LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 76: The 75th floor
Within a richly decorated room, two women with white hair who wore intricately decorated military uniforms faced each other. The first, with gray eyes, sat at a table with a teacup in hand. She was elegantly drinking her tea when the other party suddenly appeared to discuss something with her. The other, with a tinge of green in her otherwise gray eyes, was facing her from the other side of the table but was not sitting on a chair. Contrary to the first one, you could feel some urgency in her body’s movements.
The two clones knew each other very well, yet you could feel some tension within the air as the conversation continued.
“Why won’t you join us Emily!?” Chloe exclaimed, half in frustration and half in urgentness. “You’re one of the best warfare oriented clones out there, so why won’t you help us!?”
“...” The other clone sipped some tea, before looking straight at Chloe’s eyes. “I just told you why Chloe. It’s not time yet.” The woman said calmly, revealing a degree of maturity that was different from her usual easygoing attitude.
“Then when will it be!?” Chloe yelled back. “As we’re speaking, more and more of our brethren are being killed on the frontlines!”
“I cannot say, but not now Chloe. A rebellion in our current situation would only weaken us as a whole.” Emily replied with a sigh, before elegantly taking another sip from her teacup.
“So it would be better to obey those shitheads’ orders just for the sake of politics?” Chloe replied coldly, grinding her teeth as she did so. She could not understand why her friend as well as one of her remaining family members refused to understand her viewpoint. Emily nodded with a slight hint of sadness in her expression from that mumble, confirming Chloe’s words.
“That’s ridiculous. I won’t accept it. Our movement has grown strong recently. We have chances of winning. We even convinced Stuart Deguer to join us! If you and Claudia join us, we cou-”
“Chloe.” Emily stopped Chloe as she began trying to recruit her once again, this time though, Emily’s gaze was frigidly cold, which made Chloe flinch as a result. She had never seen Emily this cold towards her.
“Claudia already refused your offer, and I follow her thoughts.” Emily said sternly.
“B-but with her vast knowledge and influen-”
“She would be perfect as the leading figure to your movement, right? I’m warning you Chloe. I might consider you my little sister, but if you ever try to involve Claudia forcefully in this matter, I won’t let it pass.” Emily said, cutting Chloe’s words.
Chloe shivered a bit, her face going pale. She knew how serious Emily was right now. When the subject of concern was about Claudia’s safety, the usually easygoing Emily would turn merciless to anyone, showing incredible protectiveness.
“Besides, what would be the point of it all if we find ourselves surrounded with even more enemies after that? And have you ever considered what we will do once we’ve succeeded? What plans do you guys have once you’ve done it? What exactly will change? We don’t have the resources nor the leeway to remediate all those questions right now.” Emily concluded, before going back to drinking her tea after releasing a sigh, easing the tension a bit.
Chloe knew that the matter was already settled and that her friend would not change her mind. She knew, but despite that, she would not back down. Too many of her brethren had been needlessly killed in this war because of the human leadership. A lot of her comrades were reaching their limits, they needed to act as fast as possible before it was too late. So what if they did not know what to do after that? So what if they were surrounded by enemies in a weaker state than before? Chloe believed in the strength of clones. Whatever happened, they’d persevere on the new path they had chosen.
In what Chloe had in mind, both Claudia and Emily would play pivotal roles, as Claudia was not only a member of the council, but also a genius on the genetic side of clone technology. She needed to open Emily's eyes so that she could help her convince Claudia. She wanted her two closest friends to be on her side…
This was her last chance to do so before the rebellion happened.
Chloe played her last card, which she did not want to play as it hurt her as much as it hurt Emily.
“...Jerry died as he followed orders.” She began. As soon as she said that name, Emily, who had returned to drinking her cup of tea, froze up.
“He believed in our superior and charged the machine gun position barring our path.” Chloe continued. “But that superior of ours just thought we were cannon fodder and sent Jerry to his death.”
“...I know. I was there too.” Emily replied as she looked into the distance, not facing Chloe. The sadness in her voice was very clear.
Chloe knew that Emily was there at the time, yet she still continued.
“Harry died next. He just wanted to point out the weaknesses of the strategies put in place by our general, but that said general executed him in front of us for ‘defectiveness’ as an exemple!” She said as anger grew in her voice. Emily remained silent, looking away. This angered Chloe more and she continued telling Emily’s stories about how their friends died.
“Mary killed herself because she did not want to be defiled by her superior!” She said at some point, exploding into tears, but still glaring at Emily. The person in question tried to remain calm and paused, but failed to do so, as could be seen from her slight fidgeting.
“Harry, Mary, and even Rebot-ia, they’re all gone. We lost all of them because of those shitheads Emily, and yet you're doing nothing but hiding in security!”
“Stop!” Emily suddenly yelled. She looked straight at Chloe, eyes filled with tears and grief. “You do not know how much effort we’ve put in in the background Chloe… If you guys rebel right now, then we risk- I beg you, please don’t join this doomed rebellion. Just please, in the name of our friendship, for Claudia…”
“No. Nothing you say will make me change my mind, I’m not a coward like you.” Chloe said firmly, still glaring at Emily. “I thought that since you treated me as your little sister, you would understand my point of view, but I guess I was wrong. The uprising will take place, whether you and Claudia are with us or not. You can’t stop what has already begun.”
“Chloe-”
“Farewell.”
Chloe then turned, walking decisively towards the door of the room. She heard Emily say something, but at this point, she wasn’t paying attention to her friend anymore. Everything began to disappear as she opened the door. She was then overwhelmed by numerous cries for help from dying ones as a scene of hell presented itself.
Before she could understand what happened, she was seeing a flurry of scenes. Clones battling one anothers in hallways, hostages being mercilessly killed and clones rushing to certain death, either overwhelmed by grief or anger, or perhaps both. Then the summary executions that followed, the laughter of ridicule they received from human onlookers as well as their final fate, witnessing the horrors of this prison… A pile of corpses piled up in front of her, gory fleshy wounds filling her view. Some had their stomach open, their guts either missing or just outside of their intended place. Others missed eyes, had disfigured faces, or had broken limbs. Fresh blood dripped on older corpses from new corpses that got added to the pile, while some of the older corpses began to rot at a fast speed. Chloe just stared at it all, her breathing growing shorter and shorter as she began to suffocate.
One bloodied clone then got out of the pile and approached Chloe. The flesh on half of his messy face was missing, revealing his cracked skull from where brain parts came out…
“Your orders ma’am?” He asked, but Chloe was in no state of answering.
“Ma’am?” He repeated himself. This time Chloe looked towards him, then to her surroundings. She was in a hangar, supervising her men before their expedition.
“Ma’am? Are you alright?” The man asked after seeing his superior’s face filled with sweat. Chloe shook her head slightly. Realizing what she saw did not exist.
“I am fine. I was just lost in thoughts.” She answered the clone, who nodded after a short silence. She then gave him and his comrades some other orders before watching him go away while she went back into her own thoughts.
“...Emily and Claudia were right in the end…” She mumbled to herself.
The uprising had failed despite all the resources and people they had gathered. Nothing went as planned, resulting in a bloodbath. The authorities were merciless against them and Chloe herself believed she would die, but she didn’t. She had wondered why she was kept alive, but the answer she had unexpectedly heard while detained was like a return to reality. Each action had repercussions, even on those who were not involved, who would inevitably have to face the consequences…
Still, it was unusual for her to space out like this. Chloe had already made her choices. Whatever feelings she had, she decided to just advance without looking back, yet this was exactly what was happening right now, and she had no doubt this was caused by the group of people she had met a few hours ago.
Not to mention the sudden reappearance of Rebot-ia, Chloe was more than certain that ‘Ticia’ was linked to either Emily or Claudia one way or another…
***
Ticia watched the come and go of the clones in front of her, lost deep in thoughts. Even the nap she had taken had not helped her clear her mind from the doubts Chloe had casted.
Was the person who ended up giving birth to her someone that had undergone cryogenics? Was that person a clone? Was she a half blood, or simply a clone that was special somehow? Ticia felt a migraine from all those questions.
Ugh… This is why I leave all the hard thinking to Rika! She sighed in frustration. I should try to change my mind…
What better way was there than to do something else in order to forget something that was bothering you? Ticia thought some exercises would do, but being the only one doing some in such a place while everybody else was either sleeping or busying themselves with whatever task they were accomplishing made her feel awkward. She could wake up one of her daughters who would be more than delighted to help their mother, but Ticia did not want to interrupt their rest. Laura was not an option either since she fell asleep as soon as she finished repairs on the elevator’s panel. She did not seem used to long days on the battlefield, so Ticia decided not to bother her.
She could ask some clones around if she could either help them or just chat a bit, but everyone seemed to avoid her. The clones, while a bit curious, all showed either slight distrust or outright admiration, one similar to those of the low class clones which made Ticia feel even more awkward.
No choice then, I’ll have to talk to Rebot-ia then. Ticia concluded with a sigh. It was not that she disliked talking to Rebot-ia, but the AI had a tendency to go over the top sometimes. Not to mention, the AI had repeatedly asked for her to talk about how she felt and to rely on others, but Ticia felt it would be better to do that somewhere else, in a place where she would be sure nobody could hear or harm them.
Speaking of, I haven’t heard her since that meeting with the woman named Chloe…
Ticia began to grow a bit worried. It wasn’t in the AI’s character to stay silent this long. Normally Rebot-ia would engage in small silly banter with her or, if she felt that Ticia was busy, one of her daughters. Since all the ECGs were asleep apart from the ones on guard duty however, the chances of that were low.
Ticia did not know what was passing through the AI’s mind at the moment. Perhaps she needed some time alone after meeting someone she knew and realizing that that person had drastically changed, or perhaps Rebot-ia was feeling at a loss…
I should just ask her. Ticia decided. She put on her helmet, which she kept near her.
The first thing she noticed as the HUD lit up was the lack of a familiar emoji face, which was unusual…
“Rebot-ia?” Ticia called with a bit of worry evident in her voice. The instant she did so, the usual emoji face of the AI appeared.
“Yes owner?”
“Do you wanna talk a bit?”
“About the past?”
“Yes.”
Surprisingly, Rebot-ia was rather straightforward about what she wanted to talk about, so Ticia followed along.
“It’s rare for you to ask this, owner, but yes, I think I need to speak about the past.” Rebot-ia answered, a sad smile on her emoji face.
“I believe I told you about an owner I had fond memories of when we first met, right?” Ticia nodded at the AI’s words, and an image of a woman popped up on Ticia’s HUD. It was a young woman with a kind smile,long black hair and black eyes.
“That owner was Doctor Claudia Willbix.” Rebot-ia said. “If she could be described in two words, it would be genius and kind. She was the most talented scientist I’ve ever met. She managed to clone people who had low amounts of the needed gene without much trouble and brought huge advancements to clone technology. That was the reason why despite her young age at the time, she was appointed as an owner of a clone installation. And you know what? She didn’t even have the necessary genes for cloning herself contrary to those other haughty council members!”
Ticia could feel the admiration and respect Rebot-ia held for her former owner, which told her a lot about Rebot-ia’s relationship with the woman.
“But not all people were happy with her.” Rebot-ia then said with a sad tone. “Her viewpoints on clones were extremely liberal, which caused warryness not only from the radicals, but also those in between. As a result, she quickly got assigned to an old, insignificant little clone installation so that she would not cause trouble.”
“That clone installation in question being CI-26, right?”
“Yes.” The AI confirmed. “But owner Claudia did not come alone, much to my surprise. She brought a bunch of clones with her that she called her ‘family’.”
“And I’m guessing this included Chloe and perhaps that Emily she talked about?”
“Yes, I know both of them very well in fact.” The AI replied, seemingly in a good mood now. “Chloe is one of the bodyguard type clones who accompanied Claudia. They were a lively bunch, that’s for sure. There weren't any depressive thoughts with them around. Chloe was the youngest of the group, and everyone spoiled her. I think the others considered her more like a mascot than a bodyguard? Owner Claudia and Emily did consider her their little sister rather than a bodyguard, that’s for sure. As for Emily, like you already know, she’s an Eve-class clone. Emily and Claudia grew up together, so they were relatively close. Wherever Claudia went, Emily followed. What made her even more special was that she was an excellent soldier. I was truly curious about her genes, you know? But unfortunately, I didn’t have the authority to study them. That’s how precious Eve-class clones were considered.”
Rebot-ia continued to talk for a while, filled with nostalgia. Seeing her like that, Ticia decided not to interrupt the AI. Besides, she was genuinely curious about Chloe, Claudia and Emily. Rebot-ia talked a lot about those three in particular.
“Those were good times, you know? I remember one time when Emily spooked the hell out of Harry by putting spiders everywhere he walked. Of course, yours truly also helped! It was so much fun! Until we got scolded by Claudia that is…”
“So this Emily was a prankster?” Ticia asked, mostly curious about this person she might end up meeting down this clone installation. For some reason, she could not help but make a small link between her daughter Nia and that Eve-class clone…
“She is indeed a prankster.” Rebot-ia confirmed with a small chuckle. “Though this isn’t her main personality trait. Emily is well mannered but playful at times. She’s kind to her friends, which she considers her family members and she always made sure everyone was doing alright and ensured their safety.”
“I see…” Ticia nodded absentmindedly, lost in thoughts. She did not even notice the clone standing in front of her…
“...Are you ready to go?” That clone, Chloe, asked, pulling Ticia out of her own thoughts.
“Guess it is time huh?” Ticia said, glancing around. A group of around three hundred clones had gathered in the central elevator’s room. They wore a ragtag of various pieces of equipment, most probably collected from dead sentries. But despite that, they gave Ticia the impression of skilled veterans, soldiers who had gone through hell and back. Those people could be trusted on the battlefield, which was both a relief and a worry to Ticia.
Only the woman in front of her, Chloe, did not wear any protective gear and instead wore an old military uniform which had seen better days…
“004, go wake up Bronz and the others for me.”
“Yes Mother.”
Ticia called out to her nearest daughter, who promptly saluted before going away to wake up the others. A small silence ensued as Ticia stared at Chloe, who remained silent as she crossed her arms and waited. Once all the ECGs plus a slightly sleepy Laura were woken up and gathered, Chloe spoke out to the gathered clones.
“Since everyone is here, let’s go with a last briefing.” She declared. “We have one simple objective for this mission: find Stuart Deguer and Eve-class clone Emily, who are both detained in the lowest floors. Any ally or other high ranking personnel sympathetic to our side that you meet can be liberated too on the condition that their current extradition does not hinder our main objective and that surrounding threats have been eliminated.”
She then pointed out on a digital map, which one clone near her had made appear while she was talking.
“Our first destination is floor 75. Our scouts have already done some reconnaissance ahead of us and the information they came back with is extremely valuable for us, which confirms what we heard from clones working in this clone installation. There are no more prison cells from floor 75 onwards. Instead, there are storages, laboratories, factories and living quarters. We are expecting our targets to be kept within the living quarters as VIPs.”
“Should we avoid the laboratories then?” One clone asked, to which Chloe nodded.
“Yes, as much as possible. But our reports told us that laboratories and other experimental facilities are mingled in with the rest, so we might have to pass through some of them. Be careful though, I heard some reports that some research led down there were about the virus, and I don’t want to be responsible for spreading that thing.” Chloe warned, the other clones nodded gravely.
“As for the puppets, kill them on sight.” She then added nonchalantly, speaking about the sentries.
“What if we meet some people from the council?” Another clone asked.
“Act as you see fit. We all hold some kind of grudge against them, so I will turn a blind eye if some of you go overboard.”
Once again, clones nodded at her words. Chloe appeared rather easygoing with her subordinates to Ticia, but she also understood that she was not able to understand what the clones went through, which made it difficult for her to say anything. Not that it concerned her in the first place, this wasn’t her fight.
“We will split into groups once we reach the floor to clear as much ground as possible before regrouping at the elevator at a time planned beforehand. What about you?” Chloe continued, the last part addressed to Ticia and her group.
“We’ll stick to one of your groups, having us follow one of your groups will make you more reassured, right?” Laura answered, pointing at her robots. Chloe nodded.
“Seems like you understand the situation well. What about you?” She looked towards Ticia. “Frankly, I’d like you to come with me. I have some personal things I’d like to talk about with you…”
Ticia was a bit surprised by this. Chloe wanted to talk to her, not Rebot-ia?
It’s weird that she has such interest in me in the first place… Ticia thought, thinking back on her previous interactions with the woman. She had honestly no idea what the clone was thinking, and Rebot-ia’s description of the clone did not bring much as Ticia had a hard time thinking it was the same person.Her current thoughts were interrupted by Bronz.
“Mother.”
“Yes Bronz?”
“I would like to dispatch one squad of each of us to follow one group of clones.”
“What?” Ticia was quite surprised by her daughter’s sudden request. “Bronz, you already know what I think of this request, right?” She said with a stern look.
Bronz was determined however…
“Yes, but this is something we all decided upon, Mother.” She said, not backing down.
“...” Ticia remained silent. She could see that her other daughters were also staring intently towards her, silently supporting Bronz. She did not want to let them go, her heart crying out against it. She did not want to lose another daughter, but…
I can’t be overprotective….
She had just before decided that she would rely on her daughters more. The ECGs, while not old, were all technically young adults and she knew they were responsible. They would make sure to take care of one another.
“...Very well. But be careful, all of you.” That was why she said that while grinding her teeth and clenching her fists.
“Yes, Mother.” Bronz was surprised at first, but made a delighted smile as she answered. This in itself raised Ticia’s mood a bit. There was nothing better than her daughters’ happiness that made her warm inside, even with the danger around them.
After discussing details with Chloe and getting her permission, they were now ready to go. They took the elevator and went down to the 75th floor as planned. Nothing much happened on the way, which was true to Laura’s repairing skills.
The very same view welcomed them: A wide room that resembled a hangar where some containers and other boxes were piled up here and there, though Ticia noticed that they were more numerous than on previous floors.
No sentries welcomed them this time, but the clones acted professionally and did not lower their weapons before all the room was cleared. After which, a part of them began looking through the containers. According to Chloe, they did so because they needed a fair amount of resources such as food, clothes and weapons and they had no other choice but to scavenge the area as they had yet to encounter the factories that would provide those necessities within the clone installation.
They then began their exploration of this floor and separated into groups. Ticia and the ECG’s second squad followed Chloe’s group, while Laura parted with them to explore the site with another group. Surprisingly enough, they met no sentries, but rather the bodies of half bloods that remained here for so long. The clones paid respect to them, which was quite a surprise to Ticia. She inquired the matter to the old clone that came down with her, who replied with a sad look that half bloods were discriminated upon by other humans. Chloe added from the side that the clones had no ill-will towards the half-bloods, but that they pitied them instead.
The rest of their journey through floor 75 was rather monotone. Aside from empty rooms or storage rooms filled with crates and dead bodies lying around from time to time, there wasn’t much. Ticia, like the others, expected this, but she could not help but think this was a letdown.
Something else weighed through her mind though…
““...””
Throughout their venture, nobody spoke more than necessary. This made Ticia feel awkward, as Chloe had said she would talk to her, but the said clone was walking ahead of her, minding her own business. As for Ticia herself, she kind of felt intimidated for some reason…
God, this isn’t like me… Hello? Miss Chloe? Mind saying what you had to say to me?
Fortunately for her, someone came to her rescue.
“Owner, can I get a chance to talk to Chloe?” Rebot-ia suddenly asked.
Nice! Now I got a chance to speak up without feeling awkward!
“Sure.” Ticia said, before speaking up. “Miss Chloe?”
Chloe stopped, she looked towards Ticia with a questioning look, but her emotions remained a mystery to Ticia. When she reached Ticia’s level, she finally spoke up and began walking again.
“Chloe is fine.”
“But-”
“Just call me Chloe.”
The woman’s insistence was weird to Ticia, but she nodded, accepting the woman’s demand.
“Rebot-ia wants to talk to you.”She said, before removing her helmet and handing it to Chloe. “Here, wear my helmet. It’ll give you some privacy.”
“Okay.” Chloe nodded, still with a neutral expression on her face. She put on the helmet before creating some distance between her and Ticia.
…That’s it? Ticia was left a bit speechless. No wait, even if I managed to talk to her a bit, that was for Rebot-ia’s request! Rebot-ia didn’t ask me to be present in that conversation either!
As Ticia was nearly pulling her hairs at her silliness, Chloe came back.
“...Rebot-ia wants you to listen.” She said, handing over the hemet to her. Ticia looked back at her with a baffled expression, not expecting this.
“But I’m not concerned though? Is that alright?” She asked, feigning non-interest.
“Whatever.” Chloe simply rolled her eyes.
Ticia took back her helmet, while out of nowhere, ECG-024 took out her helmet and gave it to Chloe. Ticia guessed Rebot-ia asked for this. Since all helmets had their communications linked up, they would be able to have a private talk. No sooner had Chloe put on the helmet that Rebot-ia let out an amused comment.
“Hehe, how dishonest Chloe. You wanted to talk to my owner yet did not know how to engage the conversation, so I had to intervene! Some things never change huh?”
“Shut up.” Chloe replied, though there was no irritation in her tone. Rather, it seemed like an usual remark that, based on Rebot-ia’s happy giggles, was a normal thing coming from Chloe. This helped setting the mood, and for a while after that, both Rebot-ia and Chloe talked about the past and their fond memories. Rebot-ia then told Chloe how she got out of CI26, and Chloe listened attentively. Meanwhile, Ticia stayed quiet and listened.
I’m kind of being left out of the conversation, but this is fine. Some things may have changed, but it’s clear that both Rebot-ia and Chloe are happy to see each other once again. She thought with a wry smile.
“So? How did you end up in this mess? Where are Claudia and the others?” Rebot-ia asked once she finished her side of the story, which made Chloe’s mood suddenly turn sour…
“...They’re gone.” She said. “Apart from me, Emily and Claudia, by the time I was frozen everyone else was dead.”
“...I see… As expected…” Rebot-ia said calmly, her tone sad. “How did they…”
“Simply put, it’s the war Rebot-ia. Some fucking integrationists suddenly had an ounce of illumination one day and decided it was a good idea to instore some time off for units on the front. A brilliant idea really, but for that they needed more clones. The radicals then suggested a full blown conscription of all clones, and those fucking idiots took it. All of us were conscripted and had to part ways with Claudia. Most of us never saw her again after that. Only the high class clones like Emily were relieved of such duties later on, as they were deemed too important.”
You could feel the anger and frustration from Chloe’s voice, though the woman herself seemed to control herself and not lash out in anger.
“What went through the heads of the council?” Rebot-ia asked, seemingly confused. “Sure, all clones have some basic soldier behavior instilled in them due to the implanted knowledge, but conscripting all of them, including those who were specialized, into the army would result in huge drawbacks, wouldn’t it?”
“That’s what Claudia said too, but what could she do at the time? It’s not like she was seen in a positive way.” Chloe said with a sigh. “So there you have it, we clones were sent to the meat grinder because of some people’s selfless wish for equity and died miserably to achieve goals set by human officers who regarded us as cannon fodder.”
“So you rose up because of this?” Ticia suddenly asked, to which Chloe nodded.
“Among other things. How much do you know about our uprising?” She asked.
“A few things.” Ticia replied. “An -ia class told me the gist of it.”
“Then you should know it was a lost cause from the start.” Chloe said quite bluntly, surprising both Ticia and Rebot-ia. Should one of the main participants in this rebellion say this?
“They-, no, WE expected most if not all our brethren to join us in our uprising, but less people than we expected joined.” Chloe admitted. “We were expecting to fight some of our brethren, but not for this long… A majority of us broke down at that point, not having the strength to kill more brethren when we wanted to save them. So we ended up giving up. And then… the repression began…”
“...” Ticia observed Chloe’s movements. Although she said this, she appeared quite calm on the outside. Her tone and expression could not hide her true feeling however: A mix of fear, anger and guilt….
“After ruthlessly ending the rebellion, the radicals made some examples by executing some leaders in front of us participants. Well, I say that, but I honestly wasn’t expecting most of the high class clones to get amnesties due to their status while us, the middle class clones who comprised the majority of the force , got it the roughest… I’ve seen a lot of comrades and underlings go to the other side in front of me, and I was powerless to help them…”
“Chloe…” Rebot-ia looked at Chloe with a worried gaze, but Chloe shook her head.
“I’m fine Rebot-ia. I’ve reflected on our actions. Heck, I had the time to do that for a good amount of time before I ended up in this place.” She said, looking into the distance. Her tone sounded relatively sad at that moment. “Emily was right, we were too rash. We should have bided our time…” She then sighed, her expression filled with bitterness. “Should I say I’m lucky or not? I, one of the leading figures of this rebellion, was spared, but my actions had some unexpected effects which made me feel even worse...”
“Like?” Ticia asked with a frown.
“Getting some people precious to me involved.” Chloe said flatly, tightening her fists. “Emily and Claudia had remained outside of this whole fiasco, yet because of our closeness, they reached their hands towards me and tried to stop the repression through political means. As a result, they also became targets for the radicals.”
“Is this why Emily is kept down there?” Rebot-ia added, to which Chloe nodded.
“You got it. She’s nothing more than a hostage right now. Emily’s one of the best soldiers out there thanks to her genetics’ characteristics, but she’s too softhearted towards Claudia and those she considers her family. I’m guessing they threatened Emily with my life, which allowed them to keep an eye on her. Worst, with both Emily and I in their hands, Claudia was probably forced to work on whatever projects they had in mind.”
“Those projects… Do you think one of them was Averuncum?” Ticia asked, but Chloe simply shrugged, going back to her uncaring altitude.
“Beats me. I have no fucking idea what that project was about, though Claudia did say she was working on it before, meaning that project is older than whatever is going on here.”
That in itself was already a good piece of information, as Ticia did not know how she would feel if she was in the slightest connected to the sentries in front of her. Worst, how would other clones see her? This would risk their whole cooperation.
Fortunately, it did not seem to be the case, so this was one less worry for her.
“I have another question.”
“Go ahead.”
“You said before that you guys couldn’t bear to kill your siblings, yet you don’t seem to show mercy to the sentries?” Ticia asked. Since they were on this matter, she was really curious about why the clones were this merciless to the sentries.
Is it something genetic? But then again, neither I or my daughters are feeling anything special towards them.
“This and that are different.” Chloe answered coldly. “Those things aren’t our siblings, they’re abominations. Direct insults to our existences as ‘humans’. Those poor souls are trapped since birth, the only way out for them is death.”
“...” Ticia could only stay quiet at this.
“Those fuckers at the council probably meant to replace us with them from the very beginning. In fact, our rebellion might have just given them the justifications to do so. The fact that those very same sentries began appearing around the end of our rebellion is proof enough that this had been planned all along… This place is most likely the production center for those things.”
Just as she said this, they linked up with another group who were standing by a closed door. After a small discussion with one of their leaders, Chloe nodded to herself.
“Perfect timing. I’ll show you why none of us want anything to do with the council.” She said, opening the door that had been closed until then.
““!?!””
What they saw made Ticia’s face white.
The room revealed a laboratory with giant tubes on the sides who were filled with a greenish, viscous looking liquid. Inside each of them, connected to machinery with tubes of various sizes, were what Ticia could only describe as abominations.
A head connected to a blob of flesh, a child face growing on a human trunck without limbs, various creatures of the sort were being kept within the tubes…
Ticia did not know much about clone technology and all, but this all reminded her of the various failures in the research she had heard here and there in the past…
“T-that’s a-!? Why… Just why!? Protocols exist for a reason!” Contrary to her, Rebot-ia seemed to know more. The AI was out of her mind looking at all this…
“...What is that?” Ticia finally asked Chloe after regaining her composure.
“The opposite of the free minded Adam and Eve classes. The best of the best mass produced into soldiers devoid of thoughts. That’s what this place is all about.” Chloe replied with a distant look before looking straight at Ticia. Ticia gulped, this was not what she came for. She did not even have the leeway to think about how her daughters felt right now!
“Those are all failures.” Chloe continued. “Strangely enough, if you remove some parts of the brain to make a clone less independent, or try the process with slightly less good genes, the cloning genes will fight back, resulting in this. There are probably thousands more cases like this in this facility.”
“...” Ticia remained quiet. What could she say after being shown this? Even the old clone looked like he was about to faint!
“From what I’ve heard here and there, their current work is sorely focused on male clones. It’s, you know, that old bullshit about males being better at everything.” Chloe added, though Ticia did not register it. She just stared at the abominations that had been created.
Unfortunately for her, Chloe had more to show. She pulled Ticia by the arm and led her to a new room, an amphitheater. There, on the podium, another horror awaited her.
“As for why they kept us ‘defectives’, here, it’s to experiment on us.” Chloe said, looking straight at the podium. On it was a table with the body of a clone. No, a corpse would be more correct.
Its limbs were pulled until the joints could not take it anymore. The stomach was opened in the same way of an autopsy, showing all the internal organs. Some of them like the liver and stomach were still in place, but the intestine had been pulled out and were dangling from the side. The heart itself had also been removed, but was reconnected to the body through an assortment of tubes and cables…
Ticia could only look up to the face of the poor clone, only to see the pained expression. It was clear he was still alive when this was done…
Rarely Ticia had seen such gorish scenes on the battlefield, which was another source of hellish scenes, and the surrouding scenary of a laboratory didn't help much. For once, she truly hoped things had disappeared instead of remaining frozen for so long…
“Don’t stare too much. Getting used to such sights will do you no good.” Chloe said from the side, putting a hand over Ticia’s shoulder. Ticia looked at Chloe.
“Then why are you…” Still looking at it? She did not finish her phrase. The anger Chloe was emitting right now was so big that Ticia could tell even though the woman still had a helmet on…
Still, Chloe caught on what she was asking.
“One of the hobbies the scientists here enjoyed was to conduct their experiments such as ‘durability tests’ with an audience. They awoke us, blinded us with a cloth and then led us to amphitheaters like this one where they would explain to us the goals of their experiments while doing their dids. This kind of scene has become a routine for most of us…”
“...” Ticia remained quiet. She now understood why so many clones were being kept despite not having any use anymore…
They’re just lab rats for sadistic experiments…
They did not remain here. After showing this scene, both Ticia and Chloe left the room. None of the other clones had actually followed them, be it the rebels or the ECGs. They quickly gathered up and passed a door, ending up in another hallway.
“That’s about it for this floor.” Chloe suddenly said. “Our teams have fully explored this place, and apart from some supplies, it’s completely empty. Our next step is to gather up and proceed to the next floor.”
Ticia simply nodded while looking towards Chloe with a complicated expression. This made Chloe sigh.
“You don’t need to feel pity for us. This is all in the past. Should we be presented with the same opportunity, all of us would rise up again. Welp, not that we need to since apparently they’re already long gone now.” She shrugged before moving on. Ticia followed soon after, but her thoughts were elsewhere. They progressed in silence for a while until Rebot-ia, who had been silent for a while, called out.
“...Say Chloe, what are you planning to do after all this?”
The question itself made Chloe stop in her tracks.
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“Once this place is cleared up for good, what will you do? What will all the clones do?”
“...I have no idea.” Was the answer Chloe gave in a low voice, surprising Rebot-ia.
“Eh?”
“None of us thought this far. If we got our freedom then that was good enough for us, but what after that? It’s not like we planned anything… Moreover, a good majority of us are soldiers, we know nothing else but how to murder people. How could we ever find our place in this new world? As much as I hate to admit it, without the council, we’re at a complete loss.”
Once again, silence emerged as Chloe began walking again, not speaking further. That was fine, neither Rebot-ia nor Ticia had anything to say after what they just witnessed. In fact, they had a lot to think about…
The remainder of their journey remained eerily quiet after that…
***
“Damn. So many of them. Good thing those guys have yet to find a way to make them ‘intelligent’...” Emily said after looking down from the platform she was currently on. In front of her were an army of clone sentries, armed to the tooth. Confident as she might be in her abilities, charging into so many enemies with a critically injured and unconscious person as well as an unreliable(?) robot would only mean a quick death.
“I told you this would be a bad idea…” The robot commented, which made Emily roll her eyes.
“You’re too pessimistic, Reddie. We’re doing just fine.” She said, patting the robot on the head.
“I don’t like that nickname…” The robot grumbled.
“Now now. Let’s take a small pause here.” Emily said, to which the robot nodded. They had been on the move nonstop since a few hours, some rest was well needed.
“Speaking of. From what you described of the clones who were there. Wasn’t there a prominent female scientist accompanying them?” Emily suddenly asked.
“No?” The robot tilted its metallic head. “Aside from my commander, no one else was there.”
“You sure?” Emily frowned. “Long black hair and black eyes. A bit smaller than me and that clone but a chest size above mine and forms as good as mine?”
“...Is that self-praising?” The robot shot back, which made Emily roll her eyes.
“You’re imagining things. Answer the question Reddie.” She said with a serious tone.
“No, there never was someone like that with us.”
“...Strange…Oh well, it’s not like it would do her any good to be here either. It’s dangerous, and she’s not exactly good when it comes to physical exercise. I’m sure she’s just waiting outside.” She said before getting up. “Here, let’s get on the move again.”
“But it’s only been 30 seconds!” The robot protested.
“Which is enough for a tin-can who doesn’t need rest.” Emily retorted. “Now hurry, we need to move again.”
And so, the small group moved again… Only for Emily to stop brutally after entering a new room, making the robot gently crash in her back.
“Ouch! Why did you suddenly stop?” The robot complained, but Emily did not care about it right now…
“Wait… This place is…”
In front of her stood lines after lines of pods, one not made for cryogenisation, but rather for nurturing new clones. All of them were occupied, but worst of all, they were about to ‘awaken’...
“Not good. We need to take care of this place before going up.” Emily shortly said, her gaze sharpening.
“Eh? But what about the injured clone?”
“We’ll need to be extra careful while moving, but we can’t let this place run on its own. Virus or not virus, those things need to be dealt with before they swarm the outside.” Emily said back, before going back the way they came from. “A small detour to the powder magazine is needed.”
At those words, the robot could not help but mutter.
“Are we gonna kaboom this place?”
“Yes, kaboom indeed Reddie.” Emily replied with a small yet devilish smile that would have sent shivers down the robot’s spine had it had an organic one…
“...What did I get myself into…”
