The Kronos loyalists found the rebel group as they were destroying the last of the evidence, and rushed in without a word. They burst into the records room, beating and stabbing people with clubs, knives, and some makeshift weapons. They killed three people and wounded one badly before anyone could even scream a warning.
Josh Taylor sprang into action, taking out one loyalist with a straight kick to the chest. Another came over quickly, but Taylor was quicker, ducking the roundhouse swing of a nightstick, coming up swiftly behind him, grabbing his collar and belt, and ramming him face-first into a steel pole, using his own momentum against him. Another man rushed him from behind and might have gotten to him, but in his excitement he yelled and gave himself away. By now, Taylor saw him out of the corner of his eye, ducked, grabbed the billy club from the man he just knocked out, came back around as his new attacker spun around, and brought the club around in a spinning backfist-type of motion right in the face. Wolfe had a split second to appreciate his friend’s combination of speed, martial arts knowledge, and ability to improvise, before joining the fray.
Nick Wolfe was more of a traditionalist when it came to fighting, sticking with straight technique when one-on-one, as a matter of honor and pride. But in a case where he was fighting multiple people at a time, he readily threw away the rulebook. A loyalist came at him with a large butcher’s knife, apparently taken from the hospital kitchen. He attempted a jab that Wolfe saw coming a mile away. He was able to begin moving away from it as his attacker drew back to thrust the knife forward. By the time his arm was extended, Wolfe twisted his body away from the knife, but rolling toward the man. Wolfe’s back was against the enemy’s chest with his right forearm wrapped under the elbow of his opponent, pulling upward, while his left hand was clamped on the loyalist’s wrist, pushing down. Wolfe’s would-be assassin knew his arm was about to be broken and was fighting it. Wolfe’s left elbow met the attacker’s face hard, then went back to work on the wrist, pushing down. The opposite pressures soon broke the arm at the elbow as the knife finally fell out of his hand. A scream escaped before the loyalist passed out.
Wolfe was an expert at using a knife. This one was a little bigger and flimsier than the one he used while a mercenary for Evans’ squad, but he adapted quickly and was unstoppable. Using the weapon as an extension of his own hand, he went through three more Kronos men before seeing Josh overpowered by four loyalists on the other side of the room. By the time he reached his comrade, Taylor was wounded, but was able to knock out one man with a few punches, while Wolfe sliced up the other two.
The rest of their group held their own. A few were killed and most were injured in varying degrees, but most were okay. The amount of blood spilled by Wolfe in those few minutes was a shock to the Kronos loyalists, all of whom shared Kronos’ memories of his own ruthlessness. Kronos was willing to kill, but rarely got his own hands dirty, and certainly not like this! The six men who remained left the room and the building as quickly as possible. A fire had started, but was under control soon after the attackers retreated.
Josh looked bad, but Nick and Gretchen helped him downstairs to be treated for a wound to his side, while Nick went to find the clone of Stephen Evans. Once they got to the operating room, the group found out Josh was in worse shape than they originally thought, but that he was going to be operated on and should be fine—at least he’d be made well enough to make it to Evans’ plane, which was fueled up and ready to go. With the chaos spreading across the island, they agreed to meet at the plane in two hours.
“Take good care of him, Gretchen.”
“Don’t worry. He’s at the best hospital in Pangaea.”
This drew smiles from both men as they knew Pangaea General was the only hospital on the island.
***
The only living person with Stephen’s DNA was found easily enough, in his quarters getting dressed. He had been woken by all the commotion and had only recently found out what was going on down at Pangaea General Hospital. Wolfe knocked, Stephen answered, and Wolfe forced his way inside, closing the door as quickly as he could.
He asked Stephen, “Do you know what’s going on?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know what you are?”
“Yes.”
“Are you interested in meeting the father of your original DNA donor, and in possibly taking over his life and living as Stephen Evans?”
“Yes, if Stephen’s father will have me as his son, I would like that, but he must know I am not his son. I don’t want to live another lie.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll tell him.”
With that, the two made their way to the airport to meet with Josh and Gretchen, and to leave the island having accomplished at least part of their mission.
Chapter 15
Josh woke up on the operating table. He felt no pain. Gretchen was waiting on him to wake up, and spoke. “You have to get dressed, Josh. We have 45 minutes to get to the airport.”
“Right. Are you sure I’ll be able to travel?”
“Yes,” said Gretchen looking away for a second.
As Josh spoke, he felt his stomach and noticed there was no wound. His hand went over his abdomen a few times before he realized what had happened.
“I didn’t exactly make it, did I?”
“No, I’m so sorry,” replied Gretchen. This time she gathered the strength to look Josh Taylor’s clone in the eye while delivering the bad news. She stopped short of calling him by his name, since it wasn’t his name at all. It never was.
“Well, I guess I can’t feel bad about it since I’m alive, but yet I do. I remember being Josh Taylor, but now I’ve awakened to the knowledge that I am not Josh Taylor. I remember everything. Fighting, flirting with you … everything. It feels like I went under to be operated on an hour ago, but in reality I haven’t even been alive that long.”
“You can be Josh Taylor if you want. You’re the closest thing alive to him. No one will know the difference, except me …”
“And Nick.”
“Yes, Nick will know whether I tell him or not, but you know he’s good at keeping a secret. You’re his best friend.”
“My donor was his best friend.”
He was right. Although Gretchen was reasonably sure Nick would understand and embrace Josh’s clone, she knew this could go bad in a heartbeat. She was starting to doubt the wisdom of creating Josh Taylor 2.0. Why had she done this? There was no way Nick Wolfe would be fooled by a clone. He’d lost friends and comrades before. Surely he could let Josh go.
But Gretchen couldn’t; she wouldn’t. Ever since she realized who and what she was, she knew she had never really been loved. Josh’s attention made her realize she was more than one of a hive of recruits united toward a series of goals.
He made her feel like a normal person.
More than that, he made her realize she was special. Gretchen knew she would have to do the same for him. Waking up as a clone on Rik Kronos’ island meant waking up to the reality that nothing you know is real, not even your own identity. It would take some getting used to.
Almost as if he were reading Gretchen’s mind, the clone figured out why he was alive.
“Josh was falling in love with you,” he said gently. “I don’t know that anything in my head is real. All my memories are on a chip in my brain, but standing in this room with you, I know how I feel, and I know that Josh’s memories are real. You connect me to him and to reality. If all I am is a clone with a memory chip, it’s enough for me.”
As a fellow miracle of modern science, Gretchen was all too familiar with the feelings and doubts that come with being a clone, but she’d had time to deal with them. She countered, “Don’t worry. That’s all I am too, but I can tell you I am more than that … and so are you. What makes someone else’s reality better or more real than ours? Nothing!”
Josh continued, “We’ll meet Nick and Stephen at the plane and work it out from there. Whatever happens, I want us to be together.”
/> “Are you sure?” asked Gretchen, “Josh would never have been able to leave his career to be with anyone.”
“That’s true, but I’m not Josh. I’m not sure how much of him is a part of me; there must be differences. But I believe there’s enough for us to have a life together. In this way, I will live a better, fuller life than Josh would have allowed for himself.”
Gretchen knew this was not Josh; he was a different man. But she suspected he would be and decided to clone him anyway. It occurred to her that he could have turned out different in other ways, with other dominant personality traits. If she was looking for a version of Josh that could love her, he was the best thing that could have happened.
She hinted, “We’ll figure out the details on the way.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We should probably go.”
They took each other’s hand and walked out of the hospital, found a pickup truck, and made their way to the airport.
Chapter 16
Word of Kronos’ death spread across the island, along with rumors and half-truths that were incredible. The whole truth blew the mind of every recruit on a personal level. Once again, sides were chosen quickly to battle for control of the island. There were a few loyalists to Rik Kronos and his vision. Many were still angry at Kronos for his deception, but mainly hated him for dying and taking their chance of greatness and adventure with him. The way they saw it, Kronos’ legacy was their birthright. They were literally born to explore the stars, and their donors died to give them that right. These clones would not give up their shared destiny or Pangaea without a fight.
Many inhabitants were angry at their original donors for selling them into a disposable life of slavery, while others realized they would not exist if not for this circumstance. There were still some who just wanted to go away and find their own life, to pursue happiness on their own. Before any of these things could happen they had to battle the loyalists for their freedom again and for control of the island.
Nick and Stephen Evans’ clone made it with relative ease to the airport, and waited as long as they could for Josh and Gretchen, but it was 11:30 p.m., about 15 minutes past the time they’d agreed upon to meet and depart the island … and the natives were getting restless.
New Stephen said, “If we’re going to go, we need to do it now.”
“Let’s give it a few more minutes.”
Wolfe wanted to give his friends every chance to make it off the island, and to know they were okay. In addition, the pilot was missing, and Wolfe wasn’t entirely sure he could get off the island, let alone make it back to New Seattle or Atlanta. Josh would be a better man for the job.
The new Stephen, now fully aware of his identity, made a better case for leaving the island immediately, “You do realize I was literally born knowing how to fly a plane, right?”
A few buildings had caught fire in the distance and it was only a matter of time before the airport would be on fire or full of desperate, angry clones. He wanted Stephen’s closest living relative to escape unharmed. He would still have to break the news to Tristan that his son was dead, but this Stephen was close enough to carry on the Evans family line, and would be better than returning empty-handed.
Wolfe knew the situation was only getting worse. He also knew there was a good chance Josh was dead already, but that if he were alive, he could take care of himself. Stephen’s clone was right.
“Okay, let’s see what you can do.”
***
The clones of Josh Taylor and Gretchen Brooks arrived at the airport just in time to watch the private jet with “BioMek Horizons” emblazoned on it leave Pangaea. Nick Wolfe was the only visitor to the island to leave alive, and Stephen Evans’ clone was the first one born on the island to leave it.
The couple briefly discussed how this situation could work out well for them, since they would have time to come up with a story and for the new Josh Taylor to practice at being his original DNA donor enough to take over and assume his life.
The conversation turned to how it could work out even better since they could disappear completely now. All they had to do was make it onto a plane.
They both laughed, knowing this was what they wanted all along.
Chapter 17
There was some conversation on the flight back to New Seattle about what to tell Tristan Evans about his son, and it was decided that the new Stephen Evans would not be able to pass himself off as the original, especially to his own father. He still wanted to connect with his father, and had no problem calling Tristan his father since his DNA was identical to that of Tristan’s son.
The clone hoped Tristan would find room in his heart for him, but was already acquainted enough with disappointment in his short life to keep from getting his hopes up. Still, he wanted his life to have meaning to someone other than himself. His life began with the memories of being Rik Kronos and Stephen Evans—and the realization that he was neither of these men. Even now, he went back and forth, alternating between these memories, but usually edged out those of Kronos in favor of his own new memories and those of Stephen Evans. The new Stephen enjoyed many of these memories; they were a mostly happy childhood.
Even the sadder times from Stephen’s life could be looked at objectively as learning experiences. There was no need to repeat those mistakes. In a way he could easily think of them as mistakes he earned since he couldn’t get the time back any more than his DNA donor or anyone else could.
These thoughts kept the clone awake as he flew the plane all the way back to New Seattle. He felt like he had navigated this part of the United States before, and it occurred to him that both Stephen and Kronos had been skilled pilots, and so he had inherited all the experience and flying hours of both.
This made him smile.
Wolfe was well rested from the flight, and Stephen was alert, if only on adrenaline. He couldn’t sleep if he wanted to. Wolfe gave Tristan Evans a summary of events of the trip. Since Josh was missing, he knew he would owe Evans a written report as well, but there would be time for that later—and some details could not wait.
Tristan Evans had calmed down in his older age somewhat, though he was still known for the occasional fit of rage. Wolfe knew better than to surprise him with anything, let alone the fate of his son and the fact that a perfect clone of him was created to replace him for no reason other than to satisfy Rik Kronos’ God complex.
Regardless of the circumstances of his birth, Tristan Evans now had a new son, and he deserved to know as quickly as possible. He took the news of his son’s death better than Wolfe thought he would, but then again, he had suspected something like that might happen or he wouldn’t have sent anyone to the island to begin with.
The real mystery was how he would react to this new version of his son. For him to appear on his own might have been fine, or even to appear after Tristan had time to grieve for his son, but these circumstances could be complicated.
Tristan, as it happened, had been grieving his son since he left for Pangaea. It happened under the worst of circumstances. Stephen had wanted to get out from under his father’s shadow since his late teens, but knew it would be impossible. He buried his feelings in drink and drugs, and often mistook rebellion for its own sake for being his own man. The last thing he said to his father was that he would never speak to him again. Since Stephen’s intention was to explore space, Tristan had no reason to think he would ever see him again.
Mistakes were made on both sides. Tristan wasn’t sure what he would do, but he wanted to see this young man, this long-lost relative. Just as this young man wanted to connect with the father he had never met, Tristan wanted a chance to redeem himself, to raise an heir to the Evans empire or at least to give his child the chance to take over if he wanted to, to be a good father, to love and be loved.
As he welcomed the two into his sprawling estate just outside of New Seattle, he studied the clone of his son closely. He looked mostly the same, but not exactly. He carried himself differently. H
e was more at ease with himself. He was certainly more comfortable in his own skin than Stephen was, especially when mentioned in the same breath as his famous father. Maybe it was because he had no expectations of Tristan, or maybe it was because he had some of Kronos’ memories and experience. Tristan still wondered how this could be—Stephen was born into the family and had known nothing but being an Evans. He was used to all the finer things and should always have felt at home in this house. In spite of this, Stephen had had a drive to learn and prove himself. He flew his first plane at age 14. He worked hard, but never felt like he was enough. Both he and his father were worried he wouldn’t measure up and it showed in their relationship.
On the other hand, this spitting image of his son was a clone, but carried himself like a king. Until 48 hours ago, he was the personal property of Rik Kronos. He was essentially a slave who had a brief taste of being more. He was a wealth of talent and intellect, who had been conditioned to know his place. He paid the penance for his donor’s blind ambition, and with this new freedom he would find his own way in the world. He did not want or need help from anyone—not Kronos, and not Tristan Evans. What he really wanted was family, and his hopes grew in spite of himself that Tristan would accept him.
The older Evans saw this confident version of the son that should have been, and decided that if he had the chance to try again he would do a better job. He also saw enough grit and desire in the new Stephen that he could make mistakes without being resented.
Slaves of Pangaea: The Second Nick Wolfe Sci Fi Adventure (Nick Wolfe Adventure Series Book 2) Page 6