B Clones, page 9
He grinned. “Exactly, Gemma.” All humor vanished off his face. “I would fight them if they attempted to lure your affections from me. I feel things for you as well. Possessiveness and a longing to form a strong bond with you being at the top of those emotions. I never want to share you with someone else. I hope you feel the same toward me.”
“I do.”
“Good. That’s settled. We are a couple for the rest of our lives. One unit.” He took her hand. “Now it’s time to take you to the control center and begin to teach you about the station.”
She groaned. “This is going to be bad. I’m warning you now.”
“There’s plenty of time to learn and you’re smarter than you used to be, Gemma. Give yourself more credit. Enhanced body. Remember?”
“I’m also the woman who fell out of bed because some cleaning robot wanted to steal my covers this morning.”
He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it as they left the clothing store. “You’re doing wonderfully.”
“That’s because you’re really hot and I want to impress you.”
“You own me now, Gemma. No need to impress.”
She relaxed, letting go of some of the tension she felt. The future wasn’t looking so bad with Big at her side.
Chapter Eight
The control room at the station intimidated Gemma. It contained three rows of long desks with computers, or what passed for them in the future. “Crap. You can’t really expect me to learn how to work all of this stuff.”
Big chuckled, leading her past two dark rows to the third one. One screen was lit up. “This is all you need to worry about. Forget the rest.”
She glanced back at the rest. “What are they?”
He gestured to the other rows. “The first row controlled the robotic mining equipment and also ran the docking stations for the shuttle ports. Second row is all just security feeds, monitoring the station and the mines. This last section is station operations.”
She glanced down the long row.
He grabbed ahold of her arm, took a seat, and pulled her onto his lap. “We’re not reopening the mining shafts or monitoring dozens of businesses. Nor are we attempting to keep track of thousands of people.” He released her and touched the top of the flat surface in front of them. A keyboard lit up. It was part of the desk, and she gawked a bit.
“Free rerouted everything we use to this single station. Life support…” He tapped on the pad and explained what she was seeing on the screen.
“Free?”
“It’s his name now. He hated the one he was assigned on Clone World.”
She hesitated. “Do I want to know what that was?”
“Freak.”
She winced. “I see why he likes being called Free instead. How did he get stuck with that name? Hell, how did you get yours?”
“Human superiors name us once we begin working on Clone World. I climbed out of my shipping container and the medic and duty officer kept saying how big I was. The name stuck and they included it on my file. Freak has a thing for numbers. He worked in the financial department. He’s faster at calculating them than the computers. A freak of nature. That name was filed as his label.”
“What assholes. What about the other clones who escaped with you?”
“Fig was also assigned to assist the granddaughter of the owner of Clone World in their financial department. His main job was to keep track of their profit and losses. He said his job was to give them ‘figures’ during meetings, and so that’s what they called him. Once freed, he shortened Figures to Fig.”
“Really don’t like anyone on that planet,” she murmured.
“Then there’s Ram and Rod. They both worked in maintenance. I’m not certain why they were given those names but they kept them. We were all housed in the same sleeping dorm. I’m not as close to those two as the others, since we were given day shifts together, but they always worked the overnight ones.”
“You mentioned a Blade?”
“Yes. He’s the same service model as I am. Security. He earned his name because when he awoke, the duty officer present noticed that he suffered from body tremors. The medic said they would quickly pass, that it was only temporary from extended shipping in stasis. But the officer believed Blade to be defective. That means immediate death for the newly awakened clone, with another one ordered as a replacement. Blade grabbed the officer’s knife from his belt and threw it at the far wall; a bug had flown into the room. Blade pinned it with precision. It impressed the officer enough to agree with the medic and not have him killed.”
“Wow.”
“Agreed. Okay, pay attention to what I’m about to teach you. You’re going to learn this, Gemma. Trust me. It’s simple.”
She hoped that was true.
Hours later, she actually felt secure in the fact that she could run life scans, and if anything bad happened, she knew how to switch the generator to a backup one. The same with life support. The computer itself would warn her if any unauthorized ships approached the station.
“What happens if someone ever does come while you’re gone?”
“You shut it all down. Life support, the lights, generators, and then activate the emergency lockdown procedures. Right now, all the doors in the station are open. Initiating lockdown will make it a lot harder for them to move around inside.” He pointed to a thick door in the far corner. “Then you get your ass in that room over there and wait for me to return.”
“What’s in there?”
“An emergency bunker for the original staff, in case of dire circumstances. It’s stocked with enough food and water to support twenty-five persons for six months. It has its own generator, air circulator, and there are even two emergency escape pods.”
“As in those things in movies that you can shoot off a ship and survive in?”
“Yes. Never use them, though.”
“Why not?”
He met her gaze. “They have programming that can’t be overwritten. It’s their core function to transmit a distress signal. It would bring you help, but not the kind that would save your life.”
She remembered now. “I’m an illegally created clone. They’d kill me.”
“Exactly. You lock yourself inside that bunker if anyone ever tries to breach the station and stay there. I’ll come get you.”
She didn’t want to think about the day he’d go on a raid and leave her alone. The fact that he’d mentioned a few times that they had years’ worth of supplies helped alleviate that somewhat. “Okay.”
“I even put a box of plasma in there, since this station is now a clone haven.” He winked. “That’s another thing I’ll teach you. You need to learn how to maintain your new body.”
She had a bad feeling that wouldn’t go over well. Gemma and the sight of blood didn’t go together. It tended to make her feel lightheaded. She’d learned to deal, though. Especially after raising two sons. They were forever getting scrapes and cuts as kids. She’d never fainted once. “We might have a problem with that if it’s complicated.”
“It’s not. Transfer consists of inserting a needle into your body, a tube connected to the bag your dosage comes in, and waiting for it to drain. The drawback is it’s a two-hour process.”
“When do I need to do this?”
“Every three months.”
“I have some questions.”
Big removed his hands from the keyboard and it dimmed to match the rest of the desk. “What?” He leaned back, adjusting her in his arms.
He’d mentioned plasma, which made her think of blood. Which led her to what was on her mind. “Will I have periods?”
His arms tightened around her. “No.” He hesitated. “And we can’t have children.”
She let that information sink in, not sure how she felt about it. Becoming a mother had been the best gift of her life. And when her sons had grown, she’d been more than ready to become a grandmother. To spoil her grandkids, then hand them back to their parents. The idea of raising babies full time hadn’t appealed to her anymore, before her death. She’d been too old for that.
Big kissed her cheek, drawing her attention. She turned her head, peering into his eyes. “I wish I could tell you otherwise. To have a child would be fantastic. I think I’d love becoming a father. Clones weren’t made to procreate, though. We’re sterile.”
She nodded.
“Are you disappointed?”
“I hadn’t gotten that far ahead in my thinking process until you said it. It’s probably for the best. I can’t see raising kids on a mining station inside a moon crater. We don’t even have a doctor here—unless you’re about to tell me there’s a robot for that, too.”
“They actually took the medical pod off this station with them when they left. Those aren’t cheap to replace, with their operation rooms and specialized equipment.” He shrugged. “I would have liked the option of having children but it wasn’t meant to be.”
“I had two sons. I’m going to be grateful for that. How long do clones live, anyway?”
He hesitated again. “It’s not known for certain. As long as we take our plasma, it’s been estimated that we could live for hundreds of years.”
That stunned her.
“It’s why I’ve been stockpiling and freezing a large supply of plasma crates. Just in case.”
“Of what?”
He glanced around. “This station was once a hive of activity. I spent far too much time alone here, thinking. What if JDJ Cryo Corp ever goes out of business? Maybe one day the clones will revolt against their owners. I want to stockpile a vast supply of plasma for this station in case that ever happens. There would be no more shipments to steal.”
She tilted her head, resting it against his shoulder. “That’s really a downer.”
He smiled. “Downer?”
“Sorry. It means that it’s depressing. But it’s also smart of you to plan for the future.”
“I try to think ahead.”
“What other plans do you think about?”
“I want my friends to return to the station. All five of them. When we first plotted to escape from Clone World, we’d hoped to save others. That was our biggest plan. Find a safe home and go back to rescue the unhappy clones. We found this place, which would support a lot of us, but it’s too dangerous to go back. Rod flew into that solar system a few months after we escaped, to check it out, and they had increased their flight patrols. We’d never stand a chance of getting more off the surface. They’d blow us up even before we had a chance to land. Now I spend my time repairing parts of this station to keep it safe for us.”
She nodded against him, understanding what he was saying.
His muscles tensed and he stood, forcing her to do the same. “Mostly though, my plans are to take you to our home and feed you lunch. Day one of training went very well.” He smiled and took her hand. “Come on, Gemma. Time to eat.”
She followed him out of the control room. He’d added her to the main computer to allow it to take her commands. When they reached their room, she pressed her hand to the scanner. The light ran across her palm and the doors opened.
Their creepy silver cook came out of her closet and stopped at the island counter, folding her hands there. “What may I make for you?”
It wouldn’t be so hard to get used to the android, Gemma decided, when she wasn’t ever going to have to cook again. Besides that, she’d never seen Magna leave the kitchen area. Maybe she couldn’t. That also helped Gemma be less afraid that the android would go all maniac killing machine.
* * * * *
Big was proud of Gemma. She’d warned him that she had a hard time learning technology, but she’d picked up station commands quickly. Later, he planned to teach her basic repairs. She needed to know how to survive if anything ever happened to him.
They ordered meals from Magna, then ate. He continued thinking about their future. Now he wanted to live a simple, happy life more than ever. He had Gemma. In time, she’d adjust to the bots and the technology. Until then, he’d continue to watch her closely.
The original twelve clones kept haunting his thoughts. Gemma wasn’t exhibiting rage, severe depression, or signs of mental instability. Overall, she was taking her new reality extremely well.
“Are you okay?” she asked, noticing his staring.
He held her gaze. “Yes. How are you holding up?”
“Good. I think I’d be a basket case if it weren’t for you.”
“You make my life so much better, as well,” he admitted.
That caused her to smile. “Same.” Then her expression grew pensive.
“What are you thinking? Please tell me.”
“I’m still a little in shock, I think. You know? I went from life as normal, to waking up in a hospital to learn I’d been in an explosion and was dying, to waking up again on that transport. It’s kind of surreal. You help ground me, though. I can’t thank you enough, Big.”
He took her hand in his. “I was so lonely before you.”
“I was lonely, too. I mean, I had my two sons, but kids grow up. They spent less and less time with me. I was struggling with what to do with my free time. Not that I had a lot. Paying for college for two kids wasn’t cheap. I had a nine-to-five job and put in as much overtime as possible. I’m just glad that my house was paid off and I had a good life insurance policy. My sons won’t have to worry about money or losing their home.” She sighed. “Shit. I guess that was a long time ago. I have to learn to speak past tense… I know they were financially taken care of. At least I did that right.”
“I’m sure you did a lot of things right.”
“I hope so. It’s too late to change anything now.”
“I’m grateful that someone messed up and stole your body instead of that singer with your name.”
That caused her to laugh. “I don’t know about that. My sons were fans of hers. She was a pretty girl with a lot of talent. I was just an older woman who they used to beg not to sing in the car when we went somewhere together.”
Big lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “I doubt that singer would have taken everything you have with as much grace and courage. Even if she could sing.”
“There’s one advantage to being older. You live long enough to grow a twisted sense of humor. It can keep you sane.”
“Are you mentally well? Be honest.” He still worried about her going insane.
“I’m hanging tough, Big. I promise that if I start to lose my shit, I’ll talk to you and work through it. That’s how I’m made. I mean, inside my head. That still feels like my original one.”
“I know.”
“I’m grateful to be alive and have a second chance. You look worried, but you don’t need to be. I have you, and you make me happy. I’m going to be okay. I’ll adjust.” She glanced around their living quarters. “In a nice place.”
He nodded. “Good. If you ever grow bored with this one, we can look at other upgraded cabins. This is the nicest one, though. When everyone left me alone…” His mood grew somber. “Well, I moved in here.”
“I’m sorry they left you.”
“We were new to freedom. That’s the thing about dreams. You believe it will be a certain way if you ever accomplish what you seek, only to realize there are new problems to face.”
“Like cleaning bots,” she said wryly.
He smiled briefly. “We had to make some difficult decisions. Not all of them were the correct ones. It caused arguments and resentment. I wish I could go back to change certain things. Maybe they wouldn’t have left me here alone.”
“I can’t imagine what’ve you’ve gone through, living on this moon by yourself. I’d go stir crazy.”
“I kept busy preparing for their return.”
She nodded. “Like stockpiling massive amounts of plasma.”
“Yes. I’ve also spent a lot of time fixing things and securing our home.” It wasn’t like he had anything but time on his hands.
“It still had to be lonely.”
He suddenly pulled her close, holding her tight. “I’m not alone anymore. I have you.”
“You do.” She snuggled into him.
He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the feel of her. He’d never let her go.
Chapter Nine
Big sat in his shuttle, reaching out on a communications line to Fig. The male didn’t respond for a few minutes, but he eventually answered.
“Father, are you well?”
“I am, my number one son. I know it hasn’t been long, but have you found your sharpest brother?”
“You’re not going to like what I discovered when I tried to fly to his last-known location.”
Dread tightened in Big’s chest. “What?”
“There’s a travel warning being broadcast to avoid that sector at all costs. It’s a heavily pirated area now. I touched base with the storyboard. They heeded that warning.”
Big fisted his hands. Fig had hacked into JDJ Corp somehow and learned that their plasma transport shuttles no longer flew to where Blade had been targeting them. The fact that none of them had heard from him in nearly a year could also mean that human pirates had attacked and killed him if they’d taken control of that sector of space.
“I’m going to travel to the nearest alternative area, to see if I can find him there,” Fig sighed. “The fact that we haven’t heard from him, though…”
“I hear you.” It was bad. Blade would have told them if he’d moved to a new sector. They might not be that close anymore, but all of them tended to let each other know their general locations.
“Pirates may have captured and tried to ransom him. They do that shit.”
Big closed his eyes in despair as he filtered what Fig was trying to say. A runaway clone would be worth a reward if he was turned in to the space authorities. Blade would have been executed instantly once they took custody.
“I’m going to do what it takes to find out.”
“No.” Big wasn’t willing to risk Fig. “I won’t lose you, too.”
“I need to know what happened to him, and so do you. People would talk about something like that for a long time. Everyone loves gossip. I just need to go where I can hear it.”
