The Clone who Didn't Know (The Genehunter) (5 page)

An old woman finally answered the door, her face a mass of wrinkles peering through the chained gap between door and frame. Patches of pink scalp were visible through her thinning, grey hair. She was well over a hundred years old if the records were correct. Her eyes focused on Simms and he saw some fire flare up in her. She shut the door, fumbled with the pathetic chain that would keep no one out, then opened the door wide. She looked frail, like she could snap in two at any moment, but before Simms could speak she stepped forward and slapped him hard across his face with a leathery hand.

‘You get out of here,’ she said, genuine spite in her voice. ‘You’re not welcome.’

Simms stepped back, surprised. The woman looked like she was ready to strike him again. It couldn’t be good for her.

‘But you don’t know who I am, Mrs, Douglas,’ he said. ‘You don’t know what I want.’ She was clearly senile, imagining he was someone from her past. They had never met. Although she did look familiar. Reminded him of someone.

‘I know exactly who you are,’ she said, her voice quavering. ‘Go away and don’t ever come back. I’ve told you before.’

She shook now, her initial fury gone. She shrank into herself. She would have been tall, once, the same height as Simms, but now she stooped over so that she had to turn her head to peer up at him.

‘I’m sorry,’ said Simms. ‘But we’ve honestly never met. I’m here to ask about your grandfather. Dr. Grendel. I’m trying to find out about him.’

‘You already know everything you need to know.’

‘I don’t know anything, Mrs. Douglas. It appears he was a very secretive man.’

‘You really don’t know?’

‘No. That’s why I’m here.’

The old woman’s eyes narrowed, almost disappearing within her skin. Then she started to make a strange noise, great shudders heaving through her body. For a moment Simms thought she was having some sort of attack. Then he realised she was laughing.

‘You really don’t, do you?’ she said.

‘I know Grendel was involved in cloning in the early days. I’m trying to find out more about his activities. I believe there may even be some of his clones surviving to this day. Perhaps second of third generation. I’d like to track them down.’

‘And why would you want to do that?’

‘I’m a genehunter. I’ve been employed to do so.’

‘Have you now? And by whom?’

‘I can’t say. But I can assure you my employers want only to help any surviving clones.’

The woman looked like she was about to start laughing again. Instead she shook her head and said, ‘What’s you name?’

‘Simms.’

Now she did laugh once more. ‘Simms. Very good. You don’t even get the joke, do you?’

The old wreck was clearly crazy. His chances of discovering anything useful from her were slim. Still, he had no other leads. Dr. Grendel was proving to be a very difficult target to track down.

‘Please. If you can tell me anything it could be very useful.’

The woman stopped laughing and looked serious. He couldn’t keep up with her mood switches. ‘I’ll tell you this,’ she said. ‘So far as I know there is only one surviving clone of that evil bastard running about. The rest are all dead.’ She took a step towards Simms and prodded her finger into his chest. ‘And if I had my way, the last would be killed, too.’

‘You didn’t like your grandfather much?’

‘Didn’t meet him, did I? Not the original. But I met his genetic twins and I know all the stories of what he did, what he was like. My mother told me everything. Pure evil he was. I almost feel sorry for any clone of his, going about knowing what they’ve come from. Now, leave me alone and don’t ever come back, understand?’

The woman stepped back into the gloom of her hovel and slammed the door in Simms’ face. He could smash it back open, sure, but there didn’t seem to be much point.

‘Please, Mrs. Douglas,’ he shouted after her. ‘Can you tell me anything? Can you tell me what you know about this surviving clone?’

The door remained shut. He could hear the woman’s slow, shuffling footsteps receding from him, the sound of her muttering to herself. Simms swore. What should he do now? He turned to leave, but stopped when he heard the old woman’s footsteps approaching once more. Perhaps she’d forgotten everything that had happened already and had come to see who he was.

‘Mrs. Douglas?’

The door opened, back on its chain. This time the old woman held out a square of card.

‘If I give you this I want your word you’ll never come anywhere near me ever again. Understand?’

‘Sure,’ he said. He had nothing to lose.

Simms took the piece of card. The woman slammed the door closed. Standing there on the step, Simms looked at what he’d been given. It was an old photograph, the colours faded now. It showed a man in an old-fashioned suit sitting behind a large wooden desk. His fingers were poised over the keyboard of an ancient, bulky computer. The man scowled at the camera as if disapproving of it. Writing beneath the picture identified him as Dr. Grendel, Professor of Genetics at London University. But it was the man’s face that really caught Simms’ attention. He stared at it for a long time, cold dread seeping through his insides.

Simms materialised in the familiar, plain reception room of the Arizona refuge. As before, a disembodied voice spoke to him, its metallic tones echoing in the empty space.

‘Please state the purpose of your visit.’

‘I need to see the clONE hit squad who captured me four days ago.’

‘Please provide the names of the individuals you wish to see.’

‘I don’t know their fucking names, do I? Just speak to someone from clONE. I know they’re here. They’ll know me. And tell Kelly, too, if she isn’t one of them.’

‘Please wait, Mr. Simms. Someone will be along to collect you soon.’

After several minutes, the door from the outside opened and the woman who led the hit squad stepped into the room on a rush of desert heat. She strode towards him with her dancer’s grace, like she could twirl him a roundhouse kick any moment. She assessed him for a few moments, not speaking. Simms returned her stare.

‘So, you found the DNA we wanted, Simms?’

‘I found it.’

‘And are you prepared to … hand it over to us?’

‘Is that what you want me to do? Or has all this been some elaborate game for your own amusement?’

The woman sighed, looked out through the window, then back at him. ‘Tell me, how does it feel? Knowing you weren’t brought into this world because two people loved each other, or because someone longed for a precious child. But because, as you once put it, you’re made up of the right
bunch of numbers
?’

‘How do you think it feels?’

The woman nodded. ‘Let’s go for a walk,’ she said. ‘Do you mind the heat?’

‘I can take the heat.’

They stepped out into the glaring furnace of the sun. Through narrowed eyes, Simms could see the houses of the refuge’s inmates, looking just like they had that first time he’d come. Was Tom Jacks there? Had he ever been? It barely mattered now. It all seemed like a long time ago. The woman turned onto a different path and led him towards a smaller cluster of low buildings.

‘We very nearly told you the truth, you know,’ the woman said. ‘
Help him and you help yourself.
’

‘Yeah, great. I love a puzzle. You could have just told me.’

‘Would you have believed us?’

‘Probably not.’

‘You gave us an interesting dilemma, you see. We despise the cloners and the genehunters who help them. We’re also sworn to defend the rights of clones to be themselves, do whatever they want to do. To transcend their genetic backgrounds and be free individuals.’

‘Yeah, I get it. Hence the funky spelling of clONE.’

‘So, in other words, we protect people like you from people like you. I mean, what are we supposed to
do
with a genehunter who is also a clone? Especially one who is a clone of
him
. In truth we really didn’t know what to do.’

‘And what have you decided?’

‘It depends on you, on what you do now. If you carry on as before we’ll pursue you. You’ve had a fair warning; we’ve given you a chance to change. After this you’re own your own. Understand?’

‘And if I change?’

‘Then we won’t pursue you. If we’re convinced about you.’

‘Now you sound like Forty Days offering me the chance of redemption.’

The woman glanced at him, eyes narrowed. ‘We’re nothing like Forty Days. Nothing at all. Have they been talking you?’

Simms wondered what he should say. He shook his head.

‘Take my advice and stay clear of them,’ the woman said. ‘They’re dangerous people if you cross them.’

‘And you aren’t?’

The woman scowled before replying. ‘Make your choices, Simms. Decide what you want to be then face the consequences, OK? We’re giving you the freedom to do that.’

‘I’d like to see Kelly now. Please.’

There was a pause while the woman communicated brain-to-brain with someone. Then she spoke again.

‘Very well. She says she’ll see you. I hardly need tell you she can summon us in a moment if she needs assistance.’

‘You don’t need to worry about her. Kelly can look after herself, believe me. She’s no innocent.’

The woman held up her hand. ‘Please, Simms. We know what Kelly used to be. But she’s changed. You can too.’

The woman led Simms to one of the small houses in the compound. Some irrigation system had been set up here; the houses were clustered around a little oasis of sparkling water, the green fronds of some tree dipping into it. Standing in the doorway of one of the houses, dressed in a white cotton dress, stood Kelly. She looked well, the sun lighting her up. Last time he’d seen her she’d been lying in Cahn’s cell, she and Eloise, the two of them sedated. Did she know anything about that? Those hours she’d mysteriously lost just so the Director of MegaMeta had his bargaining chip? Probably best he never asked her.

‘I’ll leave you alone,’ said the woman. Simms walked around the pool of water towards his ex-lover.

‘Hello, Simms.’

‘Hello, Kelly.’

‘You found out, then?’ she asked. ‘You and Grendel.’

‘When did you know? When we were together?’

‘No, no. When I came here. They told me very recently. You must be feeling confused.’

He looked at her, looked away, suddenly not knowing what to say. At least she wasn’t so mad at him anymore.

‘I … I don’t know who I am any more, Kelly. Am I Grendel? Or me? I had parents, a family, everything. Except, now I know it was all a lie. False memories. I don’t know who’s done this to me. I don’t know why.’

She looked sorry for him. ‘I don’t know either. But I think you’re
you
, not him. You’ve always been you. A free individual. You’re not destined to be like him.’

‘But I am like him, aren’t I? I know what I am. Is that how I’m going to end up? Despised by everyone who knows me?’

She looked away from him. ‘Sometimes I think you will. When you’re working you can be pretty ruthless. But you don’t have to be. It’s up to you. You’re not a machine. Your genes are just your genes. Molecules. It’s what you do that’s important.’

‘So it doesn’t matter to you? Where I come from, I mean. It doesn’t matter to you that Eloise carries that DNA in her, too?’

‘No. A little. I mean, it troubles me, sure. But none of us can help where we come from, can we?’

He looked down at the ground, then back up at her. The sunlight sparkled in her hair. He longed for her to put her arms around him.

‘Is she here? Eloise?’

‘She’s inside. Sleeping.’

‘Can I see her?’

Kelly hesitated for a moment, then stepped aside, granting him access. Inside the cool, quiet room, Simms could make out the low bed in which Eloise lay asleep, lying on her back, utterly peaceful. The sight of her, oblivious of him, oblivious of everything, seemed to stop Simms’ heart.

‘I’d like to see her again,’ he whispered. ‘Get to know her.’

‘Perhaps you can,’ said Kelly, standing behind him. ‘But I’m not letting Simms the genehunter anywhere near her, understand? You don’t care about anyone. You don’t even care about yourself. I’ll tell her about you, sure, but you’re having no access to her unless you change. Unless you damn well grow up.’

He didn’t reply. He could challenge her, sure, try and get legal access to Eloise. He knew it was futile. Everyone would side with her over a genehunter. And he wouldn’t blame them. His life was chaotic and dangerous and most days he could barely look after himself.

‘Can I have a picture of her at least?’

Kelly considered, then nodded her head. A picture of Eloise, smiling a wide smile and dressed as a princess, arrived in Simms’ brain.

‘Thanks.’

‘What you do is up to you, Simms. I hope you will change but if it’s not what you want, don’t do it. If it is, this is where we’ll be.’

Simms nodded, his eyes on their sleeping baby.