Tabula Rasa

by Filip Forsberg

  They said nothing. The heat pulsed in Elizabeth, first slowly, then faster and faster. She glanced over at her father and was relieved when he looked healthier.

  “What is happening?” She whispered.

  “I don’t know.”

  She tried to put her hands down, but the muscles in her arms did not obey her. It was as if there were invisible threads in her arms and an unseen puppeteer pulled the threads.

  “I can't move, can you?”

  “No.” replied her father.

  “Neither can I. What's happening?” Julius's voice was nervous.

  Elisabeth stared at the holocube. She had never seen anything so beautiful, so different. As she looked at it seemed like a light inside it lit. Weakly it began to pulsate. As heartbeats that rises and falls in an eternal rhythm. She saw it in front of her. As a bright pulsating heart. It was not a cube anymore but instead something organic, something alive. Julius hand was warm and she held a tight grip of it and her father’s hand. After what seemed to be an eternity something rose in her. Images that floated up inside her. In her soul. She blinked, unsure of what she saw. The images showed something that seemed to be a star system. It was something that she had never experienced before and panic grew within her. She blinked again, harder. Shook her head to make the images go away. She moaned.

  “Do you see?” she whispered.

  “Yes, I see. What is it?” said her father.

  A faint murmur was heard from her left side and she turned to look at Julius, he looked pale, wide-eyed, he talked rapidly and indistinctly. Elisabeth struggled to hear what he said but she could not discern the words.

  “My God, it's so beautiful. It resembles our solar system, but still not.” Her father's voice was full of what sounded as reverence.

  The images that rose up within her was breathtaking beautiful. Solar systems that stretched across countless light years. Brilliant galaxies that radiated magnificently beautiful in the infinite space. Nebulae in all the colors of the rainbow that slid in and out of each other in a kaleidoscopic dance. Her own body ceased to exist. She became one of the bright stars that slid through over the infinite space. Her voice sounded like it came from someone else.

  “I don’t recognize anything of these. It looks like galaxies and solar systems but I don’t recognize a single one.”

  *

  Tabula Rasa, Madagascar

  2049-01-01

  In grip of despair there is only more desperation. They were in John's office, and Jonathan sat strapped with two arm locks in a chair in front of John’s desk. John smiled at Jonathan and nodded towards one wall.

  Jonathan saw how a wall panel slid apart and a holoscreen slid out from behind a hidden compartment. The screen flashed and Jonathan saw how the hologram of a terrified man slowly fading in. He recognized the man as Paco, the agent he was supposed to save. John sat behind his desk and studied Jonathan, whose eyes were fixed on the screen.

  “Do you know who that is?”

  Jonathan glared at John.

  “Yes, I do.”

  Interested, John leaned forward.

  “Could it be that you know him?”

  Jonathan nodded reluctantly, John smiled.

  “Excellent. We have had Paco with us for a number of days now and since he cannot give us more information about the Amber group, we have planned a surprise for him.”

  Jonathan saw how Paco was standing half bent forward and clenched his stomach.

  “You scumbag. He's hurt.”

  John laughed loudly.

  “You're really sharp-eyed you. He will be good training for my children.”

  * * *

  Providence had put him there; he was sure of it. As a punishment for all the bad things he had done in his life. The heat in the room was intrusive and the sweat running in Paco Sanchez face and eyes stung. The taste of blood in his mouth was clear and he spat blood mixed saliva on the metal floor. He stood half-bent leaning against the wall and tried to gather his strength. He was injured, the left arm had gotten some deep scratches and blood trickled down the forearm and dripped onto the floor. A puddle of blood was forming where he stood and tried to recover. His sweaty chest moved sharply up and down, he was breathing hard, and he shook his head and tried to regain something similar to control.

  Searing pain shot through his body as he glanced up at a large window and saw a glimpse of two Asian men who looked down at him. Their faces were blank. The two men were dressed in white lab coats, and if he did not know better, he'd think he was an animal in an experiment.

  The room was oval shaped, maybe ten meters long and half as wide. The walls were made of something that looked like plastic and was completely smooth. One floor above the wall continued to be made up of what resembled glass. Two small cameras sat on each side of the wall and covered everything that happened in the room.

  * * *

  Both of the doctors nodded towards each other. Dr Weng-Li was pleased and clapped his hands and rubbed them contently. The experiment had in addition been a success.

  “This is better than we could have wished for.”

  Dr Ln'geem continued looking down at the injured man who would soon fight for his life. The man was strong and in good physical shape. The good doctor made a few notes in his notebook, it was important to document the experiments properly. He looked over at the other side of the room where two other men came in through a door that slid to the side and then closed when they had entered.

  Both men were in excellent shape. Odum and his brother, Paulus, stood next to each other. They belonged to the latest generation clones that were born on Tabula Rasa and were both over one meter and eighty-five centimeters tall and when you saw their faces you could see their kinship.

  Their well-shaped legs were exceptionally strong and durable due to the dense fiber structure of the muscles. Their abdominal muscles were like chiseled in stone and moved like pearls on a string. The chest muscles played under the skin and moved like a well-oiled machine. They both had a sharp nose that gave them a gladiator-like look.

  They did not move when they stood there half a meter apart. They did not talk to each other. In fact, they had not said anything during all the strange spectacles that appeared below the two doctors. Both Odum and Paulus were almost completely naked. They only wore what looked like a pair of black swimwear. Their shining bodies stood as two Greek statues. Their hair was cut short and they had a blindfold tied in front of their eyes. Neither Odum nor Paulus saw anything. And that was the main purpose of this whole test, to investigate whether the connection that the clones had been designed to have really was there.

  * * *

  Paco looked despairingly towards the two almost naked men who came against him. Panic welled up inside him. He blinked. Sweat stung his eyes and he rubbed them hard with his hand. His sight cleared and Paco saw how the two men approached.

  Odum and Paulus moved like one. Their movements were synchronized. The two doctors nodded. Odum and his brother moved around Paco from different directions. Odum went right while Paulus went left. They were less than three meters from Paco. Odum started making small clicking sounds. The two doctors looked at each other.

  “Do you hear that?” Dr Ln'geem said with surprise in his voice.

  Dr. Weng-Li leaned closer to the set speaker above them.

  “Yes, it sounds like they already can use echolocation.” He smiled.

  “It was impressive; it seems like that part of the DNA programming was successful.” Dr Ln'geem listened to the strange clicking sound and made some quick notes in his notebook.

  * * *

  Paulus had been silent and had not said anything while they were moving around the man in front of them. Odum continued with his clicking sounds that sounded like a quick clicking he did with his cheeks and tongue. Paulus also made a few clicks and Odum stopped. After a few seconds Paulus silenced. Odum started with his click sounds. This time, the sounds came faster and it seemed that Odum had changed the fre
quency of the sounds he made. As on a given command the two brothers began move faster towards Paco who had been standing all the time in front of them.

  * * *

  Both the doctors looked with interest.

  “It almost seems like they communicate with the sound?”

  “Yes, somewhat unexpected. To use echolocation is something many species can do but I am not aware of any species that can use someone else's sound to the orient.”

  “Yes, and it seemed that Odum adjusted its frequency and amplitude slightly after Paulus had responded.”

  “Impressive.”

  * * *

  Paco was standing in the middle of the room. His heart pounded in his chest and was close to jumping out of his body. He looked towards the men who moved against him and he saw that the two men were blindfolded. A glimmer of hope was lit. He had a chance. A minimal chance but still a chance. Strength returned to him. He would not give up; he would fight to the bitter end.

  The seconds passed. The two men moved like in a soft ballet. Paco heard a weak clicking that he could not fully locate. He laid his head on the side and listened. A weak, soft clicking continued to be heard. He considered his chances. There were really only two options. Either he could stay and wait until both men attacked or he could attack. He thought of his mother and brother in Madrid, and he cursed life for what it had become. His mother and his brother had been his everything but the circumstances had wanted different. The love for them welled up in his chest. He wiped away a few tears in his eyes.

  * * *

  Nausea was gripping Jonathan and he turned to John.

  “Please, stop this.”

  John looked at him with sparkling eyes.

  “Just wait, now comes the best part.”

  * * *

  The doctors’ one floor above looked interested at the drama that played out below them. Paco attacked with his knife. A quick thrust and the shining knife flashed. Odum smoothly slid to the side and took a hold of Paco`s arm and twisted it up. He held the arm with his right arm and his fingers dug deep into Paco`s arm. Paco screamed in pain. Behind them Paulus quickly moved in, clenching his hands into what looked like a hammer and with a lightning movement he crushed Paco’s right shoulder.

  A damp, crunching sound sounded when bones were crushed inside Paco's shoulder. Paco roared even louder and he dropped the knife from his hand that Odum still held in an iron grip. Paulus began with the clicking sounds.

  Odum continued to squeeze his fingers deep into Paco’s arm and small trickles of blood began to flow from it. Paco kept shouting. His screams had shifted from pain to pure panic. Paco's eyes almost popped out of their sockets and he began to babble in Spanish.

  Both doctors looked at each other, shrugged and continued to study the event below them.

  While Odum still held Paco's arm straight up, Paulus quickly moved. He bent down on one leg and spun around and kicked hard with the other leg against Paco's knee in a single soft movement. Paco’s knee was crushed and his body began to twitch uncontrollably. He screamed so loud and so intense that both the doctors thought it sounded that he would break his vocal cords. Paco's last thoughts went to Paulina and Miguel and while his body was broken into pieces, in his heart he heard his mother and his brother calling at him.

  *

  Tabula Rasa, Madagascar

  2049-01-01

  John smiled at Jonathan when the holoscreen slid back in the panel.

  “Well, what do think?”

  Jonathan looked grimly at John.

  “You asshole. Only a psychopath would put any fellow man to that treatment.”

  John laughed.

  “Is that all you have to say?” He paused, “My clones are my children and they are those who will rule Tabula Rasa in the next centuries. They are part of the amazing legacy I will give to the world.”

  A knock on the door and John stood up.

  “Just in time.”

  The door slid to the side with a weak hiss and a tall man with a big, crooked nose came in. The man stared straight at Jonathan and then turned to John and bowed deep.

  “You called?”

  John got up and clapped jovially his hands.

  “Jaap, thank you for being able to come so fast, I have a special mission for you today.”

  The eagle nosed man nodded curtly and smiled fiendishly at Jonathan. John walked around the desk, stood behind Jonathan and laid his hands on his shoulders.

  “I want that you show Jonathan what pain really means. I want that you take him on a journey into hell and give him a lesson about what happens to people that are against me.”

  Jonathan felt his pulse rising and his mouth got dry. The eagle nosed assassins smile got even wider and while the smile getting bigger, Jonathan cursed himself for not following the others on the boat.

  “Bring him to the humor room and give him a lesson.”

  John clapped his hands and leaned against Jonathan when Jaap violently pulled off the buckles on Jonathan's wrists and pulled him up out of the chair.

  “Jaap is a specialist in the universe of pain. Just wait. Imagine all the world's pain focused on a tip on a knife and that the knife slowly and inexorable penetrates your body. That's what your destiny is.”

  Jonathan felt the empty fear of powerlessness when Jaap dragged him out of the office and the door behind them slid back with a hissing sound.

  * * *

  Half an hour later, John shook his head as he sat behind his desk and looked incredulously at the report that informed that Raimondo del Luis had not died on the golf course. Jaap had failed for the first time and rage teared in him. He stood still, gasping hard and with his hands throbbing with pain and trying to regain control of himself. Focused, he took a few deep breaths and used the meditation technique he learned during his travels in the East.

  But despite his focused breathing the anger did not calm down over the fact that Jaap had taken him for a ride. He stormed out from the office, slammed the door behind him and rushed over to the side room where Jaap was with Jonathan. John heard screaming from the room. He ripped open the door.

  Jaap stood in front of Jonathan with blood dripping from a small laser knife he held in his hand. Jonathan's face was bruised and ash-grey and John could see a long deep wound on Jonathan's left upper arm. Jaap turned in surprise when the door was torn up and took a step back when he saw the raging John rush into the room. Jaap thought John would rush over to Jonathan and beat him so he was completely unprepared when John gave him a straight right hand punch that sent him flying up in the air.

  Jonathan saw his tormentor land hard against the wall and collapse like a rag doll. John stood over Jaap and roared.

  “You bastard! He's not dead, you tricked me! Me! You asshole!”

  John's strong hand caught Jaap's collar and lifted him up into the air and threw him against Jonathan. Jaap bumped hard into Jonathan who lost his breath when Jaap's shoulder hit him in the midriff. Stumbling, Jaap came to his feet and raised his arms for protection.

  “Wait, father, wait! Who is it that isn’t dead?”

  John stared with deadly gaze at him.

  “Raimondo, of course! You said he died but I have just read a report that he is in a hospital, injured but alive.”

  Jaap shook his head slowly.

  “But that cannot be true. I saw him fall. He fell into the water and did not come up again.”

  “You get one more chance to fix this. Fix it or you're history. Do you understand?”

  Jaap bowed low, and a trickle of blood running down his mouth, toward the floor, as he bowed. John turned around and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Jonathan had been restrained throughout the short, intense scene and now he felt something hard in his lap. He looked down and saw to his surprise, the small laser knife that Jaap had cut with in his arm. The knife lay in the middle of his thigh and instinctively, he moved the leg so the knife slid down against his hand. It was close that he missed it but a
t the last second before it slipped further, he caught it.

  * * *

  Maria Lee tried to scream, but her lungs were empty of air. It was burning like fire in her chest. She pulled the air into the nose and shouted but only a muffled croaking came from her tied mouth. Her hands were tightly tied behind her back. Her legs were tied too, drawn to the back.

  She lay on her stomach on a large, round bed covered with a red silk sheets and turned her head, trying to orient herself. On one wall hung what appeared to be a several meters wide painting of what appeared to be naked women tied up in various sexual positions. Pain shot through her body.

  She threw herself to the side and tried to roll over on her back but got stuck halfway. She struggled to get loose when the door opened and John Vendrick III came in. He smiled. His perfect teeth glowed in the light. Slowly he closed the door and remained standing just in front of the closed door.

  “You didn’t break free?” he asked, “That’s what’s it’s all about you see. That you won’t break free. But you may try, my dear.”

  Fear struck in her stomach. She struggled but she could not control herself, she lost control of her bladder. A dark spot was formed between the legs and John looked at her and the growing spot between her legs. The sharp smell of urine reached him, arousing him. He noticed how he stiffened and walked toward her.

  “It doesn’t matter that you came into contact with Dennis. That problem is resolved.” He blinked with one eye against her. Maria looked terrified at him.