parades. And forty years before reaching our destination star, there will be the
The second rotating drum they visited had no core suns at all. Instead, the hub area was dedicated to stasis crypts and other low- or no-gravity uses.
“Welcome to steerage,” Singh exclaimed as they entered a stasis crypt. As far as the eye could see were brackets designed to hold cryocapsules. But to Fred’s amazement, all but a few were still empty.
“We are in a quandary,” Singh said, gesturing at the empty crypt around them. “Unlike the other great ships, we never intended to take a full quarter-million passengers. We planned to take only a third as many. So what to use this space for? We thought why not take some russies with us, and jennys and kellys, to be our service people when we arrive? Oh, don’t give me that sour eye, Myr Russ; we’re all clones aboard this ship. We, too, have suffered the slings and arrows of the mongrel world. In any case, your Alblaitor and Nicholas nixed the idea.”
Fred was not giving him any such sour eye; he was used to working for insensitive affs, special-edition clones or otherwise. Nevertheless, he couldn’t help saying, “Why not take some donalds along?”
“Oh, yes, donalds,” Singh said, holding his belly and laughing. “My brother, Million, would be so happy about that.” Then, continuing his story, he said, “Next we thought we would take extra raw materials, precursors, metals, rare elements, that sort of thing, in case we need them along the way. But now, with only five ships released to travel, this crypt space has become the most valuable real estate off-planet. Everybody wants to buy a berth. We could make second or third fortunes selling them, but we have to ask ourselves, what kind of people do we want as neighbors on our new world? Surely not frozen peasants.”
“NOW, I KNOW how we all feel about auto-shrinks,” said the anonymous russ, “but this one is different — it works!”
Fred had found a site called “Russ Self-Discovery.” It claimed that with a special combination of autopsyche and preffing technologies, it was possible to uncover the russ Original Flaw by exploring one’s own subconscious.
“Forget the rumors, ignore the hearsay,” the anonymous site creator exclaimed, “and go right to the source — your own mind. I did, and what I found shocked me. Now I understand the true threat of clone fatigue. Now I know why our Original Flaw is kept so secret. I sure as hell wouldn’t tell anyone, and I’m not going to tell you either. Instead, I offer the means for you to discover it on your own, in complete privacy.
“This is no joke, my brothers. I’m deadly serious about it, and if you don’t have the stomach for the hard truth, please stay away from this method.”
Fred was curious enough to download the method to his Spectre, but not foolhardy enough to launch it. After all, its creator and the dozens of positive testimonials were anonymous. But as soon as he had downloaded the method, Marcus called.
“Good evening, Myr Londenstane,” Marcus said. It was the local mirror Marcus and so there was no lag time in their conversation. “I called to warn you that your personality is under attack.”
Fred was disappointed. During his hundreds of hours of browsing, Marcus had given no indication that it was even aware of his Spectre-based research.
“You’re referring to the method I just grabbed?”
“Yes, to it and every alternative site you’ve visited lately.”
“I see,” Fred said. “You’re telling me this whole metaverse is false.”
“Yes.”
“Uh-huh. These thousands of forums and billions of entries going back decades. All spun out of thin air to entrap unsuspecting russes.”
“Not exactly. I’m saying they were all spun out of thin air to entrap
Fred grunted.
“Why not?” Marcus went on. “A clever mentar could deconstruct an existing metaverse and rebuild it in a day. Why not create a pocket metaverse to entrap one man?”
Fred knew that if he asked Marcus who was behind such a plot, he would get no real answer, but he had to ask anyway. “Who?”
“At this point it would be speculation. As I’m sure you’re aware, Trailing Earth boasts a multiplicity of power centers, several of which have designs on you, not to mention Earth-based competitors.”
“Please, speculate.”
“Very well,” the mentar said. “The Capias World organization considers you a troublemaker. A number of other Earth-based organizations, such as the Anti-Transubstantiation League and the World Charter Union, consider you a prime example of what’s wrong with the practice of cloning. Individual russes hate you. There are many members of the general public who wish to do you harm.”
A flush of anger swept through Fred, but he damped it down and asked, “What about you?”
“I don’t understand the question.”
“What about you, Marcus? Do you wish to do me harm? After I was attacked by the donalds, I didn’t expect Nick to stand up for me, but you didn’t either. Why is that?”
“I was balancing the good of one member of the Brotherhood against all of the rest. I reviewed your comm with Earth Girl warning you to stay out of that area. You chose to disregard it. What would you have me do, try to fix all of your mistakes? You are a free individual. All I can do is provide warnings when I see you about to get in over your head. I tried to warn you last year when you acquired the identikit. You didn’t heed my warning then and went to prison for your actions, but you harmed more than just yourself. You did inestimable damage to the whole russ line, the effects of which are contributing to the present financial difficulties of Applied People, our employer.”
Fred didn’t need Marcus’s help in pointing out his mistakes, but still, things didn’t add up. “You know what I think?” he said. “I think you’ve been manipulating me and my brothers since we were decanted. I think you censor everything we see. You and Nick need to keep us under your total control, and I think you’re trying to do that to me right now. I’ve discovered a whole world of brothers who don’t conform to your ideal germline. Brothers you have hidden from me, and you’re trying to convince me they don’t exist. You know what? I believe they do.”
Marcus listened patiently, and when Fred finished, it said, “I am being completely honest with you. I don’t censor, but I do protect against attack. It’s my mission to keep the Brotherhood safe. I was given this mission by your biological mother and your elected BB of R Council. On their advice I have been monitoring your sidekick activity and have only stepped in when you downloaded the so-called Self-Discovery method. That is an especially pernicious piece of malware called an aversion locator. It will scan your brain activity for highly charged personality complexes, both active and suppressed, and it will weave them into a false self-image that, although patently ridiculous, will, nevertheless, feel true to you, causing self-doubt to fester and undermine your self-image. All I am doing here is trying to prevent unnecessary harm to you.” And it added, “As I have always tried to do.”
“Then prove it to me!” Fred said. “You and the Brotherhood Council. If you’re so sure this russ metaverse is false, then you tell me, here and now, what is the real russ Original Flaw.”
“I am not at liberty to say.”
“I didn’t think so.”
“But I will put it to the Council.”
“You do that.”
FRED WAS ON patrol when the news bulletin flashed in his visor. His partner, Daoud, got it at the same moment, and the two of them halted where they were, shipping shells whizzing by in all directions, to view it.
An unnamed evangeline, for no apparent reason, had lapsed into a comatose state. She was being cared for and did not appear to be in mortal danger. Meanwhile, other evangelines in several countries were being admitted to clinics with symptoms of severe lethargy and disorientation. Fred immediately put in a call to Mary and set a timer for seventeen minutes.
“Well?” Daoud said, nudging him. “You planning on standing there all day?”
“I’m going to call for a replacement to finish my shift,” Fred replied. “I have to attend to this.”
“Knock yourself out,” Daoud said. “I already tried that, and so has everyone else on duty. Earth Girl says we
