Chapter 38 snippet (new writing)

Clones, they all were god**** clones.

She stood there for a long time, leaning on the railing. Her eyes never left the clones below as they trained. It was obvious that their marksmanship was more then an equal to hers. Damn! With an army like this, who could stand up to Carver?

Shaking her head, she shot Loving an angry look. They had to survive this, she told herself, if anything to warn the other governments what was coming. No, now she understood why the Universe wanted her to change he thought patterns. Following her old style of action, she would have charged in here and died in the attempt. Then, the galaxy would be at Carver’s mercy.

“This is how you survived my killing you, isn’t it?”

“You’ve always been bright, Katherine, I have to give you that.”

Closing her eyes, she started to envision to implications of what she was seeing. When Carver unleashed this force, she told herself, they would be like the old German blitzkrieg from Ancient Earth. They would overrun every planet in their way, and keep going.

Clenching her hands around the railing, she felt like the world had kicked her in the gut. How was this even possible? Who would be crazy enough to keep working on their genetics to make such a force? As advance as human technology had gotten, genetic manipulation was something they had abandoned years ago, so how had they gotten the technology?

“So you cloned yourself, Albright. Where the hell did you get the technology from?”

“Do you honestly believe I will be dumb enough to tell you that, Katherine?”

“Since you’re going to kill me anyway, why don’t you humor me?”

She looked up into his eyes. As they were before he died, they were devoid of any soul behind them. The man was a true sociopath monster, she mused, and it made him extraordinarily dangerous. With the power, and reach, that he had, there was no way for his insane ideas to keep from impacting every man, woman and child in the galaxy.

And you know you’re insane, don’t you? She thought. But you find it funny. Did you go insane before I killed you, and during the process? I don’t remember you being quite this off your rocker in the past!

“No, no, no, Katherine. I’m not that foolish. You see, even with my plans to kill you, I don’t underestimate your ability to escape.”

“You always were an asshole, Albright,”

“Thank you, my dear. I take that as an compliment.”

With a motion of his hand, they started to move again. As they moved out of the firing ranges, she could see multitudes of the clones undergoing hand-to-hand training below. Shivering slightly, she found herself hoping she didn’t have to fight them. There was a good chance; she told herself, that she wouldn’t win.

They passed through the training area into the largest living area she had ever seen. Bunks stretched off as far as the eye could see, giving her the impression that the clones were endless. It was totally fictional of course, she mused, but what the eyes saw and the mind comprehended were two different things.

“There are five thousand clones in this base, Katherine. I know you’re wondering.”

“Where are you sending them all to?”

“Ah, ah, ah. I’m not telling you that. Other then to say that even if you take this base out, there is two more just like it.”

Checkmate, she thought.

“You have all this figured out, Albright. What happens if things don’t go according to your plans? What if the Sagnar don’t fall for the feint and declare war. What then?"

He walked in silenced for several moments. It was refreshing to her to know that she had gotten under his skin. The cadre running this show must be delicately balanced, she mused, because everyone seemed to be the greediest, most power hungry person she had met. How they were all getting along beat the hell out of her though.

“I wouldn’t worry about that.”

“Why not, Christopher? If they don’t take the bait, how will you get them into a war then?”

“There are more then one way to get what we want, Katherine. You of all people should know that.”

“All I know is that each of you guys are the most insane assholes I have ever met.”

“Colorful as ever, Katherine.”