[DarkStar]

Synopsis: the next bit of Clone. Freya finds out that instinct doesn't always help her...



Chapter 5: Capability

It was a week that had already passed and Freya was living happily inside of the facility. She had learned how the things work inside there, and was kept happy. She had opened the box, and found her portable PC inside, but didn't have the courage to turn it on. It was as though she was afraid of what she might find.

But something didn't seem right. James had been gone for the past six days, and was nowhere to be seen. It was like he had simply disappeared. None of the soldiers even knew where he was.

She had a fun time with her friends, and her shoulder was healing nicely, but her arm was still in a sling (which they had put on to stop her moving it around unnecessarily). She was still wondering where they were on the planet, as when she had gotten on the helicopter, it was snowing. When she had gotten off, it was no longer snowing and in fact, it was rather sunny. It puzzled her to no end.

One day, something happened that could possibly change her whole look at life. She was standing in James' main office. Somehow, she felt compelled to stare at the wall behind his desk. It was still the smooth metal wall. Nothing else; no indents or buttons or markings to set it out from the other walls.

"What you doing?" Rika asked suddenly, making Freya jump in surprise.

"Wha-?" Freya said, looking at Rika, "Me? N-nothing. I'm just... just..."

"You've been standing like that for the past half hour. Are you sure it's nothing?" Rika said, starting to walk around Freya.

"Yes. I'm sure," Freya said, starting back towards the living quarters, "I think I'll just get some sleep."

"What?!" Rika said, now standing on the spot, "But it's only ten AM!"

Freya ignored her and went back to her room. She didn't feel like talking to anyone. She went to her own room and locked the door so that Melissa or Rika couldn't disturb her. She sat on her bed and turned on the small TV above her head. She didn't even pay attention to what she was watching. All she thought about was where James could have been. He was gone suspiciously long. Freya looked at the laptop sitting closed on the table. She wanted to turn it on. She stood up and went to it and opened the screen. Her finger hovered over the power button hesitantly. Then she promptly snapped the screen closed again.

"I'm not ready for it yet," she said quietly.

"Ready for what?" a voice said. Freya jumped at the sight of James standing at the door. He was wearing a white, hi-tech looking suit.

"How did you get in here?" Freya said, the surprise obvious on her face.

"I am the Head of the Technical Divisions," he said simply, "So I have all the access codes. I thought I'd just drop in and say hi."

"I could have been dressing in here!" Freya said hotly.

"But you weren't. If you were, then we would have dealt with it when it came. But for now I want to show you something," James said, grinning guiltily.

"You idiot. I was planning on going to sleep, if you don't mind. Now let me sleep," Freya said irritably.

"Fine, suit yourself."

"And where were you?" Freya continued, this time in a firm voice.

"I was working. I only just got off shift now. Just 'cause I'm the boss around here doesn't mean I don't do any work," James said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Don't shrug like that! I was worried where you were! I have a lot of questions that I want answered, okay?!" Freya said hotly at the boy. He had some nerve to simply disappear then reappear a week later with all smiles.

"Well, then come with me. I have a few things I want to show you," James said, his voice now serious.

"Why should I come?" Freya asked.

"Because. I want to show you something important," James said, "Come if you want. If you don't, then don't. But I've halted the system just for today. If you don't come, then I won't wait another week to halt it, okay?"

"You - you did what?" Freya said, starting to feel confused again.

"Just follow me," James said, heaving an angry sigh.

"Right, right..."

Freya followed the boy out of the room and back to the elevator. They went up and left the shoddy-looking doors behind. The two walked in a dead silence, one that would scare most people. Or make them feel uncomfortable at the least.

They walked along the corridors until they came to a simple metal door.

"We're here," James said, opening and walking through the door. Freya followed without a word.

"What the-" she said in a small voice at the sight before her. It was possible to put it into one word: big.

"Here we are. The Vats," James said.

It was simply big. Rows upon rows of glass cylinders just large enough to hold a person each were lining a set of pipes and tubes all connected to a vat. A console separated Freya and the vats.

"It's...huge," she said in awe.

"I know. It's here that the Clones are made."

"Then what about the enemy? Where did they get there soldiers," Freya enquired.

"I didn't say that these were the only vats. The UC also have their own set. There are only two facilities on this planet - this one here and one somewhere else in UC populated territory," James said, walking to the console, pressing a few buttons.

"How did they get their own one?" Freya asked.

"How'm I supposed to know? I was only born fourteen years ago. This whole thing started when they attacked my dad's facility about ten years ago. I got lost in the cloning vats area. I was lost in here for several days without food or water."

"But you made it out?"

"Of course. I'm still alive now, aren't I?" James said airily, "I wonder about you sometimes..."

"I was actually implying on how you made it out," Freya said, smiling at him.

"Right, whatever. I made it out, okay?" James said, starting to look annoyed, "This place is where the clones are made. I paused it so that you could have a look at the inner workings in more detail; so that you can get a better understanding on how a Clone is made. Ah, here's our lift now."

A small metal platform had just arrived. James walked onto it. Freya stood motionless for awhile. Something was making her pause; maybe it was doubt?

She walked forward onto it.

"Here we go," James said, pressing a button on the railing. The platform jerked downwards and hundreds upon hundreds of cylinders passed. Freya didn't even bother counting; it would be pointless. After some time the platform stopped inside a small room. It was filled, however, with lots of small test tubes. Each had a small pipe leading from it to a vast network of pipes.

"This is where it all begins," James said, his voice still serious, "This is where a Clone is truly born."

"You mean... they get created here?" Freya asked.

"In a way, yes. The system plants a cell into each tube and sends jolts of energy into it."

"Electricity?"

"Not quite. It's something else. The waveform is extremely unique. Our scientists call it the 'Existence Intensity System.'"

"EIS..."

"Exactly. EIS is something we can't explain, and all tests we try to do on it result in destroyed equipment. Only the core programming knows how to produce it. So we leave it like that."

"This is how we were born..." Freya said quietly.

"Let's move on," James said, pressing another button. The platform glided off to its next destination.

The process of recreating a human being is not a normal one. It takes approximately ten years for the process to complete; from materialisation to mission transfer. The reason they couldn't see it in action was that the whole place is under EIS radiation.

The newly planted cell is put through stimulating conditions and fed nutrients, allowing it to grow. After two years, the child is put through training and constantly showered in EIS radiation to allow it to grow at an accelerated speed. After the seventh year, they go through the final 'burst' of EIS exposure. They remain in totally immersed in the energy in a coma-like state. Just after the tenth year, the final product emerges from the cloning vats.

"That's complicated as hell," Freya said as they entered the final room of the entire process. A large device was in the middle of the room. It funnelled out into a thin pipe that pointed at what seemed like a conveyer belt for the vats. There was a door that led to a room behind a thick piece of glass.

"Well, it works, and has been working for longer than I can remember. Which is a long time, you see," James said, stepping off the platform.

"Where're you going?" Freya asked, her head following the boy.

"Well, someone has to start up the process again. This is where the machine brings the subject out of the coma-like state he - or she, for that matter - goes through in the last three years. It is also where we've installed the control panel," James said, going through the door into the room.

"This is where it all happens..." Freya whispered to herself. She followed the boy into the room.

"Well, I need to ask you to do something for me," James said when Freya had walked in.

"Yes? What is it?" Freya responded casually.

"I was wondering if you could go out and press that button there for me..." James said, trailing off, seeming to be embarrassed. He pointed to the large device in the middle of the outside room.

"What?! Me?! What about Axon? Isn't he supposed to be built for things like this?" Freya shouted.

"Well, thing is, I would if he wasn't broken," James said, sounding even more embarrassed.

"Say what?" Freya almost blurted out, "Broken? Already?"

Freya pondered for a moment on whether she should have said that last comment or not, but James spoke before she had a chance to take back her words.

"Well, I kinda walked in one day and he gave me something about an out-of-cheese error. I think something's gone wrong with his dictionary-link system. It happened just a week ago, so I've been working around here alone, really," James said, looking down at the floor, his hands behind his back.

"Oh, I see," Freya said, now feeling like bit of an idiot. "Which button did you want me to press?" she said after some time.

"That one," James said, pointing to a red button on the device. Freya immediately thought something bad when she saw red, but dismissed it immediately. Buttons were always red. "You see, I need to reactivate the laser. Don't worry; it's safe so long as you have your safety goggles on. The energy used to revive them isn't EIS, not entirely at least," James said reassuringly.

"You mean I'm going to be exposed to that killer radiation stuff? No thank you," Freya said straightforwardly, "I'm not risking my life."

"You're not. All you have to do is put on these goggles and press that button. I'll do the rest. Don't worry; the EIS radiation won't have any effect on you, since you've already completed materialisation. You're safe, trust me!" James said, winking at her as he pulled out a set of goggles from a filing cabinet.

Freya looked at him darkly for a moment before agreeing. She snatched the goggles from him and walked out into the large room. She put the goggles around her neck and shouted at James.

"Now what? I just out these on?" she asked.

"Yup! Just press the button and I can do the rest!" he said back through an intercom.

"Whatever," Freya muttered to herself. She knelt down by the button and pulled on the goggles.

Immediately the world was enveloped in darkness. She couldn't see a thing through the pitch black glass.

"I can't see jack squat!" she said irritably. She fumbled around for the button but couldn't find it. "Screw it, I can't wear these things," she said eventually, pulling them off of her eyes. She saw the button and pressed it firmly with her finger.

And then the world was white, with a ringing sound in her ears. She could quite remember anything, but white. And that ringing noise.

"Tell me... does this work?" she heard a voice suddenly say. She was now on her back. She was sure of it, and was probably on a bed. She felt someone putting glasses over her eyes, and her vision was restored.

"I can see..." she said, only noticing her throbbing headache now.

"Well, after that stunt you pulled, I'm surprised you have any eyeballs left," said a familiar voice. Freya looked around and saw the blurry outline of James.

"What happened? And I can't see too well," Freya said, blinking rapidly as though something was in her eyes.

"Well, that blast of energy has effectively blinded you. Not much left of your retina, but at least you can still see. Those glasses you're wearing are specially made to enhance the image by several thousand times. They still need some tweaking, as you can see, but that should be sorted out soon," James said plainly.

"I told you I didn't want to do that. See, I couldn't feel my body for that whole time it took you to bring me here!" Freya said angrily.

"Which was for three days. You've been screaming in pain for those three days, and you only stopped this morning. You've been in so much pain you couldn't feel much else. That's what I think," James said. Freya could notice his arm waving upwards, as though he was dismissing something.

"I hate you right now," she said darkly, "Now I can't see! I want to see again! Oww... my head hurts..."

"Live with it. You'll remain here 'till we can sort out your glasses. When those are fixed, you can go back to the guest rooms," James said, turning away. "I think you should get some sleep -"

"I've been out for three days."

"-and get prepared for your diagnosis. I'm sure you'll need the rest as much as you can," James said, leaving the room.

"Diagnosis? Hey, wait! Don't leave me here!" Freya said, but didn't move as the headache sapped all her willpower to do so. "Oww... it hurts..."

[JirQUEST]

description, description. too scant (very simple and direct), and too many adverbs. i didnt get enough of a setting. i havent read the previous chapters before this, but it seems that there is a lack of characterisation. where is the backstory? the dialogue seems to be the only thing that drives the story forward. try playing around with metaphors and similes.

[DarkStar]

I see. It was always one of my weak points. Description. Dialog was always one of my strong points. Some of my friends say that my writing is too breif, and I need to elaborate.

Well, I'll see what I can do. Thanks.