The Clone Paradox (The Ark Project, Book I)

by J. W. Elliot

Tears swam in the woman’s dark eyes. Her lips trembled. “I know you don’t approve of my work,” she said. “But you’ll see that it’s for the best.”

  Kaiden threw up his hands and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

  The peculiar smell of burned plastic, oil, and antiseptic penetrated the blackness and dragged Kaiden back to the light and to the pain. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the infirmary strapped to the table—the confusing dream or hallucination of the woman he had never seen before still lingered.

  He should know who that woman was and why he hated her so much, but the dream had melted into the chaos of his throbbing headache and the murky memories of how he came to be staring up at the white, plastic ceiling of the medical ward. His arms floated over him in the microgravity environment. When he tried to unfasten the straps across his chest and legs, a pale, white hand pressed against his chest.

  “Lie still, Captain.”

  Kaiden rolled his head to the side. The lab tech floated beside him. Her white lab coat was spotted red with an erratic polka dot pattern. Her brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail that couldn’t contain the hair without gravity to help it. Her pretty, dark eyes studied him with concern. They were rimmed with red, and a smudged tear still glistened on her cheek where she had wiped it away. Kaiden tried to remember her name. She was the scientist sent to monitor the clones.

  “Willow?” he said.

  She wiped another tear from her eye and gave him a smile that lit her eyes and brought tiny dimples to her cheeks. She was a white girl who couldn’t be more than eighteen or nineteen years old, like many of the people who worked on the project. The best and the brightest, he thought—at least that’s what The Ark Project slogan said.

  “Glad to see you’re awake,” she said. “We lost oxygen there for a bit, and your head took quite the beating. You’ve got a concussion, but you should be fine in a few days.”

  “Low oxygen?” Kaiden asked. “That didn’t affect you?”

  Willow shrugged. “It wasn’t out long.”

  Kaiden raised his arm to examine the jagged gash. The pink scar was already forming.

  “Those little Internal Nano-Cellular Repair guys work fast,” Willow said.

  That was one of the benefits of working for TAP. All its employees received an injection of Internal Nano-Cellular Repair particles, or INCR. As his healing wound showed, the nano-organisms that repaired damaged cells worked quickly.

  “What happened?” Kaiden asked.

  Willow’s smile faltered.

  “They hit us,” she said.

  “Who?”

  “I think it was the Destroying Angels.”

  “The terrorist group?” he asked.

  Kaiden frowned. He had been briefed on them, but no one had any credible evidence that they even knew about this mission. Commander Rio had assured him that no more than two or three people outside of his crew knew their flight schedule.

  Willow nodded. “The ones that have been assassinating political leaders, claiming that they were clones.”

  Kaiden didn’t watch the news because it was usually just propaganda. He relied on his briefings, but he knew about the assassinations.

  “Right, so Raven was one of them?” he said. The betrayal burned bitter in his throat.

  Willow rubbed a hand over her forehead. “I guess so.”

  “Is she alive?”

  Willow’s gaze drifted to the blinking lights over Kaiden’s head.

  “No,” she whispered.

  “The rest of the crew?”

  Willow shook her head, and her lip trembled.

  “All of them?” A knot tightened in Kaiden’s chest. He couldn’t believe it.

  “And the lunar clone prototypes,” Willow confirmed in a shaky voice.

  Kaiden stared at her. Then, he grasped his head in both hands as he fought to keep in the tears. A warm ache burned in his chest. His entire crew? Casey. Delano. Burl. They were his friends. His responsibility. He blinked at the sudden sting in his eyes.

  “What happened?” he demanded.

  Willow took a deep breath, brushed at a new tear, and tried to steady herself. “I’m not sure, but there were at least two explosions—one in the cockpit and the other in the engine room.”

  “Any breach?” The cockpit hadn’t been breached, but every compartment in the spacecraft could be sealed and locked down, so he had to check.

  “No. The hull wasn’t breached, but we lost the engines and the pseudo-gravity generator.”

  “So, we’re floating helpless?”

  Willow grinned. “I’m not just a lab tech.”

  “What?”

  “I hacked the system, rebooted the software, and got us moving again on one engine. I was afraid to turn around because you already had the course set, and I don’t have any experience with space navigation. If I messed up and we missed, well…” she trailed off. “Anyway, we lost communication when they blew the console, so I couldn’t get any help. I think we’ll reach the space elevator in another two days.” She rubbed the back of her neck. “A bit behind schedule, but, hey, better late than never.”

  “My entire crew,” Kaiden mumbled. “Half my team.” He gaped at Willow. “How did she do it? I mean, my people were trained.”

  Willow picked at a bloodstain on the sleeve of her lab coat but wouldn’t look at him. “She just walked up and shot them, I think,” she said. “The same way she killed the clones.”

  “Crap,” Kaiden said. “Those clones were important.”

  The clones had been on the moon for three years with no pseudo-gravity and exposed to radiation and low oxygen environments. If cloned humans could survive and reproduce under those conditions, the door would be opened to space colonization. Their loss was a huge setback. And he had been responsible for their safety. The clones were all between sixteen and nineteen years of age like most active personnel at TAP. And Raven had just shot them down in cold blood.

  “Rio got his intel all wrong,” Kaiden said, “and he’s going to blame me for this.”

  Willow pursed her lips and pinched her brow together, but she didn’t say anything.

  “What do these Destroying Angels have against clones, anyway?” Kaiden asked.

  “Don’t you watch the news?”

  Kaiden smirked. “Not unless I have to. I don’t need propaganda. I need good solid intel—facts.”

  “That explains a lot,” Willow said. But she didn’t give Kaiden a chance to reply. “They’re the terror wing of the Sons of God. You’ve heard of them?”

  “Of course.” Kaiden didn’t go to briefings for nothing. He made sure knew about any potential threat to his crew.

  “Well, they’re a religious group that thinks science has gone too far. I don’t know how they found out about The Ark Project, but they must have someone on the inside.”

  “Raven was on the inside,” Kaiden said.

  “True,” Willow replied. “But I don’t think she was meant to survive. I mean, how would she explain coming back with everyone else dead with bullets in their heads?”

  Kaiden scowled. “This is what radical religious bigotry gets you.”

  Willow’s expression darkened. Kaiden had annoyed her. He didn’t know her well enough to know why. This was his first mission with her. She seemed unusually well-informed about what was happening and why for a mere medical technician.

  “To them, clones are a crime against nature, against God,” she said. “Clones represent the greatest arrogance of the human mind, that it can sidestep natural evolution and create superior people.”

  “I’m not sure what the answer is,” Kaiden said. He had long wondered about the efficacy of the cloning program. TAP claimed that since they could perfect humans by manipulating their genetic code, they had a moral obligation to do it—especially
when the survival of the human species depended on successful space colonies. He hadn’t liked the look of the clones they picked up and wouldn’t choose that for himself, but this was his job, and he hoped that it would make a difference.

  “TAP says we can,” Kaiden said.

  Willow frowned. “Maybe,” she said. “We haven’t proved that yet, have we?”

  Kaiden snorted. As a captain of security for TAP, it was his duty to follow orders. It was that simple. “Can’t do that without clones to test, can we?”

  Willow raised her eyebrows. “Indeed,” she said.

  The way she said this made Kaiden study her. She wasn’t telling him something. He yanked at the straps again, suddenly suspicious. Why had she tied him down? Why were they the only survivors?

  Willow watched him struggle with a bemused expression on her face. “What are you doing?” she asked.

  Kaiden stopped struggling. “Why are you still alive?”

  Willow smiled. “I told you, I’m not just a lab tech.”

  Kaiden eyed her. She had said that already, but what was she? He had served with Raven and had known her well. Raven wouldn’t do a thing like this.

  But this woman was a complete stranger. Why should he believe her? Why was he still alive? Why hadn’t Willow killed him the way she had killed Raven? Maybe Raven hadn’t betrayed them, after all. What proof did he have of Raven having set the bombs and killing the crew and the clones? Maybe it was Willow all along.

  He fought with the straps while Willow watched in mild amusement. He cursed in impotent rage.

  “Let me out,” he said.

  Willow undid the straps. Kaiden grabbed the table and pulled himself upright, fighting with the nausea his motion caused. He searched for his weapon, but it wasn’t there. She had disarmed him.

  “Lost something?” Willow asked.

  Kaiden glared at her. “Where’s my weapon?”

  Willow pointed to the corner where the pistol revolved in the air in leisurely circles. Kaiden pushed off the table and snatched it. He shoved himself around to level the gun at her chest.

  “How did you survive when no one else did? Were you in on it with Raven?” he demanded.

  Willow stared at him as if this was the last thing she had expected him to say. She scowled, and her brow pinched tight again.

  “You’re the captain,” she said. “What do you think?”

  Chapter Three

  A Casket and A Rose

  Willow stared at the gun Kaiden leveled at her chest. This had not gone according to plan. She didn’t think he would shoot an unarmed woman, but he had sustained a brain injury and lost his crew and cargo. Men had done far crazier things with less provocation—men like her father.

  She let go of the table and raised her hands. The movement in the weightless environment pushed her away from Kaiden, but he stared at her with dark, accusing eyes. He was a stocky black man with close-cut hair and dark brown skin. He was handsome and widely regarded as one of TAP’s most capable security officers, which was one of the reasons she had chosen him.

  The bandage she applied to the wound on his head slipped sideways, revealing the bloody gash where Raven’s bullet had grazed him. She pointed at the bandage. “That’s going to fall off,” she said.

  “I asked you a question,” he demanded. “Why are you and I the only ones alive?”

  Willow put her hand on her throat. “I don’t know,” she said. “I was just trying to survive.”

  “How did you know how to use a gun?”

  “All you have to do is pull the trigger,” she said. “Look. I was just here to monitor the clones, like I said. You can call the field station to verify it.”

  “I will. But first, I’m going to check on my crew.”

  The intercom crackled, and a weak, trembling voice came over it.

  “Kaiden,” the voice said. “The clones….the clones…” The voice crackled and cut off.

  A chill swept through Willow. Kaiden would never believe her now.

  “Hang on,” Kaiden said. “I’m coming.”

  Willow grabbed the table and dragged herself toward the door to follow him, but he waved her back with the pistol.

  “You stay here,” he snapped. “If I see you in the corridors, I will kill you.”

  Warm indignation burned in Willow’s throat. “I just saved your miserable life.”

  “So you say. Don’t leave this room.”

  “Fine.” Willow folded her arms. Let him run around and see that what she told him was true.

  The door swished open as Kaiden pulled himself through and glided into the hallway. When the door closed again, Willow hauled herself to the computer and switched it on. The blue holographic screen crackled to life, and she monitored Kaiden’s progress on the onboard cameras. There were gaps in the coverage because the cameras focused only on the most important parts of the ship, like the cockpit, the engine room, and the lab where the clones were kept.

  Willow didn’t see him until he reached the ward where the clones had been strapped onto their beds after she had given them a sedative. He used one of the microgravity handles to drag himself forward with one hand while holding the pistol in the other. Sedating the clones was a much more humane way to transport them than to let them be aware of what TAP was doing to them.

  The door to the lab swished open as Kaiden approached, and he hesitated in the hallway. He holstered his gun and, using the microgravity handles, hauled himself through. Willow switched cameras. Blood splattered the walls and floated in the air. The six clones had holes in their foreheads, but the back of their heads were gone—disappeared into the fabric and cushion of their pillows. Bits of blood and bone floated in the air around their heads like a ghastly halo. Burl was making feeble efforts to reach the clones, dragging his rifle behind him. A long, red trail smeared the floor, showing his progress from the doorway before the gravity generator cut off. Little droplets of blood followed him. Willow clutched at her throat. She had thought he was dead.

  “Kaiden,” his voice came harsh and crackly over the intercom. “I can’t save them. Kaiden.”

  “I’m here,” Kaiden said, yanking his way into the room to collide with Burl. He rolled him over so that he faced him.

  At the sight of Burl’s ruined chest, the bile rose in Willow’s throat. Kaiden cursed and started cutting away the clothing with his knife. That was no normal round Raven had used on Burl or the clones. But, of course, a normal bullet might not have been fatal since the INCR could repair even serious wounds long enough to allow the injured to seek medical attention. But damage like that was beyond repair. It had been an exploding round for sure. Raven hadn’t wanted anyone to live.

  “Who did this to you?” Kaiden asked.

  “Willow,” Burl said.

  Kaiden stared in horror at his friend’s pale face streaked with blood. That hole in his chest was too big. And Burl had just said that Willow had done it.

  Rage started in the pit of his stomach. She had lied to him. He was duty-bound to kill her or capture her and deliver her to TAP.

  “I’m sorry, Burl,” he said. “I can’t do anything for you.”

  “We lost the clones,” he gasped. “Raven.”

  Kaiden scowled. Was Burl confused?

  “I thought you said it was Willow.”

  “Willow and Raven.” Burl coughed and grimaced in pain.

  Kaiden gripped his hand, struggling to keep the tears in. “Take it easy,” he said.

  Burl closed his eyes and, for a moment, Kaiden thought he was dead. Then he took another shuddering breath. “Raven came first, then Willow.” His hand drifted to where his sidearm should have been. The holster was empty.

  “Who shot you?” Kaiden said. He had to know. If Willow was guilty, she might have already tampered with the images from the security cameras while he w
as unconscious.

  “Raven put the gun to their heads and pulled the trigger. One by one. I was too late.”

  “But who shot you?” Kaiden insisted.

  Burl swallowed and gave a long slow blink. “Raven shot me. Willow took my gun.”

  Kaiden bowed his head over his friend. He had failed them all. And he would have to spend two days with Willow without being able to trust her loyalty. She would have to be restrained. He had no choice. But if Burl was right, Willow hadn’t killed them and had only taken the gun to kill Raven, as she said. He would check the footage on the cameras, but for now, he needed to check the rest of his crew.

  Burl’s hand went limp in his, and Kaiden looked up to see the animation leave Burl’s face. His eyes remained still and staring.

  The International Space Station loomed large in the cockpit window, its lights dazzling against the devouring blackness of space. Flight training was part of the standard training protocol, and all transport security personnel were expected to be qualified pilots, though not everyone had had a knack for it like Casey.

  The proximity alarm beeped, and Kaiden set to running through the pre-landing checklist as best he could with the damaged console. Usually, Casey did this, but she was gone. The bitter pain of it still burned in his throat.

  Kaiden had restrained Willow for twenty-four hours while he examined the security footage, snapped photos of the incident, carried all the bodies to the room where the clones had been killed, and drafted a thorough report. He could find no evidence that Willow had done anything other than what she said. The footage showed Raven murdering the clones and the crew, including Delano, as he raced to the cockpit. It seemed to be a clear case of treason and cold-blooded murder. But it made no sense. Why would Raven do such a thing? There was no excuse to keep Willow restrained any longer, so he had let her loose.

  “We made it,” Willow said. She pulled herself into the seat beside Kaiden and strapped herself down. Her ponytail splayed out behind her. She had exchanged her lab coat for a flight suit.