I.
Isaac lay on the medical bed, bored out of his mind. Glancing around the room Isaac noticed Lieutenant Johnson tending to the engineer with the blue medi-vest on. Johnson barely seemed to use his left arm, with it mostly dangling to the side. Realizing this was going to take a while, Isaac idly thought: Play The Simpsons, Season 638, Episode 5. Instead of being delighted with the familiar, centuries old TV show, Isaac felt the sensation of TV static in the back of his head. No connection. Fine, whatever, play music playlist “Fuck round ‘n find out” starting on Freebird. TV static. No connection. Ok, what can I do without a connection? Moments later a question popped into his head: Would you like you like to play a nice game of chess?
“Isaac, you good kid?” Lieutenant Johnson looked down at the seemingly dazed Isaac.
“Huh, oh yeah.” Replied Isaac absent mindedly, “I wath juth loofing for omething thu wash on my PAD. Buth I can conneck.”
“Ah, I remember that discussion. When we were planning this whole mess, we discussed outside communication policy. Now, hold still a second while I use the micro-stitcher.” Johnson remarked, “I suppose we could revisit that point again, now that things are tits up. I see no point in preventing all SATNET access since we’ve been found out.”
Isaac didn’t move until Lieutenant Johnson finished stitching his lips. He opened his mouth to speak up, but Johnson quickly raised his hand and said, “Uh, Uh, not yet kid. Let the stitching set in. Now then, lemme go grab a steroid patch.”
Johnson walked to the back of the infirmary and disappeared into a storage room. Soon after, the shower stopped and the whining sound of the power dryer could be heard.
“Here we go kid.”
Isaac jumped. He had not seen Johnson return.
“Now then. I’ll be putting these under your jaw since I don’t want the adhesive to rip out those stitches. It’ll take a minute or two to clear the swelling, but should be able to talk soon.” Explained Johnson, “In the meantime I’m going to fix up that nose of yours.”
Johnson gently peeled back the gauze Isaac still had on his nose. He then took some swabs, dipped them in a vial with an orange goo. Then, Johnson slowly put the swap up Isaac’s nose while spinning it gently. Isaac was then handed a wad of gauze just in time for the overwhelming itch in his nose to make him sneeze. A gigantic, gooey, deep red clot sprayed into Isaac’s hand. A little more warmth drained from his nose, but quickly after he could breath clearly and freely again.
“Damn kid. You made a mess!” Exclaimed Johnson, who reached for a tool on the nearby tray and began brushing it over the red splotches all over Isaac’s hand and face. The tool felt cold and wet as it passed over the blood, the red stains immediately disappearing as it worked.
“Alright. It looks like the swelling has gone down. I’m pretty sure the stitches have solidified too, but I’ll have you wait here a little longer until Alistair can come get you.” Explained Johnson, “Now then, anything else troubling you?”
“Alistair mentioned you discovered that you were artificially created. What did he mean?” Isaac immediately asked.
“Well, I didn’t figure that’s what would be troubling you. But, yeah kid. I did discover we were artificially created.” Lieutenant Johnson explained, “Thing is that we didn’t really know how we were made. When we are ‘born’ so to speak, we wake up in an infirmary back on Terra. At that point we have the body of a fifteen-year-old kid. We know nothing other than how to eat, breath, walk, speak, and shit. For the first year we basically are taught basic social skills, given a rudimentary education, and indoctrinated with blind obedience to the chain of command. From there we’re split up into our more specialist roles, we meet the other Charlies in training, and develop a real personality.”
“Ok? But that doesn’t explain how you ‘discovered’ anything.” Isaac quipped.
“I’m getting to that. Be patient.” Taking a breath, Johnson continued, “The prevailing theory was that we were clones of existing people. It would make sense after all. Everyone sheds their DNA everywhere they are. It would make the process of coming up with a back story for the Charlies quite easy. Actually, that’s why we call ourselves Charlies. We thought we were clones, so we used the word in the phonetic alphabet for C, Charlie.”
“That still-“
“Hush up now kid. The context is important.” Johnson further explained, “Now, they made us identical to normal Humans. We get bored, tired, cranky, happy, sad, and so on. To alleviate boredom during the long voyages between planets, we take up hobbies. Mine is genetic engineering. Normally I try to make the algae and yeast we eat more palatable. Thankfully I did finally remove the smell not too long ago. I even made a strain that was actually delicious. Lost that one during the battle… But I’m getting off topic. I was analyzing my DNA along with the DNA with several crewmembers, and found that the samples were eerily similar.”
“And?
“And normal human DNA has some variation. About 1 in 1,000 pairs is different between two people. For us Charlies I estimate that number is 1 in 100,000, though I am only working with a sample size of a few thousand Charlies and no humans. Essentially, we’re more genetically similar than we should be. I looked further into it and the only variations between us are ones that dictate physical and behavioral attributes such as sex, coloration, and hormonal receptors. We were made with a template DNA sequence that was modified with a randomized physical appearance, sex, and some markers thought to affect personality.” Johnson excitedly explained.
“Did the randomizer give you autism too?”
“Yes probably. In order to prevent other planetary governments from catching onto the COE’s little experiment, they likely added in normal human health conditions to make us even more superficially normal.” Lieutenant Johnson concluded, “The whole goal of the military when making us is to minimize civil unrest due to massive casualties in war. This allows them to be more aggressive while still appearing to stay within the boundaries of the autonomous weapons ban. They won’t readily give us freedom, and it seems they have no qualms with some collateral damage to keep the secret.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What if you were to break the secret? Tell people about whats going on.” Asked Isaac.
“We considered it. But who’d believe such a crazy story?” Remarked Johnson sourly.
“I do. So do the other hostages.” Replied Isaac.
“You only believe it because you have been directly confronted by the fact. If you received a message telling our story, you’d think this was some prank by someone trying to get a rise out of people.” Johnson responded, “In fact I believe the military does intentionally leak some non-specific info to conspiracy minded people. This way the mere idea is largely dismissed by the general public. I have seen the idea pop up occasionally in some dark corners of social media.”
“Wait, you use social media?” Isaac asked, dumbfounded.
“On a limited basis. First, having a social media presence and being knowledgeable of current events helps maintain the masquerade of being normal humans. Second, common cultural references have been used in wars since time immemorial, so we’re required to be up to date on common cultural references. Lastly, we get bored and stressed to, ya know. Purēsuhorudaterebi Bangumi is the only thing keeping me going right now.” Explained Johnson.
“Then why the fuck are you not all posting this on social media? It’s a bit hard to ignore millions of people saying that they’re enslaved on ships.” Isaac asked exasperatedly.
“We don’t have unrestricted access to SATNET. Our access is routed through a military firewall, which is monitored by an AI that censors leaks, and bans SATNET access to those who try to intentionally leak this sort of stuff. We’re not that dumb you know, we have thought of that too.” Johnson sniped back, “Granted, we are no longer restricted like that and now have full access to SATNET. But we are alone in this freedom among the Charlies. So, we would be a small voice in telling our story.”
“Hmm…” An idea was beginning for form in Isaacs mind.
The power dryer stopped. The ruffling of clothes could be heard, capped off with a zipping sound. Stepping out was a behemoth of a man, he had one arm bound in a blue sleeve, one eye bloodshot, and a massive bruise on the side of his face. As the man stepped out, the engineers started cheering, “SHIT-STORM! SHIT-STORM! SHIT-STORM!”
Taking a bow, the man replied, “Thank you! Thank you! I could not have done it without the help of the engineering team, and their work on stabilizers 3 and 12!”
The engineers began to cheer loudly. Johnson turned to Isaac and said, “Give me a moment…”
As Johnson left, Lieutenant Alistair entered the infirmary. He glanced at the commotion before walking over to Isaac. “Well now. Looks like Mackay will never live that one down. Are you ready to go, Isaac?”
“Yeah. Alistair, mind if I chat with Captain Oswald? I have an idea.” Asked Isaac.
“Depends on the idea. What did you have in mind?” Replied Lieutenant Alistair.
II.
The control room seemed somewhat empty as Isaac and Lieutenant Alistair entered. Only a few stations were manned, the rest were empty. Alistair led Isaac to a room neighboring the conference room from yesterday. Alistair tapped the screen next to the door. After a brief delay the door opened to a small office, the captain sitting behind the desk facing the door.
“Good evening Mr. Novak. Glad to see you all patched up. Now then, what can I help you with?” Asked Captain Oswald disinterestedly.
“Captain, I would like to send a message to my father and tell him what is going on. I would also like SATNET access.” Stated Isaac.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea Isaac, you would be endangering anyone you told. Remember, Admiral Grey is already fine with killing you and the rest of the hostages because you know too much as is. She would not hesitate to kill anyone else in the name of planetary security.” Replied Oswald.
“No no! Hear me out! My dad is the news anchor for The Scope, a cohost for the talk show Eden’s Garden, and is famous and influential enough to be quite safe. He called Minister Tiffany Eulalia a corrupt despot live on air and didn’t get arrested for it, something a less influential person would be arrested or suicided for.” Isaac further explained, “I believe that we can essentially shame the military into letting us go by making this too big of an issue to ignore. Record them admitting to all the horrible shit they willingly do. If that doesn’t work, then start leaking other military secrets to the public. Essentially, informational warfare instead of actual conflict.”
“Hmm, I’ll humor you. But everything must go through Lieutenant Alistair first. Seemingly minor details could end up getting us killed if overlooked. Mind you, Admiral Grey’s careless threats and behavior did allow us to prepare for an incoming attack. Speaking of…” Captain Grey glanced at his PAD and asked, “Helm, time to the descending node?”
Silence.
“Very good. Isaac, Alistair, please come with me.” Commanded the Captain.
III.
“Lieutenant Alistair, man your station.” Commanded Captain Oswald.
“Yes, sir!” Alistair enthusiastically replied.
“Do the telescope, lidar, or radar indicate any military vessels headed this way?” Asked Captain Oswald.
“No, sir. They would certainly have their umbrellas up if they were though.”
“I am aware, this is for Isaac’s benefit. You want military secrets to leak Isaac? Here is the first one. We’re able to conceal our position with a deployable ‘umbrella’ that makes the bow of the ship look like empty space. Its painted with carbon nano-tube paint to confound optics, supercooled to confound IR telescopes, and the material is RF absorbent to prevent radars from working.” The Captain explained, “It doesn’t work for us now since Luna is acting as a backdrop to contrast against our umbrella, and it only really covers the bow. So an observation satellite would see you from the side and render the umbrella useless. In this case however, it may be obscuring the incoming ships. Alistair, start sending the message you prepared over optical link. Start with the 27-degree inclination approaches and work you way up from there. I’m guessing they’re headed here on an ascending 50-degree approach.”
“I’m betting 76-degrees descending, sir.” Commented Alistair with a grin.
“Communications, prepare to send the message.”
“Yes, sir! Sending the message following the 27-degree approaches.”
Silence.
“No response, sir. Following the 50-degree approach, sir”
Silence.
“No response, sir. Following the 76-degree approach, sir.”
Silence.
“No re-“ Alistair started, “Hold on! I have an acknowledge! They’re on the 76-degree ascending approach, sir.”
“Well now, looks like you mostly called it Lieutenant! Check the telescopes again.” Exclaimed Captain Oswald.
“I’m not seein-… Hold up, theres a sliver of something there. Looks like there are three ships beginning to maneuver to avoid the Kessler cannon debris. That should buy us plenty of time to escape Terra’s gravity well.”
“Outstanding. I doubt they fired their Kessler cannon yet, non-the-less we should assume they did and plot a maneuver avoiding the possible-“
“Captain! Look at the telescope!” Cried out Alistair.
Isaac looked at the screen Lieutenant Alistair was intently studying. The screen was entirely white for a few moments before the light disappeared. What appeared was the broken form of three ships, the space around them seemed to glisten from the cloud of fragments. Captain Oswald and Lieutenant Alistair were frozen in shocked horror.
“Helmsmen, get us out of the way of the debris... Now!”