tsgardi were gone. Captain Green confirmed that sensors weren't picking up any sign of a ship in orbit, but the com chief reported that the IDS signals were still being jammed. Jenetta decided to stay under cover for now, because it could be ruse to draw them out of their hiding place. The ship could simply have moved to the other side of the planet where it would be hidden from their sensors.

  Two more days passed before Jenetta sent out scouting teams with orders to look for indications that the Tsgardi had really departed. Captain Greene led a small team into the facility from the sewer tunnel shaft. Each member was issued a gas mask, and would wear it until the air quality was tested and met minimum safe requirements.

  A Marine returned from the facility team within two hours to report that the door had held. The facility was intact, except that the main door would never open normally again. Jenetta told the Marine to return to the facility and tell Captain Greene to remain there, unless the Tsgardi returned.

  The outside patrols reported back a few hours later. The Tsgardi had packed up and moved out, taking everything they could plunder, including the three Space Command shelters. The even took the empty, quarter-high shipping container used to send supplies to the base before the Prometheus left orbit.

  Jenetta decided that it might be safe to move back to the facility, but there was still a danger. It had been almost a month since the Tsgardi first appeared, and if at least one of the shuttles had managed to get away, then help from Higgins base at Vinnia should be arriving very soon. The only thing weighing on Jenetta's mind was that IDS com traffic was still being blocked. It didn't make sense that the Tsgardi would leave the communications blocking satellites in orbit. They never left anything of value behind. If they had succeeded in overrunning the facility, they would surely have collected them. So they might only have left the surface to get the planet's inhabitants to come out of the impenetrable facility. They might be planning to come back once a false sense of security had been established. She decided that, for now, they should remain in the pumping station, although hot food would be prepared in the facility and carried to the pumping station for consumption. And as long as there were no indications of a ship in orbit, people could go to the facility in shifts to take showers.

  Two days later, sensors detected a ship entering orbit. The pumping station base was put on immediate alert and a runner was sent to evacuate the facility. Once the station was secure, Jenetta ordered patrols be sent out to collect intelligence about any landings.

  Less than an hour after the patrols left, both returned. Included in the party were fighter pilots from the Prometheus. Jenetta breathed deeply and released it slowly as the pilots approached her.

  "We're astonished to find you still alive, Commander!" 1st Lt. Harrigan exclaimed. "Based on what we heard from Space Command, we only expected to find bodies."

  "I'm surprised to see you also, Lieutenant. I didn't expect the Prometheus back for months. It's only March 16th. I was expecting a ship from Vinnia."

  "I guess Space Command notified the Captain as soon as they learned we were on a fool's errand. He ordered a one-eighty and we returned here at full speed. I think that the engines were run at a hundred and ten percent all the way back. The Captain is on his way down now. As soon as we determined that the threat was gone, we informed the ship, and his shuttle left its bay."

  A slight commotion behind the Lieutenant drew their attention and Captain Gavin strode into the room, grinning.

  "Jen, thank God you're alive
! How is the scientific party?" Looking at the pumping plant around him, he added, "I can't wait to hear your story about this!"

  "All members of the scientific staff are safe and sound, sir, including their seventy-seven clones. I lost six of my Marines in the attacks though, plus–– one of my clones."

  "Six is–– what? Did you say 'one of my clones'? As in clones of you?"

  "Yes sir. The machine made two before we could shut it down."

  "What the devil possessed you to make clones of yourself? Wait, don't tell me right now! Save it for your full report. I'm sure that Captain Kanes will want to hear this also. Let's go back up to the surface."

  "Yes sir. Just let me make an announcement." The dig site members had all been crowding around trying to hear the news. Jenetta turned to look at them and said loudly, "The Prometheus has arrived back at the planet and all is secure. You can gather up your possessions and return to your top-side camp. Thank you for your cooperation during the past month."

  As the dig site members whooped, hollered, whistled, and applauded, Jenetta and Gavin, with the pilots and Marines following, made their way to the surface via an access shaft located and cleared by one of the Marine patrols.

  The area outside the facility was now covered with fighters from the Prometheus. Twenty-five fighter ships, plus two MATs were parked in and around the area that had originally been appropriated for the base. The wings of the fighters, always extended outwards for flight in a planetary atmosphere, where more responsive flight characteristics were achieved by pushing off from and redirecting the air flow, had been refolded flat against their bodies once the ships were down. The large, phased array laser, mounted in a swiveling nose turret, clearly established the lethality of the fighter craft. The squat, boxy-looking utilitarian MATs, not very much more aerodynamically sound than shipping containers, contrasted sharply with the sleek, narrow designs of the fighter ships.

  The Tsgardi had picked the area clean, carting away anything and everything of any value that was removable. It was almost as if the Tsgardi had been trying to wipe away all trace of the scientific effort. They had even taken the stacks of packing crates used to hold the valuable artifacts, dug up during months of effort, after first dumping the contents out onto the ground. Of course the simple truth was that the Tsgardi were the biggest scavengers in the known galaxy. Little more than trash, and the excavated artifacts, remained at the archeological camp.

  Kanes was closely examining the door to the facility when Jenetta and Gavin arrived outside the entrance in the tunnel. The area immediately outside the facility had been blasted to rubble, and it was incredible that the arched roof of the access tunnel hadn't collapsed.

  "Commander, welcome back to the land of the living," Kanes said as they approached.

  "Thank you, sir."

  "Space Command has you listed as missing-in-action and presumed lost, by the way."

  "I hope they weren't too quick to notify my parents of that. They've been through enough with my last missing and presumed lost."

  "Standard procedure is to notify the family as soon as a determination is made. When our fighter squadrons made contact with your Marine patrols, and we learned that you were okay, we sent that information on to Space Command. I'm sure they'll notify your parents right away that you're safe and sound. How did you manage to keep the Raiders out? It looks like they threw everything they had at this door."

  "All I did was close and lock the door, sir. We have the inhabitants from twenty thousand years ago to thank for our lives. Too bad the Prometheus isn't covered with this material. We wouldn't need three layers of outer skin and self-sealing membranes."

  "I was thinking that myself. I suspect this base will remain under the authority of Space Command for a little longer than originally planned.

  "If we can't use it for ships that must travel in the cold of outer space, I hope that we can at least use it for armored personnel carriers and body armor for our marines. It saved our bacon, and I know it can save a lot more lives."

  "I'll pass on your recommendations, Commander. I assume that the cloning equipment was destroyed as a preventative measure against falling into enemy hands?"

  "No sir. I sent a good deal of it to Vinnia in two of our shuttles after the third acted as a decoy to lure the Raiders away from the planet so the two could make their escape undetected. Part of the equipment is still here, rigged with explosives and motion detonators so it will blow if it's moved. You need all three parts to make it work."

  "Do you know if the shuttle pilot survived?" Gavin asked.

  "It was piloted by my sister. According to the Tsgardi captain, she was taken alive."

  "Your sister?" Kanes said. "What are you talking about, Commander?"

  "Commander Carver was cloned," Gavin said nonchalantly, watching Kanes closely to see his reaction.

  "Cloned?" Kanes said, his eyes wide. "You were cloned? How many times?"

  "Twice. We named them Two and Three, temporarily."

  "We?"

  "The clones and me. We agreed on the simple names until we figured out how to classify them."

  "What ever compelled you to clone yourself?" Kanes asked, then grinned and said, "Ah, the Raider attack."

  "No sir. Someone drugged me and the process was started without my permission. As soon as we figured out how to shut down the machine, we did so. But by then there were seven clones of each of the eleven scientists and two clones of me."

  "Have you discovered who drugged you and started the process?"

  "No sir, and I don't think that we ever will. I think the person acted impulsively and without malice, only later realizing the seriousness of the charges that would be preferred against them if his or her identity was discovered. The drug is a commonly available sleeping aid and could have easily been stolen by someone in the archeology camp. I don't think there would be anything to gain by pursuing the issue."

  "Where's Three?" Gavin asked. "You did say that the second clone was named Three?"

  "Yes sir. Three piloted one of the shuttles to Vinnia. I don't know her status."

  "We can find out easily enough," Kanes said, "once the jamming satellites have been collected and disabled. Three tugs have been dispatched to round them up. We'll send a message to Vinnia as soon as we can."

  "Yes sir. I'd also like to know if Lieutenant Crocker is okay. He took the third shuttle. We can move into the facility to continue the debriefing, if you like. We'll have to use the sewer tunnel entrance, but the way is almost dry."

  Finding the nearest entrance into the sewer system, Jenetta led the way to the tunnel that led up into the facility. The marines were already clearing the pumping station and moving the remaining supplies back into the facility. Marine Lieutenant Taggert had to momentarily clear his people from the final ten meters leading to the facility so that the three officers could pass through the narrow tunnel ingress.

  Kanes took a few minutes to examine the inside of the main door after they arrived inside the facility. "Amazing, absolutely amazing. A month of effort and they only managed to open enough of a crack to get a fiberoptic probe through."

  "They probably gave up after finding the facility dark, and with life support disabled," Jenetta said. "I'd hoped they would assume that we'd never been there at all, and that we'd had weeks to escape through the forest. They knew by then that we'd had a shuttle and I hoped they would think that we had already moved the cloning equipment to a different location on the planet. They certainly didn't have time to begin assaults on warehouses scattered around this world. My engineers believe that the entire door frame can be removed from the inside, sir. We can replace it with one of the others. The doors in the corridor are all about the same size."

  "If that's possible, then do it by all means," Gavin said. "We'll take the damaged door with us. The engineers can rig something up to replace the missing interior door."

  "Yes sir. I'll get Commander Cameron on it as soon as we're done here. Shall we adjourn
to the mess hall for some coffee?"

  "Mess hall?" Kanes said in surprise. "You have a mess hall?"

  "Yes sir. We have a mess hall capable of accommodating a hundred-fifty, and sleeping accommodations for a hundred-twenty-four. We also have a fully equipped sick bay, although I ordered that all unidentified equipment be packed up for shipment to Space Command."

  Moving down the brightly illuminated corridor, with Jenetta leading, they stopped in front of the mess hall doors. Jenetta casually said, "Dwuthathsei" to open the doors and then "Summatah" to turn the lights on.

  "Isn't that Dakis?" Kanes asked.

  "Yes sir," Jenetta said as she stood out of the way so the two senior officers could enter the room first. "I discovered that the Nordakians were the original inhabitants of this planet, and that it was originally named Dakistee, meaning 'homeland.' Nordakia means 'new home.' Almost twenty thousand years ago a huge group of emigrants, seeking freedom of expression for their radical religious doctrine, left this planet. Some time after that, a plague infected the entire population here, leaving them sterile and unable to reproduce. They were able to completely eradiate the plague, but the damage had already been done. As they faced the demise of their species on this planet, they tried to find the people that had gone, but the ones who'd left didn't want to be found. They didn't answer hails and it was later learned that they hadn't followed the flight plan they'd filed. The Dakistee people tried cloning to rebuild the population but the equipment was too precise and sterility was replicated into the clones. The scientists finally announced that they could never restore reproductive capability. With no one except sterile originals to use as cloning prototypes, the population died out in little more than a century. I guess the people just gave up. Perhaps if their equipment created children, instead of fully mature adults, they might have had more incentive to go on searching for an answer."