I was clawing my way upward from someplace deep and dark, and all I wanted was air, to gasp it in and fill my chest. It felt as if the weight of the world was crushing my lungs. I saw nothing; all was black. The air was all I cared about, the only thing I had ever wanted. I broke some surface, someplace inside my mind. The oxygen flooded my throat, and I began to see the things that were outside the realm of my mind, and it was all white, but all that mattered was the sweet, cool air rushing down my throat. I was lying on something soft, that much I could gather. But my eyesight remained blurry, and all I could do was gasp like a floundering fish. Someone was speaking a name that was familiar to me. Speaking the name over and over, quietly and in a reassuring tone. I knew that name. What was that name? Was that my name? Who was saying my name? Why were they saying my name? And then another jolt of adrenaline rushed through me at the realization I was someplace unknown to me, strapped on a table of some kind. Why were my eyes so blurry? I blinked several times to clear them, and then I saw my surroundings in sharp focus. Several machines I had never encountered before were placed around me, tubing was attached to my arms, and there at my side was a pleasant, smiling man; a stranger. What was this place? What was this room? Instinctive fear took over as I thrashed against the bondage of the bed I was lying on and saw the man turn and speak something low into the wall next to him. I felt a rush of calm then, a relaxing sensation of euphoria. Was I being drugged? My head fell back onto the table and my muscles released their tension. I turned my head and looked at the tubes in my arm and then at the smiling man and opened my mouth to ask him what and where and why. But I couldn’t speak.
“Don’t try to talk just yet, Dr. Brice. Just listen to me for now. I’m going to explain everything very carefully, and I’d like you to pay close attention. Can you do that for me?”
I nodded, the calm cloud of whatever drug I had been given somehow allowing me to focus on this simple instruction.
“This room is in a research facility in a city very different from any you have ever encountered. The reason for this is we are in a century very far removed from when you originally lived. I’m going to ask you some questions so that you can remember what happened to you. It will be unpleasant and stressful, but we are monitoring all your vital signs, including your brain activity. So at any point, if this becomes too uncomfortable, we can give you something for the distress. Nod if you understand me so far.”
I had felt my heart speed up when he began to speak but I felt another warm cloud begin to relax me again, and once more I was able to focus on his words. I nodded. His voice was melodious, with a flat accent I couldn’t place. His face was relaxed and benign. There was no threat here—at least none I could see. And I had no choice but to lie still and listen.
“Dr. Brice, you’re in a city named Origin. It has been almost 500 years since you were alive on this planet. You died in a tsunami toward the end of the twenty-first century. You should be able to recall that. Can you try to remember that for me?”
I was stunned. Had he just said I had been dead? How was that possible? I knew who I was, but … was there a memory of any of this? Did he have a reason to lie to me? Was any of this real? And then in the midst of these thoughts I felt another wave of calm euphoria. How were they doing that to me? How did they know when to drug me? But there was that muscle-loosening sensation again, and the ability to return my attention to the mild-mannered man standing by my side. He was checking the odd-looking machines and nodding to himself. He seemed pleased with what he saw there, and turned back to me.
“Feeling calmer?”
I nodded again.
“Good. Now let me introduce myself. I’m Dr. White. This Facility we are in is run by a number of physicians and other research scientists. I’m on staff to help acclimate the clones once they’ve awakened. You are one of those clones, Dr. Brice. Before I explain that to you in more depth, I’d like you to try and remember everything you are able to, before you died in that tsunami. I know all the memories are there in your mind, but it’s possible you are repressing them because, understandably, they are unpleasant. Now, close your eyes and try to cast your mind back to the very last thing you recall.”
I closed my eyes and almost instantly began remembering that fateful day the water came and overtook us, and then … my eyes flew open. I remembered. I had been swept away—we all had been. The despair over what had happened was almost too much to bear. I had been with Jack. Oh, Jack! And the earthquake and then the tidal wave had come, and he had been torn from my grip. I felt so alone, the urge to cry was overwhelming, but no tears came. Another drug was given to me, by whatever method was used in this clinic, and the sadness was soon replaced with a sense of peace. So, I had died. It was what happened to all organic life on this planet. Instead of rebelling against the reality of this, I instead calmly accepted it. Dr. White was nodding again.
“Good. I can see we’re not going to have much difficulty with you during acclimation. Some of the other clones haven’t had as easy a time.” He motioned toward the machines, as if they somehow indicated this fact. Before I could question what all that meant, he continued his even-toned explanation of what was occurring. “This planet underwent drastic changes after you died. Essentially, all life, including humanity, was destroyed. What no one knew was that an alien race had been monitoring this planet for many years, and this race arrived soon after life had been entirely annihilated.” His gaze grew keen as he watched my reaction. I kept myself as composed as possible, even though he’d just casually referred to aliens and the destruction of my planet. I didn’t want to be overly drugged. I had caught on to how it worked, and knew that, if I remained calm on my own, I wouldn’t be given whatever medications they were administering when I became emotional. I was able to move my hands over my body, and felt some kind of soft shift covering me. Dr. White watched all this very closely. He positioned himself over my supine body.
“Good, Dr. Brice. So, this race of beings from not far away in our own galaxy decided to restore life to the planet. Your people, from your time, had destroyed everything with nuclear war. Almost nothing remained when this race arrived. We call them the Travelers.”
He scanned a small device over the length of my body, nodding at what he saw on the screen. He continued, relaxed, as if this was a story he had told many times before.
“They built cities all over the world for the people they recreated to live in, and that’s where we are now. What they’ve accomplished is beyond what any scientist from your era could comprehend. Everything will be made abundantly clear to you as time progresses, I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many details right now. But it’s important that you realize why, and perhaps how, you have been returned to life on this planet.”
He fiddled with a machine, and while his back was turned to me I gazed around the room, taking in the sterile monotony of it. I didn’t see any doors leading in or out. There were no windows, and no other people. I was still feeling a slight euphoria from the drugs I had been given, but my mind was rebelling at what I was being told. I had been dead, and now I was alive again, except it was centuries later. And an alien race had developed the technology to clone people back to life. I had so many questions, but when I tried to speak again, my throat felt raw and dry, and no sound came out. Dr. White had returned his attention to me and noted my efforts to speak.
“Yes, well, you’ve been intubated for quite some time. Your throat will be sore. One moment.”
He turned and spoke into the wall again and I saw a small slit in the white padding. His voice was low and calm, his brown eyes placid. “I’ve asked for some water to be brought to you. It will be the first thing you will ingest orally since your conception, so please drink it slowly.”
A door in the wall slid open silently and a young woman wearing a white shift entered, carrying a tray with a glass and straw on it. I was relieved to see the familiar objects. He thanked her, and she kept her demeanor and gaze professional, but I watched her sneak curious glances at me. He brought the cup over to my side, the straw bent so it could reach my mouth.
“Slow sips, please.”
I looked at the fluid. It seemed harmless, and suddenly I was very thirsty, and also ravenously hungry. The first sip touched my tongue, and I marveled at the taste. It was delicious. Had he said this was water? It certainly seemed like water, but not like any water I’d ever tasted in my—well, in my past life. The thought was still at odds in my mind. I doubted I’d ever get accustomed to it. I drank slowly, savoring the cool liquid. And then Dr. White took the glass from me, saying, “Enough for now. You can try to talk.”
I cleared my throat, and my first question formed in my thoughts. “Am … am I … still dead? Am I dead and this is … ?”
My voice sounded unfamiliar. In my previous life my voice had been slightly husky. This voice was high and light like a young girl’s.
Dr. White grimaced and sighed. “I am always amazed at the propensity with which you scientists seem to ask questions about some sort of afterlife. It’s almost always your first question. It’s rather disappointing. But no, you’re not dead and this is not some sort of heaven. You were dead, you were cloned, and now you’re alive again. All your memories, education, life experiences are still intact. The technology for all this was brought by the Travelers, and, if they know anything about life after death, they haven’t told us. It doesn’t seem to be as important to them as it is to humans.”
He checked a monitor once again, then turned a placid smile back at me. “All your questions will be answered in due time, but for now we need to move you to your quarters. You’ll be remaining here with us for a couple of days. We need to monitor your acclimation before you can be assigned.”
He saw me prepare to ask another question, but held up a hand to indicate I should remain silent. “I have to move on to what could prove to be a difficult awakening of someone very famous. He died insane. It should prove to be eventful. But they insisted we bring him back.”
He pointed at the ceiling when he said “they.” I looked up and saw nothing. He smiled dismissively. “Now, let’s get you moving. I think you’ll be pleased with the body we’ve given you.”
He spoke into the wall again. The door slid open and another young woman entered. Her elfin face was bright with eagerness, and it was clear she played an active role in whatever this Facility was. Dr. White introduced us.
“Dr. Brice, this is Eva. She’s going to help you navigate the Facility over the next couple of days. Please cooperate with her. Can I count on you to follow instructions?”
I said yes, and again marveled at my voice.
“Well, then, I’ll let Eva take over. It was a pleasure to be the first person you encountered here in Origin. I wish you the best of luck on this new journey.”
And with that, he left the room. Eva was smiling, her face open and friendly. I was comforted, sensing in her a maternal energy that made me feel I could trust her. Her red hair and green eyes hinted at a youthfulness and free spirit. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Brice.” There was that flat, slightly affected accent. I once again tried to place it, but failed. She began to unhook the tubing in my arm. I winced at a pinching sensation, and Eva apologized. “We’re going to get you up and moving soon. You’ll find there will be no weakness in your legs, but you might be a touch dizzy.”
The tubes now gone, she grasped my arms and pulled me up into a sitting position. “There we go. Hard part’s over. Now, swing your legs to the edge of the bed. That’s right … slowly. I’m going to keep holding on to your arm while you stand up, OK? On the count of three … One … two … three—stand!”
And I was upright, standing on my own. Eva clapped her hands, delighted at how quickly I was adapting. “Some people have a really hard time at first, getting used to their new bodies. But I can tell you’re a natural! Makes my job easier.”
I took a few tentative steps and felt the room spin a little, but the dizziness soon passed, and I walked a little farther. Eva still kept an arm under my elbow in case I took a header.
“OK, you’re doing great. We’re going to walk down a hallway outside this room and go to your quarters. Do you think you can manage that?”
I nodded. It felt good to be in motion, and then I realized that, technically, I hadn’t moved in a very long time. The sensation of how surreal all this was overcame me again, and this time there weren’t any drugs to blunt the emotion. I turned to Eva, and she saw the distress on my face. “Don’t worry. You’ll sleep on your own tonight, and wake up feeling much better. I can’t imagine what a shock all this must be.”
I was grateful that she seemed so much more sympathetic than Dr. White had been. She pressed on the hidden door and it whispered open. I was able to see outside the room for the first time. The hallway was also white, and it seemed very long. The air, like the water, was clean and sweet. I saw several people enter in and out of other rooms, probably similar to mine. I wondered what was going on in them, if people like me were waking up, wondering what the hell had happened.
“Come on, follow me. You’re really doing well. It’s a short enough walk.”
The floor beneath my bare feet was solid but soft. It wasn’t the typical hospital tile I had known in my other life. It seemed everything here was created for maximum efficiency and comfort. I took more steps and was amazed at the strength in the grip of my feet on the floor. I began to notice the energy coursing through me. I felt like a twenty-one-year-old college student again, able to spend all night dancing and drinking and … But I supposed all that was gone now. It had been gone for many years. Before I could begin to feel that disconnected sadness, we encountered several people—all staff members, I assumed. They were busy and professional-looking, and none of them took much notice of me. Eva continued to make encouraging remarks about my progress, and soon we reached what looked like a hallway of many rooms. These weren’t medical facilities; these were domiciles. She pressed on the wall next to a door, and I was thankful to see it did indeed resemble the doors of my memories. There was a window in it. It slid open and revealed a small, spotless room. It had a normal-looking bed, although it looked especially soft and body-conforming. There was also a bathroom, and I was flooded with memories of long, luxurious showers and baths I had enjoyed in my previous life. Along the far wall, I saw that in place of a window there was a full-length mirror. Beside it, a closet. As curious as I was becoming about what lay beyond these walls, and feeling frustrated that there was no window to peer out of, I found myself more curious about my appearance. I was a clone, but had I changed?
Eva noticed where my gaze had wandered and she smiled. “Shall we go over to the mirror first? This is always one of my most favorite parts. Watching the clones see themselves for the first time.”
I’d just thought the word “clone” about myself, but hearing it aloud again was jarring. Still, my curiosity piqued even more, I walked across the soft, springy carpeting and stood in front of the mirror. The first thought that dawned on me was my ability to see clearly and perfectly without corrective lenses. I’d needed glasses as a young child, and struggled with contacts my entire adult life. And here I was, with 20/20 vision. I took in the length of my body, tall and lithe. I thought that maybe I was a bit taller. I’d also had scoliosis as a teenager, and it had never been corrected. So, while I had always been tall, I had never reached my full height. I pulled back my lips to look at my teeth, recalling vividly the years I’d needed braces as a child. Instead of being crooked, they were perfect and white, like a toothpaste commercial, all without the aid of metal wires. I reached a hand out to touch my hair, which hung past my elbows in a black mane that shone with a health and vitality no hairdresser in my previous life had ever been able to simulate. And my skin! It was poreless and perfect, like a young child’s. No fine lines, no hint of discoloration from the sun, not a freckle, not a mole. I ran a hand over my arms, then my legs. They were perfectly muscled and lean.
Eva smiled at my reflection in the mirror. “We knew you were an avid runner, so we tried to give you the right body for that. There are trails all around the city that people jog on. I think you’ll enjoy that very much.”
Still gazing at myself in the mirror, I asked Eva, “Do people ever meet or see the … aliens? Where do they live?”
“They stay away from us as much as possible. Only a few people ever get to meet with them on a regular basis. They live in a spacecraft up in Earth’s orbit.”
I tore my gaze from my reflection and stared at Eva in wonder. “And this technology, this ability to clone us, how did they do that?”
“Well, they taught some of our doctors how to do it. Everything they’ve given us, they teach people how to use it first. I guess they want us to be pretty self-sufficient.”
“And they’re peaceful? They haven’t … hurt anyone?”
“Oh goodness no!” Eva laughed. “They resurrected a dead planet out of the goodness of their hearts. You’ll find life to be very changed from your time on Earth, but people are mostly the same. We don’t need things like religion or politics anymore, and so that means we all live in peace. But all the important things are the same, like family. I’m a natural-born daughter, of two natural-born parents.”
“Natural-born?” I asked, returning my eyes to my image.
“The first people were clones, like you. But they began to procreate normally, and that’s been going on for 200 years now. Same thing for animals and plant life. Here in Origin we’re sometimes referred to as Originals. This is because we were the first city and people to be resurrected.”
“Dr. White said something about getting me assigned.” I looked at Eva, eager for more answers.
She turned her gaze away before responding and cleared her throat. “As for your assignment, well—that’s your purpose for being here. The Director will tell you what that will entail. Think of me as more of a rehabilitation nurse.”
“The Director? Who’s that?”
Eva smiled again and shook her head “One thing at a time, OK? Remember, don’t be difficult for me.”
She stood next to me and stroked her hand down my back. “You truly do look lovely. And you’ll find you’ll be able to do so much more with your body than you could in your previous life. Now, you must be hungry. You’re only allowed small meals the first couple days, but I think I can find something you’d enjoy.”
“What kind of food do people eat now?” I wondered, envisioning weird blocks of tasteless protein.
“All the good stuff.” She grinned. “I’ll go get it for you. You stay here and get better acquainted with yourself. I’ll be back soon.”
I watched as she slid the door open and exited. I was alone, and I looked back at the mirror. She had said my body could do things … I moved into a difficult yoga pose I had never been able to master in my other life, and was thrilled at the fluid ease with which I went from pose to pose, feeling the strength and flexibility in my limbs. I was soon standing on my hands, doing pushups from that position. I couldn’t help but laugh with delight, not caring if anyone walked in and saw me like this. It had all been such a bizarre day so far, and enjoying my new body was a brief respite from the strangeness of it all. I was on the floor bending myself into impossible positions when Eva returned with a tray of something that smelled heavenly. Her easy smile lit up her face when she saw what I was doing. “Told you so,” she said. “Now, I need to monitor you while you eat, just to make sure things are functioning properly. But I think you’ll like what I got for you.”
She placed the tray on the little desk by the bed, which had a chair beside it. I had never been so ravenous in my life; it felt like I hadn’t eaten in … well, centuries. Eva uncovered the tray and revealed a filet mignon and pommes frites. The portions were small but I didn’t really mind at this point, and was even happier to see an average-looking fork and knife by the plate of food. I hung my nose over the plate first, inhaling the delectable scents.
I began to cut the meat, when Eva stopped me. “That’s not actual animal protein. No one eats meat anymore, but you won’t be able to tell the difference. It will taste exactly the same.”
I took a bite and marveled that it did indeed, taste like meat, only better than I had remembered it. I barely noticed when she began taking what I assumed were my vitals, listening to my heart, lungs and stomach. I was too hungry to care, and this food was beyond delicious. But soon it was all gone, and I felt sad but also very tired.
Eva noted the change in my demeanor and was all smiles again. “It’s normal to be sleepy after you eat for the first time. All your nutrition until today was intravenous. But don’t worry, I’ll let you sleep now, and when you wake up you’ll be allowed another meal.”
I felt bone-tired, as if I had traveled thousands of miles by foot, and I supposed I had traveled a great distance. Only it had been over time, not space. My eyes were drooping. Eva helped me over to the bed, and I leaned heavily on her for support. The bed was definitely body-conforming, and soft as a cloud. I wanted to stay awake to think about all that had happened to me, review my memories from my life and mourn everything I had lost. I saw Jack’s face, a corona of sunlight around his head. But the weight of sleep was too heavy on me, and within minutes I was deeply asleep. I didn’t hear Eva turn the lights off or leave. And I didn’t hear the door latch and lock behind her.