The Florencia Lozano Homepage - Fan Fiction
Chapter 8
Chuck Springer checked his watch nervously for the third time as he looked out at the frozen wilderness surrounding the institute.
Tukluk finished cleaning up behind the counter and poured himself a cup of coffee. As soon as the security guard finished eating and left the cafeteria, he walked over and sat down opposite Chuck.
“Where’s Mike? Wasn’t he suppose to meet you here?”
“Yeah. I don’t know what the fuck happened to him, but...I’m scared. I feel like I’m being watched every minute. When Reese and Crespo came back last night they went straight downstairs and were there most of the night. Most of the staff is gone...everybody’s nervous...something’s up.”
“I still can’t believe what we saw, last night. Spooky shit,” said Tukluk. “It’s like something out of a horror flick...or the X-Files. I’d heard stories about what goes on here but, truthfully, I never believed it. I just spread it around to amuse everyone, you know...to pass the time. But, if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes...”
“It’s amazing. It’s fucking scientific history.”
Tukluk shook his head.
“I’m no scientist but it seems to me that what took place here is wrong.”
“Maybe...but, sometimes science has to by-pass acceptable social ethics in order to advance. Tukluk, this is an incredible achievement...”
Tukluk continued to shake his head slowly.
“Maybe...but there’s still right and wrong. Chuck, how the hell do you clone a human being? I just don’t get this shit.”
Chuck looked around the empty cafeteria.
“Actually, it’s pretty simple. You know what a cell is, right...and a nucleus?”
“Well, it’s been a while since I was in school, but yeah, I remember. The nucleus is the little round thing in the middle of the cell...like its brain.”
“Yes. Within the nucleus of every human somatic cell is the entire genetic make-up of the individual...sort of like a blueprint of the person. What we do is take the nucleus of a somatic cell from an individual donor...from their skin, blood, heart...then, we insert that nucleus into an egg cell whose own nucleus has been scooped out, removed, giving it a new identity. We feed it tons of nutrients so that it divides and subdivides until it becomes an embryo, then we implant it into a surrogate and it develops like a normal human embryo inside its mother.”
Tukluk stared at him in amazement.
“That almost sounds too simple.”
“It is, actually, but...the results aren’t consistent or predictable. Also, the clones I’ve been monitoring have developed all sorts of problems: Heart problems, lung disease, kidney failure, and the worst problem of all...they’re not living very long, aging prematurely.”
“But...how do you explain Todd? How can his clone be the same age as him?”
“I’m not sure?”
“And another thing,” asked Tukluk, “how can he have the same scar as Todd. Scars aren’t genetic, right?”
“The scar is what convinced me immediately that Gemini was a clone. Quite obviously the scar was given to Gemini so that he could resemble Todd perfectly. I did notice that Todd’s scar is much finer and more faded than Gemini’s which is a bit more fresh and crude, and a smidgeon out of place. Could have been a miscalculation.”
Chuck shrugged just as Mike Palladino ran into the cafeteria. Looking behind him like a hunted man, he rushed over, flushed and excited, a flurry of papers in his hands.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
Mike grinned at him.
“I’ve been where no man has gone before.”
“Ha?”
“I cracked the computer code, you know the one that required a password that no one had?”
“What the fuck? How?” asked Chuck, leaning forward.
Mike sat back proudly and crossed his arms across his chest.
“Easy. When it said ‘access denied’ and ‘enter password’ I just typed in ‘Gemini.”
“Of course.”
Mike Palladino sat up excitedly.
“I’ve been up all night on the computer in Crespo’s lab. You won’t fucking believe it. It will blow your mind! I got into everyone’s files....Reese, Crespo...even some stuff on Victor Lord and some guy named Mitch Laurence.”
“So, fucking spill, already,” said Tukluk, impatiently.
“Well, obviously we know that they used Todd Manning as a guinea pig. They took his blood sample from this clinic in a prison in Pennsylvania called Statesville...apparently our boy Todd did a little time there about twelve years ago. They cloned a specimen of him, implanted it into a surrogate and developed it right here. Gemini was born and educated here. Ask me how long it took them?”
“How long?”
“Seven years! Seven fucking years!”
“That’s impossible, Gemini’s at least in his early thirties,” said Chuck.
“Oh, no, my friend, it’s very possible. Gemini is seven years old. See, I thought they were studying human growth hormones to retard the aging process, but what they’ve been doing is trying to accelerate it...and they did. The institute needed results fast to establish credibility...they didn’t want to wait thirty years. That’s how Todd developed so quickly.”
“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“Okay,” said Tukluk, looking a bit frightened. “Even if this is true...how do you explain that Gemini actually thinks he’s Todd Manning, or at least he seemed to last night.”
“Mind control,” said Mike, flipping through dozens of sheets of printouts. “That’s where Creepers comes in. That’s what she did, planted a computer chip right above his eye that stimulates some sort of programming every time the patient feels anxiety. From early on they’ve been planting memories in Gemini’s brain, every detail of Todd Manning’s life, pictures and details of places and everyone he’d ever known, using hypnosis, sleep programming, bio feedback, all sorts of proven psychological techniques until the memories became his own. We’re talking years and years of programming here. Now the chip works on electronic impulses from the brain so that if the patient starts to remember his own memories and becomes anxious the pituitary gland releases a hormone which triggers the chip and stimulates the programming and he’s back to being Todd Manning. The more emotional he gets, the more programmed memories he remembers.”
“This is fucking, insane genius,” said Chuck, getting up and pacing around, his adrenaline pumping so hard he was taking little leaps into the air, his hands fluttering wildly as he paced around. “Fucking, insane genius...Nobel prize shit...”
Tukluk got up.
“But, what I don’t understand is...why, Todd Manning?”
Mike Palladino flipped through more sheets of paper.
“Victor Lord funded this place, went broke doing it. Eight years ago he was diagnosed with severe heart disease. He was hoping to clone himself...that’s what he wanted eventually, but he decided to use his bastard son, Todd, as a guinea pig. They cloned him, educated him, programmed him, then they pulled a bait and switch and Gemini became Todd Manning, and the real Todd Manning was brought here for safe keeping. Unfortunately, Victor Lord wasn’t so lucky, his health deteriorated too rapidly and efforts to clone him failed...he died recently.”
“So, Gemini has been living Todd’s life for the past three years. That’s why no one’s come looking for Todd, no one knows he’s missing,” said Tukluk. “This is diabolical...”
All three men sat down and just looked at one another, as Chuck read through the pages that Mike had printed out. He looked up.
“Dr. Brunhilde Crespo was Gemini’s fucking surrogate. Man, no wonder she’s balding,” said Chuck, smiling.
Mike grabbed one of the pages.
“There’s something else about Gemini...he’s dying. I noticed yesterday when I checked his hands, the white, thickening skin around the joints...scleroderma...a type of severe arthritis that fuses skin and bone. Also, he’s suffering from kidney failure, lung disease and his heart is barely beating...severe arteriosclerosis. Outside, he looks like a man of 32 or 34, but inside he’s got the organs of an old man. He’s dying and they don’t know what to do. They’ve been feeding him human growth hormones but it’s not helping. He’s severely anemic, that’s why they took Todd’s blood, but...it didn’t do him any good. Now, this place is in deep shit: Victor Lord is dead so they have no funding, their scientific marvel, Gemini, is dying, and they have kidnapped millionaire Todd Manning and held him for three years against his will. This place is about to blow sky high. And...we’re all involved.”
They were silent, looking from one to the other. Tukluk got to his feet, his hands playing with the ends of his braids nervously.
“You both realize that if anyone catches on to us...they’ll kill us.”
The three jumped and separated as Dr. Hymen Reese entered the cafeteria. Tukluk hurried over, pretending he was cleaning tables as Mike and Chuck gathered the loose pages and shoved them under Mike’s notebook.
“What can I get for you, Dr. Reese,” said Tukluk, smiling.
“Just some coffee, Tukluk. I’m not too hungry today,” he said, cleaning his glasses on his lab coat, looking beleaguered and depressed.
Tukluk poured him a cup of coffee.
Dr. Reese picked it up and looked around, walking over to Chuck and Mike who pretended to be reading some notes.
“Dr. Springer...glad to see you studying. Well, well, Dr. Palladino, how are things going for you. Are you finding everything you need?”
“Uh...yes, thank you....Dr. Reese,” said Mike, his voice shaking.
“Well, you’re doing a fine job...a fine job.”
“Well, to tell you the truth, Dr. Reese, I was hoping to be doing research on actual human specimens...I mean, that’s what I was told when I accepted this position.”
“Of course, of course, you were. And you shall...in time. Just be patient, my boy, and keep learning as much as you can. Knowledge is everything! It must defy laws and ethics, allowed to reign unfettered among us. Knowledge is all there is. Knowledge...is God!” he said, with the spiritual fervor of a southern Baptist preacher, before walking out.
“Ask me how many fucking times I’ve heard that ‘knowledge is God’ sermon. I swear, that man is an android, maybe he’s been programmed by Creepers,” said Chuck. “So, what the fuck do we do now? I mean there are legal ramifications to this that I can’t ignore. My father, Charles Eldrigde Springer II, has ever only asked one thing of me while sending my monthly allowance with unequivocal timeliness...don’t besmirch the family name. I can’t be involved in this fucking shit.”
“I think we need to let Todd Manning know what’s going on. Then, we got to get him out of here...and go to the authorities,” said Tukluk.
Mike and Chuck looked at one another.
“But, Tukluk, do you realize what they’ve done here? This is genius...it’s a miracle.”
“What I know is that they’ve robbed a man of three years of his life and held him prisoner. And they developed a human being and robbed him of a soul, robbing him of his own identity. I’m no genius, and I’m no scientist, but, in my world, that’s just wrong...and in most countries, illegal. Now, I don’t think you boys want to be accessories to kidnapping and god know what else, do you?”
Mike and Chuck looked at one another and shook their heads.
* * * * *
2003 Copyright by Trog
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