A Wilderness of Mirrors

by R J Johnson

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Doubt

  Emmy looked around the dreadnaught’s hallway feeling as if she had somehow stepped into another person’s dream. Ever since she woke up inside the cloning vat with the professor’s bug eyes staring down at her, life had become a surreal nightmare from which there was no waking up.

  Learning that she was only a copy had been a shock to her system and had left her reeling. She had played it tough so far for everyone, but now that she was alone, Emmy was as close to a mental breakdown as she had come since her father was killed in action so many years ago.

  But she was millions of klicks away from home and she didn’t have time for any self-doubt.

  Emmy was beginning to come to grips with her situation. She was a copy, - a damn good one from what she could tell with all of Emeline’s abilities, instincts and memories. And her instincts told her from the moment she woke that the professor intended on keeping her around as a plaything – perhaps even as a lover.

  She shuddered. Clone or not, she was a living, breathing human being and she wasn’t about to allow herself to become some passive sex slave to a madman bent on replacing humanity with a twisted version of his own.

  She drew closer to the nerve center of the dreadnaught and noticed that the ship had become eerily quiet. The battle raging behind her between Meade and Kansas and the professor’s clones had faded into the background.

  Now, there was only a slight hum of energy moving through the conduits toward the nerve center. The door to it stood in front of her and she hesitated, feeling frightened for some reason.

  Steeling her nerves, she reached for the door handle and unlocked it, stepping inside.

  Emmy didn’t know what she expected – a lot of computer and monitors, definitely people. But there was nothing or no one inside. It appeared that a single computer datacenter was responsible for overseeing the functions of the ship.

  A screen popped up and the black wall began projecting an image of the professor’s face.

  “Ahh Ms. Hunan,” he said. Then, crinkling his eyes, he angled his head to get a better look at her. “No wait, that’s not right is it? You’re my friend. My Emeline.”

  She spat at the monitor in disgust. “Never in a million years.”

  “I can wait that long,” the professor said, a smile spreading across his face as he looked her up and down. The gigantic head was warped by the four walls and it somehow made him look even more terrifying than usual. “After all, I have plenty of clones at my disposal.”

  Emmy ignored the projection, deciding to focus on her mission instead. She set down the bag filled with explosives and opened the pouch to set the bomb up.

  “It’s amazing what humans will do to one another when they think they’re in competition,” the professor said, watching her. “Even now, as the Coalition and Consortium tried defending themselves against my dreadnaughts, they can’t stop fighting among themselves.”

  The four walls were replaced by images of the space battle currently raging outside the dreadnaught. The professor was right. His ship was barely participating in the fight at this point. He didn’t need to. The two navies of the hyperpowers were busy launching everything they had at one another, the professor’s plan of creating an impenetrable fog of confusion among the two hyperpowers was working.

  “I found that by telling the right lie, at the right time, to the right person, you can bring anyone to the brink of destruction,” the professor said gleefully. “I didn’t even need to fire a shot. I led them down the path, but they are the ones gleefully participating in their own destruction.”

  She watched the Coalition and Consortium navies fight, feeling helpless as thousands of men and women killed one other for no other reason than a flag they’d been raised to hate.

  “With the generation ships under my control along with my army of clones, I’ll be able to spread humanity out among every star within a 50 light year radius within a few generations. Within a few thousand years, the entire Milky Way will be filled with humans, at the peak of health.”

  Emmy refused to engage, concentrating on wiring the delicate switches to make sure every ounce of explosive was used to its maximum potential. This was their only shot to take the dreadnaught out of the fight. She wasn’t about to screw it up.

  “Humanity will become a beacon of light among the chaos of this dark and unfeeling universe,” the professor’s eyes stared at Emmy as she worked. “Don’t you think it’s strange we haven’t had First Contact with any other intelligent species in this galaxy? I believe that means we’re the first, which leaves us with a sacred duty to spread out among the stars and bring complex intelligence to as much of the universe as possible.”

  “But only your vision of humanity, right?” Emmy asked, continuing her delicate work. “What you want isn’t real. It’s not the culmination of thousands of years of evolution, cooperation and sacrifice. It’s fake. It’s a con from a madman who is too far gone to know the difference between accomplishing what’s possible and what’s right.”

  The space battle disappeared from the viewscreen in front of her and was replaced by the professor’s scowling face.

  “You have no idea what I’ve accomplished,” he hissed at her.

  “I know what you want to accomplish,” Emmy said, unbuckling the bag, feeling for the detonator. “Because we’ve seen it all before. It always results in war and death. I say it’s time to break that cycle.

  She carefully withdrew the detonate from the bag and synched it to the explosive in front of her.

  “And because I’m in a position to stop you,” she said, “I plan on doing everything I can.”

  She twisted the dial, setting the timer.

  “We’ll see how great your vision looks ten minutes from now.”

  Emmy turned, exiting the nerve center, leaving the fuming professor behind. She retreated down the hallway where she found Emeline still struggling with the hatch.

  “Here,” she said, reaching down to help. “Allow me.”

  Emmy helped Emeline open the hatch and step through in time to see Kansas and Meade’s clones finishing the fight with the last two security clones standing.

  The two men looked beat up and were barely standing by the time they entered the room.

  Meade’s clone looked up wearily at the two of them, “So, how’s your fight going?”

  “We’ve got nine minutes to get out of here,” she said, fighting the urge to go over and take care of him. She had to keep reminding herself that wasn’t ‘her’ Meade. It was something else entirely, but he did have the same wry smile that made her weak in the knees.

  She turned her attention to Kansas’s clone. “Where do you suppose we might find escape pods on a ship like this?”

  Kansas considered this for a moment. “I know this ship ‘bout as well as you do. If I had to guess, the closer to the secondary hull we get, the more likely we’ll find ‘em.”

  “Secondary?” Emmy asked.

  “Protection for when the primary hull is blown away,” Kansas said. “You generally don’t need escape pods if the primary hull is fine.”

  Emeline appraised the three clones, “If you two are OK to move, we’d better go. The next few minutes are going to go quick.”

  “Don’t have to tell me twice,” Meade’s clone said, stepping through the door to the hallway. “Follow me.”

  Emeline followed him, and Kansas was right behind her when he paused at the doorway. “You ok Emmy?”

  “I’m fine,” Emmy said, looking back at the hatch and thinking about what the professor had said. “I’m thinking about the nature of what we are now.”

  Kansas’s clone looked at her, the sympathy evident on his face. “I know it’s a lot to take in after hearing you didn’t exist twenty-four hours ago, I haven’t come to grips with it myself. But the way I figure it, this is a second chance for me. You’ve got one too, so let’s not waste time on having an existential crisis, all right?”


  Emmy looked at him, feeling a flood of memories of her kindly mentor overwhelm her.

  But they weren’t really her memories, were they?

  “I’ll be right behind you,” she said. “I’ll hang back to make sure we aren’t taken by surprise by any stragglers.”

  Kansas eyed her for a moment. “Yes ma’am. Keep an eye on that timer.”

  She began moving out the door to catch up with Meade’s clone and the real Emeline. The woman she thought herself to be only a few hours ago.

  The ship shook with a large explosion and she snapped back to reality. Kansas was right, she didn’t have time to question the nature of her existence right now. She’d rigged the ship to explode and if she didn’t get off, her second chance would come to a quick end.

  She wasn’t ready for that. She had too many questions.

  She picked up a heavy pipe one of the meat puppets had been swinging and followed the rest of her group.

  Emmy was itching for a fight.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Odds and Even

  Meade got into the bubble-car, knowing his plan was insane. But it wasn’t like he had a whole lot of options.

  He started the car’s engine, hoping it would turn over for him. He only needed it to last a few hundred feet to get him back over to the remaining Consortium Elders and Coalition president.

  “Stay with me,” he coaxed the engine.

  Miraculously, the vehicle hummed to life, albeit, with more than a warning lights blinking on the dashboard. He looked them over and didn’t see anything that would keep him from getting back to the VIPs, deciding to chance it. Meade put the bubble-car in gear, pushing the throttle forward, hoping what was left of the vehicle would be able to make the journey.

  The professor’s meat puppets weren’t about to let him get through their gauntlet that easy. The clones immediately opened fire on his vehicle, and he tried maneuvering through it as best he could. Bullets rained down on the splintered windshield, and he shouted a curse once the vehicle’s engine finally gave out.

  The thrusters failed and he lost altitude. He frantically tried resetting the computer, but it was too late, he was too close to the ground and the bubble-car had lost all power. The vehicle careened through the courtyard, skidding into the corner of a building, ricocheting off that and then flipping end over end, before the wreck finally settled a few dozen feet away from where the VIPs were hiding.

  The bubble-car’s safety features had been knocked out, so he was forced to go along with the bumpy ride as the car bounced off the various concrete pillars arranged neatly around the edge of the courtyard.

  When the car finally came to a stop, Meade poked his head up, feeling pain in his rib cage and he knew one of them had to be broken. It wasn’t painful – yet. The adrenaline was helping with that, but he knew he would be miserable soon, if he didn’t tape it up.

  But there wasn’t time for that right now. Meade needed to get the rest of his VIPs to Central Command so they could get their forces back on the same page.

  Suppressive fire rained down on his position and he winced, counting the seconds until the meat puppets had to reload or recharge their weapons.

  When he found the slight window of opportunity, he took it, and began racing across the remaining few feet to cover where the president and four other Elders remained.

  “That didn’t look like fun,” the president said, as Meade approached them.

  “It wasn’t,” Meade said, trying to painfully catch his breath. Broken ribs aside, he was out of excuses for avoiding the gym.

  “Our ride is officially broken-down and busted folks,” he said, looking at the five remaining diplomats. “Which means, we’re gonna have to walk.”

  A chorus of angry protests rang out at this suggestion and Meade stood there stoically for a few moments pretending to listen. He withdrew his pistol and fired it behind him, catching one of the meat puppets trying to sneak up on their position.

  “I’m open to other suggestions if anyone has them,” he said, casually reloading his pistol with his last magazine.

  The president looked at the Elders, “It’s not that we don’t have faith...”

  “It’s that you’re worried about all those bullets out there taking me down,” Meade said nodding. “That’s fair. But I like to think of those as motivating factors for you to stay low and keep moving like I told you to.”

  Meade looked out at the courtyard where the security clones were taking up position.

  “They don’t have a great line of sight on the western side of the courtyard. If we keep moving in a serpentine fashion, take cover at every opportunity…” he looked at the president, a grim expression on his face. “I like our odds on trying to make a run for it over staying here and allowing both your navies get smashed to shit.”

  “And how do you know we’ll be safe from those things?” one of the Elders demanded in heavily accented English.

  “Because the clones will be too busy dealing with me,” Meade said, finishing his reload. He racked the slide on his pistol and looked around at the diplomats in front of him. “Any questions?”

  The president looked at the Elders. “Seems like he has the guts and the plan. Unless you folks have any better ideas?”

  They conferred amongst themselves, coming to a decision.

  “We accept this foolish plan,” one of the Elders said. “But know this, if one of us dies, you all die. The remaining Elders will have no choice but to declare war against the Coalition and no one will be there to hold our people back.”

  “Oh good,” Meade said, sounding annoyed. “and here I thought there would be pressure.”

  He looked out at the courtyard and counted eleven remaining security clones.

  He’d faced worse odds before.

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Sacrifice

  Emeline swung a fist haphazardly at the meat puppet who sprung out in front of her. She hated this. Every second they spent fighting their way through the ship was time they didn’t have. They needed to get off the dreadnaught before their bomb went off.

  She disposed of the security guard, kicking him solidly in the face, knocking him to the ground. She checked the timer on her armbar and cursed. Emeline moved to help Meade’s clone, who was busy fighting with three of the professor’s security clones.

  She wasn’t fast enough and could only watch in horror as one of the meat puppets swung a pipe.

  Meade collapsed, a heavy CRACK echoing through the room as the meat puppet connected with his swing. Emeline screamed, shouting at Meade to get up, but he was either unable to hear her, or unable to do so. The three security clones pounced, kicking and beating Meade’s clone with every ounce of strength they had.

  She launched herself into the fray, trying to connect frantically with any of the clones to try and protect her friend. Clone or not, Meade was family, and she wasn’t about to watch her family get beaten to death.

  Emeline fended off one attacker, grabbing his wrist and turning it in a way human anatomy wasn’t designed for. The meat puppet howled in pain and stumbled back as she kicked him in the chest, pushing him off the railing and into the cargo area below. His body landed with a thud that echoed across the room.

  “Emeline,” Meade’s clone croaked. “Look -”

  He couldn’t finish the sentence, but she didn’t need him to. She ducked, leaning back as one of the professor’s clones slashed at her with a knife.

  Emeline landed on her hands and used that momentum to spring back up and land a punch between the clone’s eyes. The meat puppet fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

  Kansas ran up behind the third meat puppet, pulling him back and throwing him over the side of a railing and down to the cargo floor below where he joined his friend with a loud THUD.

  “Thanks,” she said, looking back at Kansas.

  Her mentor nodded.

  She turned to see Emmy approach Meade’s clone, tears streaming down her face.

/>   “Looks like the universe can’t stand the thought of two Jim Meades out there,” Meade’s clone managed after a moment, looking up at her, as blood poured out from between his lips.

  “Shh,” Emeline’s clone said, the tears continuing to flow. “Stop that, we’ve gotta to get you on to a…”

  “Nope,” he coughed. “You don’t have enough time to drag me out of here. We both know that.”

  He began to take shorter breaths, sounding as if he were hyperventilating. “Besides, blood’s filling up my lungs and making it hard to breath.”

  “Stop,” the clone begged him. She looked up in desperation at Emeline and Kansas. “There’s got to be something we can do.

  Kansas didn’t say anything. His face said it all.

  Emeline looked away. She couldn’t watch this. She knew this wasn’t really Meade, but at the same time it was. The whole scene was felt like a freakish out-of-body experience.

  Kansas looked down at his friend, his face grave. “I’m sorry son. I’m here for you though.”

  “You keep that promise,” Meade’s clone said, looking desperate. “The MiMs need you. Especially after my dumb ass got you killed.”

  “That was the other Meade,” Kansas said. “I’ll take it up with him.”

  The clone coughed, laughing at the joke. “Still, feels like I owe you an apology.”

  “Feels like you learned your lesson,” Kansas said, tears running down his cheeks now.

  “You always knew how to teach me,” Meade said with a weak grin. He beckoned the real Emeline who leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

  “I don’t know what Meade’s plan is. I know I’d move heaven and earth to make sure you were okay,” he said. “I guarantee he’s got someone out there waiting for you to signal, so trust that he’s out there looking for ya.”

  “I will,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I do.”

  He turned to Emmy, smiling weakly. “I wish there was more you and I could say to each other. So, I’ll say this, I love the fact you get to live a second life now and you should find fulfillment any way you can. That’s the most important thing. Do what makes you happy and live your life.”