Greg Thompson and Vega stood on either side of the refurbished war robot, Envy, in the center of a dimly lit laboratory. All three stood motionless for fear of tripping motion sensors. The room was dimly lit by evacuation lights and working machinery. Greg opened his eyes and peered around the crowded room.
The lab was all stainless steel surfaces and racks of science equipment. There were refrigerators glowing with blue light, bathing sample vials stored within. Immense white machines and odd contraptions stood next to complex computer terminals. Straining his eye to the left, Greg could see a printed note attached to one of the lab devices, written in a language other than English. The letters were familiar to him, but they did not spell words he could begin to produce.
Envy spoke up.
"I have disabled the microphones in this room wirelessly, but the motion trackers will have to be accessed from a hard line. There is a terminal that I can connect to with an IR probe, but I will have to swivel my head very slowly until I am at the proper angle."
"Fine, fine," Vega said without moving his mouth. "Just hurry."
After another long minute spent like a statue, Greg came to the realization that non-movement was much harder than he previously thought. After what seemed like an eternity, Envy shifted on his tracks and called the all clear. Greg slumped with relief. With the security system neutralized, he was excited to explore the lab.
The initial tension Greg felt from being introduced into a strange place fell from his shoulders. He continued to take in the room that Vega had specifically requested. He wandered away from the other two, looking at the computer terminals and fancy equipment. Greg approached a glass wall at the far end of the lab. He noticed it was cold with frost. The space on the other side of the translucent divider was full dark.
"What kind of lab is this anyway?" He called back to Vega, who was speaking with Envy. "Can we turn on some lights?"
"Our sudden arrival was recorded by the security system, but I have flagged it as an error. All evidence of our disturbance will go unrecorded. My understanding of these outdated programs is superior to their own internal defenses. Is there anything else for me to do?" Envy asked.
"Plenty," Vega said. "I can't read any of this writing. I need help in translation and location of specific equipment. If there are any instruction on receiving and preparing a blood specimen, this would be helpful as well."
The robot complied.
Envy weaved through the lab stations, moving in the direction Greg had gone.
"Did you hear what I said about the lights?" Greg called. He cupped his hands to the cool, thick glass and attempting to see through the wall. "Can we light up this room?"
The main lab lights came up, giving the robot illumination to aid in his search. A moment later, pale blue lights came to life on the other side of the wall that Greg was pressed against. Three rows of white, coffin shaped pods covered the room. The low temperature chamber was revealed to be one hundred meters long and half as wide. The floor was covered in a fine grating. Shower attachments hung on the walls at intervals down the room. Amber lights, unseen by Greg in the main lab, reflected on the surface of the pods.
"What are those? What is this place?" Greg said, turning back to Vega.
Vega interrupted his conference with Envy to answer Greg's questions. He approached with a test tube seated in a metal frame. "This is a cloning facility, somewhere in the country called Sweden. We have to get a body double for you. If we are going to trick the Keepers, they must believe they have stopped the one they were after. Those pods, in that room, are the growth chambers."
"What? They can clone humans... In this lab?"
"Yes. Human cloning has been happening for nearly fifty years at this point. But this lab is on the cutting edge of refining the process. They are experimenting with human DNA stabilization in clones. I need three drops of blood."
"Wait, you are going to make a clone of me? From three drops of my blood? I don't know..."
"Listen, this is no time to hesitate. I don't much like what they do here either, but this is the only way to beat the system, unless you want to get captured by the Keepers. It would be impossible to resist their methods of interrogation. They have time on their side. And there is no chance in waiting for someone save you," Vega said. He handed over a small, square plastic block and removed a cap from the fluid filled vial. "That is a lancet. Twist the narrow end and poke your finger. It's just a little poke..."
"What about Peter? He must have held out! If they didn't come after me when I found the first coin!" Greg said, stalling.
"Are you your brother? No, you are not. You were the one who told me earlier that you planned on saving Peter. Perhaps you are his only hope for rescue; the reason he is holding out..." Vega argued.
"How long is this going to take, the clone, I mean? Is it fast?"
Vega took the lancet. He opened the younger man's hand, exposing the fingers. Greg looked away as Vega placed the tip of the plastic on the side of his index digit.
"No, it's not a fast process. It takes the same amount of years to grow a human as it takes one to age," Vega spoke, distracting Greg as he made the poke. The lancet made a snap and the quick incision into the epidermis was over. Vega held Greg's finger over the vial as three drops of red life dripped into the catchment and mixed with the solution in the vial.
"But that is one of the things they are working on here, shortening the time so they can make flash clones, and use less genetic material than what is required now. In a few hundred years, I'm sure they will have it down perfectly. There, all done," Vega said, replacing the cap. "Envy, open the chamber, and give me an empty pod number."
A panel of the wall that separated the frozen room dropped away. Cold air rushed out as Vega and Greg went inside the growth chamber. Envy called after the pair that the twenty-third pod was prepared and ready for insertion of material.
In the bath of blue light, Greg peered into amber windows, seeing clones in various stages of development. A few chambers contained lines and abnormal growths of tissue, ghastly in any minor resemblance of a person. Others contained fully developed humans, sleeping in their tubes.
"Blondes," Greg commented.
"Yes," Vega said, walking toward the empty pod, standing vacant in its place in the row. "Most of the samples came from the head scientist. He found it much faster to use himself as a volunteer donor rather than recruit others. He considered them all his children..."
"Well, at least a clone of me won't be out of place," Greg said, trying to find an upside to being in the haunting room. The cool temperature was interesting at first, but now it was starting to settle into his bones.
"Yes, when the techs come in tomorrow, or the next day, it will be unlikely they will question the new growth in twenty-three," Vega said, more somber than he had been the entire trip. As he inserted the vial into place, he continued to talk softly. "I often heard that Doctor Hertzmaad would run experiments without telling anyone. And when we alter the records, I doubt anyone will question the place your clone is taking. They will just think the mad doctor has come in on his own to run another of his personal experiments."
When Vega finished, the white birth coffin lit up, amber light emitting from the window. Greg stared inside as the dark liquid from the vial was injected into a thin membrane inside the tank. He knew it would be like watching an hour hand on a clock, so he patted the tank, said goodbye to his future clone, following Vega from the room.
"So what now?" Greg asked. "Jump sixteen years forward and grab our clone?"
Vega continued with his serious expression. "It will have to be fifteen. I believe the age discrepancy will be unnoticeable. The clone will be totally asleep throughout its development, so it will be without speech. They usually allow the experiments to develop until the seventeenth year. Then they are awoken for medical research and reproductive studies..."
"What? Reproductive studies?"
"Yes," Vega answered with reluct
ance. "It was found, for an unknown reason, unforeseen in the DNA, that clones had problems in reproduction. This is one of the main purposes of Hertzmaad's private work. He keeps a dormitory on the other side of the complex where they," he paused, "experiment."
"Gross," Greg said in disgust.
"Yes, but one aspect of keeping these clones asleep for so long is so that they dream. When they dream, their brains expand. I can only imagine what a brain with no life experiences can dream of. It must be so complex, dark and swirling; with only memories that are bound to the DNA guiding their thoughts..."
Vega was getting off track, but Greg waited.
"Anyway, the captives, with each batch more and more advanced, become smarter and learn quickly. So they end up escaping. In fifteen years. That is when we will come back and pick up our boy."
"Okay. Envy, drive up on our feet for another jump," Greg said.
"All traces of our presence have been removed," the robot confirmed, rolling up on the tips of the steel-toed boots. "I am ready."
The coin flipped in the air.
CHAPTER 19