by R J Johnson
“Even as you destroy everyone in the system?” he shot back.
The professor and his wife exchanged a glance.
“We like to think of it as leaving Humanity 1.0 behind,” Dr. Hahn said.
The professor looked at his watch. “Mr. Meade, you still have a chance to bring Emeline back. Perhaps you could build something out of the warzone that Mars will shortly become. Tick tock Mr. Meade. Tick tock…”
The display shut off and Meade roared in frustration. He sat there allowing the rage and anger flow through him.
Once that was done, he cleared his mind and knew what he had to do.
Rule #32: Use your resources.
He opened the display and dialed a familiar number hoping she would answer. The display winked on and he hesitated, knowing that if he asked for this favor, there was no turning back.
“We need to meet one final time. I promise you, I’ll make it worth your while.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Friend or Foe?
Emeline woke inside one of the cloning vats she had been standing outside of only moments before. She found herself hooked up to a series of intravenous lines, but otherwise free to move. She pulled the feeding tube out of her mouth, nearly vomiting as it came out of her throat.
She pulled the wires and lines off her body and applied pressure to the tube, hoping she could force it open.
After a moment, it gave, finally sliding open as the machine whirred to life, gently beeping.
She looked around at her surroundings. Wherever she was, it looked like there were thousands of those cloning vats surrounding her.
But now as she looked closer at it, she saw that the vats served a dual purpose. They had the ability to create a clone or keep one in stasis. This one was set to keep her in stasis, which begged the question: If she was supposed to be unconscious, who had woken her up?
Suddenly, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps and she felt her stomach tie up in knots. Wherever she was, she didn’t know of any allies, and thought her best bet was to hide.
She ducked around the corner, watching the figure move down the hallway. Whoever it was, it was a female, who was about her height.
In fact, there was a lot about the body shape and gait that felt awfully familiar to her. When the face of the approaching figure hit the light, she felt her stomach drop.
It was her – at least, a convincing copy of her. Emeline watched her clone approach the beeping stasis tube and tap a few commands on the panel, quieting the alarm. The Emeline clone looked around, calling out softly.
“If you can see who I am, I hope you know I’m not here to hurt you.”
Her blood ran cold. It was her voice, only hearing it come from another person’s mouth was incredibly disorienting.
She decided to take a chance and see where this would lead. Emeline stepped back into the light, facing her doppelganger.
“I can’t know that actually,” she said, looking her clone up and down. “How do I know you’re not under the professor’s control?”
“I am actually,” the clone pointed to a small disc located on the back of her neck. “They told me it was a bomb when I woke up. It felt like something I could trust them on.”
“Sensible,” Emeline said, studying the device attached to her doppelganger’s neck. “Where did you come from?”
“So far as I can tell, I have every memory you do right up until the last few days maybe?” the clone replied.
“I remember growing up on the outback, watching for Papa’s fast attack to return from patrols like it always did…” the clone paused as if recalling a painful memory. “Until it didn’t of course.”
Emeline felt a hot flash of shame go through her. Her father died on a routine patrol on the far outreaches of the system. That mission of his was the first time she had refused to go watch his ship leave port and it was a secret shame she had carried with her for her entire life.
“If you’re asking what the last thing I remember, that’d be breaking into the professor’s lab on Mars,” the clone looked around and grimaced. “Which is not where I woke up.”
“How much do you know?” Emeline asked.
“Probably more than I want to. The professor seems to have a special…” her clone shuddered, “fixation on me.”
“I’ve noticed,” Emeline agreed. She felt the man’s gaze on her while they were alone and knew what her clone was talking about. “He says it has to do with Rosetta.”
“Maybe,” the clone said, bringing her gaze up to meet her. “But I think we both know there’s more to it than that.”
And then it didn’t matter that the person standing across from her was a clone or not. The woman standing across from her was a living breathing human being and someone who desperately needed her help.
She stepped forward and pulled her clone in for a hug.
The Emeline clone tensed her body at first, as if expecting an attack, but then when she realized what was happening, began hugging her back.
After a moment, the separated and chuckled at each other, both saying the exact same thing that had entered their head at the exact same time.
“If Meade saw this, his head would have exploded,” they said in unison, cracking up again.
“I’m gonna call you Emmy,” Emeline said. It had been her father’s nickname for her growing up and it felt right somehow.
Emmy blushed. “Makes sense. Can’t have two Emelines running around confusing things.”
Emeline grinned and then her face became serious, “We need to get the hell out of here, any ideas where we can go?”
“Follow me,” Emmy said and they took off through the stacks of stasis pods.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“You’re going home,” the clone said firmly. “I have to stay here and pretend like nothing’s wrong so you and Meade can figure out how to stop those two nutjobs.”
“I can’t leave you here,” Emeline said, frowning.
“You can and you know you have to,” Emmy replied. “I would.”
Emeline looked at the woman standing across from her and wondered where she got all her self-confidence from. Didn’t matter, she supposed. There was work to be done.
Suddenly a klaxon began blaring across the loudspeakers as a slow rumble began echoing through the entire ship.
The clone and Emeline’s eyes went wide.
“The ship…” Emeline started.
“…is being moved,” her clone finished.
They dashed out the exit and began running pell-mell through the hallways, pushing past oblivious clones moving through the hallways doing maintenance.
The ship tilted and the engines started, a dull hum sounding through the deck. Emeline looked at her clone in panic and moved to pull out a jump seat that was attached to the side of a wall. Strapping herself in, she glanced over at the opposite end of the hallway and was glad to see Emmy had managed to do the same.
The ship lurched as it began navigating its way through San Angeles’ massive port. They were leaving the planet, heading out into space for who knew what purpose.
Wherever they were going, Emeline had sinking feeling that it was too late to get off now.
She was on this ride until it ended.
Chapter Fifty-Three
Do the Right Thing
Meade fumbled through the robes trying to take them off before the bubble-car landed. His time as a Martian Ambassador had been mercifully short, which meant he could finally take off the burdensome robes and wear his normal clothes for once.
He put on his long jacket and hat, stepping out of the bubble-car and into the bright sunlight of the Venusian courtyard. The sun was a lot brighter here, even more so than on the Homeworld and many people used shades to help them cope with the bright noontime sun.
He had no shades and was forced to squint his way through the courtyard until he saw his target. He strode confidently over to the National Directive woman and sat down next to
her.
“You’ll go blind unless you get some sunglasses,” Gabriella said from behind her magazine. “Especially a Redback like you.”
He pushed aside the anger and held back a retort. No sense in insulting someone he was about to ask a favor from.
“Tell Palmetto I need his help,” he started, setting his hat down on the table between them.
“You want his help to take the professor and his wife down,” the woman said, lowering her magazine. “It’s about time you decided to take them on directly instead of playing their game.”
“Palmetto knows all eh?” he said, raising an eyebrow.
“He knows enough,” the woman replied. “The question is, what do you know about your enemy?”
“That they’re ruthless,” Meade said. “That they’re going to re-ignite a war to try and purge every piece of humanity they didn’t specifically design or create.”
“And?” Gabriella asked, intrigued.
“And we need to stop him,” he answered.
She snorted. “Why?”
He looked offended at this. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Tell me Mr. Meade,” the National Directive woman said, sounding amused. “When have you ever known Ambassador Palmetto to do the right thing?”
“I’m not talking about him,” he replied evenly, looking at Gabriella directly in her cool brown eyes. “You’re National Directive. You have a respect for moral codes and the rule of law.”
“I was National Directive,” she said lazily, waving a hand dismissively at him. “Rules are for peasants who believe other people follow them too.”
“Maybe,” he said, nodding. “Maybe rules go a long way in keeping society glued together. Maybe that’s something worth fighting for.”
“Don’t be naïve,” she said, rolling her eyes. “For all your talk of rules, you robbed a supply shipment from the Coalition only last week. You talk of rules but fail to apply them to your own actions.”
“You haven’t answered my question,” Meade said, trying to steer the conversation back to her. “What I do and what I say are vastly different than the standards you hold yourself. So, you can try and tell me that seeing the professor and his wife decimate the systems that hold humanity together doesn’t bother you, but I won’t believe it.”
He stood, tossing a small disc onto the table between them.
“This is my message for Palmetto. It’s an outline of how I think we can take the professor and his wife down, while making sure the Ambassador is taken care of and elevated to the station he always thought he deserved,” he said.
Meade picked up his hat, the sunlight forcing tears to his eyes. “Tell him that with or without his help, I plan on stopping those two from killing a whole bunch of folks I care about - even those I don’t care about which includes him by the way. And I’ll do it because I know in my gut it’s the right thing to do.”
He began to walk away when Gabriella called out after him.
“It’s a mighty thing, being holier than thou.”
He stopped and turned back to face her, “It’s better than believing in nothing at all. Give Palmetto the disc and let me know what he says. You know how to reach me.”
Meade exited the courtyard and didn’t look back. He had work to do.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Fighting Fire With Fire
Emeline and her clone dashed through the corridors looking for a way off the dreadnaught. They were heading for the hangar bay where there should be any number of ships they could steal to get off the dreadnaught.
But because the vessel was so enormous, they were finding it slow-going. Emmy reached the end of the hallway and punched in an access code, but the panel flashed red, locking them out. She groaned and kicked at the electronics, watching it spark in satisfaction.
Unfortunately, the door remained closed.
“I thought that would work,” the clone said glumly.
“So did I,” Emeline echoed and decided to shake off the setback. “What now? What about the control room?”
“Up,” the clone pointed. “The only way is through a whole contingent of the professor’s security clones. They’re all the same square-jawed meat puppets programmed to do one thing – hurt anyone the professor tells them to.”
“We could make it through,” Emeline said, mulling it over. “They already know you’re running around, right?”
“The professor introduced me as his guest and told the security clones to leave me alone,” Emmy said. “Beyond that, all he does is bring me to his lab every night to ‘talk.’”
Emeline rolled her eyes. She knew what that meant.
“I don’t know what he expects, but it’s given me a certain amount of freedom to roam around the spaceship. Course, that’s because he thinks he’s got me on a tight leash,” the clone said, pointing to the disc on her neck.
“Not for long,” Emeline said, examining the disc. “Let’s get to the control room, I’ve got an idea.”
Emmy nodded and moved toward a corridor on their right.
“It’s this way,” the clone called over her shoulder.
She moved to catch up with her doppelganger. Despite her form (or lack thereof), she had always been faster than most, generally outrunning most anyone who challenged her. Thanks to the lighter gravity of the dreadnaught, she and her clone were able to sail through the corridors at what felt like impossible speeds.
After a brief jog, they found themselves outside a cafeteria filled with the lantern-jawed troops the clone had mentioned. They stopped outside the door where the clone placed a finger to her lips.
Emeline crouched down as they approached the door. She wondered what Emmy had up her sleeve and then considered what she might have done.
Emeline’s eyes widened, and she was a half-second too late to stop Emmy from confidentially striding into the cafeteria and standing in front of the dozen or so security guards.
“Howdy gents,” she said, smiling. “What’s new?”
The meat puppets glanced at each other, as if uncertain how to proceed.
It didn’t matter, her clone wasn’t about to wait for the answer. Her fists flew out and struck the two closest guards next to her, both of which went down quickly, knocked out by her sudden attack.
Emeline watched the mayhem unfold inside the room and decided that she may as well get in on the fun.
Her clone ran toward the side of the room and jumped, using the two walls to bounce off and spin kick the nearest guard’s head, knocking him to the ground.
For her part, Emeline grasped the hand of the nearest meat puppet standing next to her and then leaned forward using her momentum to flip him up and over her body. She turned to use her momentum to sweep the legs of two more guards who were rushing toward her, trying to neutralize her.
They went down hard, smashing their heads into the wall, knocking themselves out and she paused to admire her handiwork for a moment.
A crash sounded on the other side of the room and she looked up to see her clone throw a man twice her size across the room and into a bookcase. Emeline paused, watching her clone go to work on the other men and women meat puppets still trying to take her down.
One of the meat puppets surprised Emmy from behind. Emeline moved to help but saw her clone waving her off.
Emmy kicked her heels into the man’s knee and then swung herself up and over his head, wrapping her legs around his neck, using the leverage to swing him down onto the ground hard.
The clone stood, barely breathing hard.
“It seemed faster than going around,” her clone said, grinning at her. Suddenly her face fell.
Emeline instinctively ducked and then shoved her fist into the security guard who had tried to take her by surprise from behind. She twisted the man’s neck until she was able to push him into the doorway. She hit a button and the door attempted to close on the man’s head, knocking him out.
She kicked the man back out of the door and then
closed it for the final time, locking and scrambling the door code.
“There,” she said. “That ought to give us a few more minutes in case any more of those meat puppets are heading our way.”
They moved through the cafeteria and into another hallway where they were met with another set of guards.
“My turn,” she said, and cracked her neck as she approached the four men trying to kill her.
She hadn’t had much else to take her frustrations out on lately – so it felt good to get some exercise.
She quickly dispatching the four guards as her clone looked on with an amused grin.
“Not bad,” her doppelganger said lightly. “Course, I had to take on twice that many.”
“Always competing with myself,” Emeline said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s get to the cockpit.”
Her clone returned the eye roll and moved past her through the hallway mumbling, “I’m just saying…”
They reached the end of a hallway where a door opened, revealing an elevator. She looked around and the coast was clear.
“Command and control on most birds is located on Deck 3,” she said running her finger down the map. “This one has it right in the middle of the whole operation.”
“Protecting all that valuable cargo,” her clone said.
“What do you mean?” Emeline asked.
“The professor is a coward,” her clone replied. “He built these ships with layers upon layers of armor making sure nothing could ever destroy the nerve center.”
That gave Emeline an idea, but before she could tell her clone, she could hear shouting from down the hallway. That meant someone had already discovered all the bodies they left behind.
“We need to get that leash off you,” Emeline said, determined. “Then I’ve got an idea on how we can destroy this bucket of bolts.”
“You’re not thinking…” the clone trailed off, her eyes widening as she realized what Emeline was planning. “Well, if I’m thinking it, I guess you are too.”