Clone Crisis: Book 1 in the Clone Crisis Trilogy Read online

  I had never seen Alexis this scared before. Even when she was upset with how the community ran, or how we were assigned to the community or jobs, or how we didn’t get a vote in electing community leaders, she never seemed scared. Just angry.

  Alexis made eye contact with someone across the room and stood up. “Don’t worry,” she said with what seemed like a fake smile. “You’ll be fine. Graduation will be great. I’m so proud of you!” She looked over at the person again. I turned to see but couldn’t tell who it was. “I have to run, Yami, but I’ll see you at graduation, ok? I’ll find you afterwards.” She took her tray of half-eaten toast to the disposal area and followed someone I couldn’t see out of the cafeteria.

  I was on edge for most of graduation. My hair slowly frizzed into a clump of unruly curls by the time the ceremony ended, but I didn’t care. Afterwards, true to her word, Alexis ran over to me from her seat in the audience. “Congratulations, Yami!” she said loudly. “You did it!” She had my best friend Etta take a picture of us together, and Etta messaged it to us on her TekCast. Alexis squeezed my shoulder. I didn’t feel any comfort from her suddenly positive demeanor. It only made me panic more. Alexis was in trouble.

  I messaged Alexis later that day after I went to a party with my classmates. No answer. I messaged her the next day, and again the day after that. A week later, in my dorm room, I sent one last message; I knew I wasn’t going to hear back. Tears filled my eyes as I placed the TekCast carefully on my desk, as if Alexis’s message would only arrive if the TekCast was perfectly still. Etta came by to see me, but I wouldn’t let her in. I lay in my bed and stared at the ceiling. I was convinced someone had taken Alexis and that they were coming to take me next. Or maybe they’d come for someone else. Now I knew it: we were all in danger from some hidden force that didn’t want Alexis to know what she knew. And if I knew as well...I couldn’t figure it out.

  Even now, as an intern at the Med, in the career I did end up loving, I felt like that little girl laying in bed crying to herself. Nothing was safe from that day forwards.

  The streetlights were already on when I left work; the days were getting shorter as November passed us by. I walked through a crowd of Bronzes. They usually avoided looking me in the eyes. The Gold insignia on my shoulder where I had clipped my TekCast made me a source of annoyance and jealous to most Bronzes. They were assigned to jobs that didn’t require as much skill as my own, and were not treated with the same reverence as Silvers or Golds. The bright Gold rim around my TekCast’s edge removed any doubts: I was a higher status than my fellow community members.

  I walked faster as I saw a group of Silvers and then a group of Grays. The Grays usually stared down at the ground while they walked home in their uniforms. They lived in a rundown neighborhood in the other direction. The Silvers lived in dorms or houses almost as nice as the Golds, but there was usually some tension between the groups. Sometimes someone from another color assignment would stare at me as I walked past, and my heart raced the same way it had at breakfast that day with Alexis.

  So, no. I did not want to go out with Charlie and his pals and gossip about how arrogant a lab technician was or how one of the doctors was dating an intern. I had gotten in enough trouble being close to Alexis, and didn’t plan on adding any more people to the list of those who could disappear without notice. No more of that for me.

  Chapter Two

  Just like Alexis had been my mentor, I was now a mentor to a new high classer named Vonna. She was small and round, with chestnut hair she recently cut short. She had graduated from middle class only a few months earlier, and proclaimed the new haircut befitting for a more mature student. I was nervous when Vonna and I were assigned to work together a few years earlier, but I did my best to put my fears aside. She was a sweet, shy girl when we met, but by the end of middle class she had come out of her shell. She was bold. She didn’t care what anyone else thought about her. Except me, though she tried to hide it.

  And like Alexis, Vonna questioned everything. It started innocently enough when she was younger and learning about cloning and fertility. History lessons became more detailed. Middle classers were taught in depth about the fertility crisis that started hundreds of years ago, and how our ancestors decided to use cloning to give us time as a society to solve the issue.

  Vonna wanted me to tell her more about her clones, but like everyone else, I had no information. They were somewhere in the world. Maybe in this country, or maybe in another country that was part of the pact to share genetic materials across the world. Like everyone else, I knew that it was forbidden to see one’s clone. “What’s best for the community is best for me” worked both ways. Nothing good would come of seeing my own clones. Or so they said.

  Since the school year started, the new high classers only talked about one thing: what color they’d get. Vonna’s Career Assignment Ceremony was coming up that week, and I noticed the raw skin around her nails, which were bitten to nothing. She wanted to be Gold, but that meant a career in science or leadership. She loved learning about cloning, but I tried in vain to diffuse her excitement. Her science scores were low and she was too introverted for a Leadership and Records assignment. She would most likely end up Silver, or - and I hoped it wouldn’t happen - Bronze.

  To ease her nerves, I invited Vonna to join us for dinner at Etta’s apartment. Etta was living with her long-term boyfriend Breck. Etta was the only real friend I maintained all throughout high school. After Alexis disappeared, the thought of making new friends seemed impossible.

  Etta put up with my grumpiness, and didn’t mind when I wouldn’t tell her what had happened. When I finally explained why I had turned into a new person after middle class graduation, she hugged me tightly and told me it would be okay. When I met Breck, I resolved myself to find a way to show him the kindness Etta always showed me. It wasn’t that hard. Breck was charming; everyone liked him. Like Charlie, he was usually in a good mood and never lacked energy or enthusiasm. He was tall, with blond hair and green eyes, and he stood out in a crowd both because of his height and his personality. People seemed to flock to him.

  Like me, both Etta and Breck had landed Gold career assignments. Etta was in Cloning. She wasn’t passionate about it in the same way Vonna was. She was intrigued with the flow of genetic material around the world, and on an intellectual level, she enjoyed understanding the scientific processes surrounding the act of cloning in general. Breck was more opinionated. He worked in the F-Lab, another Gold assignment, though we had all expected him to be put in Leadership and Records because of his personality and high grades. Fertility research suited him, though. He talked about wanting to make a difference and that was the best way to do so.

  Etta had also invited Ben. I snapped at her when I found out Ben was coming; we hadn’t broken up very long ago. It wasn’t clear how I ended up dating him in the first place. We were in classes together since we were both Gold, and after spending so much time together academically, a different bond formed.

  Ben was interesting enough, but since he started his internship in Leadership and Records a year ago, he had turned into an endless fount of boring facts and trivia. Like Etta, though, he put up with my moodiness and general apathy. He didn’t question my mood swings. He almost seemed amused by them. I was always on the edge of breaking things off, but he managed to get eleven months of dating out of me before I shut it down. Too much hearing about the global timeline of scientific developments, the intelligence of community leaders, the history of our community...and not enough of anything else.

  Etta and Breck shared a spacious double in the Gold commune building. They could be annoying with their affection for one another, and I expressed my displeasure with rolled eyes and snarky remarks. Breck loved it. Etta had grown to ignore it. Secretly, I envied the way they got along so well. Even at our best, Ben and I could not compete with Breck and Etta’s relationship. I warned Vonna about them before we arrived.

  “They don’t sound that bad,�
�� she teased. “You’re just being cranky.” Cranky was Vonna’s word for my general moodiness and hermitlike tendencies. I preferred to call it being cautious and realistic.

  Most interns saved up money by cooking their own food rather than ordering from the vending cylinders present in Gold and Silver apartments. Even with our higher salaries, we all wanted to save up and buy our own houses as soon as possible. Breck grilled turkey burgers and Etta was making us a big salad. When I arrived, I went into the kitchen to talk with Etta. Her gray eyes were lit up; she loved having company over. She had strung her dirty blonde hair up into a ponytail that ended in a big curl at the nape of her neck.

  “You look...50% less snippy then normal,” she said while she chopped vegetables. “Did you see these?” She pointed to the tomatoes with her knife. They were a little bigger than normal, but otherwise looked the same as usual. “Newly modified. Only available in the Gold market. They’re supposed to have extra potassium and Vitamin C. As if that will make us fertile again! I tried a piece. They’re a little tangier.” She scraped one across the cutting board towards me. “You try one.” I grabbed it and looked it over, then I popped it in my mouth.

  “It’s tangier,” I said.

  “They’re at the little Gold market by the cloning building,” she continued. “They’re closing soon for the winter. It’s too bad; they always have the best stuff.” She pushed the cut tomatoes off the cutting board and into the salad bowl.

  “You’ve tried those?” Ben appeared right behind me. He wasn’t very tall, and we stood almost eye-to-eye. I gave him a shrug. “I read that with all the genetic modifications, tomatoes are almost entirely different than they were hundreds of years ago. Way healthier, like everything else.” He picked a chopped tomato out of the salad bowl and tasted it. “Yup. Tangier.”

  “What else is different?” Etta asked politely. Ben tended to ramble when historical topics came up. Etta agreed, but asked him anyway. I gave a quick sigh; Etta shot me a “be nice” look. She had that look down pat.

  “Everything!” Ben was thrilled to have an audience, and Etta always obliged. He hopped onto the kitchen counter next to the salad bowl and picked out a piece of pepper. “Take this for instance. There used to be fewer varieties of peppers. I read they cross-pollinated the species ages ago to make a larger variety, and used the modification process to infuse more vitamins and anti-oxidants. All to make us more healthy, right Yami?” I shrugged. I had no patience for Ben now that he was my ex. He and Breck had become close while we were dating, though, so Ben showed up at more social events than I preferred. “That girl we went to high class with, Natalia? I saw her last week. She’s in nutrition.” That was a Silver career assignment, so none of us saw her very much anymore. “They’re constantly working on this exact topic. How do we make our food and activities healthier? And then Breck gets to study how that impacts fertility.”

  I cringed sometimes when I thought about the F-Lab. I had never told anyone what Alexis shared with me that day years ago. To escape the conversation, I offered to carry the salad bowl and drinks into the dining area. Breck was asking Vonna about her classes. Right now, she was taking a full courseload. Once she had her Career Assignment, she’d get her insignia, her TekCast band, and a more focused class schedule.

  “They’re alright, I guess,” Vonna said. Breck looked her in the eyes while she spoke, intensely focused on their conversation. It was part of why everyone liked him so much. He was attentive and personable. “I’m most interested in cloning, but I know I won’t be assigned there. So I won’t be able to learn more about it.” Breck nodded sympathetically. He had lucked out with his assignment, but was vocal about his dislike for the process.

  Etta set up plates and napkins and sat down next to Breck, leaving me to sit between Ben and Vonna. “You’ll end up liking what you get,” Ben said. “Everyone always does. What’s best for the community and all. You’ll be fine.” It was a diplomatic response with little use. Vonna’s face grew paler when Ben spoke. He was slowly turning into a pre-recorded propaganda-filled message from the government as his internship progressed.

  “I wonder how much say our ancestors had in these decisions,” Breck said. “The system works in that the community runs efficiently. But if people don’t have choices in the matter, then I have a problem with it.” I was taking a plate from Vonna’s hands while he said it and felt that familiar shiver up and down my spine. I didn’t like hearing this kind of stuff since Alexis disappeared. Especially not around Vonna.

  “What do you mean, people don’t have choices?” Vonna asked. Oh great, I thought. Get her more invested in all of this nonsense.

  “You want to be in cloning, but if some government officials don’t think that’s right for you, you’ll be put in another career,” said Breck. “You didn’t have a choice.”

  “Vonna likes a lot of different subjects, Breck,” I said. I gave Vonna’s arm a sympathetic pat.

  Breck continued. “Plus, if you’re not in Gold or Silver, you end with more work, less money, and less prestige. It’s not really fair, is it?” Vonna’s eyes grew large as she listened to Breck.

  “Let’s talk about something else!” said Etta. “I keep meaning to tell you all about the new work I’ve gotten to do in the cloning lab. There were a new batch of genetic materials sent in and I’m leading a team of interns through the cloning process. There’s a geneticist looking over my work, but it’s kind of like a promotion!”

  “That’s great –“ I was interrupted by Vonna.

  “How do you know all this stuff, Breck?” she asked. I hadn’t talked to her about any of this recently and had hoped her interest had waned since she started high classes.

  “People talk,” Breck said. “Yami, your old mentor knew people who had problems with the way the community is run, right?”

  I seethed. Breck had no business bringing up Alexis. I also shot Etta a pointed glare; Breck wouldn’t know about Alexis if it wasn’t for her. Etta raised her eyebrows and looked at her plate.

  “Really?” said Vonna. She turned to me with her hands in the air. “You never told me anything about that!”

  “Nothing to say,” I grumbled. “Not everyone is content living here and being told what to do and where to go. Most of us are happy going about our business though. I know I am.” I clenched my metal fork with my fist. Vonna gave a huff at my response. She turned back to Breck.

  “Can you tell me more?” she asked. “Like this stuff Yami and I used to talk about, with cloning. Why can’t I meet my other clones? What’s the big deal?”

  “It’s all for keeping the community running and finding the solution, Vonna,” said Etta. “You know that. Plus, it’s not worth talking about. Look at us now! I have a Gold career. I don’t have any right to complain.” Etta sounded chipper, but I could sense an edge in her voice. She didn’t particularly like talking about philosophy or politics either.

  “You could say that, since we’re Gold. But what if we weren’t? There’s a history of activism for as long as society has worked towards a solution,” Ben said. He waved his own fork in the air while he spoke, a piece of onion still stuck to its tines. “Groups of likeminded citizens have joined to protest against the government. They want more information about the cloning process. You know, how genetic material is shared between communities. They want fertility research to be more transparent, so everyone can see what’s going on and why no solution has been found. And they want to know more about how careers are assigned.”

  I bit my tongue. Alexis had told me the truth: fertility research was a sham. There was no way the government was going to be upfront about that. And if they were lying about fertility, what else did they lie to us about?

  “People can get caught protesting,” Ben continued. “They can get in a lot of trouble. The councilman I work with has told me about people losing their jobs. It’s a shame. All to take a stand against something that’s working fine!” I raised my eyebrows. Alexis didn’t lose
her job. She just disappeared. And she was visibly terrified that morning we spoke. She wasn’t worried about losing her job. There was a greater threat involved.

  “Is that all?” I asked. “New jobs? ‘Trouble?’ That doesn’t seem like much.”

  “But it’s another example of the community members not having a say,” said Breck. I watched Vonna, who couldn’t take her eyes off Breck while he spoke. “There’s no set of laws that people had a say in writing that dictates how people should be punished for crimes. There’s no law protecting people’s right to protest unjust decisions. Think about Chancellor Lorenzo. He wasn’t elected by the people, was he? His career assignment was Leadership and Records, and the council members assigned him to the chancellor position. He gets to make the rules and we have to follow them.”

  “And he mediates disagreements, right?” Vonna said. “And the council supports him. But none of us ever get to hear exactly what happens and when, do we?”

  “That’s enough!” Etta cried. She rarely raised her voice, but I could see her level a glowering look at Breck. I had never seen her talk to Breck like that. Vonna actually jumped in her chair. “We have company, Breck. Let’s talk about something else. Vonna, why don’t you tell us more about your classes?”

  We avoided each other’s eyes. No one likes being in the middle of another couple’s argument. From the way Etta spoke, this clearly wasn’t the first time they had had this one. The silence continued until Ben spoke up.

  “I see your point, Breck,” Ben said. “Really, I do. But I’ve read some interesting data recently about youth engagement, community satisfaction, and leadership trust surveys. People are happier being here every day!” He pulled his TekCast off his gold insignia and swiped through some information, then forced us to listen as he read a paragraph aloud. I sat back in my chair. Vonna looked at Ben now, and her eyes glazed over. Better that than learning about secret groups of activists.