Clone Legacy: Book 3 in the Clone Crisis Trilogy

by Melissa Faye

  We were low on information to send to HQ. The people could easily be tipped towards our side, but it wouldn’t help us learn about the Chancellor’s hand in training. It wouldn’t affect anyone working at a higher level. We needed to know where the Captain stood.

  So we decided to find out.

  I VOLUNTEERED AND GIANNA didn’t fight me on it. “You are someone who’s not going to back down, Yami,” she said. “Plus you’ll have more fun doing it.”

  We went to one of our terrible endurance sessions. I was getting better at keeping up with the others, and was secretly proud of my progress. Unfortunately, every time I improved, Sarge made things harder. It made it easy to snap.

  “Right flank, hold it, hold it!” he screamed at us. “You’re cutting forward before the center progresses,” he snapped at myself and two other trainees. “Run it again.”

  I stood in place while the others ran back to our starting point. The Sarge pointed to where I should go, but I kept my feet firmly planted where I was. I crossed my arms.

  “Trainee, get into place and run the drill again,” Sarge said. “That’s an order.”

  I didn’t move.

  “Do you not understand your order?” Sarge asked menacingly. He walked up close to me and leaned over so our eyes met. “Get back into place. That is a direct order.”

  I spat on the ground. “No. We ran that perfectly. The centers should have gotten there faster.”

  “This is insubordination, trainee,” Sarge said.

  “Who cares!” I cried. “You’re not doing us any favors teaching this wrong.”

  Sarge’s face turned crimson and his eyes grew large, bulging out of his head. His arms were folded now as well; it was much more foreboding given his enormous biceps.

  “Everyone to the line! Wind sprints!”

  The others scurried to the line, sneaking looks at the standoff taking place. I still didn’t move.

  “It’s not even a punishment,” I hissed. “You’d just have us do wind sprints anyway.”

  “Trainee, head inside to Room 1-1 immediately. The Captain will see to it that you understand how to follow orders.”

  I couldn’t tell if he was mad enough, until I realized I could imagine his voice get even louder and his tone get even more terrifying.

  “Why should I follow your directions?” I hollered. “You barely know what you’re doing. You hardly have more training than I do! You just make us run all day. What’s that gonna do when we have to protect the country? Run really fast away from the rebels?” I blathered on while the Sarge sent a message over his B-Band. I kept running my mouth off but stopped abruptly when his hand clamped down on my arm. I winced. He was even stronger than he looked, and he applied pressure expertly. I felt a pain in a nerve that started in my palm and reached all the way up to the shoulder. I grimaced, but stared down the Sarge’s victorious look.

  Sarge pushed me forward towards the doors to the facility where we were met with two other high-level trainees. He shoved me towards them forcefully, and I nearly knocked one down. While the Sarge walked away, they pulled my arms behind my back and handcuffed my wrists in place. They dragged me through the hallways until we got to 1-1; they didn’t stop when I tripped over stairs and stumbled over my feet. They merely held my arms and didn’t say anything.

  I was left inside 1-1 with my handcuffs still on. I sealed my lips tightly shut. Half of me was thrilled that this had worked and I was now in the Captain’s main disciplinary chamber. Half of me was terrified of what she would do to me.

  I sat patiently and carefully twisting my face into an angry sneer. I would be as rude as necessary. I had a fuzzy plan in my head, but expected I’d need to change it as the conversation progressed. Being rude was a good way to slow things down. It had to be addressed constantly.

  The Captain came into the room and slammed her clipboard tablet onto the table, ignoring my presence. She leaned over the table and stared at the shiny metal surface. I watched from my chair, unable to move too much with the handcuffs. My shoulders stiffened and I couldn’t hide the pain when a sudden movement ran through the nerve the Sarge had lit up before.

  “I heard you can’t take orders, trainee,” the Captain said finally. “You signed up to be a soldier in our army, did you not?”

  I didn’t speak. I knew it would infuriate her.

  “I asked you a question, trainee.” She looked up at me, taking deep short breaths. “Answer me!” she shouted.

  “I did sign up.” I kept my tone even and bored.

  “You signed up for this,” she repeated. “You came here seeking refuge and seeking a chance at a better life, did you not?” She stared at me until I felt myself shrivel up in my spot.

  “I did.”

  “As long as you are here, you will follow orders as soon as they are given.” She paused for effect. “Is that clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “If you cannot follow that one simple direction, we will return you to the work others in your community have been sent to do. You’ll be locked away in a breeding community to do their bidding. You’ll sleep in a tent, soaked in mud and freezing sleet and snow as the weather gets colder. You’ll follow orders to be at your assignment every day on time, or be shocked by a collar around your neck.”

  My pulse quickened. That’s where everyone was who wasn’t a breeder or a Gray Suit? Sent to be slave labor for the breeders finding their mates? I had friends who could be doing that work already. Alexis. Javi. Even my missing mentee Vonna.

  “Do you want that, trainee?”

  I sighed. “No, ma’am.”

  “Try that again.”

  “No, ma’am!” I said it without the sigh.

  “None of this is fair,” the Captain said. “But you will follow the rules here. For now.” She was building up to something but I couldn’t imagine what it would be.

  “I have been at this facility for eight years. Since before you even knew there were rebels out there threatening our safety. Before you even graduated middle class. I’ve been here, training soldiers, so we could be prepared to take on the rebels and their so called Underground. I’ve trained thousands of soldiers all so they can serve the country and earn a better life.”

  She paused and looked at me. I jumped back to attention. “Yes, ma’am.”

  “That better life may or may not exist, as you and I both know. But the only way to avoid what’s happening to your neighbors is to act the part. So you can imagine how disappointed I am when trainee scum like you shows a lack of appreciation for what we are doing here. I don’t take this work lightly, trainee. I won’t have some green trainee, who can barely keep up with her training, talking to their commanders like this. That isn’t acting the part.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I started to breathe more quickly, working up to the waterworks I’d need to turn on at any moment.

  “You will be moved out of your barracks for the next month into a solitary room. You will spend all of your time there except for training. You’ll eat and sleep there and all of your privileges will be stripped.”

  I started crying quietly. It was becoming easier to fake this part. I was tired all the time, and though I had never been much of a crier, exhaustion brought everything to the surface. Especially since I left Charlie.

  The Captain ignored me at first.

  “Your extra shifts will be doubled. You will only work sanitation jobs. You will be cleaning bathrooms and showers for the month. Do you understand?”

  I was bawling now and could barely answer. “Y-yes, ma-a-a-am,” I whimpered. I couldn’t wipe the tears from my face with my hands cuffed behind my back. I was completely exposed, unable to move, and sobbing openly. I need one more gentle nudge.

  “Wh-what’s gonna ha-happen to us, ma’am?”

  The Captain sat down and sighed, leaning her head against her hands.

  “I’ve trained many soldiers, and few of them were ready for what this entails,” she said to herself. “I didn’t
ask for this position. I was brought here after an indiscretion at my job. Someone saw potential in me, and allowed me to pay my debts by leading this complex.”

  I didn’t speak, but hiccupped with tears and sobs.

  “Now I’m expected to give weekly reports on trainees who are barely fit to hold a gun, let alone fight in formations. Every time I report to the Chancellor he is more disappointed in my work. It would be worse if it weren’t for the fact that most of the other training facilities are facing the same problems.”

  The Captain looked back up at me. There was no sympathy on her face, but the malice was gone as well.

  “My trainees are subpar and I lack the budget or time to train them better. People like you come in thinking this is better than the alternative. I’m doing my best but it’s never enough. People know this isn’t all it’s supposed to be. At least we’re training you to fight.” She paused and sighed. “Fight for what, I don’t know. What’s going to happen to you? You’ll get more fit. And you’ll get a gun.”

  I couldn’t parse her words. She wanted to look good for the Chancellor, but thought it was useless. She knew there was unrest. This was more than just wavering patriotism.

  “Is that – is that – are they – is that such a bad thing?” I hiccupped. “Wanting to, to get trained and help?” I opened my eyes widely, trying to feign the innocence I usually saw on my best friend Etta’s face. “Help” could mean a lot of things. What would it mean to the Captain? “We just want to – to – to do what’s right. Even if the government doesn’t kn-know.”

  The Captain stood up and kicked her chair to the side. I cowered. I’d been so hopeful that she saw the light. But she was just scared and trying to hold on to a normal job before being pushed into a life of servitude.

  “Is that bad? Wanting to do what’s right? Are you talking about what the rebels are doing, that it’s right?” she repeated. Her voice was lower now, and I felt a real terror creeping inside of me. “Are you asking me if the rebels are bad?”

  I didn’t answer. I couldn’t decide if I was pushing this too far.

  “The entire future of our race is threatened by infertility, and the rebels stand in the way of a real cure. You tell me, trainee. Is that bad?”

  I paused before answering. That wasn’t what was happening. They just wanted people to have the right to make choices about their own bodies. They wanted to prevent the Chancellor and his clones from increasing his control over all of us. The Captain stared at me.

  “Y-Yes?” I said hesitantly. “Yes, that’s bad.”

  The Captain exhaled slowly. “You don’t even understand it,” she said. “You’re just a kid. You haven’t been part of a community long enough to see how hard we’ve all worked for our entire lives. The rebels stirred up trouble that...can’t be stirred up safely.”

  This wording made me sit up straighter. So she agreed with the rebels, but didn’t think a rebellion was safe.

  “B-but you did something wrong, didn’t you? To end up working here?”

  “I was young and naïve, probably just like you are, trainee.”

  “What did you do?”

  The Captain rubbed her eyes. “You’re asking questions you have no business asking, trainee.” She walked around the table and pulled me up by my elbow. I felt myself pulled to my feet and dragged towards the door. “But remember. Stay the course. Stay in the army as long as you can. And that means following directions.”

  The two upper-level trainees stood outside, waiting for further instructions. She shoved me over and one caught me by the shoulders.

  “Take her to Barrack 3-S,” she said. “Remove her handcuffs when she gets there.” They nodded silently.

  “Trainee, your B-Band will have your new schedule updated within the hour. Any further insubordination will earn further punishment. If this continues, you may be kicked out of the training program entirely.”

  The two men grabbed me. The door to the interrogation room slammed shut behind us. I tried to look back to see if the Captain was still standing there, but I almost fell over and was pulled back forward by one of my guards.

  My new space was small and filthy. No one brought extra clothes, so I would have to sleep in my uniform. The door was locked, and I was stuck inside. I lay down on the bed.

  There was a real distrust of the government here, and more than I expected. Even the Captain believed in what we were doing. She said she didn’t like it, but at one point, she must have done something that went against the community motto: What’s Best for the Community is Best for Me. I couldn’t think of what she could have done besides something to do with the Underground. And her language was so vague. She was torn.

  Then again, she spoke about the Underground with disgust. Maybe her crime was fighting people in the Underground. I couldn’t see that as being punishable to this extreme, though. No, she must have been on our side at one point. And if she was on our side once, she could be again. And she had power and direct access to one of the Chancellor’s clones.

  I felt a smile creep onto my face. I looked around my little room. I’d be here for a month. It was worth it, though. We had new information, and it was valuable.

  Chapter 12 – Charlie

  Lee wasn’t the only one present at our “meeting;” the Chancellor’s youngest clone was there too. He smiled at me crookedly, like he hadn’t done it much before.

  “I’m Enzo,” he said as he extended a hand. “Thanks for letting me sit in here.”

  Lee spoke slowly and calmly, but never looked at Enzo directly.

  “Nice to see you, Charlie,” Lee said before closing his lips tightly. I had a feeling Lee hadn’t done much of this type of work before either. Physical aggression was unheard of when I grew up. I must have been the first breeder to act up in what was supposed to be our slice of utopia.

  “I heard you got into an altercation with one of those people, the Chosen,” Lee said. He swiped through a couple screens on his holocast before looking back at me.

  “Who are the Chosen?” Enzo leaned in to Lee to whisper, but I could hear every word. He wasn’t the most confident Chancellor clone I had ever seen.

  “Remember your briefing, sir?” Lee asked through gritted teeth. “Jacob’s group. They believe the breeders were chosen by the gods.”

  Enzo scrolled through something on a tablet he held in his hands. Lee looked at him expectantly. Finally Enzo nodded, and Lee continued.

  “I don’t have any records of physical violence on your file since you were in middle class. We have very few violent citizens these days, Charlie. Why would you choose to express yourself in that way?”

  “Lee, where have you been for the past year?” I folded my arms and leaned back in my chair, trying to seem casual. “We have violent citizens. All the ones with gray suits and guns. Or the rebels bombing buildings or assassinating leaders. Not too long ago, a friend of mine was shot dead by one of those security guards.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” Lee said robotically, overarticulating each syllable. Enzo looked back and forth between us, trying to pick up the source of Lee’s apprehension.

  “That’s not what happened,” Enzo said. He leaned in towards me now, so that his head was above mine. I couldn’t see the kids as a threat, though. It was like a child dressing up like an adult. I stared at him and merely raised an eyebrow.

  “The rebels are attempting to mount a revolution that will overtake our current, successful government and stand in the way of solving the fertility crisis once and for all,” Enzo said.

  I recognized the words’ tone. It matched the Chancellor I knew’s pitch and rhythm. Miniature Chancellor flushed pink at having just repeated one of this clone line’s common propaganda statements.

  “It’s wrong,” Enzo said. “There’s no other way to look at it. The rebels are selfish. They say they want to have a role in the government, as if the government does anything besides providing them good, easy lives. None of those citizens a
re interested in joining us; they just want to destroy what we’ve built. Our sources say they only have enough resources to last a few more months.”

  That couldn’t be right. It would be hard at places like Gentle Acres and Young Woods to support their citizens, but if they worked together they’d last a long time. Gentle Acres alone had more than enough to last ten or twelve months.

  “That’s right,” Lee said with a catch in his voice. He raised his eyebrows at me pointedly. “Charlie here knows that the rebels are dangerous and harmful. This is about Jacob and his sermonizing, is it not?”

  I nodded slowly.

  “He can get on people’s nerves, can’t he, Charlie?”

  I nodded again.

  “So someone instigated this act of aggression,” Lee said, glancing up at Enzo. “You’re not here to cause trouble, Charlie. You just let your emotions get the best of you. Transitioning to this new way of life is hard for everyone.”

  “I guess so,” Enzo said. “I mean, if that guy said something to you...The punishment can be light...?” He looked at Lee. It was a strange power dynamic. Enzo was the highest ranking person in the room, but he didn’t know how to exert his authority. He would have to rely on people like Lee to help him.

  “Yes, that’s right,” Lee said. He nodded in deference to Enzo, as if Enzo hadn’t just summarized exactly what Lee wanted. Enzo looked at me, and I smiled humbly.

  “Given the relatively low level of the malfeasance and our goal of finding mates for all breeders in the community, I suggest we let Charlie off with twenty hours of community service and a mediated conversation between Charlie and Jacob’s man. That would align with the other approved penalities I’ve assigned in the past, at least according to your cl – the Chancellor. The one we used to work with, that is.”