The Clones of Mawcett (19 page)

“What's the situation, Commander?” Greene asked.

Drawing her pistol from its holster, Jenetta said, “I succeeded in opening this door and I wanted backup before I go in.”

The six-person squad and their sergeant looked on incredulously, until Greene said, “Meaning no respect, Ma'am, but it's our job to go in first. We'll take it from here. I'll let you know when it's clear.”

Jenetta grimaced because she knew that Greene was right. As the camp commander, she should allow her Marines to enter first. Sending someone into a dangerous situation that she hadn't yet investigated herself went against the grain, but the Marines trained regularly for this sort of military activity and it would be an insult for her to usurp their role. “Very well, Captain.”

Greene made a few hand motions to his people and everyone took a few deep breaths before a marine from each side of the doorway leapt into the room and disappeared into the darkness on the opposite side. When no fire came their way, another two went in, then another, and then the last two. Jenetta remained out of the doorway area until she heard, “All clear, Commander,” via her CT.

As she stepped through the doorway, Jenetta saw the lights from the Marine's helmets playing around the walls and ceiling from different points in the room. It appeared to be a large barracks room. Jenetta said, “Sumattah” meaning 'lights on' and the room fully illuminated. The sudden change startled the Marines and they swung their weapons around quickly, looking for signs of danger.  It was indeed a barracks room, or perhaps a large hospital ward. Jenetta counted four rows of twenty-six beds, with half-wall dividers between each row and again between each pair to offer a semblance of privacy. There were five additional doors in a small hallway that opened up just inside the main door, and two doors at the far end of the room. Using the same procedures for checking out those rooms, they found five smaller bedrooms, with four beds and a private attached bathroom in each. The two doors at the far side of the room led to two large lavatory facilities, each with commodes, sinks, and half a dozen shower stalls. Confident that no one was hiding anywhere in the barracks area, they left to take on the other two doors in the main corridor.

The next door opened as easily as the first, although it creaked a little the first time. Inside they found a large mess hall capable of seating well over a hundred people and two attached lavatories with sinks and commodes. A fully equipped kitchen was discovered through a double set of swinging doors at the far side of the mess hall, and incredibly, the water still flowed when the tap was tested, although the first few cups dripped like mud. The tap was left open for several minutes to see if that would flush the lines a bit.

The final corridor door opened into another, smaller corridor. One door off the small corridor led to a sickbay, complete with five beds and equipment. This could also be a major find for the archeologists, but Jenetta would have to evaluate the technology before saying anything to them. A second door opened into a laundry area, and a door in there opened into a maintenance area. A stairway that descended to a lower level, gave access to all of the facility's heating, cooling, and power systems. They could now disengage the power without destroying anything, whenever Jenetta chose.

Once it became apparent that no one was hiding in any part of the facility, Jenetta had the Marines stand-down.

“Captain,” Jenetta said, “those beds in the barracks room look a whole lot more comfortable than the field bedrolls we've been sleeping on. What do you think about moving our people down here? That is, as long as we're going to be here for possibly another three months.”

“I think that's an excellent idea, Commander,” he said, grinning.

“Good, let's do it. I'll have Doctor Rowans check the mattresses for parasites, toxins, and biological contaminants first, but everything looked exceptionally clean. I'll also have our engineers check the water in the bathrooms and kitchen to make sure that it's potable. It was looking pretty good after it ran for a few minutes, but we'll make sure before moving the kitchen down here. Even if it's not drinkable, we might still be able to wash and shower in it. I'll have to talk with the Doc before we move the hospital down here.”

Over the next six hours, the camp was moved underground. The mattresses were checked and declared hygienically clean and perfectly safe, so the housekeeping bots were brought down from the above ground sleeping shelter and tasked to change linens and blankets. The mattresses weren't the gel type found on Space Command ships and bases, where the user could adjust the temperature and density of the mattress, but once the thin, gravity-shielding cloth from their camp bedrolls was attached to the underside of the mattresses, the occupant of each bed would float gently on the surface. Each headboard was equipped with a decent noise-canceling generator so that an occupant's snoring or coughing wouldn't disturb his or her neighbors.

The water in the kitchen was tested once it cleared and was found to be potable, but the engineers decided that it should be run for an hour to clean any remaining sediment from the lines and then be re-tested. All the faucets and shower valves in the bathrooms were opened at the same time. The cooks were delighted to have twenty times the workspace that they'd had in the tiny kitchen of the surface shelter, along with large walk-in refrigeration units. Both the initial load of supplies and the supplies dropped off by Prometheus just before it left orbit were brought below and stored. They had enough food to feed the entire dig site for a year, so hunger wouldn't be a problem.

Jenetta had the command center moved into one corner of the facility's large mess hall, but after thinking about the camp situation she decided that the hospital should remain on the surface. She didn't want the civilians looking for excuses to enter the facility, or even to know that she had opened the other doors. The doctor would continue to treat everyone in the archeological camp, but only topside. It was also better if the medical staff wasn't experimenting with the equipment in the lab's sickbay until the engineers had a chance to examine it.

Jenetta saw to it that everyone knew not to mention anything about what was going on below ground. She was also still worried about the attacker, but with a lot more people in the facility, an intruder could no longer move about freely.

The engineering crew had little to do since finishing with the power investigation, so they threw themselves into the examination of the kitchen and medical equipment as Jenetta returned to work in the cloning rotunda. Now that she knew the doors opened to words spoken in Nordakian, she closed the door and began experimenting with spoken commands in the lab. The lights on and lights off command worked, enabling her to discontinue use of the Chembrite panels, and she was also able to adjust the light intensity, but she still wasn't able to translate the symbols.

Six and two-third days after the previous batch of clones were born, the next group emerged from the incubators. On Jenetta's orders, the doors in the hallway had been closed. The new people were escorted from the facility as soon as possible. They couldn't pass on information about the situation below ground, because they saw only what they were permitted to see.

Only Jenetta, Doctor Rowan, and Captain Greene were on hand for the emergence of the twelfth clone two days later. They didn't know exactly when the clone was due, because they didn't know what time the command had been entered, so they got together at the earliest possible time and waited. The minutes passed like hours as they waited and speculated about the identity of the attacker. Finally, one of the gauges on the panel spiked. From previous clone births, they knew that the emergence time was very near, so they gathered near the incubation chamber.

As the door opened, Jenetta was so stunned that she couldn't speak for a full minute. Standing there, in full naked glory, was another Jenetta Carver. Captain Greene stared at her body admiringly, while the doctor hurried to put a blanket around the new, and totally baffled, Jenetta. Unlike the eleven original subjects, Jenetta had known about the process in advance, so the clone quickly accepted the fact that she was a clone, but didn't understand why she had been created, and no one in the room could tell her. She was identical in every way to the original, except for her hair. A synthetic process had been used on Nordakia to extend Jenetta's hair, so the hair on the clone was only as long as Jenetta's natural hair. The cloning process apparently couldn't, or wouldn't, replicate synthetic hair any more than it replicated the original subject's synthetic clothes.

It took several minutes for Jenetta to come to grips with the idea that she'd been cloned, and that there was now another living human being that shared every memory and thought that she'd ever had. Moreover, this new person was an exact match, right down to her fingerprints and retinal scans. She even had the chest imprint that had been placed on Jenetta when the Raiders captured her and permanently marked her as a pleasure slave. This new person was closer than even a twin could be. She was her!

Jenetta's mind raced as she tried to fit this new development into the puzzle. As far as she could see, there was little to be gained by having multiple Jenettas around, although someone must have expected an advantage or they wouldn't have risked their skin to do it. Jenetta walked along deep in thought as the doctor and the clone headed for the hospital shelter on the surface.

The clone received a clean bill of health; in fact, the doctor said that she was in absolutely perfect health. The two women spent the examination time staring at one another. Finally, Jenetta said, “This is going to be difficult…”

And the clone finished the thought with, “We can't both be Lt. Commander Jenetta Carver; even though we both are.”

“Since I'm the original, you'll have to be…”

“…called by another name. But I'm not just somebody who looks like you, or rather me. I am me.”

“Still, you'll need a new name to go with the new body. How about…”

“Fine, just call me Two for the time being.”

“Stop finishing my sentences.”

“Sorry, but they're my sentences also. I'm having the same thoughts you are.”

“That should change, won't it Doctor?” Jenetta asked.

“I suppose, in time,” Doctor Rowan said. “You now have different lives. You'll meet different people and have different experiences. For example, Jenetta has almost seven days more memories than Two does. Two doesn't know about the sections of the underground complex that Jenetta uncovered when she figured out how to open the doors down in the facility. Information shapes personalities. You're well past your basic developmental years, but people continue to change all their lives. Of course, your basic thought processes won't vary very much, unless one of you suffer head trauma.”

“We figured out how to open the doors?” Two said.

“I figured out how to open the doors.”

“Yes, but I would have figured it out too, if I was here.”

“That's what the Doc means. We'll be having different experiences now.”

“There's another problem that we have to face,” Two said.

“Yes, in less than seven days we'll have another 'sister.'” “Exactly, and unless we figure out how to shut down that machine, we'll continue to get more new sisters every six and two-thirds days.”

“There are two of us to work on the problem now.”

“Right, let me get some clothes on and I'll join you down in the lab,” Two said.

As Two pulled the blanket around her and headed for the old quarters, Jenetta said, “A-hem. I moved. We're living down in the facility now.”

“Oh. Better show me the way then.”

With Jenetta slightly in the lead, the two women walked down to Jenetta's underground quarters. The officers had naturally reserved the five private rooms that contained four beds each, and Jenetta had taken one for her personal use. They made quite a sight walking together, and everyone they passed stared after them. Of course, by now everyone in the compound knew that Two was the latest clone to emerge.

As Two dressed, Jenetta removed all the insignia from the tunic that she'd wear.

“I have just as much right to wear that insignia as you do,” Two said.

“No you don't. You were only born an hour ago.”