Hornet's Nest

Convulated Clone

Daigo watch Hannes.

The man was the opposite of Sará when it came to sleep deprivation. He was ex-military and had gone through a number of missions on no sleep at all. Then again, the two did vastly different things. Everything Hannes did would involve adrenaline and high-risk situations, which was the opposite of anything Sára would do. The contrast was even more significant seeing as she didn’t care about dying.

Daigo swallowed and considered the man. Hannes was a simple-minded mercenary. He saw himself as a weapon that used guns, but he was a seasoned veteran of many wars. He had seen a lot. Lived through much.

“So what do you think of all of this?” Daigo asked.

Hannes did something Daigo was always surprised he could. He scratched his scar. It always seemed like it hurt but he never showed any signs of it.  

“Well, D, I think we’re gonna help this guy start some kinda revolution,” Hannes said.

Daigo snorted, nearly bursting out laughing. Hannes didn’t even snicker.

“Re-really?”  

“War starters never think tha’ what they’re doin’s leadin’ to war. We dun’have the vision for it, ya know? It’s always the little things, D.”

Hannes looked at him with a half-shaven head, balding anyways, and speaking frankly.

“Kill someone’s parent, or child. Steal a wife or e*****e a guy. No one sees how tha’ little bit o’ screwin’ over some worthless nobody i***t can lead to them leadin’ an entire community o’ pissed off sons o’ violence against whatever power has done them wrong.”

Daigo hummed, surprised. Hannes was someone who hardly ever bothered to have first thoughts, let alone seconds, so it was uncanny to hear such insight coming from him. Maybe Daigo didn’t talk to him enough and had him all wrong.

“Interesting thought,” Daigo admitted, biting off the apple. “So maybe John has kids, and they’ll be the death of us some years from now.”

“Nah. Spook like tha’? He doesn’t exist, D,” Hannes said coldly. “N’ his family, if he even has one, sure won’ know what happened to ‘im. They can’t know what he was doin’. Know what I mean?”

“You’re right,” Daigo nodded. “Not even the urh can acknowledge what happened to him, huh?”

“Heh,” Hannes finally loosened up with a half-smile. “Urh. The United Republics of Humanity. Acronym sounds like yer tryin’ to figure out a lie. Urrrhhhh…”

Daigo laughed with him.

“It’s appropriate, right? It’s the sound the senators and governors make all the time. ‘Sir, did you have an affair?’, ‘Urrrhh.'”

They both did the sound, mocking it. Despite Hannes’s terrible reputation and volatile humor, it wasn’t the first time Daigo found him easily sharing in comradery.

“Well, I guess let’s try our best not to start a clone revolution,” Daigo said, taking one last bite. With a mouthful, he added, “the last one wasn’t very happy.”

“Heh, yeah,” Hannes said in his hard voice, leaning back his head, “us and our ever increasin’ standards o’ success.”

Daigo giggled a bit, realizing how right Hannes was. Things rarely went as they expected, but such was the life of dealing with good old honest criminals and other such sketchy individuals. They would do honest work here and there, but the taxes on proper business were unsustainable for a single working ship like theirs.

No, as long as the Hornet’s Nest was independent, of both government and crime syndicates, Daigo was happy. Riches were fun to chase, but overall secondary.

Still, this clone was a good opportunity. If Daigo could make it work, he’d be able to know more than the chase. He’d be able to actually experience the riches.

 -//-

“I’M NO CLONE!”

Daigo and Hannes jolted awake completely startled.

Daigo stood up and drew his g*n, but by the time he had aimed, Hannes had already punched the clone in the face so hard that the box flipped to spill the man out.

“AAhhhh!! Please, don’t kill me, I’m not a clone, I’m not a--”

“Hey! Yo! It’s okay, man!” Daigo called out, but not towards the clone.

He put the pistol back in the holster with a heavy breath, letting his nervous system settle and relax, but there was no ignoring the sense of danger. Glancing over the bald old man in a white gown, Daigo found him crawling to the corner of the room in short whimpers, so he stayed focused on the immediate danger.

Hannes was breathing heavily, fists clenched and body leaning towards the clone. A body shivering with a mix of fear and rage.

“Hey,” Daigo called again, approaching slowly. He gently tapped his shoulder. “We dozed off and the guy woke up screaming. That’s all that happened.”

Hannes sniffed and shook something out of his mind. Massaging his neck with a frustrated groan, the mercenary began calming down, but his hands were already sweaty. Daigo knew Hannes often had nightmares. In fact, one of the rules in the Hornet’s Nest was to never wake him up in person.

“You good?” Daigo asked, just to make sure. Hannes half-grunted half-growled, and just nodded.

Daigo took a tired breath, and turned to the clone. “Okay, what are you yelling about?”

The man looked scared out of his mind. His eyes trembled and jittered, darting between Daigo and Hannes.

“I’m Wichmond Wallace, I’m very rich, I’ll pay you a fortune if you get me home safely!”

“You’re the clone of--”

“NO!” he screamed, and then frowned, still skittish. “I’m Wichmond Wallace, I promise! I do have clones, I’ll admit I--” he cut himself off to glare aside at the window, and realized that he was in space. “I don’t know where I am. Or who you are or what you’re supposed to do with me, just please!” He started sobbing, then. “I’m the real Wichmond, I really am.”

“You have marks,” Daigo interrupted, trying to keep the information flow going with as little drama as possible. “You’re all shaved, and you have marks. Are you aware of that? You’re most definitely the clone.”

“No! He did that to me,” Wichmond’s clone revealed -- protested even – while scratching the back of the head where the bar-code was, “that…son of a…did that to me. Just listen, let me – let me explain.”

Daigo just had to cut him off. Especially because Hannes was there and likely in a terrible mood.

“No, you listen. I already know what you have to tell me. You made clones so you could live forever. Hell, the real deal might be a clone himself, already.” Daigo felt he was getting ahead of some plot points to the story he was getting wrapped in, but he just wasn’t in the mood to let the old guy stumble his way whimpering into the explanation. “I’m sure the idea was that whoever’s living isn’t supposed to know they are a clone. Clearly, something’s gone wrong, now. There’s two of you livin’, and one of you was secretly being transported by a Human Spy. Who worked for the Centauri. Who was heading to meet with the very xenophobic lizards of Muena, on one of their planets no less.”

Daigo approached him and kicked him lightly in his feet. “That’s you.”

The old man’s brown eyes opened up, terrified.

“So you tell us what the hell is going on.”

Wichmond’s clone chocked and started crying.

“Oh, for crying out loud!” Hannes yelled, throwing his hands in complaint. “really?!”

“Fine, it doesn’t matter,” the man whimpered, “I can’t… I don’t know where I am or who you are.”

“Ya’ve said that,” Hannes threatened.

“I don’t know why I was taken. Maybe the lizards want to be able to clone? Just listen, this is what matters!” Wichmond’s clone leaned forward, looking between them, unsure who to plead to, “clone or not, I can access my funds. Okay? I’ll pay you. I’m not asking you to kill my clone or anything, just take me back. To my office! All I want is my life back, and to put the clone back in its freezer. Then life goes on, and you’re rich. Filthy filthy f-f-f-filthy ri-rich! Very rich. A lot rich!” 

It was interesting to see the clone’s speech break up the longer it went. Even Hannes twitched an eyebrow, feeling very doubtful about the man’s attempt at a bargain.

Yet, the lizards desiring clone technology made sense. They already lacked any real sense of family structure, so the ability to mass-produce themselves, instead of having to reproduce -- which was a very violent and competitive affair since most of their population was male while their leaders were female and extremely picky -- might seem very appealing.

And when it came down to it, pay was pay.

“We can just call Wichmond’s what I gather,” Hannes suggested, “bet he’ll pay fine to just space ‘im, D.”

That was also a good point, and the clone knew it because he immediately went into an engine-like stuttering flurry of pleas and promises for almost half a minute. Something was definitely wrong with the clone, but it wasn’t very relevant. The freezing and unfreezing procedures were most likely to blame.

Doing the clone’s bidding would yield a lot of credits, and keep their involvement a secret until the clone felt the need to get rid of them to make sure nobody ever finds out. Meanwhile, contacting the real deal would only be safe if they could force the real Wichmond to pay through data, to some kind of account not linked to them. The real Wichmond had a lot more bargaining power than the clone in front of him, and would likely try and double-cross them before they could enjoy any kind of pay.

If they tried to go to the actual fortress to get paid physically, they’d likely get shot down. A missile is cheaper than what Daigo would demand. Data wise, they could always just get tracked down. The end result would be same.

The safe thing was to space the clone and pretend nothing happened, but with the taste of apple still in his mouth, Daigo recalled that safe never pays.

Still, maybe Sára could ensure a secure communication to the real Wichmond.

“I need to meet with my crew,” Daigo told him.

“What? No, ya don’t, it’s a clear decision,” Hannes said.

“Well, I’m interested in what the rest of the crew has to say…” Daigo almost used Hannes’s name, but he thought better of it.  “You wait here and don’t move, mr. Clone-who-isn’t-a-clone. Mr. Wants-To-Space-You will be right outside.”

Hannes didn’t argue at once, but once they were out of the room, and the door had shut, he did make himself heard. “This is bad news, D. This here we’re dealin’ with, it ain’t just some amped up d**g-lord or some kinda high n’ mighty pimp, D. This’s straight up deadly as it gets cloak n’ dagger trouble.”

“I know,” Daigo said, seriously. “I can see that.”

“Don’t think ya can, D. Fer sure, the spook logged somewhere that he boarded our ship,” Hannes explained, visibly worried in a way Daigo had either never seen, or did not remember ever seeing. “We’re bein’ hunted already, D. We need to deal with the heat, not put our cheeks closer to the fire.”

“I understand how you feel,” Daigo respectfully said, “but I want to hear more opinions. As always, if you don’t like what’s going on, you don’t have to be a part of it.”

Hannes frowned hard enough that his teeth showed through his scar. Daigo ignored it and walked away.

“It’s not that simple, is it, D! We’re in the middle o’ damn space!”

Daigo gathered everyone together in the dining and meeting room, the mess hall, and he told them all about what had happened. Following that, he put to them every option he thought they had. Namely the three he had already considered.

“So I want thoughts. Sára, can we talk to whoever version of Wichmond is on the moon? Maybe arrange for some data-level transaction?”

“Of course.”

Daigo raised an eyebrow, momentarily pleased, but then he remembered who he was talking to. “I mean without getting traced, Sára.”

“Oh no, that’s impossible with the equipment we have. I can send messages that are untraceable, that’s basic stuff, but I can’t open a pipeline without getting tracked,” Sára explained, again, not really directing the explanation at anyone. She was slumped over the table, bored and uninterested as she always seemed to be.

“Okay,” Daigo confirmed, sitting down. “I have a plan to accomplish what our clone wants, and I think that’s the best thing for us to do.”

“I think the best thing for us to do is to throw him out into space,” Sára casually offered.

“What?” Kyle reacted, “that’s so mean, sis, we can’t just kill him!”

“That’s actually why I’m feeling this plan,” Daigo told them, crossing his arms, “it’s the only option that might end with nobody dying. Our guy takes his place as the real Wichmond and puts the other back into whatever fridge he came out of. No deaths.”

“You want to give a clone his own moon,” Kiyin pointed out. “I give it two years before he starts replacing important people with clones, preparing a takeover.”

Daigo shuddered at the fact that it might already be happening. Shaking his head, he sighed and leaned on his hands.

“Honestly, thinking of that kinda stuff is a bit over my head. We’re not a big picture kinda crew and I don’t want us to be. All I want is to get paid right now, and not kill anyone.”

Else, Daigo added in his mind.

“I care not too,” Spinz offered up, looking over from his book. “I care for disruptors.”

“It’ll be alright, Kiyin,” Kyle encouraged, “Daigo’s plans always work out in the end!”

Kiyin sighed, her tentacles massaging her eyes while her hands propped up her face. “And what is this plan, Captain, that will certainly work out in the end?”

Daigo grinned happily.

When it came to plans, he liked his a lot.