Tiger- These are the Voyages

by David Smith

  More phaser fire followed and the beast staggered, struggling to stay on its feet. Before long the weight of numbers of the security men began to tell. Eventually, with an almost pitiful snort, the huge creature collapsed, landing with a thump on the floor not far from Kanesh.

  To her surprise more phaser fire sounded and eventually someone shouted ‘I got him!!’ and the surviving security men surged forward as one. There were screams of anger and the noise of heavy clubs smashing bone and bruising flesh, intermixed with more screams of pain.

  As quickly as it started, it was over.

  Kanesh stayed where she’d fallen, along with several other scientists, hoping not to be noticed. She still couldn’t see clearly through the smoke and dust, but heard Jang’s voice as she talked to the lead security man.

  He said ‘The Director got cocky. Told Leonardo that he was under-achieving. He tricked her into getting onto the platform and we think he ran the device on some kind of mutation setting, merging her DNA with that of a white rhino.’

  Jang sounded shell-shocked. ‘I don’t understand. Why would he do that?’

  The security guard was astonished ‘You’re shitting me right?? You’ve cloned some of the most intelligent people ever and then penned them in a concrete tomb with nothing to do except work on cutting-edge science projects. You’ve made no effort to teach them social skills or how to interact with people. Just fed them science.’

  ‘But that’s the whole point!’ argued Jang. ‘Mankind’s greatest ever minds unshackled from having to conform to society; here they’re free to use that awesome intellect in a single giant think-tank!’

  ‘It’s not a think tank: It’s a prison. You’ve never taught them anything about the outside world, but they’ve deduced its existence. I overheard Albert talking to Isaac about it. They know there’s an outside world and they want out.’

  Jang was unrepentant. ‘There’s a freighter due in a few hours time. It’s bringing more feed-stock for the cloning machines. I’m going to euthanise this Leonardo and try building another one. If I induce him earlier, interaction with the more moderate constructs might moderate his disposition.’

  ‘Look, you’re missing the point. You guys might have all the genetic data, but you can’t see further than the end of your nose. We can’t contain them: they’re too clever. And we won’t be able to control them because you’re only teaching them academic shit. They have no social skills at all. You’ve turned them into damned psychopaths. The Director is now a walking freak-show, four more critically injured, a dozen hurt, not including Leonardo or Marie, and we were lucky.’

  Jang shrugged. ‘We had a bad day . . . ‘

  ‘A BAD DAY???’ shouted the security man. ‘You drop your lunch on a bad day. You get bawled out by the boss on a bad day. Being turned into a half-woman, half-rhino mutant by a psychopathic clone of Leonardo DaVinci is a little bit more than a “bad day”!!’

  He took a deep breath and composed himself. ‘They want out. Leonardo has said he’s locked the mutation programme out and won’t change the Director back unless we let him and the rest of the Upper Class leave.’

  Kanesh groaned. ‘You know that’s not possible. We’ll get our techies on it and do what we can for the Director, but there’s no way we can afford to let them leave. We’d all end up in prison.’

  The Security man shook his head. ‘We can’t contain them forever. They’ll get out one way or another, if not today, then tomorrow or the day after. Weird things have been happening all over the facility, and I know that’s them, testing things out, plotting and scheming. Leonardo was always dangerous, but the others, Stephen, Enrico, Ernest, Robert . . . they’re all just biding their time. When they all decide it’s time, they’ll escape. And there’s not a god-damned thing that you or I, or anyone else can do about it.’

  He reached up and took off some kind of badge, throwing it at Jang’s feet. ‘I quit. I know I’m under contract. Sue me: It’s not worth my life. When that freighter arrives I’ll be leaving with it.’

  He threw his weapon on the floor and stormed off as best he could while having to pick his way through the body-strewn corridor.

  Jang went to follow him but stopped when she realised Shruthi was among the injured. ‘Shruthi!! Are you ok?? I told you to stay in the lab!’

  Kanesh rolled over. ‘I’m fine.’

  Jang helped her up and after gathering herself and dusting herself down, Kanesh asked ‘You succeeded then?’

  The cat was not only out of the bag, it had scratched all the furniture and piddled by the front door. ‘Yes. We’ve managed to use tissue samples from known descendents and relatives to recreate twenty of humanities greatest minds.’

  They watched as a couple of security men dragged two bodies in orange jump-suits past them. To Kanesh’s surprise the bodies were those of a young boy and girl of perhaps twelve years old. ‘They’re so young!’

  Jang looked sad. ‘The Corporation knew that their greatest capacity for learning was in their youth. We’ve been using the alien technology that archaeologist found in this sector to accelerate growth of the genetic constructs whilst they rest. They wake up, are force fed a diet of hard science then encouraged to use that knowledge to make new discoveries. The poor things are like battery hens.’

  ‘And you’re happy to just kill that one?’ asked Kanesh, unable to hide the anger in her voice.

  ‘I’m not happy!’ cried Jang. ‘Of course I’m not happy! But he’s too dangerous. He’s got an IQ so high we have no way of measuring it but no moral framework in which to apply it. He could have killed someone today and it’s not the first time his actions have left people injured. We’re really suspicious about a fatal accident in one of the high-energy labs.’

  ‘That doesn’t justify killing him! It’s not his fault he’s grown up as a psychopath if the only parenting he’s ever known is by other psychopaths.’

  ‘He’s not really a person Shruthi. He’s just a genetic construct with no legal standing that was only created about a year ago.’

  ‘You’re a terrible liar Da. You know that he’s still a living person even if you did hand-stitch his DNA and grow him like a house-plant. And it’s really perverse to talk about his legal standing when you’ve broken a hundred federal laws just to create him.’

  Jang looked resigned. ‘It doesn’t matter. I can’t let him live. At some stage he’ll kill someone.’

  Shruthi was horrified. ‘My god! He’s not the first is he?? You’ve killed others!’

  Jang slumped against the wall. ‘Director Vettriano has euthanised over a dozen. Most were for medical reasons, where the cloning process didn’t take well, but others were for safety reasons. The first clone of Richard Feynman was a completely uncontrollable savage. He was attacking everyone, even his fellow constructs, for no reason at all. He was the first true psychopath, but not the last.’

  ‘And why do you think that is Jang? Have you got these great minds working on resolving the great philosophical debates of our day? Are you going to tell me that you’ve cloned Einstein, Newton, Curie and Hawking so Astrakhan can build a better mouse-trap?’

  Jang’s gaze dropped to the floor, her reply a mumble. ‘You know that’s not why they fund programmes like this.’

  ‘No. It’s always the same isn’t it? Build better weapons before building better societies’ stated Kanesh bitterly.

  ‘But it’s only the start, Shruthi!’ argued Jang. ‘Sure, Astrakhan see bigger margins in weapons tech than pharmaceuticals, but we still have twenty of the cleverest minds the human race has ever produced. Once I perfect the technique I could create hundreds more clones of these geniuses; they could solve all of societies problems . . . ‘

  ‘And you think Astrakhan will let you do that, do you?? That they won’t keep the golden goose under their control??’

  Jang was silent.

  ‘My god, you’re naive!’ She looked at the woman she had once loved and saw that she’d never let her moral compass
direct her away from succeeding in her goal. She was as much of a battery hen as the clones she’d created, but she was laying the eggs willingly.

  ‘They’ll kill you rather than let these demons work for someone else’ Kanesh warned.

  ‘You’re being paranoid, Shruthi’ said Jang, more for her own benefit that Shruthi’s.

  Kanesh could stand no more. ‘Believe what you want. I’ve seen enough.’

  Jang looked torn ‘Shruthi, you can’t say anything to anyone about this: I’ll be . . . they’ll . . . ‘

  ‘Imprison you? Put you in an underground bunker with no windows? Controlled by security guards? Does that sound familiar?’ Kanesh stormed off, desperate to get away from this place.

  --------------------

  Kanesh materialised in Tiger’s Transporter Room.

  To Kanesh’s surprise the Captain and the First Officer were there to meet her, but she immediately why. ‘It’s an illegal cloning facility. They’ve used the research myself and Jang started over ten years ago to recreate twenty of earth’s greatest scientific minds. Einstein, DaVinci, Newton, Curie . . . it’s a roll call of Earth’s smartest.’

  ‘How is that possible?’

  ‘All of the DNA that made Leonardo DaVinci is still in the human genome somewhere. The trick is working out which little bit of DNA goes where. They’ve used an analytical database and huge amounts of computing power to narrow down the possibilities, then used trial and error to perfect the chromosomes they need. They’ve combined that with alien technology to accelerate the growth of the clones.’

  ‘So they’ve broken virtually every law ever created about genetic experimentation’ stated Ruiz.

  ‘I expect so. And I also expect they’re using the clones to conduct illegal weapons research too.’

  Hollins was surprised that she had volunteered the information so readily but wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. ‘Um, ok. Thanks.’

  She noticed his surprise and explained herself. ‘It’s a disaster wating to happen. The clones are super-intelligent, but they’ve been raised in a social vacuum and have no empathy. They’re dangerous psychopaths and the facility staff are struggling to contain them. We have to shut them down before they escape.’

  Hollins nodded and called the Tactical Officer on the Bridge. ‘ASBeau, I believe we have reasonable cause to investigate the facility. I’m not going in light here: assemble a full security team, and put the Marines on standby. I want us in and everything locked down as soon as possible, but we may face resistence from their security staff.’

  ‘Copy that sir, but we have a slight complication. There’s a freighter just come into orbit and they’re making a number of transports.’

  Kanesh nodded. ‘Jang said the freighter is going to deliver some feedstock for the cloning plant.’

  ASBeau overheard the conversation and interjected. ‘That’s not what we’re seeing. All the transports are going up to the freighter.’

  Kanesh was confused, but Hollins immediately suspected something was wrong. ‘Instruct them to stop all transporter operations immediately.’

  There was a pause before ASBeau replied. ‘No response Captain, transports are continuing.’

  Hollins didn’t hesitate. As he ran from the Transporter Room, he shouted ‘Raise shields, arm phasers, warn them again!’

  Kanesh and Ruiz followed him onto the Bridge. On the view-screen they could see a small freighter sitting above the planet in an orbit slightly lower than their own. ASBeau immediately vacated the Captain’s chair as he saw them enter.

  ‘Status’ asked Hollins.

  ‘Uncertain’ replied ASBeau ‘but no response to our transmissions and transports are continuing.’

  ‘They’re calling our bluff’ muttered Hollins. ‘Put a shot across their bow.’

  ASBeau needed no second invitation and a bright bolt of blue-white energy flashed across the screen, narrowly missing the freighter.

  Crash was monitoring the freighter carefully. ‘She’s powering up her drives, sir!’

  ‘Prepare to leave orbit! Dolplop, make sure you track her. Crash, stick with her if she goes to warp.’

  Before they could anything else, Shearer shouted ‘Recievin’ SOS mesij Cap’n.’ She put it on speakers.

  A terrified voice shouted ‘Help us!! They’ve escaped and they’ve over-loaded the reactor core! It’s gone critical’

  Dave pressed a button on his console. ‘Transporter Room. We have an emergency situation; can you lock onto individuals in the facility planetside?’

  There was an agonising wait before Chief Carstairs said ‘Trying sir. Their shields are off-line, but the staff are a long way underground. It’s not easy to get a lock.’

  ‘Make it happen Chief . . . ‘

  Crash interrupted them ‘She’s leaving sir!’

  On the screen, the freighter swung up and away and Hollins knew they’d been outmanoeuvred. ‘Leave her, we need to get those people out.’

  Dave could only watch in frustration as the freighter turned and accelerated away from the planet, eventually disappearing in a relativistic flash as she activated her warp drive.

  Seconds and minutes ticked by agonizingly slowly as Chief Carstairs and his team located and transported the facility’s staff out in small groups.

  Both O’Mara’s were using the ships sensors to keep abreast of the situation on the planet below. Before long, with a groan one of them said ‘Oh shit! The reactor containment has gone.’

  On screen, the surface of the planet seemed to tremble and suddenly the ground erupted in a huge flare of light. The screen zoomed out to show a shock wave racing across the surface of the world while a mushroom cloud of dirt and rock bloomed into the thin atmosphere.

  Hollins didn’t have time to dwell on it. ‘Transporter Room! Did you get everyone out?’

  Chief Carstairs sounded worried ‘We believe so, sir, but we’ve had to shift some of them direct to Sick-bay. They’ve got serious radio-isotope contaimnation.’

  Hollins sighed and slumped back in his chair. They’d saved the staff, but at what cost to the rest of the galaxy?

  Kanesh’s mind drifted back to the conversation between Jang and her security officer: ‘They’ll get out. If not today, then tomorrow or the day after.’

  The genies were out of the bottle and she dreaded to think what chaos twenty super-genius psychopaths might wreak on an unsuspecting galaxy.

  --------------------

  As Tiger left orbit, Hollins went down to Sick-bay to check on Chowdhury.

  The door opened and he saw her lying on the bed. Hollins wasn’t sure if there was such a thing as a perfect physical specimen of humanity, but if there was, Chowdhury would be a likely candidate. She opened her eyes as he sat on the edge of the bed and smiled warmly.

  ‘How are you feeling Kareena?’

  ‘Fine, thank you sir. Doctor Mengele is keeping me in overnight, but says I can go back on light duties tomorrow.’

  Dave had read up on the super-human experiments of the late 20th and early 21st century. He knew that was well as being vastly stronger and quicker than him, she was almost certainly much more intelligent.

  ‘I think you and I need to talk Kareena.’

  She instantly picked up on the change in his tone and her bright smile faded. ‘Busted, huh?’

  ‘You could say that. Doctor Mengele tells me you’re lucky to be alive.’ Hollins stopped and corrected himself. ‘Actually that’s nothing like what she said. What she said was that the wounds you received and the venom that was injected into you would have killed an ordinary human in a matter of minutes. You survived over a week and will eventually recover because your genetic structure is so heavily enhanced.’

  She looked sad. ‘I guess this means I’m out of the ‘fleet, right?’

  Hollins paused. He’d been putting off asking this question himself. She wouldn’t be the first person to lie about herself in order to sign up. True, it was normally only age, or place of
birth of something of that nature, but was there any more harm in lying about your DNA? She couldn’t help what she was and he was pretty certain that she wasn’t the only liar aboard the ship. Not by a long way. The ship was full of people getting away from their past. People looking for a second chance of some kind.

  He finally made up his mind. ‘No, I think I’m happy to ignore this. I’ll leave it to your conscience to decide whether you file a correction of your records when you’re back to full fitness.’

  ‘Thank you, sir. It’s a peculiar burden to have to live with. My great, great, great, great grandparents were both born after the eugenic wars ended but they, and all my family ever since, have still had to live with the stigma and the suspicion. It’s easier if I just pretend to be . . . normal.’

  ‘It’s a shame you feel that way. You could probably fulfil many more rewarding roles than security. It’s probably a waste of your potential.’

  She smiled shyly. ‘I wouldn’t say that sir. I always find keeping other people safe a reward in itself. I’ve got good friends in the security team. People I trust.’

  ‘Then perhaps you should trust them enough to let them know who you really are.’

  ‘Yes, sir, I’ll think about that.’

  Hollins left her to recover, glad that he’d managed to save her, but now concerned at other issues that had come to light since the destruction of the Astrakhan facility.

  Tiger was getting a bit crowded. Intended for a crew of four hundred and thirty, they’d set out six moths ago with four hundred and thirty-eight crew aboard. They now had all the evacuees from the Astrakhan facility to deal with, another fifty-three people, not including a bizarre human / rhino hybrid.

  Strangely, Professor Jang was one of several staff missing from the facility when it had been evacuated. No-one was sure where she had gone, but the last time she’d been seen she was being forcibly dragged away by a group of the clones.

  In addition to the evacuees, they’d also been joined by Manny Vainatolo, Professor Jacques Hubert and Sister Emanuella Matic at various points earlier in the mission. Bizarrely they also now had an extra Science Officer on board.