This is my entry for October’s Blog Battle – the theme or word for this month is Clone.
Awake.
Consciousness returning to her. A flood a memories invading their thoughts as if for the first time. Time ebbed on and the light came and went, the room, the bed all familiar. The smell of the old wood walls as comforting as the warmth of the sun.
Rising from the bed she reached over for the watch placed on the bedside cabinet. Metallic and heavy in the hand it slipped onto their wrist easily. Glancing down at the time it was getting late, hunger was now taking over her thoughts. The thought of warm bread and chicken soup permeated and wouldn’t go away. Reaching over to the foot of the bed she pulled on a white tank top and black cargo trousers.
Lifting from the bed and onto her feet, legs wobbling slightly as if the sleep had been so deep that the legs had forgotten how to walk for a moment. Reaching out to the old brass door knob and turning it, pulling the door open to find the old wooden walls and wooden table that were so familiar. At the head already there was a steaming bowl of chicken soup and warm bread. A dish of butter waited with a knife placed neatly with a spoon next to it. No cloth or mats covered the table. A card was placed in the middle of the table, blank and white with no markings it was of no interest compared to the food.
Just moment later the small meal was all but devoured, the last remnants of warm bread had just gone. Suddenly she jumped off the chair and almost out of their skin, cursing as she leapt back.
“Who the hell are you?” She screamed. A man, thin and graying, with a serious look and round glasses was suddenly sat before them at the other end of the table.
“I hope you enjoyed that Alissa.” finally breaking silence in a matter of fact tone.
“That’s not what I asked!” Alissa growled back. “Who are you?”
“Please, sit down. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m Dr Dak Shouten.”
“What are you doing here and where did you come from?” Alissa growled back again, backed into the far corner of the room.
“Please, sit and I will explain.” Shouten asked calmly. Puling out a control tablet he pressed a button. The wooden walls slid slowly down into the floor . On one side there was the grey and dusty rocky surface of the Moon and on the other tens of people running about in clean suits and masks in what appeared to be a complex set up to create something. But Alissa couldn’t see or make out what it could be.
Looking back at Shouten he motioned for her to sit, slowly pulling out the chair, Alissa sat. Waiting for whatever was going to come next.
“I’ve been here the whole time, you couldn’t see me behind the holographic screen. I’m looking after you, you’re one of our best soldiers and you were recently wounded and nearly died. You’ve been undergoing genetic therapy and for nearly three months your body has been undergoing repair. You were coming back to consciousnesses only three days ago so we have put you somewhere familiar to wake up to. I hope you like it.”
Alissa looked up, not knowing how to take all this in she simply nodded nervously.
“I’m afraid though that we do have some business we need to get out of the way, it won’t take long.” Shouten glanced at the card.
“What is it?”
“The card has some information abut your last mission we need to retrieve.”
“So, retrieve it.”
“We can’t, it’s locked the contents to your Genputer. Only you can access it.”
“I see, so the ‘best solider bit’ was all rubbish! You just wanted this!” Alissa retorted aggressively.
“Look, you’re here and you shouldn’t be. It’s the least you can do.” Shouten insisted.
Alissa got up and picked up the card, placing it in her palm, the access circuits in her skin glowed from red to green. She had accessed the card.
“We need to know the access code for the enemy’s Teragenic computer.”
Alissa scrolled and browsed through the interface in her mind, as if it was there in the room all the files and folders she had collected from through her life were there. Training, missions, memories of friends, some gone from this world.
“Found it.”
Shouten sat forward, waiting intently “You should be able to send it through to my own Genputer.”
She accessed the file and instantly something happened. A flood of information memories and data. For a short moment she processed it.
“Here.” Alissa sent a file to the Genputer in Shouten’s brain.
“Excellent, let’s see what we have. This is a memory file of your last-” Shouten was pushed to the floor. Alissa slid her hand under the table and pulled out his hidden weapon.
“Don’t -” Alissa raised the weapon and shot. She pulled the access tag from his neck and the holo screen device from his pocket. Pressing a button Alissa vanished, a few seconds later the door flew open and three guards pushed in with their weapons raised. Shouting as they moved forward their weapons strafed the far wall.
Alissa slipped out of the door, unseen, unheard. Her method of escape clearly written by the genetic master that preceded her. Cloned from original that didn’t quite make it. The card contained all the information she needed, her enemy that she was now escaping from trying to steal her coded secrets with her own genetics.
“They’ll have to try harder than that!” Was Alissa’s parting thought as the gateway took her to her freedom.
Awake.
Consciousness returning to her. A flood a memories invading their thoughts as if for the first time. Time ebbed on and the light came and went, the room, the bed all familiar. The smell of the old wood walls as comforting as the warmth of the sun.
© Simon Farnell 2013 – 2023
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Simon's Space 
Good twist towards the end there Simon.
Nice antiseptic atmosphere, very unsettling
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Thanks Roger, I appreciate that 🙂
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👍 👍
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Lots of little details in this story, I’m not sure I processed them all correctly! I found it interesting that Alissa’s name isn’t mentioned until Dr. Shouten says it, so I presume this was a clue her memory wasn’t fully engaged. Nice touch! I was little confused by repeated references to the plural pronoun – she reached for her watch, placed on their wrist … she jumped off chair out of their skin … old man sat before them … I confess I can’t pick up on the meaning there. I was intrigued by her holding a card to access her memory files, but did sort of wonder how she could transmit those files to Shouten without the same tactile action. I presume the weapons were some sort of ray gun, or were they more traditional than that? Nice ending! Lots of mystery that I kept hoping to discover the answer to!
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