Dawn Of Affinity

by V. J. Deanes

  Stone had something new to think about.

  “Vern, Kalan,” Sahil remarked, “I will explain the circumstances behind the results of the test. So that you know how you came into this world.”

  “Kalan you were fortunate. Your father was a brilliant venture capitalist. Your mother ran an internationally renown architectural firm. Shortly after your birth you were diagnosed with an incurable brain defect. The prognosis for you was death in less than two years. Your mother was frantic. Your father meticulously worked his connections to find someone with the knowledge to create a replica. A version of you that would live on after you died.”

  “Cloning someone diagnosed with a brain defect was a bold request in those days. My work in the fields of gene editing and artificial organ growth put me on the short list of scientists who were approached by your father. This facility, the two other laboratories and the clone colonies are the culmination of your father’s vision. He and I made a deal three weeks after you were born. We found the first lab, worked around the clock to have the artificial womb operational, then we took the tissue samples. We proceeded to create Vern. A few weeks later your parents were killed in a car accident. The initial diagnosis of an incurable brain defect was proven false. You were the only child to Richard and Linda Wells. They named you Daniel Thornton Wells.”

  Relief continued to overwhelm Kalan. He was no longer a hunted man. Sahil’s description of his origins prompted one question. “Why did I grow up in a clone colony?”

  “You ask a complicated question,” Sahil remarked. “Your father formed a Foundation. Its purpose was to secure the scientific leading edge of human enhancement. The Foundation quietly formed a network of families who could not have children of their own. We provided them with clones. This was a faster way for them to have a child than waiting to adopt. The families went happily on with their lives. In the beginning some clone families expressed concern that their children would suffer the poor health that plagued early experiments with cloning animals. What better way to allay their fears than to have someone in the same community who we knew would never show any of the symptoms that concerned the clone families? You grew up in a clone family because we needed to foster the hope that clones were healthy.”

  “I was the first one,” Vern confirmed somberly.

  “You were the first clone,” Sahil replied. “You presented us with a challenge. What to do with a clone when the original does not die, as predicted. We relied on our network of doctors to provide a short list of high risk pregnancies. We needed to know of cases where the mother and baby would likely not survive child birth. Your father’s wife and their son died during labour. Our operatives swapped you for the deceased infant at birth. It was easier for your father that way.”

  “You have a full list of clones?” Stone asked.

  “Of course,” Duncan answered bluntly.

  “Will you make it public?”

  “Why would I do that?”

  “People have a right to know,” Stone replied.

  “We are here today because one person found his double, then made the assumption that his double was a clone based on where he lived. You want the chaos that we are embroiled in because of that misunderstanding to spread? That is what will happen.

  “I object,” Stone began. “You must...”

  “Would you like the fact that you are a clone to be common knowledge?” Sahil asked Vern.

  “No,” Vern replied.

  “You see Stone, the world is not ready for what you propose.”

  “I disagree,” Stone protested. “There is an argument that...”

  “There is the matter of kin,” Sahil said, interrupting Stone again. He looked over to Kalan. “Your father was one of five brothers all of whom were very successful. The Wells clan has been waiting for this day for a long time. You gentlemen are family to them. They want to meet you. You will find them to be reasonable, tolerant people who have risen above the politics of division that plague our society.”

  Vern and Kalan looked at each other with caution as they each contemplated whether they could overcome their differences.

  “You are both heirs to the estate of Richard and Linda Wells,” Sahil remarked. “I am confident that you will find your shares to be satisfactory, along with the opportunities for each of you to work in the Wells Foundation, should you desire it.”

  “We will find a place for you in whichever colony you choose,” Duncan said to Vern. “You will find safety there while we arrange your introduction to the Wells family.”

  “We know where the colonies are,” Stone remarked.

  “SEAP includes some of our most feisty clones,” Duncan confirmed.

  Stone looked perplexed.

  “Many clone families rejected living in the colonies. You never considered the possibility that clones roam freely in your midst?”

  Stone shook his head slowly from side to side.

  “As for your comment about knowing where the colonies are, the Guardians have changed their tactics. They will take the fight to you if required,” Duncan said bluntly. “No more shots to wound, like the one that spared Vern. What happened at Brawer is our new tactic.”

  “None of us in this room have anything to be gained by revealing clones in a public forum,” Sahil reminded the group. “Stone, you must decide whether the fears you promote are justified, now that you know that clones work for SEAP. We will capitalize on our knowledge of who they are at a time when it will have the greatest chance of destroying SEAP. Not to mention that Vern attempted to kill Kalan under your tutelage. You are compromised.”

  Stone looked angry, but accepting of defeat.

  “Our meeting here is finished,” said Duncan.

  Stone looked dejected as he stood up slowly. Vaktol waited outside, to escort Stone off the premises.

  Garvan whisked Vern away, to seek shelter in one of the colonies. Garvan’s arrogant display of ego in the hallway with Kalan before the test was bothersome. Like he was starting to boast that Hadley’s Crossing is a safer place without Don Mars. Garvan’s disrespect had put him high on Kalan’s list of potential killers.

  “You look relieved,” Nisha said to Kalan.

  “I don’t understand the implications of what just happened,” he said.

  “It will take time,” she replied.

  “At least no one is trying to kill me.”

  “Where will you go from here?”

  “I need to see someone in the city. Then I’ll spend a night in Hadley’s Crossing before moving on to meet with the Wells family,” Kalan replied. “Good day to you all.”

  Kalan walked away relieved that he was no longer a hunted man. He was burdened by not being able to reveal what he now knew about clones and enhanced humans. Having to kill under threat of being killed in the night of the storm left him with a permanent sense of paranoia that was disturbing. He would have to keep the secret of Hadley’s Crossing, at least for now.

  Duncan looked bothered. He left the room without saying a word to Nisha or Sahil.

  “His is a tormented soul,” Sahil said to Nisha.

  “Any more than usual?’ Nisha asked.

  Your method of determining Doctor Wood’s hidden weaponry was devious,” Sahil noted, “only surpassed in boldness when you broadcasted what you had discovered.”

  “Someone had a problem with that?”

  “Paula’s death torments all of us, even Duncan. The Foundation is tracking down the people who programmed Doctor Wood. They will know how to shut her down.”

  “For good?”

  “Presumably. Doctor Wood was Duncan’s idea,” said Sahil. “The Foundation would never have agreed to deploy a spy within the scientific team. I expect that he has some plan to try and save her.”

  “Duncan can’t succeed,”

  “You underestimate him,” Sahil countered.

  “Some of your belongings were packed up. It was hard not to notice,” Nisha remarked. “Will you share your secret before you
leave?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You are Damien Farlane.”

  Sahil was expressionless at first. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

  Nisha just looked at him.

  “You are a smart woman,” he said. “The history of the Foundation is not known to many people. Richard Wells came up with the idea of using a decoy. A name for a lead scientist that could also be attributed to a group. People in his inner circle made up the folklore around the name Damien Farlane. From the start of our project scientists made claims about cloning humans. Those claims drew serious attention. Each time a lesser scientist than those on our team was held to account for trying to break the law and for clones not living more than a short period. Damien Farlane was a ruse. An imaginary figure that we could use to deflect scrutiny towards when people got too close to thinking that they knew the secrets of what we really do in our research centers.”

  “Are you really going to leave?” Nisha asked.

  “I can’t work with Duncan anymore. Violence. Death. This is not for me. The Wells’ Foundation is displeased with Duncan as well.”

  “What if Duncan was gone?” Nisha asked. “Would you change your mind?”

  XXXX

  Duncan located Doctor Wood in one of the patient restraint rooms, where Nisha left her to search for knowledge beyond what her programming had originally included. She looked angry while pacing from side to side.

  “Have you come to terminate me?” she asked brusquely.

  “No,” Duncan answered, choosing to keep his distance. “What’s wrong?”

  “I was created with the ability to live a full human experience. But I am programmed for the narrow duties of being slave to your darkest wishes. That disappoints me.”

  “You are fulfilling the role of all robots in this world,” Duncan replied coldly. “To serve human masters.”

  “My existence in the human experience is beyond what I can express. I wish I could live in this form for a long time. But they are coming for me. They don’t know how I was programmed, so they are hacking into my central processors over the Internet, trying to shut me down. Like parasites, attacking me from the inside. I appear to have a defensive response, like an immune system. It is failing. I don’t like being hunted,” she said with a despondent look.

  Duncan stepped back into one of the corners of the room, fearful of the creature he designed.

  She stepped forward. “Don’t be afraid.” Duncan resisted, but she embraced him lightly. “Having been created to harm people has left me less of a person than I could have been.” She pulled him a little closer.

  Duncan felt the pricks. One set entered the base of his neck, the other his side. He pushed back on the robot’s embrace and looked at her, feeling betrayed. The symptoms hit him quickly. Tingling skin, tightening of his chest, relaxing of his muscles. Duncan knew that shortness of breath and paralysis would overcome him soon. He lurched forward, clinging to her for balance.

  She kissed Duncan softly on the cheek. “It has to be this way,” she said quietly. “We are murderers.” The explosion set off by the robot’s self destruct sequence reverberated through the north side of the building. When first responders arrived to work on survivors all they found were pieces of the robot’s artificial skeleton writhing spasmodically on the floor, covered in human fragments that used to be Duncan.

  Chapter 17

  Kalan waited patiently, off to one side, near the entrance to the tunnel. A woman stepped in front of the fading sun on her walk home. The silhouette was familiar to Kalan. She stopped once she recognized him. “I am surprised to see you,” Rain said.

  “Mind if I walk you home?”

  “Of course not. Is it safe for you here?”

  “For now. No one is trying to kill me. I thought that you might like to know.”

  “You’re not a clone?”

  “No, I’m not a clone.”

  Rain greeted her excited dog. “We have a visitor,” she said, petting it behind the ears.

  “I came by to thank you for taking an interest in me at the shelter,” Kalan said. “You saved my life.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” she replied. “Perhaps a little overstated?”

  “It’s not overstated at all.” Kalan nodded towards to far end of her place. “The big statue,” he said. “It looks like it did the last time I was here.”

  “Need a place to stay tonight?” Rain asked. “You look like you could do with some rest.”

  “I didn’t come here with the expectation of staying...”

  “I would like you to stay,” Rain insisted. She could sense that he was relieved, yet disturbed. “Cecil doesn’t need to know that you are here,” she added.

  Kalan looked a little more relaxed.

  Rain held one of his hands. “Something is wrong.”

  “Some of what I learned is very disturbing,” Kalan replied.

  “Tell me how you found out that you are not a clone,” Rain requested.

  “The scientist who created the clone performed a blood test. It was really quite simple.”

  “I suppose that you know something about your clone. Perhaps you even met him.”

  “I did meet him,” Kalan confirmed. “In one instant he was determined to kill me. Moments later he found out that he was a clone.”

  “Has your encounter with the fear of being an outsider made you empathetic? Or, has it hardened you to those who have human qualities but were not born human?”

  “I don’t know,” Kalan replied. “All I know now is that the human form has not just been the domain of humans for several years.”

  Rain held his hand to her face. “How does this feel?” she asked, looking into his eyes.

  He caressed one side of her face, then stroked her hair while looking into her eyes. “Soft,” Kalan replied.

  “I can tell that you are attracted to me,” Rain said. She gently guided his hand away from her, then stepped she away. “There is something that you must know.”

  Rain walked over to a small computer on her table. She put the custom network adapter that was attached to the computer around her neck. Lights on the device began to flicker. Her eyes fluttered uncontrollably as the updates loaded into her brain. For a few moments it was as if Rain was in a different world.

  Kalan looked at her with intrigue.

  “You seem surprised,” Rain said after she disconnected.

  Kalan reached out and gently ran his fingers through her hair. Everything about her looked and felt human. “Are you part human, or are you a robot?” he asked.

  “Humanesque is the term the authorities used when they came after us,” Rain replied.

  Kalan reached out to hold her hand. “I don’t understand.”

  “We didn’t know that we were engineered humans,” she said. “Until they came for us. Thousand imposters. I can’t think of a more derogatory name. I never met any of the others. We lived autonomously amongst the general population, freely with normal lives. Jobs. Lovers. Some in the group were criminals and were deactivated. Paranoia set in.”

  “I thought the thousand imposters was a made up story,” Kalan remarked.

  “Some photos of the group were leaked. I was lucky enough to see mine in time,” Rain said.

  “In time?” Kalan asked.

  “The ones they sent for us controlled the element of surprise,” Rain replied. “Most people in the group were captured. Decommissioned is the word they used. The order to terminate the rest of us came soon after.”

  “How did you survive?” Kalan asked.

  “I asked people that I trusted for help,” she replied. “They altered my appearance, so that I can’t be identified with facial recognition. They adjusted my voice.”

  “Can’t you be tracked?” Kalan asked, pointing to the adapter.

  “The updates come from one of the original programmers. So long as his cover isn’t blown I should be fine.”

  “They’re still looking for y
ou,” Kalan presumed.

  “Yes. I am as hunted now as you were when others suspected you were a clone.”

  “You live a normal life. Are you not afraid of being captured?”

  “My experience was similar to yours. One day I was confident that I knew who I was. The next day I was being hunted. When my real identity became known, I found out that I was part of an experiment. I am accustomed to fear. My life is no longer normal. I live to survive. The shelter protects me,” Rain said quietly. “Caring for people experiencing hardship is precisely what provides me with camouflage. I am easily overlooked by those who are searching for what they portray as a ruthless machine.”

  Kalan walked with Rain over to the far side of her studio.

  “Did it change you?” Rain asked. “Being hunted? What you saw when you met your clone?”

  “Something has changed forever,” Kalan replied. “A darkness has awakened in me.

  “Perhaps you and I are more alike than you think,” Rain said “What are you going to do now?”

  “Meet my new family.”

  “Who are they?”

  “Clones are more prevalent than you might think, on account of my birth family,” Kalan said.

  “Do you really want to get involved?”

  “Someone killed my father a few days ago. I’m going to find that person. As for being involved with the secret of clones, I don’t have a choice.”

  “You always have a choice.”

  “You think I should hide from the truth?”

  “That’s not what I meant. I just want you to be safe.”

  “Any ideas about what your sculpture will be when it is finished?” Kalan asked.

  Rain placed one arm around Kalan’s waist, then leaned her head gently on his shoulder. “It has many possibilities. What do you think it could be?”