Chapter 7: The Watchman Wakes

Everyone on Earth remembers the last uprising and the atrocities that were committed during the ten-year conflict. Millions died. The body count rivalled that of world war two and human extremists did not believe that the Geneva Convention applied to clones or sub-humans as they were called back then. Torture and genocide were commonplace. After the clones were pacified, geneticists started to splice clone DNA with a compound that was derived from cow spinal fluid. Cows being docile creatures, it was their belief that this would make the clone population more docile. Whether it worked was up for speculation, as the next generation was a bit more compliant, but isolated incidents were reported of clones going into psychotic rages and having to be put down. Bracus was exempt from this as his own genetic makeup is unique.

---

Diane wished that anyone could hear her. How many times had she screamed for help, trapped in this prison made of flesh and bone? Then as fast as light, she would remember the last days on Mars.

So much I need to tell them.

But every time Diane felt drawn back to the real world, she slips back into this hellish nightmare. Over and over experienced the death of Remus and his brave comrades. Trapped by the visions of the past, one thing the spirit, entity or whatever you want to call it said stuck in her mind. Learn from our mistakes.

Is this why I keep reliving this?

Like a recording to be reviewed over and over until she finds clues to mankind’s salvation? Diane can feel her body convulsing at every explosion, every death she experienced. It’s so hard to concentrate. Sometimes she could hear the doctors talking. Like some far-off dream, they only existed as a fog. Or part of her nightmare. She couldn’t tell which anymore. All that Diane knew for sure is that the Creators are coming to annihilate them all and she can’t warn anyone.

“Can she hear us?” One of the doctors asked his colleagues.

“As far as we know she experienced a massive sensory overload, like a download her mind can’t process. We have tested her auditory capabilities and she can hear us. Whether she can process new information or not is still a mystery.” One of the grey-haired doctors replied.

“We also found massive amounts of neural scarring in the areas of her brain that affect memory. Even if she wakes up, there is no guarantee that she won’t be vegetative or respond to any outside stimuli.”

George entered the room, giving a polite cough to make his presence known.

“How is our sleeping beauty?” He asked jovially.

“War...” Diane muttered. George came over to her bedside and held a hand to her forehead. It was warm. Too warm.

“Is she feverish? George asked.

The elderly doctor put down his clipboard.

“Yes sir, but we think it’s because of the state that she is in. She has been running a high temperature since the seizures started. Also her brain activity is off the charts. It appears she cannot enter REM sleep. We fear if she does not recover soon, her heart will fail.” He somberly concluded.

George stared at her contorted features as she slightly convulsed with every bomb, and every man, woman or child dying in nuclear fire. Bracus only saw what was on the surface, but what she knows will probably shake the very foundations of humanity. And will probably be our only hope.

“Keep me updated.” Was all he said as he left, walking at a brisk pace. He needed to speak to the Council.

---

Standing in the massive twenty square meter foyer, he could not help to marvel at the artwork and frescoes adorning the walls and marbled carved pillars. The ceiling was a plazcrete dome letting in light, but as strong as concrete. Another of mankind’s great engineering achievements. Seeing many skyscrapers in cities across the globe made entirely of this new super concrete, never failed to make him stop and look at them. Looking around, a few clones walked about attending to their masters. Heavily armed guards stood at every doorway and surveillance cameras everywhere observing everyone closely. George pitied the fool who would try and storm this bastion. Sitting on a bench made entirely out of marble, he waited his turn to petition the Council of Seven.

As mystical as they sound, the name was never meant to inspire such irrationality. Publicly it was known that Bracus was the only clone in the world allowed re-cloning. What no one knew is that the council were like Bracus. Clones with years of experience. Re-cloned through the centuries. They have renounced their faiths and even their names and vowed only to serve as a function. Myths in the early years of earth culture implied that they were part of a group called The Illuminati. No such group ever existed and if they did, the council either absorbed them into their system or they simply gave way to these enigmatic men.

“You may enter now.” The guard at the main door called to him.

George never knew why he always felt like puking when seeing them. He always felt like a child in their presence. He walked over to the podium of supplicants and fit a microphone and mouthpiece to his tie and left ear. Protocol dictated that absolute silence must be observed, they are always the first to speak. Anything that passed the dais was shrouded in darkness as his eyes tried to pierce the veil. Five seconds later, a single solitary beam of light illuminated a chair, the centre of the three on opposite sides and a white-clad figure sat in it.

George swallowed hard. He saw the seven only once before and that was at his ceremony, the one that made him the “ruler” of all the earth. Paltry title for a man who was in the presence of another, whose lifespan and intellect far outran his own.

“I apologize for my tardiness young one. The other Six are currently inside the rejuvenation tanks and cannot be disturbed. How may I be of service?” The councilman drawled in a monotonous drone.

He knew of their need to seep themselves in some kind of embryonic fluid that slowed the ageing process. Immortality did not seem enough.

“My lord, I trust you received my report on the Mars incident?” He asked.

“Yes child and it made for some interesting reading.” he gleefully drawled.

Sometimes these men seemed mad at times, the way they spoke. Sometimes in riddles, and sometimes they just sound deranged.

“So this...Diane woman, she had contact with an artifact that caused her coma. And did anything...interesting happen before she lapsed?” The old man asked, rubbing his hands.

“My Lord has the report. All that transpired is in it.” He replied, hoping to avoid mentioning the flashbacks to the past. But he was quite sure the old man knew more than he did.

“Ah yes young one. Anything of true consequence was always written and never spoken. In this case I think it’s more the opposite.” he said, smiling, or what passed for a tooth-gaped, crooked smile.

George knew that withholding information from the council did serve only to undermine his cause.

“There was an attack on our outpost on Mars. I only learned of it on the way here. All the clones just fell over dead where they stood and our human staff just vanished into thin air. I do not know what to make of it.” George replied, his mouth suddenly dry.

“You think the female’s visions have anything to do with this?” He said, confirming George’s belief in their omnipotence.

“My lord! I only neglected to mention it because I believed the two incidents held no relation!” He started to stammer.

The old man just cackled, slapping his knee in glee. Crap! If they knew what really happened on Mars he would end up like his predecessor!

“My lord, I fear another rebellion is on the horizon.” He blurted out, trying to divert the old man.

“Rebellions are always on the horizon child.” He replied unfazed, staring hard at George now.

George had the uneasy feeling that he was being toyed with. Like a mouse in a maze with a trap, laden with cheese at the end. Any misstep, any flaw in his plan would be exposed the longer he remained. “My lord do I have leave to investigate this further?”

The councilman stared at him intently. Eventually, he replied. “Someone in our ranks is playing a dangerous game. And games dear child is all we have.”

---

He got into the limo, shaking like a withered tree in the August wind. He pressed a button on the console mounted into the door and a bottle of brandy, two glasses and a bucket of ice rose from the floor. He poured himself a good measure. Downing it in a single gulp, he stared at the back of his driver’s head, before the visor separating them did just that. He picked up the phone and pressed only one number on it. It rang for only three seconds.

“It worked. The council suspects, but can’t link it to me or you.” George said, his voice almost a whisper.

“Are you sure? The old bastards have an uncanny knack of unraveling conspiracies.” A robotic encoded voice replied on the other end of the line.

George’s voice was similarly encoded as well as the line. Don’t want those living corpses to chance upon a call like this.

“Everything is going according to plan. The weapon works. Pretty soon it will be all over. Just be patient my friend.” He said before ending the call.

Hours and hours of footage. Nothing seemed amiss. Jason and Allegra had scrutinized every angle, every minute of that week and just before all the clones just keeled over and died, there was no way of determining who was responsible. Only one piece of evidence was left and it was not much of a clue either. A private civilian freighter jumped in just after they transported Diane to earth that same day and left again the day before they returned. Space flight was still a government-owned enterprise and civilian travel was not allowed as of yet. Although no one seemed to question this person’s arrival begged the question as to how he remained there no questions were asked.

The video footage was no help either as they could not even point out any new faces on the base. The entire human complement, which was just over fifty staff members, just seemed to run around as soon as the clones fell over dead and one by one just vanish.

“Poor bastards. You think by the way they died that the life support system just cut out.” Allegra offered tentatively.

Police work was never his chosen career, but it seemed logical to him.

“You are almost correct Mr. Allegra, The readings in the life support system shows a contaminant was introduced. Although no trace of this was found anywhere on the base, it’s quite clear some form of bio toxin was released. Not fatal to humans it seems, but it still doesn’t explain how they just disappeared though.” David told him, as he walked through the door.

“OK, so the only suspect is the person that came in on the civilian freighter. Can we trace the owner?” Bracus asked.

Jason turned to face him and took a sip from his coffee mug before answering.

“Not really. We caught glimpses of it before it used the moon Phobos as cover as it landed on the night side of the planet. The supply station in orbit surveillance could not see it either. It was like the suspect knew how to avoid being seen.” Jason replied.

Bracus analyzed the data in his formidable brain. If the suspect knew how to dodge surveillance then it meant that only someone high up the governmental chain pointed it out to him, or her. George must know what’s going on. The toxin found in the base Co2 scrubbers was sampled and stored for further analysis, although he suspected he knew the compound used, he did not want to alarm the others until it was confirmed.

“I am taking the samples and the footage back to Earth for further investigation. If anything happens while I’m gone alert us on Earth.” He said, walking away towards the exit hatch. Jason suddenly yelled out in pain as he crashed to the floor, clutching at his head.

" Jason! Are you OK??” Allegra exclaimed as he rushed to Jason’s aid. Bracus spun on his heel, running towards them.

“What is wrong with him?” Bracus asked calmly. Jason was clutching his ears, and blood was trickling out of them. He was screaming like a banshee. He opened his eyes and they were as white as snow. Like his entire eyeball was covered in a milky white fluid. Even his eyes were bleeding at the corners.

“I don’t know!” he shouted above Jason’s painful cries.

“Massive...psyonic pressure!” Jason managed to blurt out.

“From where?” Bracus yelled, pinning him to the ground as to avoid Jason from injuring himself.

Jason could not respond. Mercifully, he passed out before he could.

---

Hanson and Allegra stood next to the bed in the infirmary where Jason lay, all of them silent. Whatever made him pass out affected the communications array and Bracus was working on it as soon as it came apparent that no signals were coming in or out. He quickly put on a pressure suit and went outside to see what the problem was. Jason’s eyes fluttered and he opened them, groaning.

“Welcome back sir. You gave us quite a scare.” Allegra said. Hanson just gave a snort of derision. Jason propped himself up and rubbed his left temple.

“We have to get back to Earth. Something seriously is wrong.” He said groggily.

“And how do you know that?” Hanson asked, the irritation clear in his voice.

Jason looked up at Decker with his bloodshot eyes.

“Where is David?” He smoothly changed the subject.

“He is helping Bracus to re-calibrate the com array. Whatever happened to you cut us off from Earth.” Allegra said, holding up a glass of water to Jason, which a gratefully drank. He wiped his mouth before he continued.

“Whatever happened to me happened on Earth too. I felt Diane inside my head. She was screaming out in pain.” He finished. Allegra went white and Hanson took a step back from the bed.

“We need to talk to someone on Earth.” David said, looking at the other two.

Both of them just nodded in agreement. Hanson just swallowed hard. He always just heard stories of these psyons and their supposed powers. He never thought he would see Diane go that way and had never seen this kind of energy do to Jason what it did. This invisible force that made humans so susceptible to this kind of damage secretly scared the crap out of him. Although he hoped it didn’t show. Bracus entered the infirmary, still clad in his pressure suit, helmet underneath his left arm.

“Well that’s torn it. The whole damn thing is shredded. Need new components to fix it. So be prepared to jump within the hour.” He said gruffly and walked away swearing. David walked into the room just as he left, looking at the three in the room in askance.

“Never fails to inspire does he?” Hanson muttered. Jason and Allegra just shrugged.

As they left Mars’ surface Bracus noticed what he suspected after looking at the communications array. There was no “ping” signal from the communication relays. It was static. No data in or outflow.

“Gentleman we are jumping in twenty seconds. Be prepared for anything.” Bracus barked.

Jason seemed all right now and brandished his rifle. He too knew something was in the offing. All David was hoping for is that Diane was okay. Time and space stretched and like an elastic band being released at its zenith, the shuttle disappeared in a flash of light, speeding towards the earth.