Frequency

by C Scott Frank

  He eyed the camera again and wondered if they were considering ejecting the pod with him in it. That would be one way to stop him. The clones were too valuable to the idealists upstairs, though. At any rate, if there was any indication that Lincoln knew what he was up to, the boss hadn’t shown his hand yet. Except for locking him out of his own blasted system.

  He hammered away at his datapad, angry fingers pounding the screen. He wrote the software for these stasis pods, and the team thought they could keep him out? Lincoln should’ve known better. How many times had he proved his merit? Lincoln had never trusted him.

  Every good programmer builds themselves a back door. And just like that, Gibbs waltzed through his threshold as if he were invited. The display on the stasis pod turned blue once again. He placed his datapad on the ground and resumed navigating the pod’s display. The screen turned red once more, but this time he smiled in grim determination and looked at the pod’s inhabitant.

  She was a brunette female, in her mid-twenties. Her eyes were closed and she looked like she was in a deep sleep. Gibbs shook his head and pushed the terminate button on the red display. The woman’s hair moved almost imperceptibly as the oxygen was removed from the pod. Her eyes never opened as her chest began to heave and constrict. After a moment, her body began to tremor as the muscles throughout her body strained for every last atom of oxygen.

  Gibbs watched as her body finally settled and the machine went silent. He picked up his datapad and stalked to the next cylinder.

  Day 363 - 09:44

  Lincoln stepped off the lift and strode toward the large storage room. He tightened his grip on the cold weapon in his hand. He entered the dimly lit room full of stasis pods, surveying the situation. His eyes fell on the pod toward the far end of the room, blood a dark stain visible inside the dark cylinder.

  He scanned the rest of the room, his breath falling heavy with anger. His hand trembled more and more as his eyes found each lifeless clone inside their stasis pods. Glass coffins littering the expanse.

  A blur came from his left and he found himself on the ground, a large body on top of him. Gibbs. Lincoln’s gun hit the metal floor with a loud clang and slid under one of the pods. Before Lincoln could make a grab for it, the large programmer punched him hard in the side of the head. There was a sickening crack at the impact.

  “Ow!” Gibbs yelped and rolled off him. “Screw you!” Gibbs grabbed his hand and winced in pain.

  “You idiot.” Lincoln rubbed his head where the programmer struck him and cursed. “Have you ever even been in a fight?”

  “Yeah, they don’t teach you how to hit people in computer science. You should know that,” Gibbs said through a grimace, holding his broken knuckles. He stood up and squared up to Lincoln. “I’m not going to let you stop me.”

  “Come on, Gibbs.” Lincoln shook his head. Gibbs had lost it. Lincoln needed to keep the man talking so he could get to his gun. “Don’t be stupid.”

  “They all deserve to die. They’re animals.”

  “How many subjects have you terminated, Gibbs?”

  “Not enough. There’s still a few left. Including that dog Fuller has as a pet in the infirmary,” Gibbs said with an inhuman coldness.

  “Surely you can’t believe what you’re saying.” Lincoln stepped to the side, toward his weapon. “I mean, look at them. They’re flesh and blood, Gibbs. They’re just like us.”

  “They’re nothing like us, and you know it. They’re glorified service animals. They have been trained, programmed, and conditioned for one purpose: to kill us all. How can you stand by and wait for them to squeeze the life out of humanity?”

  “You’re irrational.” He continued to make his way toward his gun, under the pod to his right. “This morning, when Keri and I found you down here. What did you say to that one? The clone you shot?”

  “I wanted to see if maybe our illustrious doctor was right. I woke up a clone from one of the colony attacks. I wanted to ask him if he wanted to kill people. I asked him if he was sorry.”

  “And what did he say?”

  “He said he didn’t know what I wanted from him. He said he didn’t understand why he should feel sorry for defending himself.” Gibbs’ voice cracked with some emotion between rage and sadness. “Can you believe? He thought he was defending himself against us. While he was killing our people. They’re animals, Lincoln, can’t you see that?”

  “They’re confused.” Lincoln held his hands out. “They were raised in a test tube and implanted with memories. They’re out of time and out of place, don’t know why they are here. They’re only following what they know, and following orders.”

  “Yea, right.” Gibbs stepped behind the closest pod and keyed the display with his good hand. “You have to decide, oh noble knight: are their lives worth killing me over?”

  “Gibbs, stop.”

  “Yeah? Make me.” Gibbs bent over and picked the gun up from underneath the pod with his good hand. “Looking for this?”

  “Gibbs, you don’t have to do this,” Lincoln said firmly.

  “You don’t get to make demands when I have this.” Gibbs waved the gun around. “I’m no southpaw, but I think we’re close enough for me to get this to work.” He raised the gun and pointed it at Lincoln’s head.

  Day 363 - 09:46

  “This is fascinating,” Emily Shepherd said excitedly. She studied the chaotic diagnostic screens monitoring the clone as he gained consciousness. “I mean, now that I know what to look for, it’s almost obvious. Dr. Fuller is clever. Look at these patterns here.” She pointed to the screen at a series of jagged lines.

  “Emily, I have no idea what any of this means.” Edward shook his head and squinted at the screen. “But I’ll take your word for it.”

  “Oh. Right. Well, it’s pretty interesting anyway.” Emily sat back down, deflated, and considered the screens.

  “Have you figured out any way to use that information, Emily?” Keri asked. “Can we talk to them? Reprogram them?”

  “You know, I think Damien brought up some great points about that,” Edward interjected. “They are people. Instead of reprogramming them, what’s to stop us from broadwaving the truth to them, and letting them decide?”

  “That’s actually not a bad idea.” Emily turned from the monitors to face Edward and Keri, chewing on a pen, happy to have something else to be excited about. “Now that we know some of the differences in their brain function, we can impress the full weight of the truth upon them. We wouldn’t be reprogramming them, per se, but we would be allowing them to experience the truth in a very real way.”

  “Okay, say we do this, what kind of conversion do you think we could see?” Keri wore skeptical eyes. She was a pragmatist through and through, and Emily liked that about her.

  “Impossible to say, really,” Emily responded. “We would likely experience results from all over the spectrum. Some would be quite receptive, some might deny it and claim that we were brainwashing. Still others may go mad trying to battle the discordant feelings pushing on their minds.”

  “How can we make a decision like that?” Edward watched the clone as he began to stir. “How are we qualified to impact so many lives?”

  “Depending on who you ask,” Keri said. “It may not be lives we’re impacting at all, in the technical sense.”

  “Oh come on, don’t tell me you’re on their side?” Edward shot a look of disbelief at Keri. “Zachary is bad enough. I thought you were better than that.”

  “I didn’t say I completely agree with him. I don’t know what to think. This isn’t something anyone can prepare for. On the one hand, they certainly appear to be humans and match our definition of life. On the other hand, they are created in a tube. Created by science. Some might say nothing more than an instrument or a tool. And they’re killing natural-born humans. How many clones is saving mankind worth?”

  “To quote the good doctor,” Edward began, “how many humans is it worth to save mankind?”

&n
bsp; “That’s a question our race has asked themselves for a long time, Ed. I wish I could say I had an answer.”

  Emily opened her mouth to share her point of view, but something on the monitor caught her eye. “Guys.” She found it hard to breathe. “Look.”

  The other two turned and looked at the monitor where the camera feed had still been rolling. The camera now showed two figures: Gibbs and Lincoln. The two were talking in what appeared to be a heated debate. Emily gasped as the larger figure, Gibbs, raised a gun and pointed it at Lincoln. They all looked away when they saw him pull the trigger.

  Day 363 - 09:53

  Lincoln sidestepped quickly—too quickly for Gibbs to adjust his aim. His shot went wide and ricocheted off a heavy support beam and punctured an inhabited stasis pod.

  Alarms sounded from the pod as glass hit the floor. Lincoln dove for Gibbs and knocked him to the ground, sending the gun flying. Lincoln rushed to the pod’s console to see if he could salvage anything. The clone inside began to go into cardiac arrest, body convulsing as his heart froze in his chest from the shock. His face turned a pale blue and his eyes opened, hollow. While unseeing, they betrayed some subconscious horror. Lincoln tapped at the console, trying anything he could think of, but it was no use. The machine echoed a flat tone as the man settled into the pod, eyes still staring, lifeless.

  Lincoln heard a bellow from behind him shortly before a shoulder collided with his spine. His face smacked against the screen violently—the glass cracked under the impact. He threw an elbow behind him, connecting with the side of the larger man’s head.

  He slumped to the ground and turned to find Gibbs. The programmer had gotten bold; Lincoln hadn’t expected a fistfight with the guy. Gibbs crawled toward the gun, under a nearby stasis pod.

  “Leave the gun, Gibbs,” Lincoln grunted. “You don’t know how to use that thing, you’ll kill us both in here.”

  “Yeah, that’s the general idea.”

  “I don’t believe you have a death wish.” Lincoln rose to his feet, hot blood trickling down his face. His eyes stung and his back hurt. He couldn’t believe the team worried about boredom a few short days ago. “Zachary, just give it up man.”

  “Nah, I’m good.” Gibbs dove for the gun. Lincoln lunged a split-second behind him, grabbing his hands in a vice. Gibbs tried to aim the weapon, but Lincoln held fast. Gibbs tried to use his weight to roll on top, but Lincoln was too strong. He brought a knee up and caught Gibbs in the gut, making him cough in Lincoln’s face. His grip loosened just long enough for Lincoln to steal the gun. He kicked backwards to get some distance and aimed the gun at the programmer.

  “Fine, whatever, I give up.” Gibbs held his hands up.

  “Good answer.” Lincoln stood. “Get up. Leave your datapad. We’re going to have to lock you in your quarters. I don’t want you to try anything.”

  “Who me?” Gibbs flashed a wry smile as he hefted himself off the ground.

  “Come on.” Lincoln turned toward the door. He realized his mistake a second too late. He heard Gibbs’ bulk pound toward him. He sidestepped the tackle and caught Gibbs around the shoulders, using the large man’s momentum against him. He threw him to the floor, ready to clamp his hands behind his back, but instead of the dull thump of the man’s body hitting the ground, he heard a sickening crunch.

  He looked down into Gibbs’ face on the ground. The large man was silent, looking at something over to his right. Lincoln followed his gaze but only saw an empty stasis pod, one of the cylinders the shuttle had intended to take back. Lincoln looked back and noticed a pool of dark liquid spreading from under the programmer’s head and neck. Blood.

  The foot of the stasis pod next to him protruded into the walkway. Skin, hair, and blood covered the jagged corner of the heavy machine. Lincoln swore as he felt the man’s neck, already knowing what he would find.

  Zachary Gibbs was dead.

  Before he had time to process what had happened, his comm clicked with a burst of static.

  “Lincoln,” came Damien’s garbled voice. “Lincoln, I’ve made a mistake.”

  Day 363 - 09:56

  “Is he dead?” Emily asked, her voice trembling. Adrenaline filled her veins. Her body’s natural reaction to quiet her fear. She was out of her element.

  “It looks like it,” Keri said. On the small display, Lincoln felt Gibbs’ neck for a pulse. He shook his head confirming Keri’s answer. Lincoln held a finger up to his ear and then darted from the room. A moment later, the screen turned black as the lights in the room automatically shut off.

  A soft alarm sounded behind the group in the room and they all turned to find the clone staring at them. He lay still under the straps, his eyes the only movement as they met each team member’s in turn.

  “Looks like our pal is awake,” Edward said, stating the obvious.

  “Here we go.” Keri unclipped the holster on her hip.

  “Where am I?” The clone asked. He stared bullets through the team, unblinking. His stare made Emily squeamish.

  “You’re aboard a research station. I can’t tell you where yet, because there’s a lot we don’t know,” Keri answered, approaching the table.

  “You don’t know where you are?” The man asked, brows furrowed. “What kind of research are you doing?”

  “That’s not what I meant,” Keri replied. Emily turned to hide her smile at the misunderstanding. Language was fascinating. Her gaze landed on the monitor showing a dark room. Gibbs’ body lay somewhere in that darkness. She flipped the monitor off, a shiver running up her spine as Keri continued. “We’re doing research on clones. Our goal is to learn how to communicate with them. If we can see how the mind of a clone works.”

  “That’s good. We need to put an end to this forsaken war. I’m a soldier, get me back out in the fight.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  Emily settled in behind her workstation to check on the readings. Brainwaves made their way across the screen as the monitors gathered their data.

  “Are we getting the readings we need?” Keri asked.

  “Yes, just a little longer.”

  “What readings? What am I doing here?” The clone’s voice sounded impatient behind Emily. She turned around in her chair to explain, but Keri cut her off.

  “Do you remember your name?” Keri asked him.

  “Michael,” the clone said. “Michael Vance. I was stationed on Imperium. Last thing I remember, we were prepping to help the evac from KB1104. Did our ship run into trouble or something?”

  “Michael,” Keri began. “There’s no easy way to say this. But you’re a clone. I don’t have your file in front of me, but you were likely taken as a prisoner of war and placed into stasis to be transported here.”

  “Look, lady, I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but there’s some kind of mistake here.” The man shook his head and tugged at the straps holding his arm. “Let me go, we can work this all out. Clone or not, I just want to know where in the worlds I am.”

  “It’s not uncommon to experience amnesia—“

  “It’s not amnesia you crazy bat, do amnesiacs remember their name?” He labored against his restraints.

  “That’s a good point, but I’m still not letting you go anywhere.” Keri tapped her sidearm noticeably. “Look, there’s a lot we do know. We know that you have some vague memories about your childhood, but you can’t even remember where you graduated high school. You think you’re a human fighting clones, but you don’t remember how you ended up in the military. You don’t even realize that it’s been over three months since you were picked up.”

  “How do you know what I think or what I remember? If you’d calm down for half a second, maybe we can have an actual conversation and—”

  “Got it,” Emily interjected as a monitor beeped. “I think we’re ready to synthesize. Ed can help me recode some of this to match Damien’s pulse algorithms, but we can go ahead and put him,” she nodded at the clone, “down.”

 
“Put me down?” The man struggled against the straps, shaking the whole bed. “What am I, a dog? What do you mean put me down?”

  “It’s okay,” Keri said soothingly. “We’re going to put you under light sedation for a little while. When you wake up, everything will make much more sense.”

  Edward helped Keri hold the clone still as she injected him with a tranquilizer. Once the man was unconscious, they fitted him with the appropriate electrodes and sensors and positioned the radio antennae around his head. Emily turned back to her station and pushed everything else out of her mind.

  “Okay,” Emily began, “We’re ready to begin.”

  Day 363 - 09:57

  “Lincoln,” Damien whispered through his comm. “Lincoln, I’ve made a mistake.”

  Damien had locked himself in his office as soon as the pilot had tried to grab him. The pilot’s restraints were the only thing that had saved Damien. That and God, maybe. Damien sat on the ground out of view of the large windows in his office. The steps of the pilot pacing outside the office might as well have been bombs for all the tension Damien felt. Somehow he’d gotten out of his restraints.

  “Come on doctor,” the pilot taunted. His voice was hoarse from the damage to his throat. “You don’t have a problem digging around inside someone’s head and changing who they are, but you’re scared of a little fight?”

  Damien trembled out of sight. He hoped that Lincoln would be here soon. He could use a break right about now.

  “I’m glad you went with the open concept for your office, doc, really brightens the place.” Damien heard a squeal as the pilot ran his fingers along the glass. “I especially love the big windows. They really open things up.”