by C M Dancha
"Rollie, this is Sophia."
Rollie was caught off-guard. He wanted to hear from her but when it finally happened, he wondered if it was a good idea. He didn't want to say anything stupid or let on that he knew she wasn't hurt in an accident. He needed to keep his temper in check and not think about the beating Klaus gave her.
"How are you, Sophia? I've been trying to contact you but..."
"Rollie, I want to thank you for the beautiful flowers. The different colored roses arranged in a rainbow pattern was a very nice touch."
"I wish I could say I thought of it, but I overheard Ingrid talk about it one day. One of her girlfriends got a rainbow arrangement and thought it was wonderful."
"Well, I do too." Some of Sophia's words were difficult to understand. Her pronunciation of each word was slurred and spoken much slower than normal. Rollie thought there was a good chance her jaw was wired shut.
"When did you put the flowers in my office?"
"Two days ago, Sophia. Raul helped me get into Archives. Sorry, I guess you already knew that."
"Yes, that's what your note said. You're lucky to have a friend like Raul."
"Sophia, can you turn on your visual? I don't care what you look like. I mean, I care, but I'd feel a lot better if I could see your face."
"Not now, dear. I still look terrible and I'd be very embarrassed if you saw me like this. Give me a couple more days, okay?"
"Okay. But please promise to let me know when I can see you. Promise?"
Before Rollie could say anything, she was gone. He couldn't remember her ever calling him "dear." Anytime in the past when she used an endearing term it was done sarcastically or joking around. This time it was sincere. Garbled or not, he could hear the heartfelt honesty in her voice. He was honored by her affection but knew it would make breaking up extremely difficult.
It then occurred to him that Sophia must be coming to work at night. She could have seen the flowers remotely on the halo system, but his note was in an envelope. She had to be in Archives to read the note. Unless someone read it to her. That seemed hard to believe, but for some reason, he couldn't shake the thought.
He continued to think about this mystery until he was interrupted by Ingrid. "Rollie, Callie needs to talk with you."
"Thanks, Ingrid."
"Callie, what's going on?"
"Rollie, can you come to the primate lab? I need to show you something."
"Any problems, Callie?"
"I'm not sure, Rollie. That's why I want you to see this. I want your opinion."
"Okay, I'll be right down. Can I bring Raul with me?"
"Another set of eyes might be beneficial. Sure, why not?"
It had been almost two full days since Maxine was cloned. Rollie intentionally left Callie alone to work with the cloned primate. He figured the fewer interruptions, the faster she could evaluate the replicant and submit her report. They were on a tight schedule and she needed to focus on Maxine's mental state.
"Raul, where are you now?"
"I'm in my office."
"Meet me at number five in a couple of minutes. I just heard from Sophia."
Neither man bothered to say goodbye. It was off to the lift, posthaste.
Rather than get on a lift with other Phoenvartis employees Raul and Rollie waited for an empty lift car. It was a short trip to the subterranean fourth floor so Rollie gave Raul a synopsis of the conversation with Sophia.
"She thanked me for the flowers and note. I asked her to turn on her visual, but she refused; said she was too embarrassed to be seen. When I asked to see her in person she said maybe in a few days. She did promise to contact me when we could get together. Her words were so garbled I wouldn't be surprised if she has a broken jaw and had to get her mouth wired shut. That happened to a couple of guys I played football with and they sounded just like her." Rollie stopped and thoughtfully selected his next words. "Raul, I think she misses me. I'm pretty sure she has some type of genuine affection for me."
"You sound surprised, Rollie. You're a great guy. Of course, she has feelings for you."
"It seems strange that an undercover snitch could develop an emotional tie to someone like me. Well anyhow, that's it."
Raul was in deep thought as he leaned against one wall of the lift. His head went back and forth as though he were having a tennis match with his thoughts. Finally, one side or the other in his head won a match point.
"So, if she's seen the flowers and read the note, then she came in to work; probably at night, so very few people would see her. I'm surprised that my guys didn't say anything about a beat-up woman coming in at night. Then again, it's amazing what can be done with theatrical makeup these days. I'm going to check the data logs to see if her identification has been used in the last 48 hours. Which reminds me. Zeggler is still working on that reflection off the CR47. It's definitely a person but that's about all he knows so far."
"Raul, what are we going to do about Sophia?"
"Nothing changes. Wait and move ahead as we planned. It's going exactly as I wanted. So we wait. When she contacts you the next time, make sure you invite her to go out in public. She might not want to go because of her appearance, but the mere fact that you want to take her out will help build the bridge we need to get her help."
"Okay." Rollie hung his head in disgust. "I'll be glad when this cloak and dagger stuff is over.”
"You have to be a little more careful in the future about who you get romantically involved with, my man."
"You're right. I sure learned a lesson this time. By the way, Callie wants to show us something. Have you got some time?"
"Sure. Have you seen Maxine since the cloning?"
"No, this will be the first time. I've been trying to stay out of Callie's hair, so she can get her evaluation done on time."
The primate lab was labeled "Energy Transfer" with a large "Restricted" sign on the door. The intent was obvious; to dissuade nosy employees from trying to gain access. To get into the lab Raul and Rollie had to go through a double door, interlocking vestibule. The first door opened when Raul's eyeballs were scanned and approved as an authorized entrant. The second door would not unlock until the first door closed and locked. A secondary security measure was also required before the inner door opened. A DNA sample was taken from the surface of Raul's skin and compared to the approved sample on file. The DNA reader worked on the same principal as eyeball, fingerprint and voice readers. No two people had the same chemical makeup within their skin cells.
The two Phoenvartis executives entered the primate lab to find it dimly lit. Only about a third of the overhead lighting was being used. At the far end of the lab, within a glass-enclosed room, sat Callie and Maxine. Callie was holding Maxine's hand, gently stroking it like a mother trying to soothe the ills of a young child. Maxine heard the men first. Her entire body tensed, and she let out a low growl.
Rollie could see the ape's clenched teeth and fire in her eyes. There was no question Maxine didn't want the men interrupting her time with Callie. When Callie figured out why her primate friend was agitated, she started petting and grooming her head. After a couple of minutes Maxine calmed down and started grooming Callie's head. Callie stood up, whispered something in Maxine's ear and then gave her a peck on the lips. Even from twenty yards away, Rollie could see Maxine's schoolgirl joy and embarrassment when she was kissed.
Callie left the glass enclosure and walked over to Raul and Rollie. "Thanks for coming, guys. The way Maxine reacted to you being in the lab is exactly how an ape will react to people she doesn't know."
"Now I know why it takes years to form a bond with these creatures."
"You're right, Raul. I got the same treatment from Maxine's troop when I started to study them."
Callie turned and walked over to a table where she picked up several papers. Each paper had a series of numbers and bullet point notes written on it. "Guys, come over here and have a seat. What I'm going to show you are selected clips taken from the past two days with Maxi
ne. They start when she first wakes up in the lab and go until about one hour ago. Just like the old silent movies, superimposed at the bottom of each clip is what she and I are saying to each other. If you look in the upper right-hand corner of the recordings, you'll see the date and time stamp. Any questions before I begin?"
Hearing nothing from her guests, Callie started with the first halo clip. "Guys, this is when Maxine first wakes up after being cloned. For the next fifteen minutes, she walks around her enclosure touching and feeling everything. At first, she feels the glass barrier and then pounds on it. You can see the confusion in her eyes at waking up in a strange environment. It would be like you and I going to sleep in our homes but waking up on another planet, light-years from Earth. I'm going to skip forward to when she acknowledges my presence on the other side of the glass."
Rollie watched as Maxine squats on the enclosure floor and stares at Callie. "At this point, I purposely let Maxine begin our conversation. You can see her first words at the bottom of the clip."
M: "Callie, where we?"
Callie uses a strange combination of grunts, groans, hand signals, head and body movements to respond to Maxine's question.
C: "We far from jungle. Place we no been before."
M: "Where trees and friends?"
"Here she is asking about the other members of the troop."
C: "No trees. Friends at home."
M: "Maxine see friends?"
C: "Yes. Many sleeps from now."
"Guys, apes don't understand the concept of time like we do. Instead of using minutes, hours and days they relate time by how many nights they sleep."
"I'm going to skip ahead again. Watch what happens when I light a cigarette."
M: "Callie bad. Not good. Stop."
"That was a test. I was testing her memory and her feelings for me."
"Callie, I have a question. Does Maxine remember being killed by the poachers?"
"Good question, Raul. So far, it hasn't come up. I don't want to bring it up because it leads to other perplexing questions about identity."
"What do you mean, Callie?"
"Think of it this way. If you are a clone and remember being killed or dying, then how do you account for your existence? It's not going to make any sense to you. On one hand, you're dead and on the other hand, you're not. You could go crazy trying to figure this out. Sure, I would be there to explain it to her but I'm not sure she could grasp the concept of being a replicant. I want to stay away from this issue unless she brings it up."
Callie's answer to Raul's question about death made perfect sense to Rollie. "Yeah, I'm not sure any animal other than a human could understand being engineered back to life as a replicant."
"Okay, let's move ahead with another clip. Now, here is something I found interesting. You see Maxine take a bite of banana and then makes a funny face."
M: "Bad banana. Not from jungle."
M: "Callie not laugh."
"I don't get it, Callie. What is Maxine saying?"
"She somehow can tell the difference in taste between a banana from the Congo and one that is store-bought here in Zurich. She's not an enthusiastic fan of the farm-raised bananas. And did you see the face she made? I started laughing which made her mad. She thought I was making fun of her."
"Unbelievable! She's like a little kid, isn't she?
"Rollie, in many ways she does act like a human child. But at times, she'll act as mature as any adult human. After years of working with her, I'm able to determine when she'll be child-like and when she'll be more mature."
For the next twenty minutes, Callie played a collage of different clips with the accompanying primate-talk translated into English. Every clip showed some type of behavior by Maxine which Callie thought was important. To enhance the behavior, Callie related most of it to how Maxine handled similar situations in the jungle. There were examples of comedy, sadness, anger, and thoughtfulness. In total, the wide variety of behaviors equaled an ape with a well-rounded personality.
"Gentlemen, that's about all I have to show you. From what I can tell, Maxine's clone is an intelligent, thoughtful and level-headed young female ape. It might be too early to tell conclusively but she seems to have the same memories as host Maxine. Her physical reactions are the same as the host. And quirky traits like biting her toenails are the same as the original Maxine."
Callie paused long enough for Raul to ask, "That's good, isn't it?"
Rather than answer verbally, Callie sighed, hunched her shoulders and nodded her head up and down.
Rollie could tell that they had reached the negative part of the presentation. "There's something wrong, isn't there, Callie?"
"Yes, and I don't know what to make of it. That's why I asked you to come down here. Let me show you one last clip. Watch closely because it happens very fast."
On the halo screen, Maxine is seen sitting on a fake, horizontal tree log within her enclosure. She is eating a piece of fruit and casually looking around. It's very possible that she is watching Callie on the other side of the shatterproof glass. Without any forewarning, she smashes her right hand on the log. She then wipes her hand across the log and goes back to eating the fruit and looking at whatever has her attention on the other side of the glass. Throughout the entire incident, she doesn't give one hint of interest in what was on the log or why she bashed it.
"Did you see that? Let me play it again for you."
Rollie and Raul asked to have the clip replayed two more times. After the last time, they looked at each other in puzzlement.
"Callie, I'm not sure exactly what we were supposed to see but it looks to me like Maxine kills something on the log."
"That's exactly what she does, Rollie. She kills a bullfrog as nonchalantly as scratching an itch. The host Maxine would never have done that. The real Maxine would have ignored the frog. On a rare occasion, she might have played with the frog by moving it along with her finger until it hopped away."
"What is a frog doing in her enclosure, Callie?"
"Raul, I've put a few things into her enclosure to simulate a jungle setting. There are several types of grasses and vegetation she likes to eat and live in. There are some fake trees which look like the ones she had in the jungle. And, to recreate the sounds of the jungle I put in about a half dozen bullfrogs. In the jungle, frog croaking and other insect sounds are soothing to the apes. The noise makes them feel safe and at night it's a lullaby. In fact, when the noise stops the apes know there is danger close by."
"So, Maxine killing a frog doesn't make sense?"
"You're right, Rollie. It's out of character for an ape, especially Maxine."
"What do you make of this, Callie? Is it possible it may be an anomaly; something that will never happen again?"
"I hope so, Rollie. But what she did is so out of character I have my doubts. Killing that frog might be a precursor to some bigger problem. I don't know what to think. I'm going to keep an eye on her and see if anything like this happens again. In the meantime, I would recommend that you delay the human cloning until I can figure this out."
"Callie, I appreciate your concern but that's not going to happen. All you've told me is that something might be wrong with the Maxine clone. It might be her personality, values or psyche. If there is a problem, it might even be something related to genetics. Maybe something was slightly skewed during the cloning. I think you get the point, Callie. There are too many "ifs" and "maybes". The only way I can delay the human cloning is if I have definitive proof that there will be significant problems with every human clone. A problem which will ultimately lead to some tragedy or catastrophic event."
"Rollie, you realize that you're playing with fire. I know there is something wrong with Maxine. She is not the same Maxine I befriended in the jungle. There is something not right with her. I don't know what it is but there is something. Please take my recommendation seriously and delay the human cloning."
Rollie got up and walked around the lab considering ever
ything he had heard. Callie and Raul followed his every move and waited for his thoughts.
"Callie, let me ask you a question. If I told you today to pack your equipment and leave, would you take the cloned Maxine back to the Congo?"
It didn't take long for Callie to realize Rollie's question was loaded. By answering honestly, she provided conclusive ammunition for the human cloning to proceed as scheduled.
"Yes, Rollie, I would take her. What choice would I have? I love that animal, imperfect or not. Would you toss aside a loved one when he gets sick or handicapped?"
"No, Callie, I wouldn't. And I'm glad to hear that you would take her back to the Congo. Otherwise, we would have to …. Well, never mind what we would have to do with her."
Rollie came back to the table and sat down. "Callie, your report is due by the end of tomorrow. I recommend you put your suspicions in the report. Make it as factual as possible and don't go on a political witch-hunt. If you want to include a couple possible theories about why Maxine is acting this way, that would be okay. Otherwise, try to be objective and put in the good things you've observed in the cloned Maxine."
"Will that stop or put a hold on the human cloning?"
"I doubt it. But it will put everyone on notice that extra time should be spent researching Maxine and other primate clones before proceeding with a human clone. That's the best we can do now, Callie."
"Okay. You told me upfront that my participation in the ReLife project would be considered by many as superfluous interference. I guess it's unreasonable to expect everything to come to a screeching halt because of my suspicions. How much more time have I got to study Maxine and see if there is a problem with her?"
"The human cloning starts in two days, Callie. That doesn't mean you must stop evaluating Maxine. As far as I'm concerned, you have up to two more weeks with her. After that, we'll get you and her back to the Congo. Sound fair?"
"Sounds good, Rollie. I'll do my best to make a conclusion on this issue. Let's hope it's only my imagination and Maxine's erratic behavior is due to not being in the jungle with her friends. See ya later, guys."
Neither Raul or Rollie said much as they meandered through the halls of Phoenvartis. Both were replaying the meeting with Callie and thinking about what they learned and what was yet to be learned about cloning.