"Impossible."

  "No. Theoretically it's completely probable. And they've done it. But this is going to take some time for me to figure out exactly how. If a single atom of antimatter touches an atom of matter the explosion would be enough to wipe out this entire facility."

  "Then be careful."

  Nichols and Angela left me to study the antimatter container and the sound of laughter almost an hour later brought me out of my concentration. Angela was standing beside Nichols, laughing at something he had said. That was my first twinge of jealousy. I went back to work but secretly listened in on the comm system.

  The large container in the center of the room was holding the antimatter in place by use of magnetic forces and gravitational manipulation. A facility wrapping around the entire mountain was how the antimatter was generated but it appeared to have been inactive for many rotations. Still, the amount of antimatter I was reading in the container was enough to allow the facility to operate at full power for another hundred and thirty cycles.

  Examining the mapping of power throughout the facility I could see every station that was turned on. I found that while the rest of the facility was in sleep mode, excluding the current consoles being access by the research team, the large chamber across the hall was still drawing full power. Taking my datapad of calculations with me I headed for the door.

  "Where are you going Professor? Are we done here?"

  "No. Not yet." I crossed the hallway to the other door but Nichols grabbed my arm and swung me around before I could open the door.

  “What do you think you’re doing?"

  "This is the only room in the whole facility that has been drawing power all these years. I want to know what it's powering."

  "I understand your curiosity but we follow our orders. You'll have to clear it with Captain Anderson first."

  "He doesn't have to know." I don't know why I was being rebellious. It wasn't part of my usual nature and I couldn't believe that it was to impress Angela. Perhaps I was a far more curious creature than I had originally conceived.

  The grumbles of the others could be heard all across the cafeteria that night. I kept my head down at dinner, avoiding any conversation. Our exploration had been cut two hours short. Captain Anderson had given me a lecture upon my return and I was eager to avoid being yelled at by anyone else. Not that Anderson had yelled but he had such a cold glance and demeanor that I had no wish to ever be spoken to in private by him again.

  I finished before the others and returned to my desk in the main room. I decided to finish going through the logs and get it off my ever growing to do list. Simply more reports but I did find an interesting one of a red status ship that had lost engine power and was drifting helplessly through space. It was the one and only report from this particular ship after its launch and was received only five hours into the voyage. I punched in the co-ordinates. It was a one week travel with our current propulsion systems but the possibility of actually studying a ship capable of such speeds gave me a small thrill. The question was whether or not Captain Anderson would sign off on the use of such resources. I wasn't quite sure if I was ready to bring it to his attention just yet.

  "How are you doing Professor. You've been very quiet?" Angela was standing in my room, watching me brush my teeth in the washroom mirror.

  "I'm fine. There is a lot of work to be done, many things to contemplate."

  "I agree. Are you feeling overwhelmed by it at all?"

  "No. I think I am doing ok."

  "How was your physical?"

  "I’m healthy."

  I poured my nighttime pills onto the counter and took them with a large drink of water.

  “That's good." She turned to head for her own room but a question came into my mind suddenly.

  "Angela?"

  "Yes Professor?"

  "How did the other clones die?"

  The question caught her off guard and she lowered herself onto my bed. I joined her but kept a respectful amount of space between us.

  "Their minds...rejected their bodies."

  "Is that what all these drugs are for?"

  "Yes. But I'm afraid I'm the wrong person to ask about what they all do exactly."

  "How long did the other clones live for?"

  "The first fifty four never made it to consciousness. The last thirty five made it into different phases of the learning stage. You are the first to make it through without rejecting."

  "And A90?" Angela's body stiffened, "You said fifty four and thirty five. That is only eighty nine correct?"

  "I think I should go to bed."

  "I wish you would stay. I am sorry if I upset you. It's just that I miss my room on earth. I miss spending my evenings with you. Now I have to spend my time with these strangers who talk about things I do not understand and forbid me to go places while ordering me to explore."

  “I miss our quiet time as well."

  "Do you love me Angela?"

  "I am your aide Professor."

  "Did you love A90?" I could see tears forming the corners of Angela's eyes, "I am sorry. I did not think that would upset you."

  "It's all right Professor. But please, promise me. No more talk of love."

  "I wanted to say it to you the other day. That is what I wanted to talk to you about."

  "Love is not permissible here."

  "I will promise not to say it. But I will not promise not to feel it. I know that love cannot be defined but I have realized that it can be felt."

  Angela blinked and a single tear rolled down her cheek. Instinctually I wiped it away. I overstepped my bounds. Angela rose and left the room. I sat there for a moment, realizing that she loved me. But only because I reminded her of someone she used to know. Of A90.

  Chapter 6: Memories

  The Onyx came to a halt in space, short range scanners mapping the surrounding area. And there it was, within three light years of min and Astro’s prediction.

  The dark form of the ship we nicknamed The Wilhelm floated helplessly through space, rolling and drifting in the cold vacuum. Behind me the holo-table was building a 3-D map as it scanned the ship level by level.

  I joined Anderson and the others as we searched for an entry point. Anderson clapped me hard on the back with a grin plastered across his face. I too was excited but the grim look on Angela’s face kept me sober.

  “What about here?” Cal pointed to the punctured side.

  “Maybe. There could be too much debris, power cables still active. Better to find a maintenance hatch or something similar. We’ll cut through it if we have to,” Anderson rotated the image, “Here. This will drop you center top. I’ll send two of my men with you with a metal grinder and cutter. Should get you through.”

  We sat on benches in the airlock, strapped down as the red light began to flash. As the door to space opened the atmosphere rushed out and we were jostled against each other.

  The light changed to green and one by one we unbuckled and kicked off into space. The jets on our back slowly pushed us towards the looming shape of The Wilhem. All around us was nothing but empty space.

  Sparks flew as Johnson cut the hinges off the access door. Once inside we drifted through the large corridors, pushing off the walls to maneuver ourselves. We encountered several emergency doors, all closed to protect one section of the ship from the other. They had manual overrides but the steel was thick and it took several minutes to haul each door open wide enough to slip through in our space suits.

  Without EMF displays we slowly followed the trickling of phantom power to the generator room. There was still energy running to the encased anti-matter, keeping it safe.

  “Emergency measures are in place for energy conservation.” I was already overriding the control measures and sending power to the rest of the ship. The false gravity returned, sending us all to the ground.

  The doors slid open easily now as we made our way across the ship to the bridge and up the elevator. The halls dark and empty as red emergency strips grimly lit our way to the bridge. The bridge was empty as well; large cooped seats, work stations and a dark monitor wall greeted us.

  “Where are they? The aliens?” Cutter’s voice crackled in my ear.

  “Escape pods?” Cal shrugged but I turned on a workstation and began investigating.

  “They had a blown fuel line and contaminated atmosphere. Escape pods are all in their docks. Where could they go if they did escape? There’s no planets nearby, they’re too far from Kepler. They were probably hoping one of the other ships would come.” I exited the log and looked to the others.

  “So they’re still here, somewhere.” Cutter immediately accessed another workstation to begin searching.

  “All right. Let’s get back on track. We’re here to study the engines so where’s the engine room?” Johnson’s voice was gruff, commanding and slightly annoyed. He was a worse replacement than Nichols who was left behind in the biodome. Short tempered and stern with no patience of us clones.

  Cutter interjected, “Surely the opportunity to study the internal makings of these aliens should be added to our list of priorities.”

  “Engine room first Cutter. We can run it past Captain Anderson when we return. Let’s go.” Cutter’s eyes narrowed as she stepped away from the workstation but she kept silent, “Good. Let’s split into four groups and try to find a safe route to the engines.”

  I walked behind Angela as Cutter led the way. Twice we reached compartments that were full of floating debris, the false gravity generators malfunctioning. Wires, some live and some dead, dangled precariously. Both times we were forced another way. Deeper into the bowels of the ship we went, slowly making our way to the stern.

  The silence the ship had first offered was now interrupted by creaks and groans, by snaps and crackles of electricity and the vibrating hum of fans as they attempted to circle the non-existent atmosphere throughout the ship.

  “What happened here?” Cutter paused in the entry way of a large chamber, obliterated and open to space. Twisted metal greeted us, the scorch marks of an explosion everywhere.

  “This was not caused by a fuel leak. Something else happened here.” I answered as Angela turned us back, shutting the doors behind us.

  The grey corridor was empty and we pulled ourselves along quickly, “These rooms are still intact. I don’t care what Johnson said, I want a look at these aliens.”

  We were central again but near the very bottom levels as we made our way to the stern. Cutter began pausing and opening every door, searching for where the aliens had taken refuge. She stopped before an open door, staring into it. I kicked my way over to her side. Our eyes wide and mouths frozen.

  The room was full of floating cots and crates and drifting bodies. Long thin things with blue skin, twice our height and dressed in uniforms twisted in the air. As one floated in front of us it spun slowly and its face came into view. My mind began to race.

  I recognized him.

  Chapter 7: Truth

  Angela saw my eyes; saw that only the lack of gravity had prevented me from falling. As Cutter and her aide Petrie entered the room Angela pulled me away. Moving quickly she shut off our mics and held me against the wall, the glass of our helmets touching.

  Inside my mind had gone blank, my skin was drenched in sweat and my stomach was churning. My wrist monitor was beeping indicating a raised heart and breathing rate. Anger began to fill me, my hands clenched into fists.

  “Professor. I need you to stay calm and tell me exactly what you are feeling right now.”

  “I know him Angela. An alien from a hundred years ago. How do I know him?!” There was anger in my voice, a quivering of rage and confusion.

  “You remember your pills, the ones they make you take every day? Some of them are memory suppressants,” She spoke frantically, glancing back to make sure we were alone in the corridor, “I replaced them with placebos when we began our search for this ship.”

  “But why?” Angela was frantic, a crazed look in her eyes, desperate to make me understand something. But what?

  “Remember the day you met Captain Anderson. He told you you were the clone of some of the most brilliant minds to exist on Earth. It was only partly true. About ten years ago humans developed the theory of conscious cloning, to clone consciousness into any form. Using alien DNA they created humans capable of higher comprehension.”

  “But why? How did they have alien DNA if the mountain was abandoned?” My eyes widened, “Because it wasn’t abandoned was it? The room at the base, the only one still drawing full power.”

  “It’s filled with pods similar to our stasis ones. My grandfather was a part of the original research team when they discovered the chamber. He fought to wake them, to help them but in the end only a single alien was removed from stasis. The alien was unable to communicate with them and became frantic when it saw its kind left to die in the stasis pods. They could not get it to help them or to calm so they killed it. Humans have been trying to understand your technology ever since but it is still beyond us. So they made you, hybrids capable of bridging the gap.

  You must not speak of this yet, you must remain neutral for now. This information could get both of us killed. The reason I am here, the reason for aides is to keep a close eye on our subjects. To prevent them from finding the truth.”

  “And A90? Will you tell me about him now?” Despite it all, no matter what this strange world threw at me I remained plagued by A90.

  “I loved him. I loved him and they terminated him for it. I will not let them take you from me too.”

  I saw Cutter emerging from the room and quickly turned Angela’s mic on, “We have to tell the others, stop them from taking their pills.” I turned my own on, “Let’s find the engine room. Just follow my lead, we’ll do what needs to be done and get back safe.”

  Angela nodded, her face full of fear but also relief. Relief that I was remaining calm, that I knew what to do and that I knew she was on my side. My old dreams of Angela in danger, of her in pain were at the forefront of my mind.

  Inside the engine room Angela distracted Petrie while I pulled Cutter to the side.

  “What is it?”

  “Stop taking your blue pills. Just trust me and talk to me when you remember.” I let her arm go and walked off to begin examining the engines.

  A child, pale and blue with black eyes the size of saucers and absolutely beautiful was held in her arms, swaddled in blankets as she chirped lovingly to him. He chirped back, sleep slowly taking hold. Across their small apartment her husband was preparing dinner. Pre-packaged, synthetic food that required only a couple minutes of heating.

  Everything had changed, the world around them a darker place. Radiation coating the planet, plants unable to take root in the poisonous soil, even the air held dangerous amounts of oxygen now. Direct exposure would kill you in a matter of minutes. Confined to the mountain stronghold they waited as the days wore on with no evidence of day or night, just the phospholuminescence brightening and fading. Fear seemed a part of the every day. Fights had already broken out three times in the halls.

  “Must you patrol tomorrow?” The warbles, clicks and chirps of varying frequencies conveyed the question to her husband. He looked at her then down at their son, his black eyes saddened, a sweet smell emanating from his glands.

  “You know I must. We must keep the peace and wait for word.”

  She rose, lifting their son up she set him down in his bed and returned to their living space as her husband set down their dinner.

  “It has been two months and no word. Where are they? Surely someone would have responded by now, given us any bit of hope.”

  “There is still hope. Thirty ships, thirty planets. One of them will be hospitable and when the colony is established they will return for us.”

  A sweet smell crept its way around the room, the smell of her sadness. Her husband crossed the room on his long, skinny legs still dressed in his Captain’s uniform, and hugged his wife with long slender arms

  Cutter awoke with a gasp, human tears soaking her face as she sobbed into her blankets. Three days without the pills and she almost wanted to take them again, if only to erase the memories of a husband and child long past from another life.

  The hot water scalded her skin but distracted her from her nightmare. As the cool air of the biodome hit her warm skin her sadness hardened into anger.

  I awoke to the doorbell. Slowly pulling myself from my dreams I glanced at the holographic alarm clock, one in the morning.

  I threw a robe on and tied it up, waving my arm in front of the motion detector to open the door. Cutter stood there, hair drenched and dripping, face red and also wrapped up in a robe.

  “I remember.”

  I sat in the Captain’s chair aboard The Wilhelm, like a toddler at the dinner table. Everything far too big for my human form. We had breathable air to most sections of the ship, had sealed off the destroyed ones and had the systems repaired enough to get it back to Kepler. I looked around at all of them, saw the effort behind the mask of calmness as one by one they had ceased to take their suppressants and memories of an entire life of family and loved ones had surfaced.

  The deep hum of the engines reverberated throughout the ship as we fired them up for the first time. The frowns all lightened slightly while the aides standing off to the side smiled openly, unknowingly. All except Angela.

  “How’s the startup Professor? You ready to get this thing back to Kepler for further repairs?”

  “I believe so Captain.”

  “Good. We’ll follow you.”

  I nodded to Cal who rose from his seat. Together we headed to the main door where Johnson and Evans stood, armed.

 

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