TBD

Jali carefully removed the chain from her neck, sliding the locket into the hidden pocket she had sewn into the sleeve covering her prosthetic arm. If all went well, the Tompkins chip concealed behind the photos of her and Raxis in the locket would be accepted by the scanner, and she could withdraw her remaining monthly credits. It was a risk, but she hoped that the gold-filled metal heart locket would provide just enough current for the chip to be read when connected to the cloned bud that was growing into an arm under the prosthesis. If the circuit could not be made, the sensor implant without the accompanying chip would set off an alarm and she would be arrested for amputating her chipped arm.

The locket was the commitment token that Raxis had given to her after they pledged monogamy. He was ever the old school guy and felt that a physical memento was necessary. The locket had been all that was left from his great grandmother after the Wars. What had once been considered precious like gold, platinum and titanium were now easily reproduced through the Chen Alchemy process and so the alloys used to combine with them previously were obsolete, which made antique jewelry even more valuable.

The Wars, as most called them, were officially World War III and World War IV. The planet had been nearly annihilated by bio and nuclear weapons during WWIV, which began only 25 years after WWIII’s nuclear warfare cut huge swaths of destruction across all the continents. All the nuclear complexes had been destroyed, effectively cutting off hopes of escaping to another planet. Humans were stuck on earth. Survival in the aftermath required a unified effort, and each nation signed an accord which allowed the formation of the United Terran Federation. All surviving leaders were allowed a seat on the ruling council, and to prevent any hierarchy developing among them, each were given a randomly generated number. Their priority was to find a way to ensure compliance with the new federation’s vision for worldwide peace and harmony. Therefore, every person would have a dual ID using both a chip implant in the arm, and a sensor implant in the amygdala. The sensor allowed the monitoring of aggressive impulses and the scientists had discovered that mapping of brain cell DNA provided as unique identification as fingerprints. The chip functioned as a location tracker and used for credit scanning. Thus, any act of violence perpetrated would be swiftly handled, and the convicted offender sent to the rehabilitation colony in the Australian territory for correction and retraining. Jali’s forbearers, as well as the war weary others from that generation gladly embraced and supported this initiative.

Half a century later, however, the council evolved into an oligarchy where only direct genetic 1xers could continue membership on the council. For “privacy and security” reasons, they were exempt from the dual IDs. The rehab colony was commonly known as the swipe and wipe penal colony; the returnees may as well have been non-sentient clones if they were even able to return home.

Jali and Raxis were both Clone Master V rank; she was head of the UTF’s North American territory, Eastern division and he was head of the African territory. They had been asked to collaborate on research trials for non-sentient full body clones. Sentient clones were forbidden because the dual ID system functioned so well in mandated peace keeping. Organ cloning was widely used but had its limitations. For the correct match to be grown, they had to be harvested from live donor cells of the same organ needed. The clone “seed” would contain both the healthy donor cells spliced with the recipient’s diseased cells, creating an exact genetic match to the defective organ with no rejection. Volunteer donors were placed in stasis and had bits of their organs removed to start the clone seeds. As the donor’s organs were depleted, new ones would be cloned and implanted. However, the Clone Masters found that only 3rd gen cloned organs remained viable, and the donors would not be able to survive on subsequent generation cloned organs. Creating non-sentient clones would solve the need for human donors.

Jali’s own womb donor, Mayla, had been a Tompkins Chip Master IV and part of the team to develop the first prototype. The chips were implanted into newborns; as they grew, it became so subcutaneously embedded that it could only be removed by amputation of the arm. Mayla had been well compensated for her efforts and took early retirement to be a womb donor. Mayla fell in love with that first baby she birthed and decided to raise Jali as her own non genetic 1xer. Jali’s bedtime stories were from Mayla’s work as a scientist. Jali was inspired by these stories, and it was easy for her to decide to pursue a career in research science. Mayla, who even without a sensor, was the ultimate philanthropist, and always looking for ways she could contribute to the betterment of humanity. When Jali was a Clone Master I, and clone organ seed donors were being recruited, Mayla jumped at the chance. Her death after a 4th gen cloned liver failed sent Jali into deep despair. It was meeting Raxis that opened her heart to love again. He was the yang of her yin, who kept their research process documented, clean and clear; while it was her willingness to consider modifications that allowed for alternatives to be considered.

Raxis’ stubborn adherence to protocol was what got him into trouble. Raxis bluntly refused Council member 145’s request to make a full body sentient clone of his genetic son, who at 12 years, unchipped and uncensored, had run into the woods to chase down a neighbor’s cat after trying to lure it with a dead chipmunk pierced with nails. Alas, the lad tripped over a log, and died from falling on his own instrument of torture. Council member 145 was 116 years old, and despite his boasts of prowess had only produced a single genetic 1xer heir. He himself was the genetic 2xer of a former particularly vicious pre-WWIII dictator, so this 1xer’s behavior was no surprise. When Raxis was forced to defend himself from Council member 145’s assault after the request was denied, the only recorded violent event was by Raxis. Now, Raxis was in a locked holding center, awaiting formal sentencing, trial and likely deportation to the rehab colony.

Jali had heard whispers of people who had amputated their chipped arm and hid in the maze of deep underground tunnels of former subway systems and the abandoned coal mine shafts. Most assumed they were urban legends, as the knowledge to self-sustain outside of the techno grid existed only in the historical documents of a time long passed. And certainly, because these people did not have access to regrowing cloned arms, they couldn’t possibly survive with just one arm.

Nonetheless, Jali searched the dark web and was able to find one person who claimed to be part of this community. In exchange for assisting Jali, if she and Raxis were able to join them, she would provide a small portable cloner. The portables worked four times more slowly than the mainframe ones she had in the lab, which could do a full body clone in 15 minutes, including the age locater which allowed her to clone someone to their current age once the DNA had been programmed to deactivate sentience.

She and Raxis devised a plan during their allowed biweekly 3-hour private conjugal session, which could be fairly simple for two people of their rank. On their next PCS, she would sneak in the portable cloner, disguised as a music streamer, an allowed PCS device. Both Raxis and Jali had previously stored their own genetic information during the initial research trials of non-sentient cloning. Prior to that PCS, Jali would deactivate sentience for their DNA samples. Their visit would be just enough time for them to make non sentient full body clones and remove the chip from Raxis and embed the chips in their clones.

Council member 826 was on the committee for rehabilitation reform. Jali’s resemblance to Council member 826 had often been remarked, and ‘Council Member 826’ would be requesting a tour of the facilities at the same time of their PCS. Her connection with the underground led her to someone, who for the hefty sum of one month’s credits could forge the old-fashioned holograph bracelet ID that the council members and family used. With luck, it would take the guards sometime to discover that the Raxis and his partner in the cell were non-sentient clones and that the real Council member 826 and family were on an extended visit to their home territory in Asia.

It was 36 hours until their scheduled PCS. She had not been able to do the self-amputation before today, because she needed her chip to sign out the portable cloner and cauterizer for “field research”. She couldn’t use the anesthetics available in her lab, so resorted to a topical one to numb the area. She nearly passed out from the pain before she used the cauterizer and initiated the arm cloning process. She allowed herself a few hours of medication induced sleep while the arm grew into a bud.

It was now 18:30 when she stood in queue near the ATM to withdraw the credits. She was to meet the ID forger at 20:15 with payment. Regardless of whether the plan to escape worked or not, she took comfort that they would be together either way. She kissed her fingers, then touched the heart shaped locket in its prosthetic cradle. “Here’s to us, I love you” she whispered and took a deep breath as she stepped in front of the ATM.