by Trish Moran
‘I’ll need two months in advance and a reference, of course,’ he said.
Celia held out a neatly typed reference from a former landlady for Ruby that she had made herself the previous night.
‘Hmm. Seems OK. From Nottingham?’ the man asked Ruby.
‘Yes, that’s right. Do you know Nottingham yourself?’ she replied, hiding her relief when he told her he had never been there.
‘How long are you thinking of staying here? I do contracts for six months, initially, but we can extend it after that time if both sides are happy with things.’
Ruby glanced at Celia, ‘That will be fine, Mr Robinson.’
‘Well, things seem in order. When do you want to move in?’ he asked.
‘The sooner the better,’ Ruby smiled at him. ‘We can pop back to Nottingham to collect the rest of our things later in the week!’
‘I’ll draw up the contract and see you here in an hour. If you have the deposit ready it’s yours today,’ he smiled back at them.
Later that day Leon and Johnny ran from room to room, excitedly pointing out the marvellous features, like hot radiators, carpets, comfortable chairs, and, best of all, soft beds! Neither of them could stay for long in one place.
‘Come on, boys!’ Keith pointed out, ‘You’ve been in a house before! Remember the farmhouse where Miranda first took us?’
‘That was so long ago,’ Leon shook his head, ‘And it wasn’t like this!’
‘No,’ Johnny added, ‘We get our own bedroom here. There were lots of us in the bedroom in the farmhouse.’
‘We’ll need some food,’ Ruby said, opening the cupboards in the kitchen.
‘And soap and things,’ Celia continued. She sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out a pen and paper, ‘Help me make a list, Ruby, and then we can go shopping.’
‘We don’t have to wait until tonight and break in?’ Leon sounded amazed.
‘No. We have money and bank accounts; if fraudulently set up,’ Keith grinned at Celia.
‘Yes. We’re honorary Non-Labs now!’ she added.
Chapter Three
Ruby set the table that evening as they prepared to sit down to the first meal in their new home. She felt almost as excited as the twins, though for different reasons. She felt like she belonged to a family. People who needed her. Since she had taken on her new name she had been acting like a new person. She was no longer shy, poor, fifteen-year-old Stella; she was Ruby, eighteen years old and confident! Stella had depended on her new friends to get her away from the dangers Abe held for her, but now they needed Ruby to show them how things were done in the her world.
She felt happier than she had felt in a long time as she sat down at the dining table with Celia and Keith that evening.
A tempting aroma filled the air as Leon appeared holding a large casserole and placed it in the centre of the table. Johnny appeared a few minutes later and put a large bowl of pasta beside it.
‘That smells appetising,’ Keith commented.
‘Mmm, spaghetti bolognese! It’s absolutely delicious! Where did you learn to cook?’ Ruby asked.
‘We sometimes took cookery books as well as food and other requirements when we went to the supermarkets and shops in the night,’ Leon explained.
‘Ones with colourful pictures,’ Johnny added.
‘We weren’t really able to make them in the cave kitchens!’ Leon grinned at his brother. ‘They weren’t as well equipped as this one! We’ve really enjoyed making this!’
‘How did you cook in the caves? And how many did you have to feed?’ she continued.
‘There were several hundred Labs to cater for, so we split into divisions, each prepared its own kitchen area, basically a cleared area with a fire pit. The division leaders would sort a rota for the cooks of each day.’
‘What did you eat?’
‘Pasta, pulses and vegetables could be boiled and potatoes could be baked in the fire.’ Celia said. ‘We made sure we ate a healthy selection of food. Abe insisted. He also insisted on regular daily exercise to keep us as healthy as the day we were awakened. As we shall continue to do so, starting from tomorrow morning!’
Keith pushed his empty plate away, ‘Tell us a bit about your background, Ruby.’
‘Yes, we must get to know each other a little better. So, first of all you must tell us about yourself – as Stella,’ Celia turned to her.
Ruby took a deep breath and explained how she had been raised by her grandmother after her dad had left them and her mother’s death soon after that. She showed them the photos of her family.
‘There are no pictures of your father,’ Keith said.
‘No. And I don’t remember what he looked like. He left when I was still very young,’
‘So he donated sperm and then discarded both of you?’ asked Leon.
‘Not quite like that …’ Ruby grimaced, ‘but he didn’t want to stay with us,’
‘And you were still at school until recently?’ Celia sat forward eagerly. ‘So you were at school for how many years?’
Ruby totted up the years, ‘Mmm, about ten years!’
Celia sighed. ‘You must have learnt so much!’
‘Well, not really,’ Ruby grimaced, ‘I wasn’t a very good student. I didn’t really pay as much attention as I should have.’
‘You rejected knowledge?’ Celia looked surprised.
‘Well, I suppose it may seem that way, but it wasn’t really quite like that, either. I wasn’t all that interested in the things they were teaching me.’
Celia shook her head sadly, ‘So, after ten years of being exposed to knowledge, your brain is still half empty!’
‘When your grandmother died was there no other family member to provide shelter for you?’ asked Keith.
‘Gran’s niece; but she didn’t want me. So I would have to be cared for by the local authorities. I didn’t want that, so I decided to join you,’ she finished simply. ‘So, now tell me; what have I joined?’
They all looked at Keith, who peeled the plastic strip off the code on his arm and rubbed it. He showed her a tattooed code: KET 87269.
‘This is what we are. The mark of an SP – a Spare Part! Though we prefer to call ourselves Labs – that is those created in a laboratory, as opposed to your kind, Non-Labs.’
‘Spare Parts?’ Ruby frowned.
‘Yes,’ Leon whispered. ‘We are Spare Parts for Non-Labs. Wealthy ones and their children.’
Ruby felt a shudder go down her spine. Celia nodded at Keith to continue.
‘You are aware of the Medical Centre, in the open land near Hambleton?’ he continued. ‘Well, what is visible, even if you get through the security guard around the compound, reveals only the tip of the activities that go on there.
‘The visible building houses the administration offices and ten research laboratories. This is what they will allow any visitors or subscribers entrance to. What they are not made aware of is that there are several underground levels that accommodate the main research.
‘The original idea for this centre was admirable. Dr Miranda Cheung was involved in this. The staff researched and carried out cloning procedures to produce cells that could be used when a person was injured. To help them repair and stimulate regrowth of damaged organs and tissue. Her vision was primarily to help innocent people caught up in wars, especially children. She established a committee to raise funds to finance the organisation. However, over the years, many of those on the committee became greedy, and began to attract new subscribers who were willing to pay whatever price requested for a supply of body parts and organs to replace damaged ones. For example, the American president’s son. Have you noticed how often he has been injured in the perilous sports he engages in? And how he always makes a miraculous recovery?’
Ruby nodded her head, ‘My grandmother and I were talking about him last month. He was seriously injured in a racing car but managed to survive and made a remarkably quick recovery.’
‘Yes. Simon
survived because he had a new brain ready to be transplanted. That was the end of his third Lab. There is a new one near maturity for him now.’
‘But … if he has a new brain, how does he remember all the things he knew before?’ Ruby asked.
‘If the injured brain is not too damaged, they are able to download some of the knowledge and memories from it into the new brain before it is transplanted,’ Celia explained. ‘If it is extensively damaged, the Non-Lab must relearn all the previous knowledge, except what is already programmed into the Lab – the basic skills a Non-Lab will have acquired by the age of sixteen. All Labs were originally programmed to have their mother tongue as their first language; but Abe decided it would be best if all Labs had English as their first language and their mother tongue as their second. So all freed Labs can easily communicate with each other.’
‘And does the president know all of this?’ Ruby felt astonished.
‘Subscribers are told that stem cell research makes it possible for tissue, organs, even the brain, to repair itself. They choose to accept this with very little proof. It suits them. They pay enormous amounts of money and feel they are getting their money’s worth.’
‘How is this place run? How do they get away with it?’ Ruby asked. ‘And how come you escaped, and all those others, with Abe?’
‘So many questions!’ Celia gave a slight smile. ‘We’ll try to answer them all.’
Her voice took on a disembodied tone, as if she was recounting medical facts that were nothing to do with her:
‘Embryos are cloned from tissue from the subscriber and/or their offspring, whichever is requested. Subscribers can also pay extra for several clones to be produced, as the president did. That’s why there are many sets of twins and triplets. These embryos are kept at a certain temperature, in certain conditions for two years in what is called the Nursery Ward, a room on the first floor underground. By this time they have matured to the level of a five-year-old Non-Lab – a human child. Then they are move to the Childhood and Adolescence Ward. They remain there for five years where they are conditioned and programmed to reach early adulthood within this time, about eighteen in Non-Lab years. All through their formative years their bodies are chemically and electrically stimulated to promote the ultimate organ and muscle development. As well as the basic knowledge, their brains are given the talents requested by the subscriber. Such as music, art, law, politics, science, and sport. Finally they are stored in the Mature Ward; that is, if they are not required before then. The best years for harvesting tissue and organs is when the Lab has reached the Non-Lab equivalent of eighteen to thirty years, so they are suspended in this period for as long as possible in the Mature Ward.’
Her voice suddenly took on a softer tone.
‘Keith – Ket – was the first one to be awakened, by accident. The temperature regulator on his capsule in the Mature Ward was faulty and he became conscious,’ she looked across at Keith who took up the story.
‘The first thing I remember about this world is a pair of eyes looking down at me. And as I moved my arms and legs, which must have been for the first time, she smiled at me, so I imitated her and I smiled back. It was Miranda! Dr Miranda Cheung.
‘She was so surprised to find I could respond to her. She helped me out of my capsule and let me walk up and down the ward. Past all those rows and rows of capsules! She couldn’t believe I could talk to her. And I could eat like her. Over the next few weeks she told me that she had often felt uneasy about how the research was developing. She felt the whole project was quickly spinning out of her control. They were no longer working towards the dream of helping war-torn countries. It was all about making money. Only the rich were benefiting. She wanted to do something about it; but knew she would meet serious opposition from the other committee members; they would not be willing to give up their huge profits.
‘A newly matured Lab was put in my capsule that afternoon, and I went back to her farmhouse with her that evening. Miranda spoke to her seniors about the possibility of a Lab waking up and being able to survive, but no-one was willing to listen. In fact several of them became quite hostile. That’s why we kept our existence a secret. Over the next few weeks we managed to smuggle two more out, including Abe. His twin was due to be smuggled out to join him, but on the same day he was taken away for a brain transplant.’ He looked down at his hands.
‘Once they use the brain, the Lab is discarded,’ Leon said softly.
‘Discarded?’ Ruby asked.
‘Any useable organs are sold to outside medical agencies; the rest is used for medical or cosmetic research, then disposed of,’ Johnny continued.
Ruby put her hand to her mouth, ‘Oh my God! Poor Abe! No wonder he’s so bitter!’
‘We continued to smuggle out Labs slowly. Abe was very frustrated about how slowly we were working. Miranda said we couldn’t go any faster without alerting the others. She told him she was planning on making the whole affair public. but somehow, before this could happen she was killed in a hit-and-run accident. The driver of the car was never discovered.’
There was silence for a moment, then Keith continued, ‘Abe took over the rescue plan. He moved us out of the farmhouse and up into the caves in the hills. We all worked on that for many years, making it the size it is now. Abe’s plan is to release as many Labs as he can, and build up an army to overcome the staff at the Centre. We have also replaced two of the Non-Lab workers at the centre with Labs, unknown to the other workers there, so we have access to information about what is happening. But of course we can only replace the less important workers, not the more senior staff.’
‘How do you replace the Labs?’ asked Ruby.
‘With any Non-Labs we can obtain,’ Johnny said. ‘Bounty hunters, those policemen, whoever we can get …’
‘We use their organs instead of the Lab organs. Fil has developed a method of altering the DNA pattern of the replacement to take on a very similar pattern as the original Lab. Then the Lab is freed,’ Leon added.
‘They even give the replacement a tattoo, like ours.’ Johnny turned his wrist to show his code.
‘I could have ended up as an organ donation!’ Ruby cried. ‘That’s murder!’
‘Same as Labs have been murdered for the past ten years,’ Celia pointed out.
Ruby shook her head, ‘There must be another way to stop the people at the Centre! They have to be exposed!’
‘That’s what Miranda was planning to do before the hit-and-run accident. But the committee members are too powerful, too rich,’ Leon said.
‘They are in positions of power all over the world, government leaders, on the chairs of huge company conglomerates. We can’t stand against them,’ Johnny continued. ‘They can silence us so easily. They have so many of us Labs in the Centre at their mercy.’
‘Yes, what are Labs worth? We have no identities or possessions, except for what we steal. We don’t even have names, just a code,’ Keith looked down at his arm. ‘The only strength we have is in the growing number of freed Labs.’
‘You said you had an alternative plan to Abe’s. What is it?’ Ruby asked them.
‘We wanted to formulate a working plan that doesn’t involve the waste of so much Non-Lab life. We decided we could set Labs up with false papers, as we have now, in different towns and cities around the country,’ Celia said. ‘They could live as students or they could find work.’
‘Abe objected. He said the Labs would be in constant danger of being discovered. It would lead to all the Labs being put at risk. He wouldn’t even consider it!’ Keith added.
‘Abe doesn’t see the killing of Non-Labs as a problem. He really hates them!’ Johnny commented.
‘We felt he was becoming as ruthless as the Non-Labs, himself,’ his brother said.
There was a long moment of silence.
‘So, how many Labs are ready to set up home with their new IDs?’ Ruby asked.
Celia and Keith looked at each other.
‘No
other Labs had expressed much support for our plan, actually,’ Keith said. ‘They are all afraid of speaking out against Abe.’
‘But, once they see how we are … surviving … in the Non-Lab world, I’m sure we will be able to persuade more to join us!’ Celia added.
‘Well, I’ll do anything I can to help you settle into the … Non-Lab world!’ said Ruby enthusiastically.
‘Spoken like a true Lab!’ Keith smiled, ‘We’re honorary Non-Labs and you’re an honorary Lab!’
They sat up late that night talking about their plans and how life could be in the future.
‘We must sleep now,’ Celia said finally. ‘We have a lot to do. We must investigate and see which suitable college courses we can enrol on. The sooner we start to live as the other Non-Labs, the better. We must not do anything that will arouse people’s suspicions. This is where we will depend on your advice, Ruby. ‘
‘I’ll be most happy to help!’ she assured them. Looking at the boys’ worried expressions, she added, ‘Really, being a Non-Lab isn’t that hard!’
‘Ruby will be with you at first,’ Celia gave one of her slight smiles.
‘I’ll give you a few hints about life in my world!’ Ruby nodded.
As she closed her bedroom door that night, she heard her name called.
Leon stood outside the room he shared with his brother, ‘I can’t understand why your father discarded you when you were young. Even though your brain is half empty, I think you are a very worthwhile person, Ruby!’ he said.
‘I’ll take that as a compliment!’ Ruby said, giving him a wry smile.
‘This is great!’ Johnny said as they walked down towards the town centre the next morning. ‘We can walk openly in daylight!’
‘And we have a real house!’ Leon added.
Ruby smiled. It seemed strange to hear them talk of things she took so easily for granted, though after the last few weeks, she did appreciate the home she had now.
Leon suddenly sighed, his happy expression evaporating.
‘What is it?’ Ruby asked him.