Christ Clone

by McLeod, David

  Wanting to get the main points from the previous week out of the way as soon as possible, he passed copies of the minutes to all present and asked if there was anything to add, pausing to give them time to skim the document. Satisfied there were no additions or amendments, he turned to the whiteboard on the wall. It had been carefully categorized with timelines and objectives. Marked in red within the week ten box was the word puberty. Circling the box, he turned to the paediatrician, Katarina Domis, and asked what they would be expecting in terms of physical development over the next few weeks. Fully prepared, she stood up and took her place next to Doctor Borgoff.

  'About twenty-five per cent of human growth in height occurs during puberty, so our boy is about to become a young man.' Holding up card prompts, she continued: 'The first sign we'll see is the enlargement of the testes, and his scrotum will redden; pubic hair will begin to grow and there will be body odour.' She waved her hand in front of her nose, and the rest of the room chuckled quietly.

  'Essentially, we'll see changes in his skeletal, muscular, and reproductive areas — even his voice will break! All in all, quite a busy time for him. I don't think any of us envy him this part.'

  'So, what will you be specifically watching for, Katarina?' The question came from the psychologist, Dr Poskov.

  'Well, due to the rate of growth and change, there'll be some pain and fatigue. I know he can handle more than his fair share of discomfort, but I believe the symptoms during this stage will manifest themselves as anger and resentment. Basically, this is your realm, Dr Poskov. I will be getting him to rest and relax as much as possible, but it's up to you to keep his head straight.'

  When Katarina had finished her analysis and projections, Dr Borgoff thanked her and turned his attention to Dr Poskov.

  Choosing not to stand, Dr Poskov looked sternly at the faces around the table. 'As Katarina said, this is a busy time for our boy. His changes, both physically and chemically, are going to cause him great difficulty. They're bad enough for a normal child when the changes happen over a relatively long period. We're going to need to offer as much support as we can, and under no circumstances must anyone tease him about anything physical, not even if you think he'll enjoy it.' The last part of his speech was aimed at Dr Borgoff, and Poskov looked directly at him as he spoke.

  Dr Borgoff had, over the past few weeks, built up a strong friendship with the boy and some of their antics were bordering on abusive to certain members of the staff — particularly to the obese Doctor Dmitri or 'Dr Donutri,' as they had renamed him.

  Acknowledging the warning, Dr Borgoff thanked him and asked if there was anything else to report. When nothing was forthcoming, he adjourned the meeting and wished them well for the week ahead.

  WEEKS 13–16: ADOLESCENCE

  Dr Borgoff looked deep into the retina scanner to gain entry to the clone's quarters. He hated the way the scanner's bright red laser seemed to shine around the back of his skull and heat his brain. The number of times I've used this device over the past few months must be damaging my eyes, he thought.

  Was it the scanner, or was it the sleep deprivation that made blinking feel like his eyelids were rubbing against sandpaper. The burst red capillaries set against the off-white of his eyeballs resembled a street map of Moscow; he needed rest, but as access was granted, his smile returned. Spending time with his 'son', the science project, made it all worthwhile.

  The steel doors slid open and Viktor entered the suite, winking at the CCTV as he passed. The apartment was an old storage area that had been adapted to suit the needs of both the scientists and the clone. The scientists needed information and constant surveillance. Cameras and microphones had been set up in all three rooms, rolling and recording all day, every day. Temperature gauges, humidity controllers, and an array of monitors all reported back to the main CPU in the control room. Checks and double-checks were done in fifteen-minute cycles, nothing went unnoticed.

  The beige carpet took the chill off the cold cement floor, and thin brown partitions chopped the large room into living, sleeping, and bathing areas. A large plasma TV hung on one of the walls in the living area, and between the numerous two-way mirrors dotted around the suite were large pictures of major cities of the world: New York, London, Paris and, of course, Moscow. The pictures were there to disguise the fact there were no windows through which to view the outside world.

  When the clone was born, Viktor had run a competition among his department heads to name the boy. The person who came up with the most appropriate name got to put their own name to the first week's research paper. As this was such a huge opportunity, all involved went to great lengths to outdo their peers. The winner, after it had been put to a vote, was Dr Katarina Domis with the name Aloysha. It meant 'defends mankind', and as well as seeming apt, had a nice ring to it.

  As the weeks unfolded, Dr Borgoff managed to impart so much of his life and experience to Aloysha that he had become the child's role model. From his birth, through his toddler years, up till now — even though it had been only a handful of months — Borgoff had been there, by his side, playing, educating, and generally guarding him. Regardless of the time or what he was occupied with, Borgoff would always be there for the boy if he was needed — and often if he wasn't. The station colonel thought it was a bit over the top, and asked Borgoff if he had become as attached to any of his other experiments.

  But Katarina had told the colonel it was healthy for the clone to have some form of authority figure to turn to and as he had bonded with Dr Borgoff, they should exploit it. Viktor didn't like the word exploit, but he kept his mouth shut.

  'Good morning, Aloysha,' Viktor said as he entered the room.

  'Good morning, Viktor. What shall we talk about today?' the young clone asked, his brown eyes wide open and alert. The question was Aloysha's way of saying hello; it was a ritual they had begun soon after he'd learned to speak. In the early days, Dr Borgoff would struggle over what to discuss with him — what was educational, and what was actually approved. So he would mutter, 'What shall we talk about today?' to himself.

  Aloysha picked up on this and began, to Dr Borgoff's amusement, to mimic it. The clone loved to see Dr Borgoff smile and vice versa; their talks often moved away from the educational books and into their personal lives. Although Aloysha's life had been highly restricted thus far, he was stimulated by his huge imagination, and fuelled by the reams of information constantly fed to him.

  Dr Borgoff had discussed his own childhood and education, his mother and father, the small town he'd grown up in — he even spoke of his childhood sweetheart — and the games he'd played, and then his career. The career that had taken over his life, and left him with no room for anything else. Until the clone, his job had been a series of lab tests and lab results. Aloysha listened and asked questions about Dr Borgoff and about himself. There were easy questions to answer, and of course there were the hard ones:

  'Why am I so different from the people I see on the TV?'

  'Why can't I go outside?'

  'Where are my parents?'

  'Why do I keep getting headaches?'

  'What are all the tests for?'

  Viktor's answers to these questions had excited the boy. The answers came by way of a story; it was a story Viktor had picked up from the Web page in the Discussion Topics section. He'd told Aloysha he was a special boy with special powers, and that was why he'd been brought up this way. Aloysha had been watching some of the super hero cartoons and had spent most of that week guessing what super powers he'd been given. Could he fly? Was he super strong? Did he have X-ray vision?

  Most of the answers were obvious to both of them, but it was a game that lasted for a while — until Viktor told Aloysha that his special power was to be able to see into the far-distant past. But, and he was very serious at this point, that special power would probably take some time to appear, and he must be patient.

  Earlier that day, Aloysha had been given a thorough physical examination, so Vikt
or decided on a different approach to the day's catch up. 'I thought today we'd play before we talked. How does that sound?' From behind his back, Viktor produced a new PlayStation game. Aloysha had become very good at video games and loved to play them.

  His amazing dexterity meant he managed to get through to the end of most of the games he'd been given in a matter of hours. He really enjoyed the racing games, but the shoot 'em ups were quickly discarded. He didn't like the violence at all. They settled into the game and began to race; Aloysha easily lapped Viktor, but it didn't matter. What mattered was the boy was having fun. Cheers rang out with each crash, and with every win. Aloysha gave Viktor a considerable head start in one race, but still managed to beat him.

  The racing was interrupted by a vibrating pulse on Viktor's pager. The note read 'Discussion time', which meant the fun was over and the work was about to start. Moving away from the TV, they sat on the couch and started to talk.

  'How are you feeling after the tests we've done today?' Viktor asked.

  'Okay, I guess.' Aloysha looked at the ground as he spoke — something he seldom did.

  'Aloysha, look at me.'

  As he looked up, Viktor could see Aloysha was starting to cry.

  'Are you all right?' Viktor asked as he moved to sit beside the boy.

  'They hurt. All the poking and prodding, it hurt me. And they put something up my . . .' The boy motioned towards his backside.

  Viktor hugged the boy.

  'Everything will be all right. We discussed this yesterday, how we need to make sure you're in perfect health. Everyone goes through this sort of examination at some point in their life. Believe me, it's better that they do the tests now, rather than finding out later that you have a horrible disease.'

  'What, like cancer or something?' Aloysha asked.

  'Exactly. Now, what else shall we talk about?'

  'I watched Baywatch last night. Do all girls look like that?'

  Viktor laughed, he'd forgotten that he'd slipped that onto the playlist. 'Only the ones that undergo surgery to enhance their special talents.' Aloysha gave him a puzzled look. The two of them went into a lengthy discussion of American women and, in particular, California girls.

  Finally Aloysha changed the subject. 'I had a dream last night. I've been meaning to tell you, because I've had it a few times now, but I'm worried in case you think it's silly.'

  Dr Borgoff sat up. 'What are your dreams about?'

  'It's a place I call Sunnyland. I've been there a few times, it's very hot and dusty, and the people are dressed funny.'

  There it was, so simple: a sunny land. Although it was hoped that the topic would rear its head at some point — after all, that was why they were there — Dr Borgoff wasn't ready for it, and his mind began to race. It was no more than theory, the hope that a clone would have some form of past-life recall (PLR). Viktor panicked. If Aloysha was having his first flashback, that would mean he would be moved on to the next stage of the project; he would be taken away. Surely he was too young to be passed on to the next team?

  Viktor quickly changed the subject, hoping the others had missed the connection, but deep down he felt sure they hadn't. 'What would you like to do tomorrow?' he asked. Almost immediately his pager went off. He didn't bother checking the number; he knew who it would be. They had, of course, been listening.

  Viktor guessed this must be what it felt like to face a firing squad.

  The regular faces from his weekly meetings were there, but also the security manager, the interrogation squad, and the station colonel. For the first time since all this started, he wasn't in control of a meeting, but he was fully aware of the agenda that lay ahead.

  The colonel broke the silence. 'I understand the clone has opened up!' There were no greetings to anyone, just a straight-to-the-point statement.

  The transcript was passed around the room, with 'Sunnyland' typed in bold as the headline.

  'Having read the conversation, my first question is directed at you, Dr Borgoff. Why didn't you continue to explore the dream with it?'

  He'd known this question was coming and had prepared himself well, but the way the colonel referred to Aloysha as 'it' threw him. 'I had just spent four hours with the boy — playing and discussing the usual subjects, including his dreams about the world, and in particular his fantasies about California and its supermodels. I simply missed the connection; I'm sorry.'

  Most if not all of the people in the room knew he was lying, but it would be difficult to prove. Pushing the issue would have been futile, and Dr Borgoff knew he had grown to be far too important to the young man for them to remove him from the project, not without causing some form of emotional damage.

  The colonel mulled over Dr Borgoff's excuse for a moment, made a couple of notes on the pad in front of him, and then moved on. 'The Sunnyland dreams are the first step in what we believe is the return to its first life. What are the implications of bringing in the interrogation team now?' His question was directed to Dr Poskov.

  'I am sure the clone is strong enough emotionally to be able to cope with a very gentle approach — more of an interview than an interrogation. However, the encounters could become hostile if the questioning turns into a deeper probing. To be safe, I would recommend he have an ally in the room and, with their history, it should probably be Dr Borgoff.'

  Knowing that his comments and feedback would be called upon, Viktor had met with Dr Poskov earlier and they'd gone over the whole statement. He'd told the doctor to act naturally, but winced now as he listened to him speak. He thought it sounded a bit too rehearsed and kept his gaze lowered while the colonel took the information on board.

  'Do you think your team can tread softly?' the colonel asked one of the dark-suited men from the interrogation team. They all nodded in unison; at this point they would have agreed to just about anything to get their hands on the clone.

  'Okay, I believe we should lean towards the more cautious approach and make Dr Borgoff part of the interviewing process.'

  Their faces sank a little.

  'Let's get to it first thing in the morning then. You are all dismissed — except you, Dr Borgoff, would you please stay behind a moment.'

  Viktor's shoulders dropped. He'd somehow known he wouldn't get off that easily.

  Once they were alone, the colonel said, 'I don't know if you were tired, or if you were protecting the lab rat, but rest assured I will be watching you very closely from now on. I am expecting you to cooperate fully with the interrogation team. Do you understand me? That's all. Good day, Dr Borgoff.' Staring directly at him, the colonel had barked out his orders, and then dismissed him without allowing him to respond.

  Early the next day, standing outside the room, Dr Borgoff again faced the retina scanner. It felt different today, maybe because their private session was going to be interrupted by the interrogation team, the Fab Four as he thought of them. Or maybe he'd overstepped the mark, and it was just a project he'd grown way too close to.

  'What shall we talk about today?' Aloysha asked dubiously, looking at the new guests.

  'Well, today we're going to do something a little different. I've brought some friends with me; they're going to be joining our conversations from now on.' Dr Borgoff turned and introduced four people: three wise men — Viktor conjured up images of camels and gifts in his head — and one woman. 'They want to talk about the dreams you've been having, and they're going to try to get rid of that headache you have,' Viktor lied.

  The initial week of therapy was to be very casual: gain the subject's trust and size up the task ahead, was their brief. Aloysha relaxed on the couch, and the five adults pulled up chairs.

  Dr Borgoff opened the initial round of questions. 'You were telling me about the dreams you were having, I think you called them your Sunnyland dreams.' Viktor was making a special effort not to call the youngster by his name.

  'They were supposed to be a secret!' Aloysha spat the words, folding his arms across his chest, his bottom lip a
lmost engulfing his top one.

  Viktor patted him on his knee. 'Now don't be like that in front of our friends. I know I said that anything we discussed was between you and me, but our friends say they can get rid of your headache by talking about your dreams, so I told them a few of the things we said. Only the Sunnyland things, nothing else, and you do want the headaches to stop, don't you?' He hated lying, but it was a white lie; all their conversations were recorded so nothing, in fact, was a secret.

  The youngster nodded, but he continued to scowl. 'Sunnyland is a place where the sun is always shining; I can feel it even though I know I'm in a dream, it feels so real.'

  'Do you know where it is exactly?' one of the men asked.

  Dr Borgoff shot the man a nasty look and shook his head. Weren't they supposed to be the professionals at this game?

  'Please, continue,' Viktor urged, his voice calm and soothing.

  Aloysha rested his head back on the couch and started again. 'I'm not sure where it is, but I get a feeling of when it was. It seems to be a long time ago, or maybe it's just a very poor area. I get glimpses of old stone houses and wooden carts. But the main thing is the heat, the burning heat of the sun, it's so overpowering.' He started to sweat, and he clammed up again.

  Dr Borgoff looked towards the four, trying to get them to wrap it up, but they were already on the hunt. 'Is there anyone there that you recognize?' the woman asked; her voice was soft, but it demanded an answer.

  Aloysha thought for a moment and tried to remember his dream. 'It's dusty and sandy; I'm dry — parched in fact; I know there are people around and I feel comfortable with them, so I guess I recognize them.'

  It wasn't the answer she wanted but the question put the clone at ease, allowing them all to proceed.

  'There is something about where we are, something sad. I . . . I . . .'

  Tears were beginning to roll down the youth's face.

  'Okay, Aloysha. Everything's going to be fine. I think we should call it a day here.' Viktor had recognized the signs of distress and ended the session, much to the disappointment of the Fab Four.