RESTORATION (a science fiction novel) (RESTORATION (the science fiction trilogy)) (61 page)

“Yes Sir?”
         “I want you to load all of the remaining clones up and when they are all awake call me in my office.”
         “Yes, Sir, will do.”

Glitch returned to the clone they were working on.
         “I’ll finish this one, you go ahead and prep the next one and just keep going until they’re all done.  I’ll follow you with the uploading and the vitals sweeps.”
         “Okay.  What do you think Cyrus is going to do?” Asked Alice.   Glitch wasn’t too talkative a fellow.  He didn’t look up at her.    

“If I had to guess, I’d say he’ll torture each of these clones while the others watch.  He’s hoping that by the time he gets to the last one, maybe it will talk.  The key to these things working is convincing the clone that his surrogate is dead.  If a clone in this situation believes that his surrogate is still alive then he will be much less likely to talk.  We find
this phenomena to be much like a mother laying down her life for that of her children.”

“What about the soul?”

“You mean P-Source?” Said Glitch.

“Call it want you want
, you know what it is.”

“Yes, I’ve done extensive research.  Source is transcendental.  It doesn’t matter how far away a clone is loaded from the surrogate.  Source arrives and attaches.  Those who believe in God say it’s the soul. 
Us more scientific types believe it exists in a fourth dimension.  It apparently splits in the womb when identical twins are formed.  We have come to believe that Source views the awakening of a clone in the same way.  It splits without losing any value, or intensity if you will.  This sharing of source and like mindedness of the clones explains why they don’t have the insatiable desire to live in tandem when they first awaken.  If allowed to live on a tangent time line from their surrogate they develop the same instinct for self preservation.

Alice thought about this for a while as she worked on the next clone.  She wondered if Cyrus had a backup plan in the event that he might be killed, a way of coming back.  She thought it to be quite probable that he would have thought of this and would have a plan, it was a horrible thought but it seemed likely to her.  She realized Glitch was right about the instinct thing, she would gladly try to kill Cyrus with her bare hands if he were doing this to her children right now. Dear God how she missed them, it brought tears to her eyes but she hid it from Glitch. 

It took them three hours working at record pace to get all four of the clones loaded and alert.  Alice could tell by the behavior differences of the last one that he was much more there and seemed to have some intelligence about him that the others lacked.  She remembered on the night of the sabotage when Toby ran into the lab to warn her that the last clone only got a few seconds of electricity to the brain.  This worried her.  She believed that he may be cognitive enough to speak but with some brain damage that might cause him to be confused, he might start blurting out information and ruin everything that they had all worked so hard for. 

She had to do
something, she had to warn him somehow to keep quiet.  She was waiting for an opportunity but hadn’t gotten one yet.  She needed for Glitch to leave the room but he wouldn’t.  She went back to her office area out of sight of the camera.  She took a full sheet of paper and wrote
         “Your surrogate is alive, don’t tell him anything!”  She opened her lab coat up and taped it to her chest up high then zipped up her lab coat and went back out to the clones.  She began checking each one of the clones vitals and brain activity.

When she got to the last one he was really looking her over and he was trying
speak.  She put her finger to her lips and “ssshed” him before he did.  She leaned over and began checking his vitals and he whispered, “hungry.”  She knew right then she was in trouble.  This one could talk, but he was damaged for sure.  She reached up and unzipped her lab coat and let it fall open so that he could see the note.   He nodded but she wasn’t so sure he really understood.

She waited for a moment while she checked everything out and then she zipped up her lab coat.  She leaned back over him and looked into his eyes with a little flashlight.  She turned and went back to her office to get a grip on her emotions. She removed the note from her chest and put it into the document vaporizer.  All she could do is hope that he understood the gravity of the situation. 

A moment later Glitch returned with a clip board in his hand and went right over to the lab cooler and unlocked it.  He pulled out the stored chips and began reading the serial numbers with a jewelers loop.  He was comparing the numbers on the chips to what appeared to be a shipping manifest from the company that made them.  Glitch was pretty damn smart and he was already becoming suspicious that there was some problem with the system or the files or even the chips.  Soon he would deduct that it was the chips that were bad and not the lifefiles or any of their procedures.

Glitch came out from the storage area and did a quick check of each clone. They were all awake and ready for Cyrus.  He called Cyrus on the intercom as instructed and in less than five minutes Cyrus came blasting back in with almost as much enthusiasm as he displayed when he left earlier.
         “All right,” he said, “let’s do this!” 

He went to the first clone and began an intensive line of questioning similar to his first attempt.  As the interrogation dragged on neither that clone nor any of the others had any comment, not a peep.  The torture began and he positioned the other three so that they could see it all.  He had hopes that watching their carbon copies die in this manner would cause one of them to give him some information that he could use.

The other two clones didn’t seem to care that their carbon copy was getting cut to pieces by a mad man but Alice could tell that the last one was feeling his pain; number five had all of his abilities to discern right from wrong and he knew this man was mad but he still lacked good speech ability and didn’t really even know who he was.

It only took Cyrus about forty five minutes to finish off clone number two and then he moved to number three.  Three did look a little frightened but it was more like the fright you see on a kids face when he has been caught passing a note or skipping class, not the kind of fright you would normally exhibit when you’re about to be murdered.

He took more time with number four but could still not understand why or how Dodge Kerrington could take the torture that no other man could have ever endured.   Alice could see that this unexpected development had caused Cyrus to become somewhat defeated.  Cyrus in a fit of anger began destroying the lab.  Alice and Glitch retreated to one corner while trays and lights went crashing about in every direction until Cyrus finally paused, somewhat exhausted both mentally and physically. 

He grabbed the last clone by the neck picking him up off the table and holding his face inches from his own and demanding to know.

“What are you Dodge Kerrington?  And what makes you so tough?” 

Of course the clone didn’t answer, either he couldn’t or he just didn’t have anything in his head.  The Clone had already cut his own wrist but in the chaos no one saw him do it.  His blood covered Cyrus’s feet and the surrounding floor.  As his last contribution he punched Cyrus right in the nose reopening the previously ruptured blood vessels.  Cyrus in his anger reacted without thought and squeezed the clone’s neck with all his might crushing it.  Realizing his own folly Cyrus dropped the lifeless body onto the table and turned to Glitch and Alice who were still cowering from the vicious display of violence. 

Cyrus walked over to them very quietly.  He had a calmness about him in great contrast to his uncontrolled anger a mere few seconds earlier.  His demeanor appeared defeated.   

“I’ll be retreating to my quarters now.  The two of you will clean up this mess and right the damaged equipment, after which you will sever the heads from the bodies for examination, dispose
of the bodies in the incinerator.  Tomorrow we begin the investigation.”  The blood was still running from his badly broken nose.

“I demand to know what went wrong with these
clones, no normal man can take that.”  He said as he left in a huff. 

After Cyrus left Glitch and Alice stood there looking around.  Glitch had his arms crossed and nudged a beaker across the floor a couple of feet while looking down at it like a disappointed child.

“Well,” he said, “that went well.  Get this cleaned up and let me know when you’re done, I’ll return to begin the investigation.”
         “Wait,” Alice said, “Cyrus said for you to . . .”
         “No!” Glitch interrupted angrily, “I don’t do blood and guts my dear!  Software and electronics is my thing.  I’ll send two maintenance workers to do the heavy lifting for you and I trust with their assistance you can take care of this.” 

With that he turned and clicked his little pointy boots right out of there and down the hall.  Alice began picking a few things up but it was such a disaster she hardly knew where to start.

“Wow, did a bomb go off in here!”  She turned around and there stood Toby.  She ran into his arms.

“Oh I’m so glad you’re here, I was so scared!”  She told him what happened and they began cleaning the place up. 

Alice had covered the clone’s bodies with plastic sheets because she could hardly stand to see what had been done to them.  Toby lifted one of the sheets and peeked under.    

“Oh my god!
  What’s wrong with that dude, ugh!  If there is such a place as hell, I think Cyrus must already have reservations!”

“We can only hope.”
Said Alice.

  “So you want me to help you clean up in here?”
         “Glitch is sending two maintenance workers to help, but you can help me if you want.  I’m supposed to cut off their heads and dispose of the rest but I don’t think I can do it.  I’ll ask the two workers to do it.” 

They started setting up overturned tables and sweeping up glass.  The maintenance workers came in a few minutes later.

“Damn, did the clones explode or what? 

Toby let out a laugh which he quickly stifled because Alice was not amused.
         “Cyrus was conducting pain tolerance experiments on these clones and he got a little carried away,” said Alice.  He wants you to incinerate the bodies but first their heads need to be removed.  When you’re done put the heads in the lab cooler.  Here’s a scalpel and a bone saw, we’ll clean up the rest.” 

They went right to work at it and didn’t seem to mind, which was a relief on one hand and somewhat unnerving on the other.

Toby and Alice got out a hose and the mop bucket.  There was a floor drain which made the job much easier, within an hour the majority of the mess was cleaned up.  They were glad that the maintenance workers took care of the gruesome task.    Alice drained and rinsed the suspension tanks and began disinfecting everything, while Toby helped her as much as he could in spite of not knowing much about the equipment.

The maintenance workers finished up and left with the bodies to take them down to the incinerator for disposal.  Alice and Toby finished up, shut everything off and went up to the dorms to Toby’s room.  They each took a hot shower and felt much better after they got the blood and chemical residue washed off.  They went down to the kitchen and made some sandwiches and
poPCorn and took it back up to his room. 

They had a good time talking and eating.  Toby told her all about winning Todd over to their side and how great it was going to be when they were all free.  They went to bed but couldn’t sleep in spite of being exhausted.  They had both been thinking about their next chance to be together for several days and now they were finally alone.

They got on the bed and continued with the necking session that they started earlier on the sofa, they were still learning what the other liked but there was no hurry.  Alice jumped up off the bed.

“I’ll be back,” she said, and ran into the bathroom closing the door behind.  Toby was no dummy, he
had learned from a long life and many years of experience.  When you’re fooling around and your lady gets a grin like that and says, “I’ll be back,” that it can only be something good that is about to happen. 

He got up and went over to the music player that she had on the nightstand and turned it on.  He selected some soft music with the volume down low.  He turned off all the lights except for a small lamp on the dresser.  He lay back down on the bed and waited for her to come out. 

When she finally did it was worth the wait.  She had let down her wavy blonde hair.  It was all combed out so silky and smooth.  She kept it long and it was down well past her shoulders in length.  She was wearing a little red see through number that left little to the imagination.  It was super sexy and he couldn’t believe how hot she looked.  Her big green eyes were his favorite thing.  They were so clear and bright.  She seemed to look right into him with those eyes.  He was already turned on because he knew they were going to have sex one way or another.  That little red nighty put him over the top.  He could feel his heart pounding in his head and his chest and he felt that old familiar pain.  It was like he was back in high school again. 

She playfully pushed him down on the bed and jumped on top.  She teased him for what seemed like forever until it finally culminated with a little strip tease and a rather violent removal of his shorts and shirt, not to mention a few other crazy maneuvers he hadn’t ever seen before.