Chapter Four
Chapter Four
Marisol was bored. Her medical team mostly stayed in the main cabin. The transport from Earth remained on the edge of her sensors, but she hadn’t seen any other traffic within range. It was important to keep a far distance, though. She didn’t want to spook whoever would want to attack the transport.
They’d ejected the emergency pod with the still unconscious pilot on schedule. Her grandfather was obviously now aware of her escape and that she’d taken her medical team with her. It was terrifying wondering how he’d reacted to first learning the news and what he was plotting.
It was possible that he’d just order another clone of her to be made and shipped to Clone World. Her gramps could always lie to the replacement clone by saying she’d suffered an injury and been in a coma for the past three years. He was that much of a bastard to do something so vile.
That had Marisol thinking grim thoughts. What if the second version of her one day realized what had been done to them? Version two would also want to escape Clone World to find Free. Loving him was a major part of her personality that would definitely get transferred.
“That’s why growing unblanked clones is illegal,” she muttered.
The only problem with that scenario was her original identity chip from her human body was inside her palm. Clone version two of Marisol Florigo wouldn’t have one. It would be impossible for secondary clone her to pass as a human during security checks while visiting other worlds and stations. Then again, maybe her gramps had copied her life chip when he’d shipped her original body to the DJD factory.
He certainly had the money to pay for anything. Marisol was more than aware of just how much wealth Clone World raked in. It was the top earner in vacation destinations. Gramps wouldn’t want to lose his best salesperson. That would be her.
“He’s totally going to make another me. Damn him.”
She regretted not thinking about that possibility sooner. She’d had a lot on her mind, though, like learning she was a clone and that her life had become a lie. She’d reeled from the realization that Free, or at least one of the clones he’d escaped with, was still alive and using the secret account to purchase an illegal clone. And she’d plotted how to get them off Clone World quickly so she could intercept that shipment and have a hope of finding whoever had survived.
“I should have hidden myself a note somewhere in my home in case a version two was made. That way, she’d know one of us was searching for Free already.”
“Are you well?”
Marisol startled and turned in her seat to stare at MC-3. The female stepped closer.
“I’m bored but fine.”
“You’re speaking to yourself.”
“That’s totally normal for humans. I mutter when I’m thinking unhappy thoughts.”
“You’re not human.”
“Well, in my head, I still am. That counts.”
MC-3 seemed to contemplate that. “Do you believe your plan is a failure? That we won’t find the other clones?”
“The cargo transport we’re intercepting hasn’t been attacked yet. I still have faith that it will happen.”
“Do you want me to take over flying for a few hours? You slept in that chair all night.”
“No. But thank you. I’m sure whoever ordered that illegal clone is going to strike at any time. This is the perfect location. We’re past Vista’s space station and its authority patrols. I know the escaped clone didn’t go to all that trouble to let the transport reach its destination. They had a reason for having that unblanked clone made and will want it.”
“Are you worried that you might be wrong?”
“I’d be an idiot not to be,” Marisol admitted. “I have faith that I’m right, though.”
The clone medic nodded. “Do you believe the authorities are after us?”
“I’m pretty certain my gramps will try to cover this up. He’ll hire mercenaries to seek us out rather than go through legal channels. He’d be terrified of Earth finding out what I really am. That would blow back on him big time if someone started an investigation. Gramps can’t afford to risk that.”
MC-3 didn’t look convinced that she was correct.
“He didn’t report the escaped clones to the authorities. He just figured they’d die when they needed their next plasma infusions. As you know, these bodies break down and decay without it. That was the beauty of planning their escape. We bought a large supply of plasma for them, separate from what was on the books. None was missing from our stock on Clone World.”
MC-3 opened her mouth to ask questions, but Marsol cut her off.
“They’ll have audited the amount of missing plasma on Clone World this time to figure out we took enough for a year. Gramps will assume we’ll die three months after our supply runs out. Hell, maybe he figures I took off in a fit of rage after learning the truth since I took you four with me and didn’t have them check to see if any plasma was missing. I’m hoping that’s where his mind goes.”
“Why?”
“Why the rage? He made me into a clone without telling me. I’m hoping that he assumes I’ll return when my clone body starts to deteriorate rather than die. I am a Florigo. We’re survivors. It might delay him from ordering a replacement clone of me to be made. He’s probably gleefully contemplating me begging at his feet for him to forgive me when I’m forced to come back. Which won’t happen.”
“Would he kill you if you’re captured and returned? I mean, if you disappoint his expectations?”
Marisol didn’t have to think about the answer. “Yes. He’s got zero tolerance for betrayal. If you ever thought I was anything like him, I hope you’re learning that I’m not. He really is a bastard.”
“We thought birthed beings loved their families.”
“You said you were programmed with the history of what happened to my parents. Rico Florigo literally blew his own son out of the sky. Gramps had to have known my dad’s body would be too damaged to clone or salvage memories from. But he acted in anger. Gramps always did have a hair-trigger temper. There was no way some clones were going to get the best of him, even if it meant losing his only son. His ego wouldn’t allow it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I think opening Clone World and having that much power over the lives of so many people made him utterly heartless. He stopped being a decent person. I’m―”
A beep interrupted her speech, and Marisol spun the chair back, taking the shuttle off autopilot. The transport on the edge of her sensors came to a halt. Marisol reversed the engines to do the same.
“What is it?”
Marisol felt her heart race. “The transport is under attack. The autopilot flying it is sending out a distress hail and requesting authority assistance.”
“Will they come?”
“The authority patrol ships are too far out to arrive any time soon, and I doubt they’ll care because it is a low-priority transport. Their job is to protect Vista planet residents and everyone living on the station orbiting it. Those kinds of transport aren’t supposed to be carrying any life forms. The cargo isn’t even for them, so they don’t have a reason to get involved.”
“Can we go closer to see what’s happening?”
“Not without that other ship spotting us on long-range sensors. I don’t want to spook them until they rescue that unblanked clone first.”
“Understood. I’ll inform the others of what is happening.” The clone medic fled toward the back.
Marisol felt super excited and nauseatingly nervous at the same time. She was about to make contact with whoever had attacked the transport. Hopefully, it would be Free. If it wasn’t, it had to be Figures. Then again, they could have shared the account information from Clone World with the B and R model Clones that had escaped with them.
That last possibility wasn’t something Marisol wanted to think about. Whatever she found, whoever had survived, they were the only hope she and her medic team had of finding a safe place to live.
It was possible to stay on the shuttle for long periods of time, but they’d have to dock with a station or land on a planet at some point to restock their food and water. Even to gain mechanical parts if something broke down on the shuttle. Not that any of them had the knowledge to do repairs. Losing life support would be deadly.
It would be too risky to pay someone to do the repairs. Her grandfather would never tell anyone she was a clone, but he would have her arrested on false charges and returned to Clone World.
She wouldn’t dare tell the authorities the truth either. They’d immediately kill her. Marisol stared at her hand. The chip implanted there would fool everyone into thinking she was human, but it would also get her caught the first time it was scanned.
The idea of being trapped inside the confined shuttle with the four other clones long-term wasn’t exactly safe either. So far, the medics had taken her orders and let her be their leader. That could change in the future. Especially if her plan failed and they were doomed to die with certainty. The other clones would have no reason to want her alive anymore.
“It’s going to be okay,” she muttered aloud.
Time seemed to crawl by, but after fifteen minutes, she feared that she might not get a lock on the attacking shuttle. It could fly far enough away for her to lose sight of it on long-range sensors.
Marisol gripped the controls and flew toward the transport, still transmitting hails for assistance. She picked both ships up on her sensors within seconds. A privately owned shuttle was currently docked with the transport.
She quickly identified the model of the shuttle, and her hope sank. That wasn’t the same type that Free and the others had escaped Clone World on. That meant it might not be them unless they’d somehow acquired a different shuttle.
That seemed very complicated and not like something they’d do. Then again, maybe the original stolen shuttle had been damaged or destroyed. They’d need a replacement if they were still alive. Marisol knew they had the intelligence and skills to steal another.
The other shuttle detached and flew away. The transport it had attacked began to break apart. Marisol ignored it and followed the shuttle. It seemed aware of her presence when it changed course a few times and sped up.
“You’re not losing me.” She tried to communicate with them, but it was ignored.
“Damn it. Answer me.”
All four of the medic clones crowded inside the cockpit. MC-2 leaned over her to study the console readings. “Boost the signal stronger,” he ordered as he reached to do just that.
Marisol threw out her hand and slapped his away. “No! We don’t want the signal strength strong enough to reach the authority patrols protecting Vista. Then they might fly this way to investigate. That would be bad.”
“Why is that other shuttle trying to get away from us? They aren’t responding to your hail.”
“I see that,” Marisol snapped at MC-1. She felt a lot of stress. The pilot of that shuttle was trying to accelerate enough to get off her long-range sensors, changing course, all to lose her. “Let me focus.”
“They are clones. Why won’t they talk to us?” MC-4 sounded confused.
“They don’t know who we are.” Marisol took a deep breath and blew it out, attempting to calm her racing heart.
“Fly faster,” MC-2 urged.
“I am.” Marisol ordered them to be silent.
The next twenty minutes were hellish, and she nearly lost the other shuttle’s location a few times, but then it headed toward an asteroid belt. It was marked in the navigational charts as a place to avoid at all costs. The onboard computer system even sent her warnings on her console, recommending she change direction.
“Is the other pilot prepared to die to lose us? Why?”
“I don’t think so, and I don’t know, MC-3,” Marisol responded.
The debris of flying rocks varying in size from a fist to huge buildings was messing with the sensors. There were so many of them that once the other shuttle entered the belt, she lost the ability to track it.
“It’s gone. It was destroyed!” MC-1 threw himself into the other cockpit seat and clung to it. “Change course, or we’ll be destroyed too!”
Marisol reversed thrusters before they were hit by the flying space rocks. It was like a floating tornado of them in space, blocking their path. She saw a moon on the other side through some gaps in the belt. Her hands flew over the controls, amplifying her view.
“There!” She spotted the intact shuttle flying toward that moon. It was only for a split second, though. “They weren’t obliviated. The shuttle made it through!”
MC-4 gripped Marisol’s shoulder. “Don’t attempt it. We’ll die.”
“Fuck.” She knew the clone was right. Her piloting skills were lacking to prevent their shuttle from being smashed apart. “We’ll go around.”
“We’ve lost them. What now?” MC-1 turned his head from the other seat, appearing worried as their gazes met.
Marisol broke eye contact with him and changed course. The asteroid belt was massive, circling around a massive chunk of rock that might be a dead planet. She wasn’t an expert. It seemed to her that was the source of gravity that kept the belt in that location. It would take them hours to get around it to reach the moon she’d glimpsed. “We’ll find them. I’m not giving up yet. Let’s get on the other side of that belt and decide what to do then.”
It took just over three hours to reach the moon she’d seen. The four other clones had stayed with her in the cockpit. Three of them were seated on the floor between the two seats.
“Nothing is showing on long-range sensors,” MC-1 announced.
“I see that.” Marisol wanted to scream in frustration. She’d lost the other shuttle.
“What do we do now?” MC-4’s expression and tone of voice expressed her worry. “Do we give up?”
Marisol powered down thrusters, keeping in orbit near the moon.
“Are you giving up?” That came from MC-2. He seemed to have a somber personality. “What do we do now?”
“I’m not giving up. Did you see how that pilot flew fearlessly through the asteroid belt? It’s like he has done it often enough to feel confident it won’t kill them.” Marisol paused, staring at the moon. The scans showed no structures or signals. Nothing lived on it or had been built there.
“What do we do now?” MC-3 asked the question.
“We’re going to stay here and wait,” Marisol informed them. “At some point, I feel confident that the shuttle will fly this way again. We’ll block it before it can lose us through the asteroid belt now that we know what to expect.”
MC-1 didn’t appear happy as their gazes met. “You don’t know if that shuttle will fly this way again.”
“It’s not like we have anywhere else to be.”
Marisol stared at the moon. Huge craters pitted the surface. There were too many to count. It was also possible that the other shuttle had flown into one to hide. For all she knew, that might be where they had set up a home. It was also possible that they occasionally visited an uninhabited planet to find water to refill their tanks and hunt for food.
She started to look up the navigational charts to see if any live planets nearby would fit that bill. There were none. “That’s actually good,” she muttered.
“What is?”
She looked at the clones, making eye contact. “There’s no place for them to resupply water and food when they run low. The closest and only options are Vista or Clone World. No way they are venturing onto heavily protected stations or landing on defensive heavy planets to buy that stuff from humans. That means they must be stealing food and water from other vessels.” Marisol leaned back in her seat. “We’ll just wait here until that shuttle comes back.”
MC-1 drew her attention by scowling. “We’re going to die out here doing nothing.”
“I’m not doing nothing.” She leaned forward again, checking the signal strength of her communication broadcasts. It was best to only send short bursts that wouldn’t travel out of that solar system. “I’m going to keep trying to reach out to them at regular intervals.”
“Why? They are long gone.”
Marisol looked at MC-4 and jerked her head toward the moon taking up most of the front viewscreen. “Maybe not.”
“We’d pick up the signature of a shuttle on our sensors if it had landed on the moon.”
MC-1 was really starting to irritate Marisol. “Wrong. Check out the readings of how dense that moon is. See those craters? They could hide an entire army of authority shuttles. The dense rock and minerals would fool our sensors into seeing nothing if they were as deep as I suspect. Not that I think any authorities are this far away from where they patrol. It would be a waste of fuel, resources, and manpower.”
“That’s your plan?”
“Yes, MC-1. That’s the plan. We’ll keep sending a low burst hail every six hours.” She felt a little depressed. “That way, it won’t travel far enough to reach the travel path of Clone World visitors or the authority patrols that Vista uses to keep them from being attacked by pirates. Who wants the first shift?”
“I’ll take the first one.”
It didn’t surprise Marisol that MC-1 offered. He was the one she’d have to watch out for if the clones decided to oust her from being in command. She had a feeling that he’d gladly take her place. “I’m going to get some sleep. Wake me immediately if we get a response or something shows up on long-range sensors.”
She rose, going to the back of the shuttle. Once she used the bathroom and ate a nutrient bar, she sprawled out on one of the chairs that converted for sleeping. Their escape had gone well, but finding Free and the other five clones he’d left Clone World with wasn’t panning out at all.
Marisol slept seven hours and then went back into the cockpit, taking most shifts so she’d be on hand if they got a response. Two days quickly turned into three. Her hope was dying that the other shuttle would return. It was possible that she’d gotten all five of them killed.
The tension between her and the other clones was palpable. MC-1 kept arguing that they should search navigational charts to find a planet on which they might be able to settle. The ones that humans hadn’t colonized had been rejected for very good reasons. Either the environment of those planets was too harsh or the wildlife too dangerous. Some had major weather anomalies that made living on the surface impossible. It was impossible to build a city when tornados ripped them apart faster than they could put them up.
MC-1 entered the cockpit and took the other chair. “I have spoken with the others. We’ve decided it’s best if we leave this area.”
It was as she feared. They weren’t going to listen to her anymore. Marisol met his gaze, her anger rising. They were only away from Clone World because she’d refused to leave them behind to die. That’s the thanks I get. She debated how to respond, but a beep had her startling.
The sensors were picking up another shuttle. It appeared out of what seemed like nowhere, but it had come from the moon. Specifically, shot out of a deep crater. She immediately sent a hail, her fingers flying across the console as she started the engines, too. There was no way she wouldn’t pursue them if they tried to flee.
MC-1 jumped out of the seat and rushed to the back, probably to get the other clones. It was tempting for Marisol to seal off the cockpit to block them. She didn’t, though. It would only make the tension between them worse.
Marisol gasped when the other shuttle responded. A male voice filled the cockpit as he spoke. “Why do you keep hailing me?
Pain sliced through her as she realized that wasn’t Free’s voice. She’d been so sure it might be him. The disappointment was that great. Marisol swallowed hard before responding, using her words carefully to verify that the male was at least one of the six clones she was looking for.
“I’m one of three. Do you understand?” She let that sink in. Her, Free, and Figures had worked together on Clone World. They’d also come up with the plan that had helped the six clones escape. “I mean no harm. Can we dock together and speak in person?”
The unknown male responded. “Nine, bar, seven, one, dark, quad, ten.”
Marisol instantly recognized the exact accounting transaction that had paid the captain of the shuttle the clones had stolen to fly off Clone World. They’d had to memorize them since leaving a trace of that payment would have gotten them caught. “Five, three, zero, bar.” That was the rest of it.
“Seven, seven, seven,” he ordered before cutting their communications.
“What’s wrong? What was that?” MC-1 encroached into her space.
“Get out of my face.” Tears filled her eyes. “It’s one of them. A clone.” Not Free, but one of the six. She’d guess it might be Figures since he’d have also memorized that transaction.
Whoever used that account to play for the unblanked clone had needed to type it in for the funds to transfer when they first reached the shuttle to satisfy the captain. At that point, the money would have been filtered through six accounts in seconds to hide the original source before being deposited into the human’s account.
“What was that?” MC-1 backed off a little, but his gray eyes were fixed on her. “Are you certain it is one of them?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did he stop talking with you?”
“Seven, seven, seven means to wait for more data. It’s what we input while waiting for whatever information we need to complete a transaction.” She stared out at the other shuttle in the distance. It wasn’t flying any closer, and she didn’t want to make them flee by doing that, either. Just seeing it was enough.
“Wait for what data? Hail them again.” MC-1 reached for the console.
Marisol batted his hand away. “Stop. Give him time to process. I’m certain he’s surprised that it’s me. He probably needs to calculate the best way to handle this situation.”
“He needs to dock with us and take us to where they are living,” MC-1 snapped. “That is the only acceptable outcome.”
“We can’t force him to do shit,” Marisol snapped. “Sit and calm down. Give it a few minutes for him to process what he’s just learned. I know F Clones the best since I work with them. They are very logical and cautious.”
The other shuttle hailed, and she opened communications.
“I’m not the one you need to speak to. Do you have the capability to wait here for a while?”
The more Marisol heard his voice, the more she became certain that it was Figures speaking. His words implied that Free was still alive. The joy that filled her chest had her barely able to answer. “Yes. Is he alive? Please, tell me.” She’d beg to know for certain.
“He’s alive.”
The tears of relief flowed down her face after hearing confirmation that Free had survived. He is alive! “Thank you. Yes, we can wait here.”
He paused. “We?”
She chose her words to let him know she wasn’t alone. “I have four friends with me that have a lot in common with you.” No way could she risk saying clones over communications. Even with being careful of how far she broadcast her signal, at least one shuttle had been hiding inside the moon. It was possible more might be.
Like pirates.
That thought made her sick to her stomach. She’d once overheard Straton and her grandfather snickering over selling some damaged clones to pirates. It had happened after the Solace Celebration a year before. A group of unruly guests had started a bar fight. Three of the female clone serves had suffered bone-deep cuts to their faces and upper bodies from flying glass. It had left them severely scarred. A security male clone had lost a few fingers.
Her gramps and his righthand man had been proud that they’d made a hefty profit. It was standard that a guest had to pay for any property damage they caused on Clone World, including replacing any clones deemed unfit to work anymore with those kinds of physical flaws.
Her gramps held firm beliefs about beauty and perfection. Every clone he bought had to be attractive, unmarred in any way, or they were decommissioned. That was the polite way to say killed. To hear them both saying they’d made a profit had confused her. The guests had paid for replacements. That balanced the books. Then she’d overheard them saying they’d sold the damaged clones. It meant they’d been paid twice.
After digging, she’d learned what the pirates had bought the clones for. Pirates had killed those poor clones while hunting them like animals. Her grandfather had even allowed them to rent a small uninhabited island on their planet to do that horrible deed. Some of his sicker, wealthy friends paid a premium to view and bet on the outcome of which clone had survived the longest.
Pirates finding out they were clones would be terrible. Like those others, they’d use Marisol and her medic team for sport. Their deaths would be drawn out and horrible. Marisol was very careful of every word she spoke.
“Understood,” the male finally said after a good minute or two of silence. “Wait here. Don’t attempt to follow us.”
“We’ll wait,” she softly agreed, not happy about it. So many things could have changed in the past three years. It was possible that Free wouldn’t want to see or talk to her. She couldn’t forget that he may have only pretended to be in love with her to gain his freedom.
She was about to find out. That was terrifying.
“You agreed to that?” MC-1 looked furious. “What if they don’t return? Hail him back.”
“No.” Marisol shook her head, glaring at him.
MC-3 suddenly moved, standing between the two seats. She placed both of her hands on MC-1’s chest. “Stop. Take deep breaths. We’re all stressed, but Marisol knows what she’s doing. We’re alive and away from Clone World. She did that and was able to make contact with one of the freed clones.”
“We no longer have to take orders from humans.” MC-1’s tone had softened, though. He reached up and placed his hands over hers. It had become clear that the two were a couple. “We know that she still thinks like one of them.”
That was proof to Marisol that the medics were talking behind her back. She’d said that to MC-3 after being caught talking to herself. They all seemed to know that she still felt like a human on the inside.
“Fine. We wait and do things her way,” MC-1 agreed.
Marisol relaxed in her seat, wondering how long the wait would be until Free or Figures came back.