by G Sauvé
It’s A’lara. She’s wearing the same glove gun she had on the last time she saved her.
“Thank you,” says Kara. “Are there any other sentinels?”
That was the only one.
Sure enough, the cloning facility is now deserted.
“What now?” asks Kara.
A’lara doesn’t answer. Instead, she aims her glove gun at the nearest cloning machine and fires. A beam of yellow energy erupts from it and tears through the device as though it were paper. By the time the beam retreats, a mere hunk of smoking metal remains.
Silence momentarily settles upon the cloning facility before an alarm goes off.
“What’s happening?” asks Kara, yelling to be heard over the shrill blaring.
Don’t worry, says A’lara. It’s all part of the plan.
“What plan?”
A’lara points at the doorway Kara used to enter the facility. Beyond it is the feeding warehouse. Clones of all shapes and sizes wander around as sentinels struggle to maintain order.
“I don’t understand,” says Kara. “Why—“
Doors erupt from the wall and seal the opening. Moments later, the alarm dies.
“What happened?”
The destruction of the machine has caused a shutdown of the facility. All exits have been sealed and can only be opened by a Kra’lor.
“How long do we have?”
My coworkers have grown lazy, explains A’lara. It will take them well over a week to send someone to investigate the shutdown. By then, it will be too late.
Kara smiles. Without A’lara, they never would have gotten this far. But the plan has only just begun.
“What now?” she asks.
Follow me, says A’lara. She leads the young woman to the nearby wall and uses her telekinetic ability to move a large shelving unit. She then blasts the exposed wall with yellow energy. The rock bubbles and melts, forming a tunnel. The process is slow, but a passage slowly appears. Stepping into it, the two females advance until they reach the cavern that lies beyond. There, waiting for them, are Will and Jonn.
Memory 33
K ara looks more beautiful than ever as she emerges from the smoking tunnel. She’s smiling, which means her mission was a success.
“How did it go?” she asks.
I glance at Jonn. He doesn’t seem happy, but that’s to be expected. After all, our sole responsibility was digging a tunnel between the mining shafts and the cavern, and we failed.
“We hit rock,” he says. “It will take days before we break through. Perhaps even weeks.”
“We don’t have weeks,” says Kara.
“Don’t you think I know that?” snaps her father. “Don’t blame me because your boyfriend is a weakling. You should see him trying to handle a pickaxe. It’s pathetic.”
Jonn blames me for our lack of progress. What a surprise.
“It’s not Will’s fault,” says Kara. “I’m sure—”
“Let’s not argue,” I interrupt. “We must find a way to speed up the mining process.”
“We could use ‘tals,” says Jonn.
I roll my eyes. This isn’t the first time he’s suggested this, and I suspect it won’t be the last. I can’t tell whether he truly believes it’s a viable option or whether he just wants to blow something up.
I have a better idea, says A’lara. Where is the tunnel supposed to emerge?
Jonn looks around and points to a spot on the nearby wall.
Are you sure? asks A’lara.
He nods.
Satisfied, A’lara aims her gloved hand at the wall and spreads her fingers, activating the weapon. A powerful beam of yellow energy emerges from it and slams into the wall. The stone glows orange as it melts, and smoke fills the air. I watch through narrowed eyes as a tunnel appears before us. Deeper and deeper it grows until the sizzling of melting rock ceases. Moments later, the beam vanishes, revealing a smoking tunnel.
I approach the stone shaft and peer into it. It measures well over a dozen metres in length and lines up perfectly with the tunnel Jonn and I started digging. A’lara did in seconds what it would have taken Jonn and me weeks to accomplish.
“That was amazing,” I say. “Thank you.”
Jonn doesn’t seem to share my gratitude.
“Why didn’t you do that before? We spent the past three days digging that drowned tunnel.”
“Dad!” says Kara. “A’lara is just trying to help.”
Don’t blame your father, says the Kra’lor. He has a right to be angry. Turning to Jonn, she adds, glove guns are rare and difficult to get a hold of. I had to borrow this one from a friend.
“What about the one you used to save me?” asks Kara.
It was damaged.
“That’s a shame,” says Jonn. “Such powerful weapons could come in handy.”
Was that a joke? I wonder. Nah. It couldn’t have been. Jonn isn’t the type to make jokes, especially not such clever ones.
“He’s right,” says Kara. “Do you think you could get your hands on more of them?”
Once again, I doubt the joke was intentional, but that doesn’t stop me from chuckling.
I’ll see what I can do, says A’lara. I just hope I don’t get caught red-handed.
All right, I think. There’s no way that was unintentional. I glance at A’lara and receive a complicit wink for my troubles. My friends don’t seem to have noticed, which only makes it funnier. I manage to contain my hilarity, but as the conversation continues, it becomes increasingly difficult.
“The glove guns would allow us to get the upper hand,” says Jonn.
I snort, still struggling to keep from laughing.
“Do you think the clones can handle such powerful weapons?” asks Kara.
I burst out laughing before Jonn can reply. My friends look at me like I’m crazy, which, of course, only makes it harder for me to stop. I laugh until my stomach hurts and tears fill my eyes. By the time I finally recover, Kara and Jonn are staring at me, perplexed.
“What’s so funny?” asks my girlfriend.
“It’s nothing,” I say, “but it’s hands down the funniest thing I’ve ever heard.”
I don’t realize I made a pun until I start laughing again. Tears now flow freely from my eyes. It takes all the strength I have not to fall over. Truth be told, it’s not that funny, but the combination of physical exhaustion and lack of sleep makes it nearly impossible for me to stop. It’s not until I feel as though my head is going to explode that I manage to calm down.
“Are you all right?” asks Kara.
“I’m fine,” I say, now back to normal. “What’s our next move?”
“Now that the tunnel is complete,” says Jonn, “there’s only one thing left for us to do.”
No one says it, but we all know what he’s referring to.
It’s time to begin the cloning process.
Memory 34
K eep him quiet,” hisses Jonn as he ducks behind a boulder. The man that accompanies him does the same, too dumb to realize what’s going on.
“I’m trying,” I snap as I drag my own recruit into the mouth of a tunnel.
“Why are we hiding?” he asks, his voice far too loud for comfort.
“I’ll explain everything,” I promise. “Please be quiet.”
The man hesitates, then nods.
I breathe a sigh of relief and retreat further into the tunnel. Nothing happens for a few seconds, then a sentinel strides past the mouth of the shaft. I hold my breath, but release it when the robot marches on without stopping.
“That was close,” mutters Jonn as he steps out of cover. “Too close,” he adds as he pushes past me. The brute that accompanies him follows him like a lost puppy.
“It’s not my fault,” I call after him. I gesture for my recruit to follow and head off. We travel in silence for a while before he starts talking again.
“Where are we going?” he asks.
“It’s complicated,” I say. “We need your he
lp.”
“My help? What for?”
I groan. Jonn chuckles.
“I can’t tell you,” I say. “All I can say is that by helping us, you will be helping all of your friends.”
“I don’t have any friends,” says the man.
I groan again. I thought dealing with smart people would make my job easier. Clearly, I was wrong. I envy Jonn and his dumb recruit. His vocabulary may be limited, but at least he doesn’t question everything he’s told.
We progress in near-total silence for a while. My recruit keeps talking, but I ignore him. Now that we’re deep within the network of flooded tunnels, the odds of someone hearing us are slim. Still, I can’t help jumping every time a suspicious sound reaches my ears. But no matter how many times a stone fragment detaches from the ceiling and splashes into the water, our progress remains uninterrupted. Eventually, we reach our destination.
“What took so long?” asks Kara as soon as she sees us.
“We got delayed,” I say.
Jonn raises an eyebrow but says nothing.
“Did something happen?” wonders my girlfriends.
“What’s happening?” asks my recruit before I can answer.
I sigh.
“He happened,” I say.
Jonn chuckles. “He hasn’t stopped talking since we left.”
“Why am I here?” asks my recruit.
“You haven’t told him?” asks Kara, surprised.
I shake my head.
“The less he knows, the better. No?”
“I don’t think we can hide what we’re doing,” says Kara. “Not with what he’s about to witness.”
“Why am I here?” repeats the man.
Kara and I exchange a glance and come to a silent agreement.
“We need your help,” I say. “We’re building an army.”
“An army?”
“Don’t worry, you won’t have to fight. We just need your body.”
“My body?”
“We’re going to clone you.”
“Clone?”
He doesn’t know what that means. I’m not surprised. Given what the humans went through, it’s a miracle he can speak at all.
“A clone is a copy, a replica?”
“Re-pli-ca?” he says, enunciating each syllable.
I roll my eyes. Why can’t things ever be simple?
“Can I try?” asks Kara. I nod and step aside. She smiles at the man and speaks in a soft, soothing voice.
“Do you like to sleep?”
He nods.
“Good. That’s all we need from you. We need you to sleep. Do you think you can do that for us?”
Another nod. Kara smiles.
“Follow me,” she says, taking his hand. I watch, stunned, as she leads my recruit toward the nearby tunnel. Jonn follows, his own recruit in tow.
“I hope you took notes,” he says as he passes by me.
I stare at him for a moment before following. We travel along a short tunnel until we reach the cloning facility. Kara described it to me, but I can’t help being stunned by its vastness. Dozens of cloning machines are scattered throughout the room. Most are empty, but a few are still occupied. Unlike the men we’re getting ready to clone, these poor individuals are never going to emerge from the stasis chambers. They will be repeatedly replicated until the clones deteriorate to the point of deformity, then they will be disposed of.
A’lara is waiting for us near one of the cloning machines. A stasis chamber stands next to it. Unlike the others, the large glass cylinder is empty.
“Is everything ready?” asks Kara.
Yes, says A’lara as she presses her scaled palm to the stasis chamber. A hidden door appears and, splitting down the middle, retreats along the angled perimeter of the chamber.
Please enter, she says, gesturing for my recruit to step into the glass cylinder.
The man eyes the alien nervously. Unlike my friends and me, he has never before laid eyes on a Kra’lor. But a few words form Kara is all it takes to convince him to enter the stasis pod. As soon as he does, the door slides shut, trapping him.
“Is that normal?” I ask.
A’lara nods. She presses a few buttons on the machine’s control panel, and a yellow mist fills the chamber. Panicked, the man tries to escape, but the glass is too powerful. Soon, only his hands are visible, pressed against the tube. Then they too vanish, and all that remains is the yellow mist. It persists for a while before a clear, viscous liquid fills the tube. In less than a minute, the entire chamber is full. Visible once more, the man floats in the liquid, unconscious and weightless.
We’re ready, says A’lara. Shall I begin?
My friends and I exchange a glance.
“Begin,” says Jonn. His recruit stands next to him, oblivious to his surroundings.
A’lara presses a button, and a blue light fills the tube. Moments later, a similar glow emerges from the cloning machine, and a body rolls out of it. Landing on the trolley that stands before it, the clone begins to squirm. It’s completely bald and naked from head to toe, but aside from those two details, it’s identical to the man who floats within the stasis chamber.
I can’t believe it. We just cloned a man.
There’s still much for us to accomplish, but the sight of the naked, quivering clone proves our plan is viable. Only time will tell whether or not it will succeed, but I now allow myself to believe we can fix the altered timeline.
Kara nears the clone and speaks in a soft, soothing voice.
“It’s all right,” she says. “You’re safe.”
I doubt he understands the words being spoken, but the sound of my girlfriend’s voice has a calming effect on him. He stops quivering, and his breathing grows deep and even. He’s asleep.
“That was amazing,” I say. “How did you do that?”
“We all crave the same thing,” she says. “Love and safety.”
I smile. Only Kara could speak those words and not sound like a complete sap.
“What now?” I ask.
“We’ve already been over this,” says Jonn, stepping forward. “We create a bunch of clones and destroy the sentinels. Then, once the humans are free, we leave this drowned time, find Avalon, and take her down once and for all.”
It sounds so simple when he says it, but I’ve been around the block often enough to know things never turn out the way you expect them to. Not to mention the fact that Avalon has always been one step ahead of us. Odds are, she still has a few tricks up her sleeve. But I’m not about to let that stop me.
“Let’s do this,” I say, stepping up to the cloning machine and pressing the same button A’lara used to create the first clone. A flash of blue light erupts from the stasis chamber, followed by a second, this one from the machine itself. Moments later, a second clone topples onto the trolley.
“Two down, one to go,” says Jonn as he presses the button. A third clone appears. He rolls out of the machine and lands squarely on his doppelgängers. Soon, all three are squirming and screaming for attention.
It would be easy to replicate the man again and again, but we agreed to limit the number of clones to three. At least when it comes to my recruits. Due to the cloning process’s degenerative nature, only three perfect clones can be created. Any more and they start to deteriorate. Seeing how they will be tasked with performing a complex and carefully-timed stealth attack, they need to be in optimal condition.
The formula changes considerably when it comes to Jonn’s recruits. Picked for their strength and endurance, these men will be cloned a total of twenty times. This will ensure our numbers grow quickly while still maintaining the clones’ integrity. Their intellectual capacities will be limited, but they should have no trouble following basic orders. Their lifespans will be around a month, which should give us plenty of time to mount our rebellion.
Cloning Jonn’s recruit takes considerably longer, but we eventually have our first batch of brute clones. They stand before us, bald and quiveri
ng. Jonn eyes them with disdain, though I suspect he’s merely putting on a show. After all, it’s his job to train them. If the movies have taught us anything, it’s that military leaders need to be merciless. And who better than Jonn to play the role of a ruthless general?
I stare at the clones. Twenty-three of them now stand before us, naked and bald. They don’t look like much, but A’lara assures us they will develop quickly. Within days, they will be identical to the originals. Soon after, the war will begin, and the fate of the humans will be decided.
Memory 35
A ll right!” I call out as I wipe the sweat from my brow. “That’s enough for today!”
The sound of metal hitting stone echoes throughout the tunnel as hundreds of pickaxes are discarded. The shuffling of feet rises as the clones make their way toward the cavern. I give each an encouraging smile or a pat on the back as he passes. Most remain unresponsive, but a few of the brutish men smile back. One nearly drops the ‘tal he’s carrying but manages to hold on to it.
“Be careful,” I say as he passes near me.
“Sorry,” he mutters sheepishly. It’s strange seeing such a hulking clone behaving so meekly, but submission is all he’s ever known.
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, and give him a friendly tap on the shoulder. “We’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
The man nods and walks on. A dozen clones later, the line ends, and I’m left standing alone in a large stone shaft. The sight of it fills me with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I’m proud of what my workers have accomplished. On the other, I can’t help wondering what makes me different from the sentinels and their alien creators. Sure, my motives are noble, but when it comes down to it, we’re both using the humans, forcing them to spend hours on end mining for ‘tals. Does the end truly justify the means? Does the freedom of the entire human race make up for the clones’ slave-like living conditions? I hope so because we’ve come too far to give up now.
I take one last look at my surroundings before heading back to the cavern. The walk lasts a few minutes, which attests to the hard work of my workers. In the two weeks since I was put in charge the mining operation, the hundreds of brute clones that make up the bulk of the army have dug a shaft the likes of which I have never seen. Nearly a dozen metres in width, the tunnel has graced us with thousands of ‘tals which will be used as weapons during the rebellion. There’s no telling whether that number will suffice, but all we can do is push forward and hope for the best.
