Chapter 3 Perfect Clone

• Henry roamed his eyes around. Except for the Island where they have landed on, there are no signs of human in the isolated place. He tapped his shuttle as he took off his suit. Thanks to the devices that his team had successfully made and installed on their spacecrafts. They had successfully landed on Earth, concealing their presence that might alarm Space Administrations, especially the ones that they are hiding from the most.
• “Where are we, Captain?”
• “Worry not. This Island is my property. No one can easily trespass here without my permission.” He looked at the wild, it is literally hiding his residence in the middle of those towering trees.
• “We can’t just wander around outside this place without being cautious, are we clear?”
• “Yes, Captain!”
• “It will surely take us a long time to get the things we need to save our teammates, but I want you to always remember not to forget about them. You know how much I hate betrayal—I won’t show mercy to anyone who would attempt to do so. From here, we will start everything.” He turned to them.
• “But how are we going to start, Captain?”
• “Leave it to me. Everything we need are all prepared.”
• —
• Years went by as fast as light. He is almost there—almost. If only for some phenomenon, they could have already saved their members.
• “Captain, Head Euvy have entrusted your safety to me. I can’t just leave your side for this being!”
• Henry stopped walking and throw a punch on the man. “She is not just a mere human. Our team members will surely dispose her if they find out about her existence.” He held the baby closer to him and cuddle her as she slowly started to wake up.
• “C-Captain.” The man wiped his swollen lips and stared at the child he’s holding.
• “Take this girl somewhere they could not find her. I am warning you, if something happens to her, I will find every single member of your family, from the bedridden up to the unborn ones. You know what I can do, and you know I will do it with no hesitations.”
• Footsteps from afar shut them. He hurriedly pulled the paper inside his pocket. “Take her to this hospital. Find someone who had lost a child. Switch her. Go!”
• Though he is so opposed to his Captain’s decision, he furtively run away, silently hoping that there’ll be no hindrance on the way.
• Henry meets the newly come halfway, making sure that he had bought the man some time to flee. Of all the rooms that his organization has, that is the only one that he had restricted from anyone of them—except for the one that he trusted the most.
• He gulped as he casually greeted them.
• “What is this meeting that you have called us for, Henry?”
• “I should be the one asking you first. Didn’t I tell you that the meeting will be held at the conference room? Who gave you an order to follow me here?!”
• “Henry, you may be the Captain,, but that doesn’t mean you can always tell us what and what not to do. What is happening to you?! You have never been like that before!”
• “That is the difference now.” He eyed the man. “I am not just a Captain here. I am the boss and no one is above me in this organization. Did I make myself clear?!”
• He walked past by them and headed to the meeting hall. Behind him, he can feel their piercing, seething looks. It feels betrayal, it smelled familiar.
• As the door opened, he wasted no time to went straight to his seat and turned on the presentation of the innovation that he has made personally.
• “What is that this time? We keep on inventing and fabricating new technologies, but I rarely see of those that has relevance to saving our teammates, Henry!” one stated right away as soon as he saw the image plastered holographically.
• “Henry, don’t tell us that is what you really aim for when we come back here? Does it mean that all the treasures that you have taken here from that planet, sold and spent to build this organization is to make those inventions?! That is ridiculous! We can do that after we rescue them! How absurd can you be to set aside them when it was you who has always reminding us not to forget about them?!” one agreed, pointing a finger on him.
• “That is what I have called you here for! Is it really your nature to talk back to your boss?! I haven’t started speaking here in front, yet you have already blurting your side without hearing me out first! I am warning you, whatever I have put up in this organization is all mine. What you have contributed is just waiting, whining, and complaining! Once you do this again, I will give you no warn anymore. You know what I mean.”
• The table became silent. Not because they are respecting his superiority, but because they know how serious he is when it comes to disposing anyone ever since they came back from the mission.
• “These capsules are far better than the ones that the Aeronautical Space Administration had provided us before. With the condition of our teammates, this will be a big help to preserve the humanity they still have left. It can adjust the condition of its insides to the favorable condition for whoever will use it. As well as, it can also be set to Earth’s environment condition. We don’t know what are the consequences of traveling them back on Earth. Thus, it will give a chance to them to travel back here without us losing them in the journey,” he elaborated, interchangeably glancing at them and to the figure.
• “The capsule cradle had been purposely designed solely for our concern—to save our team. They might need different conditions depending on how rapid their body system’s adaptability is to the environment of the planet. Based on the last observation we have conducted on your systems, the changes have almost stopped during our first years here after coming back. Hopefully, it has already stopped by now, since we’re already staying here longer than we have stayed there. If so, our next target to work on is to completely make you 100% human again. I need your cooperation to know how we will make adjustments.”
• He refrained himself to furthermore discuss what else the capsule cradles can do, reminding himself not to show off all of it to the people who are potentially be a threat to them—betrayal is really a human’s nature.
• “We will be testing it today, this afternoon. I have already tried using one, but I will try it again for you to see yourself how it works.” He stood up and leaned on his table, meters away from the longer one where they are gathered. “Any questions?” he asked and waited for one.
• Someone raised his hand, making him wonder what is questionable in the presentation. He nodded, giving him the chance to talk.
• “I am afraid we have to decline to do the trial today. We aren’t complete,” he spoke that made the others look at everyone to know who’s not present in the meeting. Whereas, it brought him chills down to his spine as he tried to stay composed and calm upon remembering the reason.
• He casually looked away to not meet their doubting eyes.
• “You are strict when it comes to important matters like this one. How come that there is one that is not here, yet it is just fine with you?” one queried in censorious manner.
• “I have ordered him to do something for me. He’s in my office, doing secretarial stuffs,” he lied, but remained serious to make them believe. “However, if you insist on doing the testing tomorrow, give me valid reasons then,” he then remarked. Yet, hoped that they will since he is sure the man might take not just a day to do the task he has given him.
• They gazed at each other, deciding whether to agree or not to the suggestion of postponing the trials. Not long after, they nodded as if just by looking at each other, they have already communicated.
• “It will be better if we’ll do it altogether. Hence, if there is someone who is not around, though possible, we have to wait for him. We hope you don’t mind that.”
• “I seconded the motion. It will be unfair if we will do it now while he won’t—not to us obviously, but to him, of course. Besides, we are all not 100% human here, aside from you. We can manage to wait anyway.”
• Hearing them agreed to withdraw from doing it right away made him breath in relief. Though, he’s hoping that that span of time is already enough for the man to come back.
• “Okay, it is settled then. The testing of the capsule cradles will be tomorrow.” He ended the presentation and glanced at his watch.
• “Do you have any more questions? No more?” he impatiently inquired. “If you have no more to ask, the meeting adjourned.” He motioned them to leave.
• As they left, he finally got the chance to feel free from their keen observations. Just then, the secret door in his office opened. The man came earlier than he expected, looking pale and exhausted.
• He stood up in surprised and almost ran towards him. “Where did you take her?!” He shook his shoulders.
• “Captain, I—”
• “It is a two-hour drive from the shore if you’ll take the route I have told you to take, what did you do?! Why are you here already?!” he queried consecutively.
• “I used the yacht, our fastest one. And I didn’t take that route, Captain. I saw someone there. I don’t know if who is that person, but he seems to be observing this Island from afar…” he paused and gulped, making Henry even more nervous, yet eager to know what happened.
• “I took a detour. That is a better shortcut to get there. Here are the names of the parents. By the way, whose baby was that, Captain?” The man looked for the piece of paper he hid in his coat. “Here.” He handed him over the folded scrap of paper.
• “She is Euvy. Euvy’s perfect clone, a hundred percent human,” he replied that stunned the man.
• He went to his table and rewrite the names on his notepad. “Are you sure she’ll be safe with them? Are they good trustworthy people? Have you known their whereabouts?” he asked without glancing at him.
• “Captain, I thought we’ll go back to get them? What exactly are you planning to do?” the man queried in almost a whisper.
• Henry put down his pen and stared at the man. “We’ll get them back here, and I am trying to make a hundred percent human out of clones. In case our teammates can no longer be one, with their DNA’s that we have when they’re still a hundred percent human will allow us to rebirth them. Though, I am not certain if it will work for everyone. But, I am hoping that it will.”
• The man walked closer to him and took a lungful breath. “Can I be cloned too, Captain?”
• “I can make you some trials. But that will either might take a long time or no time at all to whether be successful or not. It is rare to do cloning to humans. Failing to make one is a sure possibility than successfully having an almost successful one.”
• “Then why you have successfully made a real human?”
• “You haven’t answered my questions yet. Answer mine and I will give you the answer to that.”
• “Which one do you want me to answer first, Captain? I am—” he was stopped when he saw the Captain raised a brow on him, making him give him the responses right away. “The parents are just ordinary citizens; thus, it is certain that she’ll be safe with them. I have been working with trustworthy and not trustworthy people for decades now. I know they are far better reliable than some of our teammates. Furthermore, I will give you the address if you—”
• “I can clone you. Where’s the address?”
• He opened his palm where he has written it. “Thank you, Captain.”
• Henry gazed at the details he has written: NORMAN and JULIA VENTURA.
• “She will start a new life with these people. She will have a new beginning far from what her origin had gone through; a new identify,” he muttered as he touched the names with his thumb.
• “What are you planning to do when she grows up, Captain?”
• From the writings, he shifted his gaze from it to the man. “Clones have theoretically believed inherits the memories of the ones they were made from. If that’s the case, then, knowing Euvy, she will surely find the truth about herself. If that theory happened to be true, I will make a way to lure her here. She deserves to know how she had existed.”
• “That will surely make a fuss if they find out about her, Captain. We can’t do that!” the man blurted, almost a plea to convince him not to do that one.
• “Yes, we can.”
• “No. We can’t, Captain!”
• He moved aside his things before examining the man’s reaction. “You can’t? I am not asking for your permission, neither anyone’s opinion. This is my organization. I am the boss. My set Rules and Regulations are the only ones that can prevail what must be allowed and followed. If you have read the very first page, topmost of the rules—only the boss can have the final decision. I mentioned no other names there. If you would just keep on insisting that I shouldn’t, you are dismissed now.”
• To his surprised, the man turned his back on him and marched out of the room. For the very first time, he showed him dignity to stand up for his beliefs.
• Henry shut his eyes. “Pardon me, but what you’re asking me to do will ruin numerous things. Keeping her here is the best way to prevent that from happening,” he uttered and fixed his eyes on the ceiling, looking beyond what his orbs can see.
• —
• The Captain won’t give him such attention if he doesn’t work for him for something we don’t know.”
• “What are we going to do with him then?”
• “We all know that if he wanted to, Henry can easily wipe us out. But he is not that heartless to abandon someone who’s loyal to him. We can use that traitor as a bait. We will make him tell us everything that we are supposed to know and afterwards, we can use that against Henry.”
• “Who’ll kill that one then?”
• “That is so easy, I will.”
• He was froze as he heard them talking about him and his Captain. From where he’s lying on, he can clearly hear their whispers. He doesn’t know if it is because of the changes happened to him during their stay in the foreign planet, but he has a sharp hearing since then.
• He slowly opened his eyes and tried to see them in the dark. He felt someone’s presence coming near him. But even before he could reach him, he injected himself the lethal weapon. ‘This is better than giving the Captain more reasons to keep believing in betrayal. Head Euvy, I have protected him.’ He smiled bitterly as his tears flow. He gulped when he felt his body started to stiffened. ‘Though I imposed him no harm. I protected him before I could,’ he thought before he drew his last breath, leaving his eyes wide open.