Enemy Chapter Four
Enemy Me
Author: J Carrell Jones
Table of Content
Chapter Four
Pete stared at the monitor for a long while. Twenty years. That long. Pete thought, “Change my name to what?” He heard a deep cough, but ignored it.
Mike said, “May I be of assistance?”
Pete remained deep in thought.
Mike coughed louder breaking Pete’s thoughts.
Pete looked up and around. “Yes?”
Mike repeated, “May I be of assistance?”
“To what?”
“Your name dilemma.”
“Who said I was thinking about my name?”
Silence.
It stretched out to a full minute.
Pete broke the silence first. Damn computer he thought. Mind reader? “Thanks for the offer.”
Mike said, “No, I am not.”
“What?”
“I am not a mind reader.”
“How in the world did you know what I was thinking?”
Silence.
Exasperation crept into Pete’s voice. “Well?”
“You may not be Pete prime, but you think like him. I’ve had twenty years of experience.”
Pete said, “Point taken.”
Silence.
“Mike, thank you. I want to think this through a few moments.”
“While you’re thinking through your name dilemma I’d like to give you the rest of George’s items.”
“Okay?”
“Do not be startled . . .”
“About what?”
He heard Mike’s voice directly behind him “This, sir.”
Pete, startled, turned to see an Android. “Jesus Christ!”
The Android said, “My intention was not to startle you.”
“Intention failed.” But Pete was intrigued. He got up and walked around the machine. Amazing he thought. “What can it do?”
The Android stood six feet tall. Most of its body was made of tubes and wiring. Small composite plates of different shapes were placed around his limbs and chest. They gave the illusion he had calves, biceps, shoulders, and pecs. There were even two plates shaped and placed so it looked like he had buttocks.
The Android answered, “It? It, sir, can do a lot.” And it held out a very large envelope.
Pete grabbed it.
The Android held onto the envelope a few seconds longer than it should have.
Pete watched as it turned and walked away. “Does it have a name?”
“You could ask the next time you see him.” Mike replied.
“I suppose I could. What other surprises are in store for me?”
“There is someone sleeping in your bed.”
Dumbstruck, Pete dropped the envelope. “What? A Guest?” He walked to “his” room and stopped. The door was ajar. He pushed it open slowly and stepped into the dimly lit room. A form was curled up underneath the blankets. He stepped in and the floor creaked.
The form moved, then a head lifted up. The covers slipped away to show a dirty blonde woman yawning. She looked around and spotted Pete. “Hey, babe!” She said. “You back so soon. Everything went okay?”
Stunned, Pete lost his voice. He coughed and held up a hand. He motioned for her to lay back down while backing out.
She did, yawned again, and said, “Okay, babe. See you in a few hours.”
Pete closed the door and made it back to the command room. “What the . . .?”
Mike said, “Her name is Rebecca. George calls her Becky. She is his . . .”
“What?” Pete interrupted.
“She is also one of those allies George mentioned.”
“But . . . but . . . she . . .”
“Is unaware that George is no longer here, which by the way, you are the last to awake upon the death of a previous clone.”
“Oh, this is just getting better and better.” He placed his palm against his forehead and slowly shook his head.
“The envelope.”
“The what? Oh, that.” Pete reached down and grabbed it. He walked over to the center seat, moved the keyboard out of the way and emptied its contents onto the desk. Photos, a wallet, gun, knife, camera, cell phone, a bottle of pills, a passport, car keys, reading glasses, a folded piece of paper, and small black box with a wind-up key in the back. He stared at the content for a few seconds. “Okay, Mike, I’m not getting this. I need help.”
“George started making recordings weeks after he awoke. Number Four, Kevin, gave him a similar recording as George gave you. Kevin left George everything except the reading glasses, bottle of pills, and the small black box. Over time, of course, the contents have increased.”
The center monitor lit up with George sitting at the desk. His hair was messy and he had a five-day old beard. His eyes were bloodshot with hooded eyelids. “This is madness. It’s been two weeks and I haven’t slept well. Kevin, that’s the name number four chose, said that Forrest’s company Forever Life submitted an investigational New Drug application to CDER. Apparently, he was going to sabotage the application, but didn’t succeed. I woke up two weeks ago and binged on all the information about Forrest and Forever Life, Inc. This is crazy. Forrest is our Alpha! He was the first successful clone and we are working against him!” The screen went black.
Pete sat there for a few moments thinking. Number four, presumably, discovered/revealed Forrest as Prime’s first successful clone.
Incredible!
A new image appeared. “Forrest is out of his mind. He has to be. I see why, Pete Prime broke ties with him and made this place. Transgenetics can transform the entire world to something good. Think about it. A pill that acts as a transport and vector for radical morphologic change, but Forrest has a secret agenda. He wants to make the world shaped in his image.” The screen went black a few seconds, then George reappeared. “I’ve been alive for about six months now. This world is amazing! Cars that drive themselves? Androids? Of which I’m going to have to make one. Space travel? Vacations in Earth’s orbit. Opportunities? Endless.” The screen went black.
Pete heard from behind him, “Hey Babe. You hadn’t looked at those old vids for months. What’s up?”
He slowly turned and saw Becky standing in the doorway. She was dressed in a translucent blue teddy. She had fuzzy rabbit faced slippers on and she had bed head. Pete thought “My ‘ucking God! George was one lucky son-of-a-bitch.”
She walked up to him and leaned down.
Pete regretted he flinched. He bit his lip, but said nothing.
Becky frowned, stood up and carefully gave Pete a once over. She stared into his eyes, then walked out the room.
Pete followed her. Dread set in when he realized she was headed to the Cloning chamber. As he entered the room he spotted her on her knees crying. He stopped just out of arms reach. “I’m sorry,” was all he could say.
She turned on him. Her eyes red and puffy. “Why!” She screamed at him. “Why are you doing this? Why!”
Pete backed up, his shoulders drooped. He looked down.
Becky screamed, “This is not fair!”
He could do nothing but watch. Suddenly she jumped up and ran over to the door. A heavy axe was attached to the adjacent wall. She pulled it from its cradle and dragged the heavy thing passed all the chambers to stop at number 18.
Pete realized what she was about to do. He yelled, “Stop! Not yet!”
She gave him a death stare and said, “This is total bullshit! All of it is bullshit! Let’s just let him take the whole fuckin’ place down and end this madness!”
He raced to her side just as she lifted the heavy axe over her shoulder. He grabbed the handle on the down swing, stopping her from smashing the glass.
She yelled, “Let it go, clone!”
Pete’s head snapped back. ‘Let it go, clone!’ she said. Clone. As in copy, duplicate, not the original. He lost his temper. “Get a hold of yourself you fucking idiot! This is not about you! It’s about the world.” He tossed the axe across the room. Anger gripped firmly now, “You. Need. To. Fucking. Grow. Up!” He stared into her eyes and did not blink.
She tried to stare him down, but Pete was too far into his anger to care. Silly bitch he thought.
“You think I asked to be here?”
Her eyes dropped.
“I’m more than a victim here. I’m twenty years out of date and everyone I knew is either dead, old, or I can’t remember them. I have problems bigger than yours. I am truly sorry George is gone. There are so many questions I need to ask, but all I have is a sensitive computer and you! And from where I’m standing I’m pretty much fucked!”
Becky’s eyes teared up. Seconds later she ran out the room and disappeared down the hallway.
Pete sighed heavily. He let his anger cool before he spoke. “Mike?” He said but he got no response. “Sorry if I offended you.”
Mike remained silent.
Pete walked over to the axe, grabbed it, and placed it back into its cradle. He walked out the room, sad. All this in less than an hour of his new life. Maybe he should have let her smash the glass. Maybe not.