Veronika’s eyes opened to the view of a wooden ceiling and a hanging lamp, which was swaying to a gentle breeze. She groggily sat up on the bed she had been laying on, and turned her head to the view outside the window. It was a vista of metal junk hills and the rooftops of Junkyard Town’s rectangular buildings and high-tech caravans with rows of antenna rods.
“You didn’t die.” Creed grumbled as he stepped into the room, carrying a tray of steaming food. He dumped it on the table near the bed.
She took in the view of the simple bedroom where she sat on a single metal-base and mattress, which formed a cot. The table was a foldable metal type, with two chairs of a similar style.
“Give it up. You missed me.” She joked and copped an earful from him about how reckless, stupid clones should stay dead.
He stomped out of her room, looking pissed.
“Needs more work on humor tolerance.” She brushed off his attitude and rose to inspect the food.
“Smells good!” Her eyes lit up at the savory bliss of chunky meat in a soup broth with green vegetables. To think she would see such food before her. And she was famished.
There was no hesitation as she sat before the bowl, giving her thanks before wolfing it down at a fierce speed. A hearty burp escaped her mouth when she had emptied it. She rubbed her satisfied belly as she thought it was the best meal she had had in ages.
“Oh good, you’re alive.” Simone cheerfully greeted her as she poked her head through the opened door.
“At least you don’t sound disappointed to see me.” Veronika wryly returned her greeting.
Simone chuckled. “Of course not! You’re our hero.”
She sat at the other chair and started up a hearty conversation at full speed. So much so, Veronika found it hard to keep up with her words at times: thinking the woman talked like a hamster running on a wheel. But, from what she could piece together, she learned what had happened after she had fainted.
The bomb and cavern had gone dormant after System’s successful deactivation. It was dead as dead can be. Scot had carried her out of the mines with everyone following. Kran and others from his kotta had arrived in land rovers to meet them at the main entrance compound.
“No resistance on the way out?”
Simone shook her head with a frown. “No Concordat Forces. Likely moved to the next target area.”
She rose and activated a digital, semi-transparent, white overlay glove on a hand and moved it over Veronika’s face, then checked her readings. “Simple health readings. Nothing to fear. Blood pressure 112/70, healthy. Moderate temperature. No signs of fever, malignant tumors, abnormal beta waves... All in all, a healthy human specimen.”
She brushed aside her readings and digital glove, and sat back down.
“But I’m a clone.” Veronika sighed.
“Clone from human DNA. One liver, heart, two kidneys, one spleen and pancreas... major organs all humans have. Therefore, human.” Simone cheerfully reassured her.
“Hah!” Veronika chuckled and nodded in complete agreement to Simone’s statement of her.
“You know a lot about human bodies.”
“Why shouldn’t I? Science is the bridge to cooperative understanding of all life. To not want to know of other biology is not wanting to see beyond one’s nose. Life is more than the limits we live by,” Simone smugly answered, which made Veronika like her even more.
“Is your mother okay?” Veronika cordially asked.
Simone’s perkiness dropped to a serious manner. “Yes but...”
Veronika sensed what Simone was struggling to put to words. “As long as she’s alive and well, that’s all we can ask for. You too. I’m glad to see you well.”
Simone sighed. “Yes, yes. You’re right.”
She rose and told Veronika that Kran had asked to see her in his private dining room of the tavern. Veronika followed her down a flight of stairs to enter into Fast Food Tavern’s main bar and dining area.
“Ha! There’s our clone!” Jorgen cheerfully waved Veronika over to the bar, where he was already getting into a few bottles of ale with Brayan.
“Where’s mine?” She folded her arms over her chest with a pout. “If I recall, my kill count was the highest.”
The men were quick to heartily throw in their arguments on the matter, in a lighthearted and humorous way. Their loud cheers and boasting was bringing out a noisy liveliness from other tavern patrons. It made her heart feel warm and a smile form on her face.
“Let’s make a new bet. If you can match me drink for drink, I’ll pay for all of yours!” Jorgen drunkenly challenged Veronika.
“Oh? You really want to go there? You’re on!” She took the bar seat next to him and started getting into the ale that was lined up before. Stirring up more boisterous cheers from others.
“I should’ve known where the noise was coming from.” Kran chuckled when he saw his men and the clone in a drinking match.
“Sorry, Jorgen, but the match has to go on hold. I need to see her.” He frowned at Veronika, who looked sad that her ale run had to end so soon.
“Put the rounds on my tab and give everyone here one,” he said to the bartender.
A hearty roar and cheer rebounded around the bar, as everyone was overwhelming the bartender with their free orders. Kran nodded toward his dining area: Veronika followed him inside where Scot, Kami, Simone and Creed were waiting.
Kami was enjoying a nap on one of the chairs, with Scot seated at the one next to him. Creed was leaning against the window where the blinds were pulled back to show the night view of Junkyard Town’s main street. Simone had her focus on a semi-transparent notebook terminal on the table at the other end. The terminal’s display had a topographic map of the entire Expanse for the Lost region.
“This is the Concordat clone who disabled the bomb?” A strange voice drew Veronika’s attention to the far corner of the room, not far from where Creed was standing.
A highly attractive woman stepped into view. She was wearing a tasteful style of the Starcharter bodysuit with an upturn collar to balance her slender neck and round pauldrons bearing the company’s log. Calf-length, white boots, with spiky heels, made her legs skinny and long. A single plaited ponytail of long, red, hair dangled down to her thighs. Her slender and fine features made her appear youthful, with round green eyes full of intrigue for Veronika.
On first sight, Veronika thought she was her age, but the expression behind her eyes was steady and showed wisdom of a slightly older age.
“Interesting.” She ran a handheld scan over Veronika’s body and examined her readings. “For a clone, you’re very human. And this System of yours is a typical Concordat Clone VI module. On the surface, nothing special about you.”
Veronika frowned. “VI module?”
The woman nodded. “A clone functions according to commands issued from their VI module. In short, the VI module does all the thinking. Making a clone nothing more than an organic tool. But you are different. Clearly, you have your own mind.”
“Um, thank you, I guess.” Veronika scratched her head, unsure what to think of that explanation.
Kran bowed respectfully to the woman. “Thank you, Madam Ross, for bringing our dead back to us respectfully.”
Madam Ross smiled. “It was the least I could do. Your people aren’t just our employees, they are part of Starcharter’s family.”
Veronika thought back to her first conversations with Scot and how he had mentioned that his mistress had abandoned him. System had likely been right that he had lied, but she couldn’t guess his reason for it. Or maybe his mistress did abandon him, and being a biodroid he would instantly return to her side like a loyal puppy. No backward thought on why he had been left alone. She shook her head. It was likely a trivial thing in the end.
“Mistress.” Scot rose to offer her his seat, which she accepted as if it was a given. But she acknowledged him as a person.
“You called me here?” Veronika soberly asked. She was curious to know why this woman had suddenly shown up. Especially, if what she had achieved was meant to be this woman’s job.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
Kran closed the door and assumed the seat next to the woman, but Veronika took the free space against the window sill and remained standing. Carefully watching their conversation.
“Naturally, we are concerned about the situation with Bing Bing Mines. I apologize I couldn’t be there to stop the Concordat Forces. I was held up.” Madam Ross apologized and didn’t elaborate on what held her up.
She opened up conversations to her current business and gestured to Simone, who enlarged her terminal display, so everyone could see.
“My readings detected similar bioreshaper signals within seven of our mines. So far, the energy readings are stable and inactive.” Simone frowned.
Madam Ross mirrored Simone’s frown. “It’s as I feared and what I was trying to warn you about earlier, Kran-dono. I was sent here to learn more about the odd and ancient energy signals in the mines. If they were hostile, stop them.”
Her eyes lingered on Veronika with thoughts, but she kept her conversation with Kran.
“You must have had this happen before if you were sent to investigate.” Veronika said, carefully watching for Madam Ross’s reaction.
“Indeed, on the planet Lor. One of our mines mysteriously imploded to turn a thriving forest region into a vast wasteland. We suspected it was due to Ichemota technology.”
“Lor?” Simone gulped, unable to hide her concern.
“Where’s that?” Veronika asked.
“It’s the cretarian home world. But, I couldn’t imagine a bioreshaper of this size be undiscovered there. Lor’s knowledge of Ichemotian technology is far superior to any other in the galaxy.” Simone began nervously chewing her lip.
Madam Ross patted her shoulder with reassurance and sympathy.
“How did you know to come here?” Veronika pressed her question.
“A lot of breadcrumb trails and luck. Believe or not, clone, I’m the best at what I do.” Madam Ross rose to stand before Veronika.
“Now, ask my question. Who are you?”
“Shepherd. Veronika, Shepherd.”
“Are you really?” Madam Ross pulled out a laser pen and flashed it into Veronika’s eyes, causing a sharp pain to run through her retinas and down into her memory nodes.
[Initiating defense protocols. Warning! Intrusion penetration attack. Countering...] System’s alert flashed through her mind, which aggravated the pain.
Veronika collapsed to the floor, panting for breath. Scot moved to assist her.
“Interesting.” Madam Ross pocketed her laser pen and rubbed her chin as she lapsed into a deep thought.
“Trying to fry my brain with a laser pen is interesting?” Veronika panted as she recovered her senses upon standing with Scot’s assistance.
“No, sorry about that. But if you were a true Concordat clone, that form of intrusive scan wouldn’t have done anything to you. The fact that it caused you pain, tells me you weren’t made to be a clone.”
Veronika scratched her head, not understanding her explanation.
Madam Ross stared earnestly at her. “What fascinates me the most is your VI module. It was countering my handshake.”
That was a handshake?! Veronika gulped and was concerned what a friendly hug was to the woman.
[The fact that she thinks I’m a VI module is reassuring] System popped up.
“I hope so. I just got brain probed, and it was painful.” Veronika groaned in thought.
The woman returned to her seat to steer the conversations back to the topic of the mines and bombs.
“I have informed my managers about Bing Bing’s situation. They have granted me full resources and authority to stop Concordat’s further plans against our mines. 10 billion credits have been wired to your town account for compensation. I’m sorry it’s not much, but we’ll do what we can to stop this atrocity. You have my word on this.”
Kran nodded, feeling satisfied upon hearing this. “Thank you, Madam Ross. I appreciate the gesture and your aid. I’ll have your usual room ready with all your gear in place.”
Madam Ross nodded and had everyone focusing on the seven affected mines that were pinpointed on the map as red dots.
“I’ve extrapolated a path of potential order. If we’re to beat the Concordat Forces to the next location, we could stop the bomb before it goes off.” Simone commented as she rapidly keyed in some code that drew a blue string line to connect the red dots.
Everyone stared intently on the first dot, which appeared to be the next likely target. A smaller mine called Veridium, which was mapped on the grid at the longitude and latitude that formed a point on the map-square tagged B2.
“Sector B2.” Veronika gasped.
Simone nodded. “The next bomb activation target.”
“What’s stopping Concordat from activating all the bombs at once?”
“A very good question!” Simone piped up, chirpily.
“You have a theory, Simone?” Madam Ross gestured for Simone to take the floor and explain.
“Well, judging from the bomb alerts during the activation at Bing Bing Mine, it seems the device works on a daisy chain network.”
Simone explained that it was likely only one device could be online at a time due to massive resource demands. And the devices would be rigged with a failsafe of some kind.
“This would ensure minimal disruption with the process. And where one device wouldn’t be able to counter the processing of the other.”
“The devices existing to cause havoc is bad enough.” Veronika grumbled.
“Agree with you there.” Madam Ross concurred.
Simone shook her head. “When I was using the console, the origin of the genetic code sequences didn’t match a schematic path for degeneration and a vast impact implosion. Instead, they were designed to regenerate. I don’t think there were intended to be bombs. My snap analysis of the devices concludes a bioreshaper device! The Concordat reconstructed schematic path with function protocols to be a bomb.”
She explained more upon the principles of Bioreshaping that she had been researching as part of her planetary colonization studies. It was part of the technology left behind by an alien race called the Ichemota, which mysteriously vanished one million galactic years ago.
“Only pieces of their technology remained, which was discovered in various mines and ruins across Star Council planets. Most of our spaceflight and ecosystem technology leverage Ichemota leftovers.”
Kran frowned with his thought. “Then these bombs couldn’t be planted by the Concordat.”
Madam Ross nodded. “They’re reusing old tech for their twisted purpose.”
“How?” Creed asked.
“As Simone has deduced, rewriting old schematics. This tells me they knew the devices existed prior to being discovered.”
Everyone lapsed into their own quiet thoughts on the matter, which caused a heavy feeling to descend upon the room.
“Whelp. Regardless of how the devices got there: only one thing to do.” Veronika broke the silence to have everyone staring at her.
“What’s that Concordat, kill more of our people?” Creed huffed.
“If that’s what you want me to do,” she said with her arms folded over her chest.
Creed was about to argue further but was stopped by Kran’s snap at him to behave.
“It’s clear Shepherd doesn’t want to harm us, Creed. Give her a chance.”
Creed threw up his arms and left the room in a huff. Slamming the door behind him.
“He’ll come around.” Kran reassured her.
But Veronika shook her head and said it was fine. “I understand. I mean, I don’t even know I can trust myself. I’m still figuring out who I am.”
Madam Ross smiled and prompted Veronika to continue with what she wanted to say earlier.
“I can’t let your people die for something stupid and insane. So we stop these devices from blowing up this side of the planet. That’s all there is to it. I don’t know if being made in a Concordat lab will cause trouble for you in the future. I can’t guarantee they won’t try to use me as a tool against you. But I’ll do my hardest to protect your people and their livelihood.”
Kran closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair with a fond smile twitching on his lips. He understood why Creed was reluctant to accept Veronika as more than a Concordat clone. She reminded both of them of a dear person.
“Glad to hear it!” Madam Ross nodded.
She laid out a plan that had Veronika and a taskforce of senior warriors to enter Veridium Mine as workers. They would report to the chief overseer, who would assist with what they needed, and placed in posts to monitor entry points. Simone would go in with her intern access to locate the bomb before the Concordat Forces did. Once they had the bomb’s location, disable it.
“We can’t have a repeat of Bing Bing,” Kran soberly said.
“I can use a tracking app to hone in on the bomb’s location once I’m in there,” Simone confidently said.
But Veronika was concerned about one detail of the plan.
“Are you sure you want to send Simone in? Knowing that this task could be dangerous.”
Madam Ross leaned back in her chair.
“It’s okay. I want to do this. Nobody knows about Ichemotian Bioreshaping technology as much as I do. My responsibility.”
Veronika was about to say more on the matter, but held back when she saw the determination in Simone’s eyes. She nodded and gave her a promise that she would do her best to protect her. “But don’t be a hero, alright? I was made to be a soldier, so if you need someone to cover your ass, I’ll be it.”
“A clone solider who can barely fire a gun.” Kami joked, still with his eyes closed.
She mouthed off her complaints, recapping on her 7-in-one shots at a fast, hamster-sprinting-on-a-wheel, pace and failing her arms about in idiotic gesticulation. Everyone couldn’t take her seriously and burst with laughter.
Madam Ross felt perked up with thoughts that the clone was alright. She rose from her chair and said, “Now, what’s to eat?”
VOLUME END