Hiro missed swimming.
He knew it was ridiculous, given that whatever had happened, his last memory of Earth was only a few hours ago in his time line. The last time he went swimming, according to his memory, was a week ago. But this body had never touched a pool or ocean, and probably never would. He’d thought about the freedom of swimming several times after waking up. Diving down into the black water, away from the horrors that surrounded him. His mood, his quips, felt like autopilot while he submerged inside himself.
Like all older clones, he understood how to deal with his own death. It no longer shocked him; he’d experienced it in many ways.
But he’d never killed himself. He couldn’t imagine why he had done so this time. So he dove.
He resurfaced when Wolfgang grabbed his arm roughly. “Pay attention, Hiro,” he said.
Paul and Maria stood at the two cloning bay terminals, Paul still looking ill and shaky, Maria’s lip bloody where it looked as if she had bitten it.
The captain faced them, her arms crossed.
“While we have basic computer use and access to navigation, we have some serious problems. IAN remains offline. Our logs—all logs, personal, medical, command—are gone. No backups.” She took a deep breath. “And we have discovered sabotage here in the bay itself. Beyond the apparent erasure of all our more recent mindmaps, we can’t make any new mindmaps. And the cloning bay’s software has been wiped. It’s just a big empty computer attached to some vats. No new bodies.”
They were silent, letting this sink in.
Hiro continued to sink.
“This is death,” Joanna said from very far away.
“Yes. Unless we can figure out how to fix these machines, we’re all dead at the end of these clones’ lifetimes,” Katrina said. “Now. Options.”
Hiro’s ears were buzzing. He wanted to move, to run, to find a weapon and take full revenge on anyone and everyone. His fists balled up.
Wolfgang took a step toward Paul, and the smaller man looked up from the terminal in alarm. “Fix it.”
“I’m doing what I can,” Paul said, his voice stronger as he tapped on the terminal. He was in his element, apparently, and getting a bit more energy.
“Our first goal is to get IAN online,” Maria said. A drop of blood had fallen onto her chin.
Hiro stared at that drop of blood. It centered him. It felt like all that had gone wrong that day was contained in the drop of blood. He stepped forward and dabbed at her chin with his sleeve.
“You’re bleeding,” he said quietly.
“Oh. Right. So I am,” she said. “That’s the least of our problems right now.”
“But it’s one that we can fix.”
She gave him a quick glance, then turned back to the terminal. “Fair enough.”
“Maria,” Katrina said. “Do you have experience with reprogramming an AI?”
Maria paused, then looked up again. “No, Captain.”
“Then if you’re not going to help here, go to the kitchen and see if the sabotage has reached that far. We’re going to need food soon.”
Maria frowned as if she was going to argue, but when she saw Wolfgang’s face she nodded once and left.
The captain ran her hand over her face. “Now, Wolfgang. We need to talk.”
“I think we do,” he said. “Paul, keep working.”
“I need to go to the server room to access IAN at the source,” Paul said, and left the room.
Hiro stood, alone in the room where many of them had died. He wanted to dive again. But he looked at the drop of blood on his sleeve and shook his head. No one had given him an order. So he followed Katrina and Wolfgang.
It hadn’t been Maria’s decision to join the starship Dormire’s crew. It certainly was a great opportunity; it was the first human generational ship to leave Earth for better skies. It wouldn’t be the last, or that’s what her parole officer had said. But she had said a lot of things.
Things like, “Help crew this ship, don’t mess anything up, and you’ll be pardoned at the end. Your entire record will be wiped.” And, “Of course your crewmates aren’t all dangerous criminals. The AI is designed to take over if someone decides to mutiny. It’s completely safe.” And, “All right, there may be some violent criminals aboard, but remember we have several safeguards in place.” And, “Hey, for a clone with three life sentences on your head, this is the best prison you’ll ever get a chance to be in. And full pardon!”
It sounded like a great deal, but she knew the timeless reason criminals crewed this ship: cheap labor. Anyone reputable would have charged a fortune to crew a starship for generations. Financiers had to cut costs where they could.
And now they were well and truly alone out here. With the first death sentence any of them had experienced.
“No one aboard will know your crimes. Think of this as your new start,” the parole officer had said. She couldn’t have known the irony of that statement, but it still burned Maria.
“Is keeping that secret a rule or guideline?” Maria had asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“It’s a rule. No one is to discuss their pasts.”
“And how will they police that?”
“The AI will be listening.”
“Lovely.”
But it still sounded better than prison.
Maria had wondered if part of her punishment was to be the lowest-ranking person on the ship. Everyone else had a good job, while hers involved general maintenance, cook duties, and common-area cleaning. A janitor/cook/handywoman. Although admittedly she didn’t have experience at any high-level military ranks, or driving a spaceship. Taking care of the incidentals was something she could do.
And there were a lot of incidentals.
The Dormire consisted largely of engines, a mile-square solar sail, water and air scrubbers, server farms, recyclers, bio spaces, and millions of gallons of a synthetic, protein-rich material called Formula CL-20465-F. Trademark Lyfe.
The creation of Lyfe had done much to help with starvation problems on Earth, because if a town could afford the specific printer and a supply of Lyfe, which was very cheap to make, it could print almost any food. The printer was a highly sophisticated machine that could break down food, study it on the molecular level, and re-create it almost exactly, provided it had the right protein and vitamin strands. The up-front cost was huge, but long-term cost was minimal.
Religious arguments against cloning started early when scientists used Lyfe—previously considered to be just a food source—to create the first clones in actual adult human bodies that waited for mindmaps to wake them. The clones, however, were grateful to avoid childhood and the pain of puberty multiple times.
Considering the trip to their new home was going to take several lifetimes, the clones needed enough Lyfe to cover all their organic needs on the ship as well as for any new bodies they would grow to continue their lives. When they arrived at their new planet, the crew’s mission changed to start the massive job of printing bodies for all the new clones and waking up the sleeping humans. Then they would be free citizens.
The Dormire was a cylindrical ship that created gravity by spinning. The crew lived on an inner ring that had a gravity slightly above Luna’s, and below Earth’s. This was primarily for the Luna-born Wolfgang who would be in constant discomfort if they resided on the outer rings, which rotated between one and two g’s, depending on the floor. As the size of each subsequent concentric floor grew, so did the speed it traveled around the hub, and so did the gravity. While the innermost floors were comfortable, the middle floors that held the massive computer banks and the air and water scrubbers were closer to Earth’s gravity; the outermost ring held more cargo needed at the other end of the voyage.
In Maria’s opinion, the most important cargo they carried was the biomass Lyfe from which all the newly cloned bodies came.
Of course, Lyfe was next to useless if they didn’t fix the cloning bay. Her stomach growled and she realized it still had one very good use. She headed for the kitchen.
If she couldn’t help, at least she could cook.