“Richard? Richard dear, is it you?”
He blinked, he was not expecting that kind of greeting. He thought that she would continue with the nagging she had been doing the last couple of days. His fingers dropped the holocube down again in the backpack but he changed his mind. He did not exactly know what had happened the last weeks but they had argued more and more.
The last couple of days he had even been glad to get away from home. His thoughts were racing. He moved quickly into the living room and looked for a place to hide the holocube. He did not want it in the open.
He went over to the bookshelf and put the holocube behind some books. Maybe not the best hiding place in the world but it had to do until he figured out something better. He heard Marinas voice from the bedroom.
“Richard? What are you doing?”
He went back to the hallway, towards the door where Marina’s voice came from. He opened the door to the bedroom, Marina was laying on the bed. She was just over forty-seven years old. He had met her there, during the first hectic months when they arrived and started their new lives. Everybody who applied to Tabula Rasa longed for something new, a new life, a new start, and Tabula Rasa gave them that opportunity.
“Come, my love. I have something for you.”
Richard smiled.
“What a pleasant surprise.”
He walked up to her and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. The scent of lavender was palpable. He knew that Marina had lit scented candles to set the mood. He smiled and walked up to her. Before he could sit down she got up and pulled him down to the bed and kissed him passionately.
It was a long time ago that they had made love. The touch between them was hesitant at first, careful. As they continued, both became more and more excited. He could feel her desire under him when he penetrated her. After a couple of minutes her fingers dug into his back while they reached climax together.
* * *
After they laid besides each other, slumbering in the soft bed. He could not say for how long they laid there but he twitched and opened his eyes. Richard got up from the bed and massaged his neck. Marina laid beside him. She opened her eyes and looked at him. There was still a distance between them that he did not really know where it came from. They were usually in a good place but something had come between them. It was something that he could not put his finger on. Something uncertain. Maybe it was his long working hours down in the lower levels. Maybe it was her desire to have children and his resistance for it.
At Tabula Rasa there were various fertility programs that you could use. He had heard that the highest recommended age for women in these programs was fifty years, which meant that Marina had three years left. He knew that it was wrong but at the same time he did not want to spend more time on changing diapers and late nights without sleep. There were no problems with having children when you were at Tabula Rasa. You would apply for permission and in the most applications it got approved. But still. There was something that could not get him to let go.
Richard cocked his head and listened. A weak clicking sound and Barry’s voice went silent. He stretched out his hand to Marina and pointed with the finger that she should be quiet. She looked surprised.
At the same moment that he realized that there was somebody in the apartment he turned around and got out of the bed.
* * *
A tall, blond man slid silently in through the doorway. He smiled a dazzling smile but did not say anything. He and Richard stared at each other a couple of seconds. Marina gawked shockingly at the man in the doorway. She seemed so surprised that she had lost her ability to speak. Richard took a step forward and said with a firm voice.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
The blond man’s smile widened. It was a movie star smile. Richard could see the perfect rows of white teeth shining. He seemed to be in excellent physical shape. His shoulders were wide and his whole persona beamed a kind of brute magnetism.
“Where’s the holocube?” the blond man asked, still smiling.
“What?” Richard answered, pretending to be surprised and blinked.
Gently the blond man took a step forward and put his hands together.
“Don’t act stupid now,” he sighed, “where’s it that your daughter sent to you?”
His mind was racing. He did not know how much more they knew. Maybe they did not know what the holocube contained and was only sent out to prevent an information leak. Richard knew that such leaks had happened before and at those occasions staff from the security department had been sent out.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. She hasn’t sent anything.”
The blond man’s smile changed character. His thin lips were pulled up into a thin, contemptuous smile.
“We know that you have it. You got it this afternoon. She sent it to you directly via the com link at your work. Don’t you think those kind of things would be registered?”
Richard`s brain was working frenetically.
“It was a mistake. She sent something work-related by mistake. She called me afterwards and I removed it immediately.”
The blond man took a step to the side and another man showed up behind him.
“Nice try old man, but we both know that is not the truth.”
Richard stared at the two men. They looked like twins besides the obvious fact that they had different hair color. One was blond with short, crewcut hair. The other had light red curly hair that almost looked childish. There was something uneasy about the whole situation that made Richard shiver.
When one of the men moved it seemed as the other one did as well, in a strange way they seemed synchronized. He glanced down at Marina who sat stiff and frozen in bed. Her eyes were wide open with fear. Richard glared at the two men and thought that even if he would have had a gun to defend himself with he would have still been in a weak position.
“Why don’t you just take it? It’s in there.” He pointed towards the living room.
“Yes. We know that you have it, that’s true. But what we don’t know is if you have made any copies and forwarded it. Have you?”
“No. How would I had time for that? I have no idea about where I should start. I don’t even know what it is.” His voice was an octave higher then he would have wanted it to be.
“That’s true. But if you knew, what would you do then?” the blond walked back and forth with soft steps while he spoke. He moved carefully and softly. Richard thought that he reminded him of a compressed spring that waited to explode.
“What kind of question is that? How can I answer on something that I don’t know?”
“I really want to believe you. The problem is that I must be sure.”
Marina moved silently in bed. Fear glittered in her eyes. The reddish man had moved away towards the bed and stood beside the edge. He quickly leaned over and grabbed Marinas arm. She screamed. The reddish man easily pulled her out of the bed with one arm. Her screaming intensified. Loud, sharp. The reddish man pulled her arm and her screams tore into Richards head when her arm was dislocated. Richard was petrified. Panic welled up in him and he threw himself against Marina to pull her loose. The blond man moved like electricity.
His movement were so fast that it was almost over before Richard had time to register what had happened. The blond man had with a giant leap moved so that he blocked the way for Richard. Richard bumped hard into the blonde man’s chest. It was like he had hit a living wall. Richard collapsed into a pile on the floor while Marina continued her painful screaming. The blonde man looked down at Richard and smiled.
“Again. Tell me what you have done with it. Have you copied it?”
“No. Please stop. No more.” he sobbed.
“Where is it?”
He pointed towards the shelf, “There. In the holocube behind the books.”
The blond man looked at the bookshelf and walked up to it, stopped and pulled out the holocube. Marina continued screaming. Loud. Insanely loud. The howlin
g sound echoed in Richards head and the soft lavender smell got mixed up with a sharp smell when Marina wet herself.
“Please, let her go.” Richards’s voice was weak.
“Yes. I wish that we could do that. But I think you already know what’s going to happen.”
“Please.”
“Yes, I know, I know. Sometimes life is unfair. But that’s life. Sometimes somebody dies so that others can live. Sometimes even whole generations perish but it doesn’t matter in the long run.”
The reddish man still held Marina`s arm firmly while her other arm scratched the man to let her go. Blood trickled down her disabled arm in small, thin streams. Marina’s eyes were wild, shocked by the pain her body was forced to endure. Richard feebly reached out for her. She stared at him, begging for help.
The reddish man stood silent, immovable and glanced over at the blonde man. The blonde stepped forward and took an iron grip around Richards’s arms and they almost shattered when the blonde man locked them against his body. Richard screamed. The screams from both Richard and Marina were deafening in the cramped bedroom but the blonde man seemed unaffected and smiled. He glanced at Marina and then nodded to the reddish man.
Marina yelled. The reddish man took two steps back and lifted Marina straight up in the air while he fast spun her around. Both his arms wrapped around her neck and with a snap, he broke it. Marina sank limply through his arms and slid down onto the floor. A strong metallic smell of blood reached Richard and he howled.
“No! You bastards!”
“Yes. I know. I am so sorry.” the blonde man said and let go of the sobbing Richard who collapsed to the floor. The blonde man nodded to the reddish man who walked toward Richard to finish him off. Richard knew that if he did not do anything now he would not have many seconds left to live. His instincts took over. He did not think but went on to something animalistic inside of him that had taken over. It was now or never. He pulled himself forward, down, as if he was giving up and was going to lay flat on the stomach in front of them. His arms were pounding with pain. Both of the men looked at each other, unsure of the unexpected reaction.
Richard stretched out his arm under the bed and prayed a quick prayer. He had an old samurai sword wrapped in a canvas under their bed and he grabbed it.
“That’s right my friend, it’s time to give up.” the blonde said and he tried to show Richard that he understood that he gave up his life to the superiority in front of him. The reddish man leaned forward to grab him by the neck.
Richard moved fast. He ignored the pain in his arms and in a sweep, he grabbed the sword and at the same time as he pulled it out he rolled around and plunged it forward. The reddish man who stood bent over him got hit by the sword in the right lung. The sword sank softly halfway in the man’s body. Richard pulled the sword back and forward and the sharp edge slashed the collapsing lung. The reddish man opened his mouth to scream but instead of sound, blood poured out, his fingers grabbed after Richards face but Richard continued to push the sword in and out in the hole that was getting bigger in the reddish man’s chest. The blonde man screamed hysterically and dropped the holocube.
Richard somehow got his leg under the reddish man and pushed with all power that he had left. The reddish man stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. The blonde man ran up and took the reddish man in his arms. Richard unsteadily got up on his legs, wobbled, dropped the sword, took the holocube and ran.
*
Falsterbo, Sweden.
2048-12-28
Free as a bird, the white golf ball ascended into the air, sailed upwards in a high arch and landed three meters past the fairway bunker on the ninth hole on Falsterbo golf club.
A couple of curious swallows dived after it and navigated back and forth a couple of times before they disappeared out of sight. It was just before lunch and the sun was already high in sky. The forecast for the day was no contaminated rain and that would not require any additional measures. The air was still cool from the morning but the afternoon promised more sun and heat. A faint salty breeze from the southwest, which according to the forecasts would increase, caressed the yellow golf course and thin cloud veils slowly drifted by in the sky. The irregular croaking from a couple of frogs came from somewhere far away.
“How is it going with the latest flooding’s?”
Erik Tuva grimaced.
“Both good and bad I guess. The last years it has become better but in the long run we most likely have a real problem.” He thought back of the big flooding 2039 when basically the whole peninsula had been under water.
“I heard that they were upgrading the floodgate system?”
Erik nodded.
“Yes, it’ll become even more powerful but I wonder if it isn’t just a band aid on a deep wound. It won’t be able to keep all the water out, especially not when it comes in a storm from north and all the water is pushed into Flommen. No matter how many flood gates you build, there is a limit for how much the system can handle. Sooner or later it will crumble and when it does, we’re history.”
Raimondo del Louis nodded thoughtfully and looked out at the beach where the big sand dunes that were built during two years in the beginning of 2040 and that went around the whole peninsula as protective guard. Erik shrugged his shoulders.
“But let us not ponder over that today. Today we’ll enjoy the day and discuss the future later. Ok?”
Raimondo smiled.
“Ok.”
Raimondo had been visiting Erik in his summer house in Falsterbo for two days and on Monday he was going home to Geneva where he lived.
Raimondo worked with work environment inspections at United Nations, more specifically at a department that went under the complicated name International Trade Department, shortened ILO and mainly worked with international labor standards and trade. His expertise was in labor law and with the development of the so called mega complex’s in the recent years he had been very busy.
He was tasked to coordinate work inspections at these various mega complexes and in most cases it often went well. One of the few exceptions was Tabula Rasa. They had time after time delayed inspections and obstructed Raimondo to carry out his work. Controls that had been planned a long time ahead usually got cancelled in the last second and Raimondo had more and more come to suspect that they did not cooperate because they had something to hide.
All their attempts to call the responsible doctors at Tabula Rasa, Dr Weng-Li and Dr Ln’geem to questioning had been ignored.
They walked together out to the elongated fairway. Erik glanced over at Raimondo.
“How’s it going with your work? Is it very busy?” Raimondo hesitated a couple of seconds.
“Both yes and no.”
“What do you mean?”
Raimondo looked at his friend. Erik worked with environmental issues at the Oresund’s authority that had the responsibility for the strategic environmental responsibility in Skane in Sweden and Zealand in Denmark. Raimondo smiled.
“Some of the information I’ve been able to confirm from other sources but some I haven’t been able to confirm.”
“What is it that you can’t confirm?”
“Well, that’s the problem. Some of the things that I have found out sound simply too amazing to be true.”
“Can you give any example?”
“This information is highly confidential. What I will tell you can’t tell anybody. Recently, we have compiled an indictment against Tabula Rasa regarding their unwillingness to cooperate with our attempts to make sure that they are really finished with their cloning experiments. Next week we’ll present our material and I am convinced that it will hold in court.” Raimondo looked at Erik that stared at him.
“You got to be kidding.”
Raimondo kept his look.
“No. That’s the honest truth. I haven’t said anything to you to protect you but I’m out swimming on very dark waters here. I need somebody else in my corner. But for God’s sake, keep it to yourself.
If it comes out that I have leaked something, it could become dangerous.”
Erik nodded again and frowned.
“Ok, you know you can trust me.”
Raimondo had come close to his ball, he let go of the handle of his golf bag that slid to a stop on the grass. He put his hand on the blade that was a driving iron.
“You understand; human cloning programs was banned globally. There were some programs that were intended for animal cloning and some of them could continue but all human cloning programs was shut down. Nobody was allowed to continue with their attempts and there was established a commission to monitor that the termination went as directed.”
“But Vendrick didn’t do it?”
Raimondo shook his head.
“What we have found out so far is that they continued. And apparently they have come farther than before. Much farther. And the official cloning programs they have for animals are far more advanced than anyone else has access to.” he said with emphasis.
“How did he manage to do that?”
“That is a good question that for the moment doesn’t really have a good answer.”
Erik frowned.
“I remembered I read about that there were several of those dismantlement groups that travelled around the world and monitored the whole process that would terminate the cloning programs. It went on for several years. Didn’t it?”
Raimondo nodded and took the five iron that the golf cart recommended.
“Yes, it did. The whole process took more than three years before it officially was finished.”
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