Tamara: Doing some tracking

It was Tamara’s turn to do the shopping for the evening meal. The Girls in Pink dealt with breakfasts and lunches on an individual basis, but it had been decided to have a communal meal every evening. That is, it had mainly been decided by Francesca, but the others had no pressing objection. Right now Tamara was in a supermarket, somewhere below ground, looking through a long row of chest freezers, trying to decide on what meat to buy.

Oh, should it be pork, or beef, of chicken, hmm, alligator is on special for once, OK, let's try it.

None of that meat was from a real live, well dead, animal. It was all manufactured in biochemical vats and cunningly constructed to look like the real thing. There was real meat on sale; it was displayed behind high strength burglar-proof glass and you had to make an appointment to see it. And if you needed to ask the price, then it was almost certainly far too expensive for you to buy.

She waved her wristband over the top of the freezer, there was a click and the clear glass door opened. Tamara reached in and choose a packet, took it out and closed the door. There was a faint beep and her wristband informed her that some money had been deducted from the Girl's communal account.

She walked out of the store into the underground mall, carrying two bags of shopping.

Beep. Her wristband made another, different, beeping sound. The one she had set it up to make at regular intervals throughout the day.

Right, time to check up on Shane's location.

Hello, he's only a hundred metres away... Should I go and actually have a look? Why not, he doesn't know me.

If I remember right, there's a small enclosed park and children's play ground at roughly the same location, so presumably he's there?

The underground mall was built as a complicated three-dimensional maze. But she knew her way around it. She took the first hall to the left, went up the escalators, turned right by the waterfall, took a passage between a large shoe shop and a thriving food hall, and there she was.

It might seem that many people could get lost in such a maze, but no. Anybody, at any time, could always consult their wristbands for directions on getting to anywhere from anywhere, so there was never any problems.

Consulting her in-built tracking sense, she realised that he was walking towards the play area from a different path. The area was just an expanse of grass, with swings and climbing bars in the middle, and trees and shrubs around the perimeter. The ceiling was five metres above, and was covered in sufficient lights to allow the grass and trees to grow.

There were two teenage girls sitting at a table to one side, so she sat at a table on the other side. She placed her shopping on the table, and pretended to be engrossed in reading something from her wristband.

Those two girls sitting there - they would be about the same age as my sister would have been. If she had lived.

She had to make a conscious effort not to clench her fists.

I hope my father drinks himself to death. Chokes on his own vomit as he lies in a room with no one to help him. All by himself. God, I wish I had could have done the same as Devina did. I wouldn't regret it one moment. Although I suppose it is too late to just go back to deal with him now.

And Shane is supposed to be killing teenage girls? Is Maggie for real? If she is, then what sort of horrible monster does that make Shane...?

Ah, he's just walked into sight.

Tamara expected him to walk straight across the grass and out the side that she had came in. Accordingly, she made sure her face was blank, and pretended to be just looking up from texting a message to someone. Only, Shane stopped, turned towards the two girls, and walked over to them.

Huh? What's he doing talking to two teenage girls - shit, are they his targets?

She was paying attention to them, so their patterns were engraved into her tracking memory.

I can't hear what he is saying.

There appeared to be a brief exchange, then Shane turned and continued walking. He passed by her without giving her a glance, and disappeared into the mall. The two girls remained sitting, without talking to each other and without moving much.

I will not get upset. Will not get upset. Remember, there is no proof, as yet, that he has any intentions at all towards those girls.

But she could not keep out of her mind all that Maggie had said.

She made a call to Francesca.

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 Francesca: Checking out the two girls

In the first instance, Francesca decided to have a look at the two girls, maybe even have a little conversation with them.

"After all, maybe he just happens to know these girls from somewhere, and all he was doing was saying hi to them?"

Tamara couldn't find any objects to that hypothetical at all.

"OK, don't eat my cake while I'm gone!"

She got up from the sidewalk table the three girls were currently sitting at, walked through the mall for a hundred yards, and ended up in the playground area. She had already made preparations - she was carrying a dog's leash.

Maybe I should have scuffed the leash a bit, so as to make it not look so obviously new?

Nyah, don't worry about it.

A couple of young men walked by. Noticing her nice figure, they took a brief glance at her, only to give a visible start. They hurriedly looked away and continued on pass.

Well, at least I don't have to worry if they are pretending to like me but all the while only being interested in my body - one look at my face and they run away. At least I know what they are truly thinking.

She gripped the leash, her knuckles turning white.

Relax, relax.

Hmm, I wonder if this dog collar would fit one of those men - Oh, I don't know, it's probably far too much bother to house train them. If I'm desperate for company I could just get a real dog. Then I would always have someone to go for a walk with.

Best if I ignore any more men walking past.

Fortunately, there weren't any more men. The playground was temporarily deserted, just two girls sitting at a table to one side. Francesca made a show of looking around frantically for her missing dog, and called out its name of few times.

"Spot! Spot!"

This is embarrassing, why did I have to pick such a stupid name?

But no Spot appeared. So she walked over to the girls.

Big smile, remember I don't want them to be frightened by my scary monster face.

"Hi there! Have you seen a medium sized dog, black with a white spot on its back?"

The girls were sitting on a bench seat, twenty centimetres separation. They were both still, hands folded in their laps, looking ahead, and neutral expressions on their faces. They both turned and looked at Francesca, and one said:

"I have not seen a dog."

Her voice was perfectly even and emotionless. They kept looking at her, but did not say anything further.

Well, at least they're not recoiling from my face.

But, they do seem slightly weird.

"Oh, right. Ah, well can you keep a look out for him? He should be around somewhere close by."

The other girl thought this over, then said:

"We can only look out for your dog for the next fifty minutes."

Aren't you going to ask for my telephone number, in case you do see him?

Apparently not.

"Well, I would like to thank you for that. Say, are you meeting anyone after fifty minutes?"

"Yes." said the first girl.

These are certainly girls of few words.

"Who are you meeting?"

I might as well try a direct question.

"Shane the Shield." said the second girl.

Francesca felt a cold feeling creeping across her body.

Ha, Ha, Maybe Maggie isn't kidding us after all. What is it with these girls?

"Have you a date with him?"

Am I implying that both of them are dating the same guy simultaneously?

"No" said one girl.

And they didn't regard that question as strange or insulting?

"Then what the hell are you doing?"

The two girls appeared to think this question over, and then they - said nothing.

These two airheads are seriously getting on my nerves.

"I know, perhaps you would like to come back here after your meeting and look for my dog again?"

No sane person would do that for a scary looking stranger like me. Surely, they would object...

"I'm sorry; we will not be in a position to come back here afterwards."

This is getting real creepy.

"Ah, fine, thanks, see you."

Francesca wanted to run away, but she made herself stroll back the way she came. Just for verisimilitude, she called out 'Spot' a few times, before she disappeared out of the play ground area.

She jogged back to where the other two girls were.

"Right, we got forty five minutes to get everyone assembled at where ever Shane is meeting with those girls. Tamara, keep tracking them, and where is Shane right now?

"I looked up his address, and right now he appears to be approximately at that location, give or take ten metres. He's about one and a half kilometres away."

Francesca reached into her large handbag, and brought out a tablet screen. She tapped its surface a few times, and produced a map of their current location.

"You say Shane is here, and the girls are here. And it is now time to ring Teylon, and earn our pay. After all, we want to be honest and give good value in our business dealings, don't we?"

----------------------------------------

Sarsaparilla: Has a visitation

Sarsaparilla and Adalace had received the news and were making their way to the meeting point, that sidewalk table where the Girls in Pink were having cake and coffee.

Now that we are doing something, I'm getting scared. What if this all fails? Or, what if they, whoever they are, decide to try kidnapping me again?

"Hey, Adalace, did you know that Teylon tried to talk me out of going? He said something about being with you at the watch centre, where you could use your system to access the security cameras and keep everybody informed about what was going on."

"Humph. I know, he contacted me also. Since when did he become our protector?"

"Well..." said Sarsaparilla.

"Never mind. Our relationship with him is just a bit - weird - isn't it? Besides which, the authorities are not crazy, they have only granted me access to some security cameras. Basically, I can look at anything that is out in the open in the dome itself. I can't look inside buildings, I can't even look inside public malls and the like. Anyway, I'm not missing this. I want to nail that sleazy bastard and stop him killing innocent girls!"

"Adalace, you're hurting my hand..."

"Oh."

Adalace relaxed her grip and let go. Sarsaparilla was able to shake her hand around. She felt it with her other hand.

"Doesn't appear to be any bones broken."

"Sorry."

Now is not the time to worry about her dark past, so let's just let that slide.

"You're not getting nervous, are you?" asked Adalace.

"Of course not! After all, we have a lot of fire power on our side, not to mention Teylon's angel."

Adalace reclaimed Sarsaparilla's hand, much more gently this time.

"Good, good. Neither am I."

Were both lying through our teeth, and we both know it.

A faint giggle from Sarsaparilla. Adalace looked at her and raised her eyebrows slightly, then smiled slightly herself.

"The real problem is, will we be able to convince Shane that he should stop?" said Adalace.

"Well, we have done our research on the impossibility of cloning a human in only a month or so."

"But, in the heat of the moment, will we have time to discuss this with him?"

Sigh. "We shall try to do our best and talk some sense into him." said Sarsaparilla, "Maybe I will get some divine inspiration."

They were now at the sidewalk table with the others. Teylon and Francesca were standing and facing each other, Teylon's teenagers were all on one side behind Teylon, and the other two Girls in Pink were on the other side, with Francesca. Both Teylon and Francesca looked completely at ease and were looking at the map on her tablet, with occasional updates from Tamara. Everybody else was looking uncomfortable, they were not quite glaring at each other, but it was close.

Nobody looking at this little gathering could ever guess that there may be some slight tension between the two groups...

"So, Shane has started to move. And so have the two girls. Let's see..." said Teylon.

"Shane is moving approximately in this straight line, while the two girls are going in that line, ah, everybody appears to be walking leisurely along public thoroughfares. So, project the lines out, and presumably where the lines meet is where Shane and the girls will meet." said Francesca.

"We had better start moving ourselves." said Teylon.

They jogged as they made their way to the presumed meeting point. Fortunately, Shane and the two girls were walking unhurriedly, but since their destination was not obvious, several times Francesca had to get the group to back track and take a different route. Nine people all jogging together drew a slight amount of interest from the public, but not much. Just a bunch of people getting in their exercise quota and deciding to do it as a group. Nothing all that much out of the ordinary.

Ten minutes before the deadline, Francesca pointed to the map being displayed on her tablet.

"There, this must be their target. It's some factory or other, which is marked as currently unoccupied. If we make a dash, we can get there first and then try to work out what to do."

Five minutes later, they were there. It did not look much, another long corridor, a couple stories below the surface. On one side were a number of entrances to factories that appeared to make various foodstuffs.

"Fresh Alligator Chops! So real looking even the alligators themselves are fooled!" read one of the signs next to one of these entrances.

"Ah, does even that make sense?" said Teylon.

Everybody else ignored him. On the other side of the corridor was only one entrance, and in contrast to the others, it was dark, the door was locked and there was a piece of actual paper stuck to the door.

"Closed until further notice."

But it still had a big gaudy sign on the wall next to the entrance.

"The future is here! Star Ship One will explore the universe! We will make it possible!"

"Huh?" said Teylon.

"Didn't you know? They were trying to build and launch a manned ship to explore one of the nearest stars. This company got together a lot of investor's money, and started the thing off. Sadly, they ran out of money, something about getting unexpected difficulties in protecting the ship against interstellar radiation. The founders went broke and were declared bankrupt, and I think someone else must have taken over the enterprise." said Francesca.

"Oh, right. But, more to the point, what exactly are we going to do?" said Teylon.

"Easy. We don't have any time for any finesse. On the assumption that they will use the main entrance, we will go around the corner, and I will burn a hole through the wall."

"Breaking and Entering?" said Erasyl.

"This is no time to be shy." said Francesca, as she led the group away from the front.

This corridor was smaller, just two metres wide and used to connect two major corridors. Of course, like all other public places, it had its security cameras.

Why are the authorities just letting this happen? I mean, they must be aware of us, right?

Sarsaparilla held Adalace's hand and they all stood back from Francesca.

"Actually, if you move three metres to your right..." said Maggie.

Francesca raised her good eyebrow.

"I can detect the reinforcing steel in the concrete. And right there appears to be an empty room."

"Hey, teenager, you're handy to have around!"

Francesca nodded to Devina. Who stepped within three metres of the wall. A roughly door shaped piece of it promptly crumbled into very coarse grains of concrete, which fell to the floor. Her boots crunching on the concrete grains, Francesca walked up closer. There was a grid of rebar exposed - and behind them was a blank wall of construction strength plastic sheeting.

"Oh well, so much for the easy option." said Francesca.

She in turn moved up and with a casual gesture with her hand made a glowing pink sphere about ten centimetres in front of her. It moved forward, melted its way through the rebar and the construction sheeting, and then winked out. In rapid succession, she made more. Soon there was a ragged hole, its edges hot and smoking, with bits of glowing red hot reinforcing rod around its perimeter.

"The left over heat is going to be a problem, but." she said.

"I don't know about that!" said Adalace.

Who in her turn casually stepped forward, to within three metres of the hole. The glowing red heat from the steel abruptly went out.

"I can only cool down the steel, but the concrete and plastic should be cool enough anyway."

Francesca touched one of the bits of steel.

"Very cold to touch. Well, this is indeed handy."

They all carefully stepped though, doing their best not to snag themselves on the melted off lengths of steel, nor to touch the concrete that was still hot in places. Teylon walked across the room and opened the door on the other side. This showed nothing more than darkness. Francesca helped out here by creating another one of her pink fireballs, a small slow moving one. It leisurely drifted out into the void, casting pinkish light onto the scene.

"It looks big. And it's got a lot of junk in it." said Leroy.

"Shane is only a hundred metres from the front door. And the two girls are not much further out." said Tamara.

"We had better hurry up and think up some plan." said Teylon.

"Let's assume that he turns on the lights when he enters. So we merely walk out and greet him. Teylon can do the talking, since he's really good at it. And, how about Erasyl stands around, looking totally harmless, until he gets close enough to zap Shane's ability. Leroy flies around and pretends that he is menacing. Adalace picks up a few pieces of scrap metal, and is ready to use them as red-hot weapons if needed. Maggie, me, and Teylon go together and walk up to Shane. Everybody else just stands around in whatever haphazard formation you want, and just like Erasyl you pretend to be harmless also."

"That doesn't sound like a particularly complicated plan to me." said Sarsaparilla.

Francesca flicked her hand in a dismissive action.

"Complicated plans never work. Something simple, and we improvise on the spot, is best."

"Shane has met with the girls and is now at the front entrance." said Tamara.

The door opened with a clatter, spilling some light from the public corridor into the room. Shane fumbled around and found the main light switch on the sidewall.

Click.

The light revealed a cavernous interior, maybe fifty metres square, six metres high, and filled with junk. It looked like it might have once been filled with a mixture of mezzanine floors and offices, plus lots of machinery on the main floor. But all of that was now gone, leaving behind empty frames, broken furniture, second stories with broken and sagging floors, and lots of rubbish. At one stage vandals must have broken in, and added their own havoc to the remains.

Not all of the lights still worked, so there were deep shadows, which in combination with the abandoned rubbish and fixtures, made the place hard to take in at a glance.

Shane closed the door, then walked towards the middle of all of this, stepping over or around various bits of stuff in his path. Behind him, in silent formation, came the two girls. Because of the lighting and the mess and his concentration on avoiding tripping over something, he didn't see Teylon and co until they were about ten metres away from him.

"Hello Shane! My name is Teylon, and you've already met Maggie. We don't want to take too much of your time, but we would like to talk a few things over, if you don't mind?"

He sounds just like I imagine a friendly uncle would sound, greeting his young nephew at a party. Meanwhile, I'm having extreme trouble controlling my feelings. And Adalace is beginning to crush my hand again.

Sarsaparilla wiggled her hand just enough to let Adalace get the message. The vice like grip subsided.

And Shane looked up in surprise.

"What the hell? Oh, it's that girl again." Sigh, "Are you trying to talk me out of killing these clones, again? And, why so many of you?"

He sounded aggrieved. And exasperated. And annoyed.

He glanced at the three girls to one side. Everybody kept right on casually moving towards Shane.

"My, you lot are certainly hating at me to the max, aren't you? What did I do to earn those glares?"

You're freaking killing girls, you creep!

Sarsaparilla tensed up and could feel Adalace tensing up as well. Francesca was also winding up and was going to say something, but Teylon touched her shoulder. She decided to shut up and let him do the talking.

"Well, they don't believe that these two girls are clones, either. And we have all gathered some proof, so if you could just relax a little and listen to our explanation?"

"Look, I don't have the time for this! And, anyway, your so-called proof is pointless. The people in charge of producing clones do not want to publish the fact for the time being. Something about the easy production of clones would be too detrimental to current society. So something."

Maggie could not control herself any longer.

"No, they haven't published because clones don't exist!"

"They do so! And don't get any closer!"

Teylon and Francesca, the closest to Shane, bumped into an invisible shield.

"Ouch!" said Francesca, rubbing her nose. "That hurt!"

"Serves you right!"

So they all came to a halt. By now, Shane had seen Leroy; slowing drifting in mid air, half way round the room.

"And you! Stop trying to sneak up to me!"

Leroy decided that he had better drop down to ground level and be still.

"Look! I know that these two girls look totally human, but they are clones. I have been to the factory! I was shown around by someone who was obviously a top grade scientist! He actually showed me the decanting of a newly hatched clone from his incubator. It was very impressive I can tell you. The clones start out as fully formed older teenagers, but they have almost non-existent minds. They used special brain probes and helmets to program each clone with the minimal needed to get around in society, plus they program each with some trade or profession. It was really very impressive."

Teylon looked as if he could not think of anything to say to this speech.

Just like me, he thinks that Shane is one gullible fool. Some group of actors put on an show and impressed him no end. He really is an ignorant stupid twit, isn't he?

Shane's shield was still up, with him and the two girls in the middle. The girls just stood there, waiting patiently. Everybody else had, without making it too noticeable, spread out around the perimeter of the shield, in a half semicircle in front of Shane. Erasyl had made sure that he was on one extreme end. In fact, when Leroy had walked up and pushed himself between Erasyl and the next person along, who was Devina, Erasyl had to move around a bit more. Until he was almost out of Shane's sight.

Sadly, he was too far out from Shane to work his ability. And, not only was Maggie also too far out to blind Shane, but Shane's shield was blocking all electromagnetic fields, anyway. Francesca, almost on the opposite side from Devina, was steaming up.

"So, why the bloody hell are they going to all of this trouble, anyway?" she said.

At the same time, she conjured into being a few small fireballs. They travelled forward, bounced off the invisible shield in front of her, and dissipated.

"Because they need my shield to protect the Star Ship, of course!" he said.

He looked pleased with what he had said.

"Huh?"

"Didn't you read the sign outside? Star Ship One is going to go to Tau Ceti, 11.8 light years away. And, not only will I be providing the shield, I will be captain!"

He positively beamed with pride at this statement. He also walked backward a few steps, to put some distance between himself and Francesca's fireballs. He automatically adjusted his shield so it stayed in the same place. Which meant he was getting closer to Erasyl and Devina.

"Captain? You will actually be the captain of humanity's first star ship?" said Teylon, "That is indeed an honour, ah, but this still doesn't explain the need to kill the clones."

"The boss scientist explained it all, even if some of it went over my head. It's because of how the abilities work. They have some sort of machine that implants ESP abilities, and somehow, if I fight with a clone who has also received an implant, then our two abilities interact in such a way that, when the clone dies, some of their ability is transferred to mine. In other words, I get more powerful. And I need to get powerful, since the star ship will be travelling at relativistic speeds and the incoming cosmic rays will become extremely strong. Strong enough to fry everybody on board unless a very powerful shield is used."

By now, Francesca was fuming.

"That sounds like a lot of crap! You might be crazy enough to go on a one way death trip to the stars, but nobody else would!"

Francesca also kept on generating fireballs, which kept on bouncing off the shield and dissipating.

"That's why they are using clones, you crazy woman! About forty, ten males and thirty females."

Shane took another step backward, adjusting his shield automatically in the process.

"Oh. Right. Thirty obedient female clones. I bet you're dreaming of your virginal clone harem, all to yourself!"

By now, she was snarling. Shane's face went a patchy red colour.

"They are clones! Clones! They don't have any inner desires or preferences. It was all explained to me. And anyway, I don't have to listen to your insults!"

Started to take another step back, then realised he was too close to the people behind, so he reversed direction and started to replace his foot back to where it came from.

But at that point was only seven metres from Devina.

The concrete slab under his feet turned into talcum powder as Devina gave it all the power she could muster.

He staggered as his feet sank down. The concrete was powderized, but the steel embedding bars still remained. Shane tripped over the bars and fell backward, his head towards Devina. And Erasyl. At the same time his automatic reflexes, which had been keeping his shield stationary with respect to the room, kept right on operating.

"Argh! Shit!"

Shane scrambled to his knees, just as some more concrete under his feet crumbled into powder. He frantically scrambled away from the widening hole. Straight towards Erasyl. Shane looked up, realised he was too close, and was about to do something when:

Erasyl's ability detected Shane's ability as it came within range.

Click.

Shane's shield vanished. Shane looked at Erasyl with shock.

"Crap, you're Erasyl the Eraser, aren't you?"

By now, it was a moot question. Erasyl had jumped ahead, along with Devina and Leroy, and they all piled on top of Shane. There was a short period of screaming and shouting, then a longer period of relative calmness. Meanwhile, the two girls just kept on standing there, watching and waiting with unceasing patience.

Teylon, mindful of the fact that he was not as athletic as a bunch of teenagers and young people, kept his distance.

Shane ended up perched on the edge of the hole in the concrete floor. Since only the concrete had been pulverised, the jagged gap in the floor was still filled with crisscrossing steel rods. Below it was a metre deep void, with the occasional pipe or cable going through it, plus a whole heap of very fine concrete dust, and below that another concrete slab. He couldn't move from his position, mainly because Adalace had spot welded some hastily contrived manacles around his feet and attached them to the reinforcing steel.

His mood could not be described as sunny.

"The people running the cloning programme are going to be furious about this!"

"Yeah, sure, right. But, in the meanwhile, would you like to listen to us explain, once again, why these girls are not clones?" said Francesca.

She had nonchalantly sat down next to the ragged hole, a metre away from Shane. Her slacks and top were covered in fine concrete powder, which she ignored. In fact, everyone was covered in fine gray powder. Teylon stood back a bit on the other side, still keeping his distance. Erasyl stood right behind Shane, while Leroy hovered in mid air in front of him. Adalace had found a length of iron pipe and was holding it at one end; the other end was glowing yellow from its heat. Sarsaparilla stuck to her side, the opposite side from Shane. And Maggie, Devina and Tamara stood in a row. If their glares could kill, Shane would have been a goner long ago. The two girls kept on waiting.

Francesca got in the first words.

"Tell me, if these girls are clones, then why aren't they identical?"

Some sputtering from Shane, but at last he decided he might as well keep talking.

"Because they take the DNA from different donors, of course. Everybody has different innate talents and ESP abilities, so naturally they don't want all clones to be the same! And besides which, two of the girls were identical."

A period of silence as his audience reflected on this.

So two twin sisters, brought up by their loving parents, or maybe some orphanage, spent their last moments together being killed by him.

Oh my God.

"Look, I'll ask them! Hey, girls, are you clones?"

The one closest to Shane nodded her head. "Yes, I am a clone, number 52, activated thirteen days ago."

The other one also spoke. "I am also a clone, number 54, activated ten days ago."

"See!" said Shane, "They know they are clones."

Lacking any words for the moment, Francesca was silent. Allowing Teylon to add his own comments.

"Say, how many, err, clones have you fought?"

"Five. These two will be the last two girls, because according to the ESP testing, my shielding after these two will be powerful enough for the job."

"Girls? They were all girls?" said Maggie.

"Yeah. The boss scientist explained to me that, because men only have one X chromosome, male clones are more fragile, and more of them fail to come to full term. Of something like that. So they had an excess of female clones, so that's why I ended up with just females."

Since clones don't exist, then that's a fake answer. So... So they were deliberately setting him up to kill females?

Somewhere in the back of Sarsaparilla's mind, some unpleasant suspicions were being generated.

I bet Shane is strictly heterosexual.

Francesca managed to think up a question. "If sending normal humans is so problematical, why don't they have a clone captain also?"

Another big sigh from Shane.

"Because clones don't normally have very high ESP abilities. Because of their extremely short lifetime, they don't have enough time to develop them. And also, clones are not very good at general purpose problem solving. They can be excellent at technical skills, but fall flat on their faces if confronted with anything outside of their specialties. So that's why they need me! I might not be too good at the analytical technical stuff, but I can think on my feet. I can solve the grand strategy problems, and let them do the fine detail. And, also, I'm willing to make the trip!"

He was getting back his pride in his future, even if he was chained to a hole in the concrete floor and covered in gray dust.

"Oh, bloody hell, what does it take to get through his thick skull!" said Maggie.

"I am not dumb! Just because I haven't been to normal high school does not mean I'm uneducated! It's just that I have spent my time learning about how to captain a star ship. There's a lot to learn and my instructors keep me at it every day of the week, so I don't have time for all of that fancy stuff you school kids get!"

Adalace put her head in her hands, letting go of Sarsaparilla's in the process.

I agree, dear. He's as thick as two short planks. They led him by the nose, and, and, well could the part about the star ship be actually true? After all, shields as strong as Shane's are rare, while Espers who can push a space ship along are relatively common. And, given a multiyear journey, you don't need an all that particularly powerful esper to push it along.

Everybody seemed to run out of ideas. Sarsaparilla, no longer able to look at the wretched face of Shane, glanced up and for the first time had a good look at the two girls. One girl was almost as tall as Adalace, with reddish straight hair. The other was just a little taller than Sarsaparilla, with brownish curly hair and light brown skin...

Strange, she looks... familiar? But who does she remind me off... Who...

Sarsaparilla stared. Her eyes went wide. She took a few steps, around the hole and closer to the girls. She pointed her hand at the second girl.

"This girl. This girl. She's, she's"

Her voice was rising with each word, and the last word she practically screamed.

"Kaydence!"

The girl looked back blankly at this, but did not say anything. Did not react in anyway. Did not show any sign of recognition.

"Yes! You are! You're Kaydence. You look older, you look worn out, but you're my friend Kaydence!"

Sarsaparilla was still screaming. The girl looked even blanker than before.

"Sorry, I am a clone, number 54. I was activated ten days..."

"Stop that! They must have brainwashed you or something. Wiped your memories. Please, you must remember me. Four years ago at the orphanage! You were taken away and never got in contact with me again!"

"Sorry, but I am a clone, num..."

"Stop saying that!"

The girl obediently stopped speaking. Allowing Shane to get in his words.

"Look, girl, obviously your long lost friend must be the donor for this clone's DNA. After all, it has to come from somewhere. And I do understand how you can be so upset, to see someone who looks exactly like your friend being killed. But she is a clone, not your friend! Understand? Oh, geez, can't the rest of you take her and go away?"

Sarsaparilla, who was standing directly in front of the girl, couldn't take it anymore and reached out and hugged the girl. Who remained standing exactly where she had been, arms limply hanging down, not reacting to the hug in any way.

"Kaydence! Don't you understand, you're not a clone!"

"Sorry, but I am..."

"No!"

There was silence.

"Say, Teylon, can't you just go and Judge Shane with extreme prejudice and be done with it?" said Adalace.

"Ah, no, it appears that Esmeralda doesn't want it."

"Shit." said Adalace.

Damn!

"Who's Esmeralda?" said Shane.

"Never mind." said Teylon.

"Never the less, we are not going to allow you to kill these two girls." said Francesca.

Her facial expression, the half that was animated, indicated that she could definitely grant an exemption and allow the killing of Shane.

"Fine, fine! Then I shall carry out the agreed programme tomorrow night, after you interfering lot have been told off by the ones in charge of the cloning programme!"

Sarsaparilla pressed Kaydence's body against her. She could feel the girl's breathing, measured breaths without any sign of agitation. Unlike hers.

She's going to be taken away from me. Again. And then killed by that horrible psychopathic monster!

"Teylon, we're going to take these two girls with us. They can live at your place for a while!"

"Ah, OK."

"No you can't! The police will just take them back, you stupid girl!" said Shane.

Shit! Shit! What can I do? For the love of God someone save Kaydence! And the other girl!

At this point, everyone, including Teylon, who had been very intently following Sarsaparilla's every move - seemed to get distracted. They just stared of into empty space and no longer seemed to be interested in anything.

Huh? What's happening. Oh...

She had just seen another person. Standing to the side of her and Kaydence. Middle age, slim, wearing an elegant business dress, the sort that a funeral attendant would wear. Hands clasped before her, looking at her with just the faintest touch of a smile on her face. And, in spite of the concrete dust that was absolutely everywhere and on everybody, there was not single speck of dust on her.

"Urk, ah, h-hello, ah"

The lady smiled kindly. "Hello my dear. It's nice to meet you in person."

"You're - you're - Esmeralda, aren't you?"

"That's right. I'm the one that's been pushing Teylon around, and, quite against his will, making him face up to what sort of person he was. And hopefully making him a better person in future. I thoroughly enjoyed helping you and Adalace make him acknowledge how deplorable his actions towards Emilia were."

"Ah, yes, ah, does this mean I'm dead..."

"No, you are still very much alive, and will no doubt live on for quite some time. For reasons which I won't be divulging, I have decided to extend to you the same sort of powers that Teylon has been granted."

"Ah - what?"

"In particular, you will be able to save Kaydence. It will be hard, but you will have help from your friends."

"Oh, right."

Sarsaparilla blinked her eyes a few times. Esmeralda handed her a clean handkerchief which hadn't been in her hands a moment before, and Sarsaparilla patted her eyes with it.

"In the first instance, you will only be receiving soul readings. Eventually I may grant you the power to Judge, but not straight away."

"And, note this!"

Esmeralda's expression became severe.

"Since Teylon has, after all, died, I am free to give him lots of little Judgemental prods. To guide him along his way, even if he doesn't want it. However, for you, I won't be doing that. You still have your free will. It is up to you to use my powers as you see fit. I won't allow any evil to occur from their usage, but it is up to you to choose to do good with them. And, a warning. You, and Adalace also, have the potential to fall to the dark side. To lose your way and do evil in your turn. So, it is up to you to choose wisely, and to help Adalace to choose wisely."

"Err, y - yes?"

She went back to smiling nicely. "But don't stress it too much; it's not all that hard to stay on the correct path. So start saving Kaydence now! I shall give you a bit of initial help."

Esmeralda reached forward and lightly touched Kaydence's forehead with the tip of her index finger. There was a soft spark between the two of them.

Kaydence blinked. Sarsaparilla took notice, and by the time she looked back, Esmeralda was gone. And everyone else started paying attention to her.

Adalace looked puzzled. "Where did that hanky come from?"

"Never mind" said Sarsaparilla.

She loosened her hold on Kaydence and stepped back slightly, with her arms still around her.

Sarsaparilla’s Soul Reading of: Kaydence

A vivid image of the day that Kaydence was taken away. Kaydence was looking back at the orphanage, when Sarsaparilla had run out, holding their stuffed toy, and thrust it into her face.

"Here, take him! He'll look after you!" said Sarsaparilla.

Kaydence clutched him tightly.

Sarsaparilla:

Oh, wow, this is awesome!

"Hey, Kaydence, do you remember Carrot Monster? You know, our orange teddy bear. Well, I think he was supposed to be a teddy bear, although by the time we got him he was pretty well worn out."

"I am a clone, so..." said Kaydence, then she stopped and looked puzzled.

"Orange? Teddy? Bear?"

For the first time, her face showed some expression. Puzzlement and a vague hint of pain and worry.

Sarsaparilla’s Soul Reading of: Kaydence

Kaydence and Sarsaparilla were both shouting at a boy, younger than they were but bigger, who had just ripped an arm off Carrot Monster.

A little while later, they watched one of the helpers at the orphanage sew it back on.

"There you are, girls, he's all fixed now."

Sarsaparilla:

"And, do you remember when that stupid brat Ladkin tore up Carrot Monster? And the nice lady who did the laundry sewing him back together again?"

For the first time since they had seen her, Kaydence was showing some agitation. She moved her hands around and touched her head.

"I - I think I remember... I don't understand. I, I mean I'm a clone - aren't I?"

Everybody else was silent and still as stone statues. Even Shane.

Sarsaparilla’s Soul Reading of: Kaydence

Kaydence had just turned fourteen. After a birthday cake (small) for all of the young teenagers in the orphanage's dining room, Sarsaparilla gave her a red scarf.

"I saved up my pocket money and brought it from the local thrift shop!"

Two years later, a year after she had been taken away from the orphanage and taken away from Sarsaparilla.

Kaydence was still wearing the scarf, although by now it was worn and tatty. She was sitting on the side of her bunk in the dormitory, which she shared with ten other girls. The guards, the adults who looked after them, had already rapidly confiscated Carrot Monster, but when they had also tried to take the scarf way from her, she had resisted so fiercely that they had decided to let her be. Right now, one of the adults, who appeared to be some sort of boss, was standing in front of her.

"Your latest report card isn't very good. And you totally failed mathematics."

"I tried! But this place is so miserable!"

Kaydence was deathly afraid. The new girls in her dormitory came without notice, and older girls disappeared without warning.

"I'll get better marks next time, I promise!"

"Hmm. OK. Here, drink this soft drink."

The man was holding a can, its tab had already been ripped off. He gave it to her.

"Oh, thanks."

Not quite knowing why he would be so generous, she took a few mouthfuls. It was strawberry flavoured, her favourite, and tasted tangy, with the little bubbles tickling her tongue. And then things began to go strange. She started to tip over, and fell flat on her back on her bed. The man deftly caught the can before it spilt. The last thing she was aware of was someone removing the scarf.

"You won't be needing this filthy rag any more."

Sarsaparilla:

I hate that man, whoever he is!

"Kaydence! Remember that red scarf I gave you for your fourteenth birthday?"

Kaydence moved her hands to her neck.

"My red scarf. Red scarf. I remember, I wore it all the time. How can I remember that?"

She was now swaying on her feet.

"They tried to take it away from me, but I fought them off. And then, and then, that man gave me a drink and I, I must have passed out. And they took the scarf away. I couldn't stop them. It was given to me by my friend, who was, was, her name was... Sarsaparilla. Sarsaparilla, Sarsaparilla..."

It was now Kaydence's turn to take a good look at Sarsaparilla for the first time.

"You're Sarsaparilla?"

"Yes!"

"I don't understand what's going on..."

Sarsaparilla hugged her and now Kaydence responded in kind.

Five emotionally draining minutes later, Sarsaparilla and Kaydence started taking notice of the others again. The others were still silently and intently observing. And Shane looked shocked.

"These are my friends, ah, plus the Girls in Pink who are, well, helping us."

"Pleased to meet you, Kaydence." said Francesca, with a bright and cheery wave.

Teylon was going to add something, when Kaydence saw Shane.

"That's Shane! I'm supposed to let him kill me!"

She collapsed to her knees, still hugging Sarsaparilla, and started whimpering and crying.

"Please don't let him kill me! Please!"

Sarsaparilla knelt down and patted her back.

"We won't! We'll look after you!"

And Leroy, up to now a passive observer, must have finally had his hero complex triggered. Like, real bad.

He stepped up, knelt down on one side to Kaydence, and put his arms around both girls.

"That's right. We will definitely protect you. We, all of us, will not allow Shane to get anywhere near you. Please feel safe with us."

She looked at his face, right up close to hers. Also looked at Sarsaparilla’s. She must have decided she was safe enough, as she settled in for a good cry, cradled by both of them.