All We See or Seem

by Leah Sanders

  She was right. For all their running, there was no escape.

  Cold sweat beaded on Aaron’s forehead as he awoke in despair. The apparition faded from his arms once again. His heart ached in desperation for her to be real just once. Just once.

  And yet he realized even that would not be enough.

  He glanced at the travel clock on the nightstand and heaved a sigh. Briefing was in half an hour.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “This is dangerous, Admatha. I don’t like it.”

  “You’ve made your position abundantly clear, Izanagi.”

  “Why is he here?”

  “I requested him.”

  “Specifically?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? What could we possibly have to gain by bringing him here?”

  “You are questioning my judgment, Izanagi.”

  “Yes, doctor.”

  “Very well. His role and training as an intelligence officer meets our needs, such as they are, and… we have the added benefit of being able to observe one of our replacements up close. It’s good science.”

  “But if he remembers—”

  “How can he remember? Everything was done according to the proper procedure, was it not? Anything he sees will be nothing more than a faint sensation of déjà vu. You know this better than anyone, Izanagi. It’s your life’s work. Your research.”

  “What if one of them recognize him?”

  “We will limit his interaction — And we’ll put him through the desensitization training… frequently. He won’t want to interact with them. You worry too much, my friend.”

  “And you worry too little, doctor.”

  “Ah, yes. You see, I am convinced our work here is flawless, and you worry enough for both of us. Will you feel better if we assign a liaison? One of our plants?”

  “Yes.”

  “Someone who knew him as a stem, perhaps, and could steer him away from his former group? Who reported on him?”

  “Aria.”

  “Aria it is then. Call her in. She should be briefed on the assignment before their first meeting.”

  “Your orientation with the major is in ten minutes.”

  “Oh, yes… you handle Aria. I’ll deal with our Major Jennings. We will introduce them in one hour. Have her ready.”

  ****

  “So you see, major, we have genetically engineered facsimiles of our client base, which we maintain in reserve for any need that may arise in the client’s physical condition.” Doctor Admatha’s explanation was laced with medical terms and generalities, and Aaron had the distinct feeling he was wading waist-deep in a back country septic tank. He was going to need a shower after this.

  “You mean clones,” Aaron countered.

  Doctor Admatha released a long breath, indicating his irritation with Aaron’s ability to over-simplify his obviously carefully constructed exposition. “We call them stems, major.”

  Aaron fought the impulse to smile in recognition of his effect on the doctor. “Stems,” he repeated. “As in stem cells?”

  “Precisely.”

  It was difficult to tame his desire to continue in the adolescent vein by pressing the issue, and though he suppressed the urge to say it, he was still thinking, So, clones. Since the doctor was already visibly agitated, playing it safe seemed the better option.

  Getting straight answers from this man was going to take some doing. Most of what Dr. Admatha had said sounded like a commercial for EROMI. And very little of it offered any more than what Aaron had already discovered through his own research. These doctors were well versed in how to paint the magnificent abstract masterpiece without any details whatsoever.

  “Tell me about the stems, Dr. Admatha. Do they know?”

  “No. They know only the reality we have built for them. They are content enough and, compared to most of the rest of the world, they live comfortable, healthy, and fulfilling lives. Part of your job is to keep it that way.

  “Major, they are genetically engineered facsimiles. They are human-like only because their DNA is copied from humans. The stems themselves are soulless creatures. They exist only by my design and for my purpose.

  “There are factions, of course, who would… shall we say, disapprove of our methods, but they are ignorant and closed-minded. My research facility has reached beyond anyone’s wildest dreams in my ability to provide perfect, genetically matched vital goods for patients when they need them. No other medical supplier in the world can do what I do here.”

  “I must agree with you, doctor. You do amazing work.”

  “Thank you, major.” He looked as though he was going to end the meeting.

  Aaron had one more question. Something he had wanted to know ever since the night of the party. “One more question, doctor, if you don’t mind.” Doctor Admatha exhaled again slowly.

  “Certainly, major,” he responded with a patronizing smile.

  “You spoke of maintaining the stems in reserve until they are needed. What kinds of… I mean, how are they used? What products or services are you offering your clients?”

  The doctor furrowed his brow for a moment as if calculating exactly how much information to divulge. Still frowning, he raised a thick eyebrow, and his black, lightless eyes bore into Aaron’s eyes, seeming to size him up in that one hard stare before answering. “The most common uses are organ and bone marrow transplants, skin grafts and, of course, surrogacy.”

  “Amazing, sir. What you do here is nothing short of miraculous.” A little flattery wouldn’t hurt. The doctor already possessed a well-endowed ego. It was easy enough for Aaron to feed it. Perhaps it would buy him a little leeway when it came to coaxing the man’s trust.

  “Thank you, major.” The doctor rose from his chair purposefully. “Now, I have someone I’d like you to meet. Aria. She will act as your liaison with my office. She also will be able to answer any further questions you have about our work here. Aria lives directly with the stem population and has knowledge of their behaviors and cognitive workings. Data we would be unable to acquire without her.” The door slid open as if on cue, and Dr. Izanagi stepped in, accompanied by a tall, dark-haired woman.

  “Ah, here she is. Aria. This is Major Jennings, our new chief of security. Major Jennings, Aria.”

  Aaron stood and offered his hand in greeting. When he met her gaze he had a sudden feeling of familiarity, like he had seen her somewhere before. The woman facing him did not take his hand, nor did she smile at him. Instead, her pale blue eyes were like ice, glaring back at him. “Lesson one, major. Never offer a handshake to a stem. You will only confuse them. And friendship is out of the question.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Are you a stem?” Aaron asked, biting back the edge of his tone.

  No one laughed. Not even a smirk. Wow, tough room.

  “No.”

  His hand was still extended. He looked pointedly at it and back again to Aria. “I don’t see the problem then,” he stated flatly and thrust his hand higher toward her.

  He thought he saw a faint glimmer in her eye then. A softening, maybe. Reluctantly, she took his hand for a brief moment but immediately dropped her gaze to the left. She couldn’t look him in the eyes when they were touching — a sure sign to Aaron that she was hiding something. Something pertaining to him.

  But that was impossible.

  Dr. Izanagi shifted on his feet uncomfortably and cleared his throat, interrupting the awkward trance of the room. The strange interaction between Aaron and Aria seemed to hang heavily in the air. “Perhaps the tour…” he muttered to Dr. Admatha.

  Aaron glanced from one doctor to the other. They knew too. Whatever Aria was concealing was a secret they all shared, and Aaron — their intelligence officer, no less — was the only one left out of the loop.

  “Of course. Aria? Dr. Izanagi and I have some critical matters to attend to now. Would you please show Major Jennings around?” He smiled confidently at her, but added with curt irony, “I’m certain you can reach
down deep inside you and pull out the warm southern etiquette you seem to have buried there.”

  A smile played on the corners of Aaron’s lips at the snide remark. Sure wouldn’t kill her use her human manners for a few hours.

  Aria nodded and turned, but cast a subtle eye roll only Aaron could see. Glancing at him sideways, she swept her hand in a grand gesture toward the door and bowed slightly to mock him. “After you, major,” she strained through her teeth.

  “You’re too kind,” he muttered with unveiled sarcasm and brushed past her through the open door.

  Chapter Seventeen

  She wasn’t the woman from his dreams, but Aaron couldn’t shake the lingering familiarity of her presence. Her obvious disdain for him posed a challenge as well, and he found himself increasingly intrigued by Aria as they walked in silence.

  Of course, maybe it wasn’t disdain at all. Perhaps she was just so used to handling the clones, she had forgotten how to interact with real people.

  “How long have you been working here?” he ventured, wanting to break both the silence and the frozen expanse between them.

  She eyed him suspiciously as they walked, then turned her eyes back to the path, as though trying to weigh her response carefully. “Since the beginning,” she finally replied.

  “Forgive my ignorance, Aria. I don’t know how long EROMI has been operating. Years? Months? I’m clueless.”

  She didn’t answer.

  “You realize I have security clearance — from the Pentagon. I’m safe, I promise,” he coaxed.

  Aria stopped abruptly and glared at him without a word. Her gaze shifted past him, and she raised an arm and pointed to the buildings behind him.

  “Over there are the dormitories and the commissary… Just beyond them is the community garden.” She lowered her arm and turned back to the path. Then she murmured softly, “Safe is an illusion, major. If you step out of line here, you are anything but safe.”

  It took a moment for the reality of her words to sink in. Aria moved forward, and Aaron followed close behind. If what she said was true, the doctors were hiding even more than he had originally thought. A surge of frightened adrenalin shot electrically through him. Ah, danger, he thought. I really am home.

  “How long?” he pressed, barely audible.

  “Long enough to forget what I left outside of this place.”

  Clearly she wasn’t going to offer him a straight answer. Of course, Aaron had ways of making a person talk, but they hardly seemed appropriate in this situation.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, Aria, but I’m fairly certain you were instructed to answer any question I might have.” He was making a concerted effort to keep his tone light, but her lack of cooperation was wearing at his patience.

  Her frustrated huff took him by surprise. “I assure you, Major Jennings, my responsibilities where you are concerned have been made abundantly clear to me. So, ask your questions about the project, major. I’ll answer them the way I have been instructed. But do not assume that I and the project are one and the same. There is nothing about me you need to know for your job here.”

  Feeling sufficiently put in his place, Aaron cringed and allowed another awkward silence to encompass them on the tour. His efforts to draw her out had backfired. It would take a few minutes for his ego to recover.

  ****

  The tour left Aaron with a surreal sense that he had been here before. But how could he have been? Before his orders were issued, he’d never even heard of EROMI or Endfield. Still, the feeling wouldn’t go away.

  “Aria, I’d like to meet one of the… stems.”

  “I can arrange that for tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow? Why not now? There are some right over there. What about them?”

  “Those stems are working. We prefer to cause as little disruption to the daily routine as possible. The stems do not do well with deviation without prior notice.”

  “Oh, I see,” he conceded, but then changed his mind again. “Look, they’re already distracted by my presence here. Don’t you think it would help to satisfy their curiosity? Then they can focus on their work again.”

  Aria looked at him scornfully for a moment without speaking. Then, as if considering his petition, lifted her hand to her ear and turned away. A sort of sub-vocal murmuring drifted back to Aaron, but it was short lived. Just as quickly Aria faced him again and said with a sigh, “Fine.”

  “Fine?”

  “Yes. You can meet one.”

  “Really?” He glanced back at the group working in the flower bed.

  “Not one of those,” Aria cut in. “Follow me.” She strode down the path away from him. He had to jog to catch up to her pace. They passed by the community garden and between the rows of dormitories. Just beyond the residential buildings rose an out-of-place old stone clock tower, which the two of them entered. Once inside, Aria stopped short, causing Aaron to trip over her heels and fall sideways into a wall to break his fall.

  “I’m sorry,” Aria whispered, the first hint at her humanity he had seen since their introduction. The major steadied himself and chuckled nervously.

  “Why are we whispering?” he asked, his voice hardly more than a breath.

  “I don’t know. It has always seemed like a good place to whisper,” she muttered. “I think it’s the echo, actually. I prefer not to draw attention.”

  There was a wrought iron, spiral staircase on the left, inside the mason stone structure. His guide led the way up to the clockworks room, carefully knocking on the door when they arrived there.

  “I don’t want to alarm him,” she offered in explanation for the quiet courtesy.

  The door, a traditional hinged door, creaked open just a sliver. Aria whispered through the crack, “There’s someone here to meet you, Aksel.”

  The man on the other side hesitated briefly, then slowly pushed the door open the rest of the way.

  Aaron stepped forward to greet him, reminding himself not to offer his hand to a stem. However, as he opened his mouth to speak, the words stuck in his throat, because although the room was dim, there was enough light for Aaron to just make out that the man before him was unmistakably his father.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Of course, this was a younger version — only a few years older than Aaron, the father from his earliest childhood memories. There was no question of the stem’s origin, however.

  Suddenly the realization washed over him, a tidal wave of understanding, nearly knocking him off his feet. His balance wavered as he teetered at the top of the staircase, so he grasped the handrail in his fist to steady himself.

  “What is this?” he spat angrily at Aria.

  The stem’s face clouded in confusion, but only for an instant. Major Jennings checked himself and decided his own confusion should be dealt with when they had finished with the stem.

  Aria was eyeing him closely, apparently scrutinizing his reaction. She must have already known. She must have picked this stem on purpose. But why?

  Still regarding him closely, she began the introduction. “Aksel — Stem 6392A, Major Jennings — EROMI Protection Staff.”

  His father’s echo nodded at him curtly but said nothing. Aaron was still at a loss for words, though questions were tumbling over each other in his mind, fighting for priority. He nodded dumbly in return.

  The stem peered at Aria with questions in his eyes. In turn, she assessed Aaron. He would leave it to her to salvage the awkward silence. After all, she lived with them; she’d know what to say.

  “Uh, the major has requested to see the clockworks, Aksel. Will you tell him about your work here?”

  Again the stem nodded and stepped backward to make room for the visitors. They moved inside, and he tugged the heavy door back into position with a clamor.

  “This is the only building which pre-dates Endfield,” Aria explained. “They decided to keep it, so we could have a history. Aksel has a permanent assignment here because of his superior mechanical skill.”


  “Do they not usually have permanent assignments?”

  “No. We rotate through different community assignments based on our skill assessments.”

  Identifying herself with the stems seemed strange, but then she was basically an undercover agent, so it would be important to maintain the façade where they were concerned.

  Aksel gave Aaron the grand tour. He said no more than necessary though, and answered the major’s questions with no emotion. It did make perfect sense given Dr. Admatha’s description of the soulless beings. However, the remarkable likeness of his own father in the stem was haunting and difficult for Aaron to accept. He just couldn’t reject the copy’s humanity — Aaron’s bond to his father was too strong to dismiss it so readily.

  What if the stems only acted lifeless when EROMI staff was around? A sudden pang of jealousy caught him off-guard. Aria’s status among them gave her access to the truth he could never learn firsthand. That fact created a necessity to form an alliance with her — a challenge, considering her obvious contempt for him.

  ****

  To end the tour, Aria led Aaron around the entire community on the path reserved for staff recreational use, pointing out the main offices of each staff group.

  The walking path was an immaculately manicured five-mile track, tracing the circumference of the Endfield community. On one side a ten-foot chain link fence formed the boundary separating them from the outside world. As far as the eye could see in every direction, spread brown, rolling hills speckled with sagebrush and ancient volcanic rock formations — a breathtaking view.

  There were towns as close as ten, maybe twenty, miles away, but the low roll of the land was such that passing travelers couldn’t see the EROMI site until they were almost at the front gate. The primitive driveway leading onto the compound was well camouflaged from the country road, and no well-traveled highways crossed it.

  A driver would have to know what he was looking for in order to make it far enough to catch a glimpse of the community. Any unauthorized vehicles would have a myriad of warnings to turn back before a military entourage would physically escort them to the nearest county jail.