A Wilderness of Mirrors

by R J Johnson

  “I know you,” another one of the Elders said, stepping forward. A tall regal-looking woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd. “You’re that wanna-be ambassador from Mars, representing the Independence Movement, aren’t you?”

  Meade bowed, “In the flesh. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  She rolled her eyes, “Whatever your intentions, the Consortium will never recognize your little band of revolutionaries.”

  “Oh, now that’s a compliment. Pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve been called a revolutionary,” Meade said, chuckling. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but we’re way beyond all that. Believe it or not, this ain’t about the rebellion. It’s about saving your life and keeping the two hyperpowers from being tricked into starting another all-out war with each other.”

  A third Elder touched his companion on the shoulder. “Anaya, perhaps we should hear him out. This isn’t some random diplomat you know.”

  “Oh yes, of course, the ‘Hero of Rosetta,’ everyone,” the Elder snorted. “The man has always been a bit of a glory hound in my book.”

  “And in my book, the Board of Elders are a bunch of short-sighted morons who can’t be trusted,” Meade retorted.

  The collection of powerful men and women bristled at the insult. They weren’t used to being spoken to this way.

  “Those two people you saw addressing the crowd at the treaty renewal ain’t the sort to tuck tail and run,” Meade continued, his voice filled anger. “Their names are Professor Alex Benson and Dr. Julie Hahn, and they’ve been working their damndest over the last five years to manipulate you two into a war so they can remake humanity in their own image. They’ve got weapons, clones, and warships that can smash your collected navies if we all don’t work together. They’ve infiltrated both your organizations and are trying to spark a war that kills everyone in the system.”

  There was a moment of stunned silence. And then, the various diplomats descended into a chaos of questions and angry shouts. Meade held up his hands, trying to regain control over the situation.

  It wasn’t until the Coalition president stepped forward that the room quieted.

  “Are you certain?” he asked, the man’s rich baritone echoing through the room.

  Meade squinted at the man in front of him, “If my little demonstration with the professor’s teleportation device wasn’t enough to convince you, I don’t know what else to tell ya.”

  The room became much quieter, and he noticed the expressions on the collected politicians’ faces finally become more serious.

  Good, Meade thought. Maybe I’m finally getting through to them about what’s at stake.

  “They’re gonna use those generational ships against you.” he said. “The professor and his wife infiltrated your supply lines and replaced many of your people with those he could control. Those workers have used the time and resources of both hyperpowers to build those ships into unbeatable nightmares for your fleets. From the plans I saw, all three of those bastards contain more hardware and firepower than both your navies combined.”

  The politicians glanced at each other and then back at Meade. It was only then that he understood the meaning behind the “the weight of the world resting on your shoulders.”

  One of the Elders of the Consortium leaned over to his companion who was turning a shade slightly greener than the robes she was wearing. “Is this possible?”

  The woman bowed her head. “We’ve been receiving odd… reports from our people about irregularities in production. But, whenever we would send someone to investigate the allegations, witnesses would recant their stories. Whatever suspicions raised were chalked up as production errors.”

  “But everything wasn’t fine,” Meade said. “The professor was busy replacing your people with clones of his own. That’s how he managed to keep everything so secretive.”

  The Coalition president glanced at his counterparts in the Consortium, a grimace appearing on his face.

  “We received similar reports on our end as well. Each one was investigated, but as you said, the witness would recant or otherwise show us evidence that everything was fine.”

  The thirteen men and women began to talk over one another objecting and trying to get their points across, but no one was listening to each other. Meade shook his head. They didn’t have time for squabbles and pointless finger-pointing.

  He took out his pistol and fired off a shot, the blast echoing through the abandoned warehouse.

  They looked over at him in shock, some wincing at the noise.

  “The professor showed you what you wanted you to see,” he told the group of politicians in front of him. “The next phase of his plan was to kill you all and install enough clones to ignite a war between the two powers.”

  “To what end?” another elder asked.

  He hesitated. Even for him, this theory was crazy, but everything he had seen so far added up.

  “From what I’ve seen, he plans on replacing what’s left of with clones he’s designed,” he said grimly. “I don’t think he satisfied with running things. I think he’s trying to play God.”

  Several of the gathered leaders gasped, while others chuckled. The Coalition president cleared his throat.

  “Even if we were to believe you, we couldn’t contact our people from here,” the president said calmly. “If we promise you to do our best in neutralizing this threat and unleash the full brunt of our armed forces on the dreadnaughts, will you let us out?”

  “You’ve always been free to go,” Meade said. He touched a button on his armbar and the cages opened, releasing the leaders on both sides. “I jus’ needed to get you all together in the same room long enough to let you know what’s at stake.

  “Two of the dreadnaughts are already engaged with your ships out by the LaGrange points,” Meade continued. “Unless your people know to coordinate their attacks, I don’t like their odds of surviving the day.”

  “We can’t sit here and do nothing,” one of the Consortium Elders said angrily. “If what you’re telling us is true, then we’re already at war and we need to deploy our forces.”

  “No!” Meade shouted. He needed to regain control of the situation. “Your commanders out in the black have been drilling and itching for a fight since the moment they were first sworn in. What happens if they accidentally begin shooting at the wrong ships? We need to make sure everyone is working under the same orders. And it’s got to be a truly united front – not some dog and pony show for the people like that bullshit treaty signing.”

  The Elders looked at each other and back over the Coalition president who shrugged. “Ladies, Gentlemen, if what Mr. Meade is telling us is true, then we need to act quickly. I, for one, agree with him. And, considering what he’s done for us all in the past, I tend to believe him.”

  The Consortium Board of Elders conferred among themselves for a moment until they emerged with a consensus. The tall Elder stepped forward and bowed his head.

  “It is with some humility that we ask for your help in this difficult time.”

  Meade opened his armbar, “You get all that?”

  Palmetto’s voice came back clearly over the line. “I’ve got it. They’re on the record and can’t back out now.”

  “Good,” Meade said. He turned to the politicians surrounding him. “After you.”

  They filled out of their cages and out of the warehouse with Meade hanging behind them. He was struck by the moment, realizing that the thirteen most powerful people in the system were all now looking to him for answers.

  If only his parents could see him now.

  Chapter Sixty

  Double Vision

  Emeline ran through the hallways looking for anything that might indicate where she could find explosives. There had to be some around here somewhere. The whole place was a warship.

  After spending several fruitless moments searching a variety of rooms, she reached the end of the hallway where she found a door labeled, Omega.


  “This looks promising,” she muttered to herself and shoved the door open.

  Inside were racks filled with tiny plastic explosive discs, like the ones she had seen attached to her clone’s neck.

  “Jackpot,” Emeline said.

  She looked around the supply room and found a large backpack she could use to carry the ordinance. She didn’t know how powerful the little discs were, but she hoped that by wiring enough of them together, it be enough to disable the dreadnaught once it went off inside the nerve center of the ship.

  But after seeing the small plastic explosives up close, she realized that it didn’t matter how many they had. The shaped charges wouldn’t do the kind of damage they needed.

  She moved deeper into the armory, hoping to find something else they could use to build a bomb.

  Her armbar sounded a warning tone, letting her know that she was running out of time and due to meet her clone back at the lab where the cloning machine should be finished with the professor.

  It wasn’t until she reached the last drawer near the corner of the lab that she hit real pay dirt. Several large blocks of Coalition’s finest explosives were stacked inside, along with a note on how to handle the live ordinance.

  She withdrew the explosive carefully and placed the blocks gently inside her pack. There was enough to bring down an entire city block in her bag now, but she had no idea how much they would need. Overkill didn’t seem like a bad idea with this vessel.

  After she finished packing up the PETN, she jogged carefully back to the lab where she met her clone standing outside the lab, looking impatient.

  “I almost came after you,” Emmy said with a frown. “I couldn’t find anything, how ‘bout you?”

  Emeline hefted the bag up in front of her clone. “This ought to do some damage.”

  Her clone grinned. “That’ll definitely do the trick.”

  “We can use the smaller plastic disc he uses to as a blasting cap,” Emeline said, flashing one of the discs to her clone. “We can program a delay so we have time to get out before the explosion.”

  They entered the lab where Emeline nearly dropped the backpack filled with explosives in shock. The Professor’s clone had already matured far older than what they intended. She looked at the clone floating in the saline solution, fascinated at the change. Only a few minutes ago, this… man, had only been a collection of cells. Now, he was a fully-formed human being, one who perfectly resembled the man she met on Mars only a few days ago.

  “We might’ve let him cook for too long,” Emmy said weakly.

  Emeline rushed to the professor’s tank and checked the readings. “He’s… alive?”

  “He’s still unconscious I hope,” Emmy said.

  “Looks like it to me,” Emeline replied. “Help me out, we’re gonna need to get him out anyway so we can unlock Meade and Kansas’s clones.”

  “All we need is the handprint. Do we really need to wake him?” Emmy asked.

  “Why not?” Emeline asked after a moment, still staring at the clone floating in the vat.

  The clone looked at her with a start. “Are you serious?”

  “We deserve some answers, don’t you think?”

  Emmy considered this and moved to the cloning vat’s panel. She typed on the display and activated the machine.

  The machine whirred, and the liquid began draining out of the vat, leaving the professor’s body hanging from several straps.

  “Here, help me,” Emmy said.

  Emeline stepped forward and began freeing the professor’s body from the series of cables and intravenous lines that had inserted themselves at various points of his cloning to keep him healthy.

  The professor came to and groggily looked up at Emeline.

  “What happened?” he asked, looking around in a daze. “Why did we engage emergency protocol? Where’s Julie?”

  His eyes cleared up and he focused on Emeline who was standing in front of him.

  “You,” he groaned in frustration. “You’re supposed to be in stasis – at least, that’s what my last memory of you says.”

  “A few things have happened since then,” Emeline said. “But before we get to that, you’re going to help free our friends in those other cloning vats. Then you’re going to tell us how to stop those dreadnaughts from killing all those soldiers on the Coalition and Consortium ships.”

  She leaned down, getting close to the professor. “Then, if you’re lucky, I’ll kill you instead of turning you over to the Coalition and Consortium authorities.”

  “You’ll never see the light of day again” Emmy added. “The only place the sun will live will be in your memories.”

  The professor waved off their threats, “Well, it certainly sounds like you believe your threats are effective. I’m assuming that means I have a compliance chip installed on my neck?”

  He reached back, feeling for the thin plastic disc. “Well-done. That was smart.”

  “How many times have you done this before?” Emeline asked, looking at the dripping man hanging in front of her.

  The professor paused, looking up in space as if remembering a distant memory.

  “Too many,” he said with a sigh. “You know better than anyone how risky it is to live in the Martian outback. That’s why the cloning technology was the first thing my wife and I perfected.”

  He examined his hand, looking at it. “It always amazes me how I can’t tell the difference between my life now and the life my memories tell me I had.”

  Emeline glanced at her clone who was silently nodding along with the professor’s assessment of what it was like to be a clone.

  “I say you take this as an opportunity for a second chance,” Emeline said. “See, the real-world version of you is up to some really bad shit that’s about to lead to a lot of people being killed. We want to avoid all that.”

  “You think I’m any different?” he scoffed. “My mind is a literal copy of the man you call evil.”

  “I do think you’re different,” Emeline replied. “Because you know you can take a different path. When we only have one life, a lot of people think doubling down on bad ideas is the only thing they can do. They’re so stuck in the idea of their situation that they can’t see any other way out of it. Given a second chance, a person has the opportunity to take a different path and see what life might be like living it for good.”

  “I am living my life for good,” the professor replied.

  Both Emeline and Emmy snorted at the same time.

  “What do you think the real me is out there doing?” the professor demanded. “We’re working to bring humanity into the next phase of its evolution and turn our fragile little species into the galaxy ruling gods we deserve to be.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Emeline asked, stepping closer to him.

  The professor’s clone crinkled his eyes as he considered her question. Emeline glanced back at Emmy who was watching their conversation closely.

  The professor shook his head after a moment. “It’s impossible, I’m sorry.”

  “You invented a machine that teleports people from one end of the planet to the other,” Emeline said, trying to flatter the man. “I think that means you can accomplish literally anything.”

  The professor cocked his head and smiled, enjoying the compliment, “You’re a smart one, you know that?”

  “Not smart enough,” Emeline said, still trying to get through to him. “No one is, except for you. You’re the only one who can stop the dreadnaughts from attacking the Coalition and Consortium navies.”

  The ship rocked as a distant explosion sounded. Emeline looked over at her clone in panic.

  “But don’t you see? It’s already begun,” the professor’s clone said malevolently. “You can’t, won’t stop my dreadnaughts from making short work of the Coalition and Consortium navies. They’re outclassed and outgunned. I saw to that personally.”

  “If you think this is the end of their story, you’re delusional,” Emelin
e snapped. She took a syringe and plunged it into the professor clone’s neck. “Time for night night.”

  The professor slumped over, and she grabbed his hand, pulling it to the scanner attached to the cloning vats.

  The computer scanned the handprint and beeped, releasing the vats containing Meade and Kansas’s clones.

  Saline began spilling out of the vats and onto the grated floor where it washed down the drain.

  Meade and Grayborn’s clones slumped over as the vats emptied. Meade’s clone was the first one to wake, and he looked around groggily.

  “What? Where am I?” he croaked. He looked up and saw Emmy standing in front of him. “My angel.”

  She blushed and then leaned down to give him a kiss. Emeline looked away, a bit embarrassed. After all, this wasn’t her Meade, so there was no reason to be jealous.

  Instead she moved over to the Grayborn clone, and touched his face, hoping her friend was the same grumpy old man she knew and loved.

  “Heya kid,” he said, once he finally opened his eyes and saw her standing in front of him. “Where are we?”

  “What do you remember?” she asked.

  “I remember seeing Meade take his damn fool ass down to the Professor’s compound when I was ambushed. Last thing I saw was some drone overflying my position. Next thing I know, I’m here staring at your face, strung up like some piece of meat.”

  Kansas glanced around the laboratory, “Where exactly is here?”

  “Someplace not very nice that we’re about to blow up with your help,” Emeline replied.

  “Sounds like my kind of party,” he grunted, as she assisted with the straps and disconnecting the various hoses from the cloning vat. “Gotta say, waking up in a stasis vat ain’t exactly how I envisioned spending my vacation.

  “Let’s get you outta here,” Emeline said. She knew she couldn’t keep the truth from her mentor forever and decided it was better to rip off the band aid now. Besides, he was about to come face to face with two more clones, including her own.

  “Those aren’t stasis pods,” she told him hesitantly. “They’re cloning vats.”