As the clone listened to Allan’s story, he looked as though he was going through a transformation. His boyishness, the innocent air of somebody living a sheltered life, was replaced by a new hardness of his features. His eyes began to bear a determination of his whole being, his chin pushed out with a stubborn will to triumph.
“This is absolutely crazy. I can’t possibly be a clone.” He stared at Allan, as if waiting for a challenge or for the nightmare to end. When nothing happened, he went and took a seat on the desk chair. He placed his head between his knees, trying to get his bearings back. “I don’t feel any different. Should I?”
“I don’t know, man,” Allan replied. “I personally haven’t met any clone, not that I know of, anyway.”
The clone looked at Allan with questioning eyes. “What’s going to happen to me, now that you‘re back?”
“I don’t know. I’m not here to harm you, I just wanted my life back. So here I am. But I have to ask, do you feel as if your memories are yours?”
“Of course they’re mine!” He stopped, as if trying to remember something. “Although, now that you mention it, I do feel a bit detached from them, like they have no power over me. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s more like what has happened in my life are things I’ve read in a book or watched on the Digiscreen, nice stories, but I can’t quite understand why they should mean something. I had that feeling this morning, remembering I was going to play tennis today and wondered why I don’t feel any excitement about playing, knowing all the while that I used to like the game. You think it’s because I’m new on the job?”
“Maybe. Tennis is a great game, but I can see your point. If you never truly experienced the thrill of the challenge and the physical exertion of your muscles while playing, probably your brain can’t force excitement about it.”
“You know what else, this morning I was thinking how I’d like to be called Lan, does anyone ever call you that?”
“No, I’ve never cared to be called Lan.”
“Then that’s the first thought I can claim for myself. Might as well use the name Lan, now that there are two of us…”
“Why didn’t you call father the moment you laid eyes on me?” Allan asked. “I mean, when you hit me over the head. Why not rat me out right away?”
“I don’t know. I was curious, and intrigued. But I didn’t feel any revulsion, if that’s what you mean. More like you were my twin brother or something like that. I’m sorry I hurt you.”
“Then you’re a better man than me, because to tell you the truth, the first thing on my mind after what happened was to find you and kill you and be back again, just like before.”
“I can’t possibly be better. I’m you, remember?” Lan gave him a mischievous look.
Now that the air was cleared between them, Lan asked Allan a lot more questions about what had happened and how he’d gotten out of the hospital.
Allan felt a slight fear at sharing so much with somebody he barely met, even though the latest developments required him to make allies very quickly. “Listen Lan,” he said, “I trust you, but please keep quiet about everything I told you.” They both froze suddenly at the sound of a voice downstairs.
“Father is calling,” said Lan “We planned to go out for lunch today.”
“Then I’d better get out of here. Look, I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it must be for you to accept what I’m telling you. Think about all we’ve discussed. You can’t stay here for long. See if you can get a sense of anything out of father at lunch.”
Lan agreed. “How about I meet you tomorrow morning behind the Servers’ compound? I’ll see what I can find out and maybe then we can work together.”
“You sound like me,” Allan said, smiling. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” They shook hands and Lan surprised him with a sudden brief embrace before leaving the same way he’d come in.
10
“Who wants cookies?” Tom called out as he entered his Scrappie house later in the day. Jules and Mel came racing at him.
“Goodness gracious, girls, how old are you? Here, there’s enough for all.” He opened a tin can for them to take some.
“I just love the way you spoil us. Makes us feel like a real family,” Mel exclaimed with cookie crumbs flying out of her mouth, her eyes dancing. The taste of the cookies left her suddenly homesick. Seeing Jules so intent on telling Tom everything that happened during his absence, including Allan’s rescue, she went back to the kitchen to finish preparing supper and to hide from the others her unexpected distress.
Mel had left home two months before, on the eve of her seventeenth birthday, just as spring was in full swing, the promise of a new beginning giving her courage. She had met Jules while being admitted to the hospital. Jules wouldn’t let her go back to her home and old life, not after what had happened to her.
She finished preparing supper and then went outside to sit under her favorite tree and gaze at the sunlight filtering through the leaves. Mom, dad, why did you do this to me? Why didn’t you love me back? Was I not good enough? Why did you have me, then? She knew her case was not that special. How many more sad sons and daughters are out there like me? She wished there was a way for her to help them.
Her story was a typical one. Her parents liked to take all of their frustrations out on her, in bursts of explosive rage. Then they hit her: the back of a hand from her mother, a foot in the stomach from her father. It never happened at the same time, just when one or the other was having a bad day and she dared to ask a question right in the middle of a most dramatic turn in the movie her mother was watching or walked in front of the Digiscreen when her father was playing with the controls.
Occasionally, they would apologize to her and yell at each other for being out of control in front of the child, but most times they just resumed their show or game or whatever else there was on, ignoring her silent, shaking sobs. She never dared to cry out loud, not after she’d been locked in a closet for a whole day.
Even though she sometimes felt that it was her fault, she often couldn’t even figure out what she’d done wrong. She loved her parents and she wanted to make them proud of her, so they would love her back. She kept finding excuses for them; they were just going through bad patches in life and had no patience left for her.
She couldn’t remember her life at home being any different. The beatings became more severe as she grew older. She was taller and cried less, therefore they “worked” harder on her while drinking and watching their shows.
At school, nobody ever asked her about her family life or the conditions she lived in. Why would they? She was attending online courses from home, just like all the other Servers. Since Servers lived all over the place, online school was the standard. And her avatar looked always the same in the virtual classroom, whether she had been beaten up or not.
Her only joy was in the e-books she got from the city library and the lessons she learned at school. One of the teachers once sent her a personal message, writing that she had a good chance of receiving a scholarship, a once in a lifetime opportunity meant only for exceptionally gifted Servers. Her parents did not even hear her when she told them the news. They just mumbled something and continued to watch their respective shows.
One day, after her mother had had a bad night, she woke up with sharp pain in her abdomen and she waited the whole day for her parents to come home from work. By the time they took her to the hospital, she was unconscious. They waited for the doctor to tell them what had happened to their beloved daughter. The doctor told them that she had internal injuries without external manifestations. He awkwardly asked if they were aware of any abuse and they denied it vehemently. “How can you ask such a question? My little angel,” her mother said, sobbing.
Mel had heard the conversation and later she admitted to the doctor that she had been beaten up many times. He had seen many children with no whip marks or bruises who had in fact been abused for long periods of time. Too many children died that way.
She met Jules, who had managed to put in a few hours as a cleaning agent at the Servers’ hospital, and they became friends instantly. Jules invited her to come and live with her and Tom outside of the city after she got better; and she did get better. It took quite some time, but the doctors and nurses were really nice to her and never once hit her.
Once Jules took her under her wing, she never looked back, for Jules had such a strong personality and was very brave. Mel secretly envied her but she also loved her very much. And Jules loved her back, two sisters by choice.
“May I join you?” Jules asked, as she came outside.
“Sure,” Mel smiled and pointed to a spot nearby. “Have a seat here, on the blanket. What did Tom have to say about Allan?”
“Well, he was concerned that we let a stranger in our home, but seemed to understand that we did what we had to do to help somebody in need. He also seemed surprised that an Elite went through such an ordeal. I don’t blame him. It’s not a common occurrence.” Jules finished talking and seemed lost in thought all of a sudden.
“You like him, don’t you?” Mel couldn’t help but smile.
“Sure I like him, Tom is like a father to me,” Jules answered, with a smirk on her face.
“Stop kidding around,” Mel playfully slapped her on the arm. She wasn’t about to let Jules get away so easily. “I meant Allan. You have a crush on him.”
“No, I don’t,” Jules seemed revolted at the idea. “He’s a brat. A self-centered, spoiled Elite. What makes you think that?”
“The way you talk around him, teasing, and trying to annoy him with your sarcasm. Like he’s getting to your nerves. But you know he’s not. He’s cute, and you like him, don’t you?” Mel persisted.
“He’s different than how I imagined an Elite would be. He treats everybody the same way. And he looks at life with optimism. I would have been crushed in his place, knowing that I was replaced, but he found strength in his heart and courage to go and face his enemy.”
“There you go,” Mel smiled. “It doesn’t kill you to admit it.”
“All right then. So what if I like him? He’s still a brat. His only concern was how to get way from here as soon as he could. We’re still very different people. There’s no future for me,” she added softly.
“How can you say that?” Mel asked, trying to reassure her friend. “You are young and strong. You saved me. There are a lot of people out there who need saving. There’s your future, Jules; helping out and making a difference in our lives.”
“If I didn’t already think that way, I’d kill myself right now. Or, probably not. Maybe it’d be more worthwhile to die trying to take down the clone makers.”
“That’s the Jules I know. Strong and feisty.” Mel moved closer to her friend to hug her.
“What about you?” Jules asked, when they finished their embrace.
“What about me?” Mel asked, feeling scared to reveal her feelings, knowing full well Jules was going to ask her about the young man who had been visiting her dreams since the first day she had laid eyes on him.
“You are falling for Daniel. I see how you get flustered around him.”
“He’s too old for me. But I admire him, he’s so smart,” Mel tried to hide the tremor in her voice. “He has a Ph.D. I haven’t even got a high school diploma yet. You know how bad that makes me feel? I can hardly open my mouth in his presence.”
“Yet you’re like a sponge when he’s around, absorbing his every word,” Jules insisted.
Mel shrugged. “I used to want to be a teacher, to teach kids natural sciences, but it can never happen without education. You know, I almost got a scholarship for college a few months ago. Now, my life is on hold. At the very least I can learn from him.” She changed the subject to stop the tears stinging her eyes. “What’s going to happen to us, Jules?”
“We’ll live one day at a time. We’ll take pleasure in the little things in our life and in the presence of our new friends. Who knows what tomorrow brings? So, Miss Mel, what’s next for our new vegetable garden?”
And the girls started to talk about the work involved in growing their own food to add to the supplies that Tom, David, and Jules were already bringing to the table.
11
Allan saw David bent down over his scooter, looking at the fuel cell components of his engine.
“I need to go back to the Scrappies,” Allan said, approaching from behind. David nodded and closed the lid over his engine compartment, climbing on the scooter without a word. His eyes looked searchingly to Allan, as if checking if everything was okay, but Allan shook his head, signalling him to wait before asking anything else.
They left the scooter behind at Tony’s bar and headed towards the forest. Tony was an old friend of David’s and would know what to do if anyone asked about it.
In the shade of the trees, walking slowly towards the Scrappies’ compound, Allan gave David all the details of his encounter with his clone, who he was already calling either brother or Lan. David didn’t seem fazed by it and listened to every word quietly.
When he mentioned the conversation he overheard and how his father was in the middle of the assassination attempt on his life and also on a future attempt on Lan’s life, David really became interested. “This seems like a larger plot than I imagined. Something big is at stake here. We have to figure it out somehow. I’m sure Tom will provide very good insight. Let’s hope he’s at home by now,” They continued quietly the rest of the way.
They arrived at the house and went to the back where they could hear people talking.
Allan was in front, eager to share the news with his new friends, who he was unspeakably happy to see, as if they were the only sane people in an insane world. But a voice he recognized stopped him dead in his steps. A fury engulfed him, almost taking his breath away and he jumped into the house, like a panther on its prey, plowing into the man standing with his back at him.
“You son of a bitch!” he screamed. “You almost had me killed, you monster!” He placed his arms around the man’s throat with a clear intention of breaking his neck. The man let himself fall to his knees and propelled Allan forward, slamming him on his back. Then he stood up and looked at him, eyes wide open with surprise.
“Allan, my boy, what in the world are you doing here?” he gasped.
“What am I doing here? What are you doing here?” he replied, getting up, ready to attack again.
“Hold your horses, boy,” his father replied in a commanding voice, standing tall and strong. He turned to the others. “Can anybody explain what’s going on here?” Jules had her arm around Mel for protection, while Daniel comically stood with a hand on his chin. David just stood in the doorway in shock.
Daniel finally broke the silence, “I guess this is why I thought Allan looked a little like Tom.”
“Jules, Allan is the young man you saved?” Tom asked.
“Yes, he’s the one,” Jules said, in a weak voice.
“You never said who he was.”
“I was getting there.”
“Rather slowly. No matter now. Allan, I’m your real father. The man you’ve been living with at the house is a clone.”
“That’s a bit obvious at this point, don’t you think? What the heck is going on here? How and when did you get replaced?” I can’t believe this is happening, Allan thought.
“My name is Thomas Rusk, the head of Secure-IT,” Tom explained for everyone else.
“What happened to you?” Allan was overwhelmed with curiosity.
“I got replaced with a clone almost four months ago. But, for the benefit of our young friends, please let me start from the beginning,” Tom replied, looking at each of them in turn.
“It’s about time I tell you what I know about what happened to our city, Elysian Fields, and the events that occurred over half a century ago.
“My grandfather was an inventor, a space pioneer, and a scientist at an old world space organization called NASA. He led the De
ep Space Project and developed a technology that allowed mankind to truly reach for the stars. His vision was audacious and his dream was to die on Mars, not on impact, but as a colonist.
“In 2024, NASA sent to Mars the first intelligent machines to terra-form the red planet, to create an environment where people could thrive and build a sustainable civilization.
“Twenty years later, the Great Quake happened. We don’t know for sure whether it was a natural occurrence or man-induced, but a chain of terrible cataclysms followed, a series of aftershocks even greater than the original quake that hit. It supposedly started at the New Madrid fault, somewhere south of here.
“A lot of people died in those days, and there was very little help coming from the outside. It seemed everyone had to deal with their own crisis. A few days later, absolutely all types of communication with the outside world ceased, as if we were truly the only people left on the face of the earth.
“After that, fog surrounded the city in a large circle. It was such a thick layer that it was hard to see much, even if you went only a few feet inside it. The worst was that nobody managed to go through the fog deep enough to get to the other side. There seemed to be an energy field or some kind of psychological barrier, I really have no idea, but there was something that people couldn’t overcome. It triggered a feeling of panic so overwhelming, it drove people back into the city. This happened a few years before my birth.
“What I saw as a young boy was a city being built on the outskirts of an older one, which had been mostly destroyed by the earthquake, and separated from the former by an accelerated growth forest.
“Since then we have been totally isolated from the outside world, if such a world even exists anymore. Sadly enough, we don’t care much anymore about the history of mankind before the quakes, though we have archives full of data. Almost everybody lost interest in the past. You all know how we are encouraged to enjoy the present and our beautiful world, our city, and to escape in the virtual reality we have available at our discretion.”
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