The Power of Forgetting (26 page)

'How?' I looked
up. One word. Hard, uncomplicated.

She held up a
marker, 'Right forearm. And anyone who doesn't comply if found to
be a copy. It will be bracelets instead.'

'Handcuffs?'
Davey was interested now.

'You can't
imprison your own people.' James had that same edge in his voice.
'Besides, we should be looking for Janey.'

'We'll do it in
order of seniority after Davey.' Marcia was ignoring him. James sat
back then. I kept my eye on him. Could be stress? Out of character.
I didn't trust him right now.

Davey held out
his left arm. I saw him wince slightly as he nicked the skin on his
own arm. There is was: red, life; proof of his wholeness. It didn't
mean there wasn't a copy somewhere else.

Marcia went
next. I knew what she was thinking as Davey punctured her pale
skin. She looked away and caught my eye for a brief moment, then
looked back. The drop that saved her, and us; it wouldn't take much
for any of us to behave out of character right now.

Oliver twisted
his head as far away as possible. I knew that this was really
unpleasant for him. He really had to grip his right knee and lean
forward, holding the left arm out in supplication. He passed the
test.

Joe passed the
pads to Oliver and turned his own arm out in a relaxed way. He was
okay too. Davey looked at me. I just raised my hand palm upwards
towards him. Marcia was looking at me; her eyes burned with a dark
flame. I was looking into her eyes, as Davey laid the blade again
my skin. Then it stung really badly. I glanced down.

'You are still
you.' Davey sounded relieved.

James held out
his arm with a shrug, 'Ridiculous business if you ask me.'

'No one is
asking you.' Oliver had that low growl of warning.

Davey pressed
the blade in. And I looked back after I pressed down with the pad
on my own arm.

There was a
little whitish powder. And something clear, a bit like sap. James
looked directly at me. I met his gaze without comment. Joe handed
him a pad.

'It's okay.'
said Marcia, 'This helps us. We have a first generation copy. This
may actually help us.'

James was
quiet, compliant. Marcia uncapped the pen and marked him on the
right one with a "C".

'That is for
cooperative.' she said, 'Joe, take James and do the medical checks.
We need to see what varies. Apparent blood pressure; temperature...
Keep it simple.'

Joe just nodded
and James got up a followed him without complaint.

'Poor
James....' I heard Davey say, 'but does it mean...?'

'It means that
someone's been into our camp.' Oliver sounded almost relieved. He
was quite himself, and had that look that I remembered of old.

'There is
something more to this than we are seeing.' I said.

The three of
them we're all eyes on me. I found, with a start of surprise Us
Four who had been on the Buggy rescue mission. They were all
listening. Being vindicated as being actually human in front of
them all had made me see our predicament.

'Let's hear
it.' Marcia folded her arms: she was not going to be a pushover, so
I better not ramble. I needed my "these are the facts, here's what
we can do about it" approach. It had worked back then. Davey
thought I had it cracked; getting the group to comply. I guess the
motivation of not being ordered by Base command had something to do
with it. That, and the one thing that always matters; real lives,
that are really at stake. Not just the physical, but the mental
life.

I thought of
Jules as I paused to find the right succinct phrase.

'We are all
going to be threatened by these copies. Either as physical
simulations of ourselves; or first or second generation fully
operational forms; which we might ourselves have our conscious mind
inhabit.... Partially or fully. There is too that fear that
something else has been inside these forms, either sharing or
taking over the space within.... And I put it to all of you: what
should we be prepared to do in each case? Especially since
these.... ego states could be changed without us having any outward
clue. We must protect the living first. I say that anyone found to
be a copy must be destroyed.'

They all were
silent then.

Davey spoke
first; and with an over controlled tone in the way he was wrestling
to retain an objective view.

'Jared is
right. We will not help the real people unless we are prepared to
deal with the copies.' he looked to Marcia. She had gone very pale.
There was that look again. Grim but necessary.

'Wait here.
Then we'll decide what to do about Janey.' she met my eyes then
went to the medical bay.

Davey took the
little knife out again. He was looking down so I could not see what
he might be thinking.

All three
returned; Joe, Marcia and James. James came to me: 'I'm sorry. I
had no right to speak to you that way. I want you to find us. I
only remember back to this morning.... Then nothing. The switch has
been made recently; I think.... Adam too. But I don't know. I don't
want to be in this.... This thing! So find us. Please Jared.' he
turned away and nodded to Marcia. She and Davey followed James back
into the med bay. Several minutes passed in which Oliver found
torches and small flares.

'And then there
were six.' he muttered.

I went and
retrieved my shirt and lighter jacket. Thought that we might get
prickled and put the khaki long trousers on. I was lacing my boots
up, when Marcia and Davey returned.

'Oliver, Jared,
you will take a sweep of the whole area. The three of us will stay
here twenty minutes max guys. Davey and Joe will go through the
tent and the extra kit. See what we can find. You'll keep talking
on the open channel. Oliver, get the headsets.'

'Already done.'
he held one out to me.

'Take my
knife.' she handed the sheath to me.

'Time?' said
Oliver.

'Two-twenty.'
Marcia was the reference point.

We were both
synchronised and took the powerful torches clipped to our belts
too. Joe zipped and clipped the tent shut behind us.

"Alright boys?"
Marcia came through loud and clear. I tweaked the output on the
head set down slightly.

‘Here Marcia,
just leaving the perimeter.’ We circled to the right, and then
turned keeping the dome in view all the time. There was a patch of
thicker forested vegetation to the left of the entrance we went
round and then tried to penetrate the dense thicket. Nothing. I
watched Oliver turn and start to move again. We looped again and
cover wider arcs. Until we were at the beach path. We crossed it to
the right and covered the boundary where the scrubby grass took
over. We turned and started to search the ground near this area.
The moon was almost setting now. Soon it would be the dead hours of
the night. Three AM.

‘At the beach.’
I said automatically, ‘nothing visible yet.’

“I hear you.”
Marcia sounded flat, tired I supposed.

‘Look,’ Oliver
said, ‘footprints. There and there.’

‘That’s the
path down onto the beach itself.’ I reminded him, ‘that’s our
prints from earlier.’

‘They are here
as well.’

I followed
Oliver; there were other prints. They were unclear in the soft
sand. But we followed them anyway. they went down onto the firmer
sand. They were clearer here.

‘We found
something.’ Oliver said over the wireless, ‘Footprints; not
ours.’

“Extreme
Caution Reece.”

‘Of course,’
then to me, ‘I always am….’ Then some welsh that I couldn’t
translate.

Both of us
looked at the trail. We stood still. There just ahead, the abruptly
stopped.

‘Well would you
look at that….’ Oliver was astonished. The firm sand told no other
story. No tire tracks. No other footprints. No sign of anything
else in the area. We were well away from the shore line. The sea
had been going out for several hours. Perhaps we had not been meant
to finds these…. An elementary mistake. By nine; this morning in
fact the tide would wash them away.

“Report
Reece.”

‘We found
footprints. They just stop.’ Oliver was really at a loss for words.
You could not track something that left no track.

“Arden, report
please!” now she sounded irritated.

‘There are no
further footprints…. Possibilities; they could have lifted off the
ground. But there is no sign of a down draft from an airborne
vehicle; there are no other marks of any kind. We’re walking round
the area…. there is nothing at all. We can’t see any evidence of
any other person or transport being here at all.’

“That will do.
Come back now boys.”

‘Alright.’
Oliver was taking measurements. He looked up.

‘Size eight or
nine.’

‘Man or
woman?’

‘I would say
female; but then again; they not all built like us.’ Oliver had a
crooked smile. He was I suspected quite crude on occasion. But
never when there were women present.

‘Any one in our
group?’ I asked him.

‘I don’t make a
habit of staring at people’s feet.’ Oliver stood up, ‘there is one
possibility. Could a copy have come here…. And just dissolved?’

‘It’s not
Janey.’ I was getting a funny feeling about these footprints,
‘she’s a size five or six; depends on the style of shoe.’

Oliver
straightened up, ‘You worry me Arden. You see things that are just
too detailed. It is a bit weird.’

‘Artists are
weird.’

‘Oh yeah; I
forgot that bit. It is true then?’ we started back across the
flat.

‘About
weirdness? Or someone for who a profession is all about looking…
actually looking at things and remembering what they are.’

‘I see. So you
have seen them before?’

‘I thought I
had… I cannot be sure. It’s not making any sense.’

‘We’ll get
back. There’s only a couple of hours until sun up.’ Oliver led the
way.

We took a
direct enough route back. And got to the entrance with no trouble.
It was then I heard it. A soft sound. Tiny; insistent.
Familiar.

‘Did you…?’ I
said and stopped. Oliver stood listening too.

He pointed to
our right. In the deeper part of the bushes. I heard it again.

We found her
just behind a tree. She must have walked back from the direction of
the beach. She was lying in a spreading pool of something dark.
There was no time to get angry or panic. I stayed and Oliver
quickly ran to get Joe.

‘Listen….
Jared; Please listen.’

‘Hush…. Janey,
it’s alright. Joe is on his way.’ I pressed the shirt I had taken
off bunched up against the wound. She was bleeding too much. And I
didn’t know how recent this had been inflicted. Or by whom.

‘Who was
it?’

‘It is them.
They are trying to take your element….’ She screwed her face up in
pain, and then panted hard.

‘Is it you?’ I
said softly.

‘Yes.’ She
reached for my hand, ‘the other does not want the pain. It is too
much. It is more than they are used too.’

‘The other who
was here?’ I touched her forehead.

‘Dear Brother….
Don’t let them take everything from me. I should not have let this
happen. I….’ at this I propped her against me, and circled my arms
around her; ‘I am here… it’s alright Janey my dear; I’m here.’

‘I’m not
horrible…. In this body?’

‘No. never.
Janey? What kind is it?’

‘Third
generation. It dissolves more prettily! No nasty gloop… or messy
powder.’ She laughed for a moment, and then groaned. ‘Save us. Pen.
Have you a pen?’

‘Yes. Side
pocket. Left leg.’ I took out the marker.

‘There’s no
time.’ She turned my left wrist over. And then wrote down numbers
on my hand.

‘So now you
have me.’ She smiled, ‘In the palm of your hand.’

The pen rolled
to the ground. I felt… what? Relieved that she didn’t hate me now?
It was strange. I felt an odd ambivalence. This body was not
horrible…. because she was in it. But it was made in a lab. The
cleverness of clever people!’

At that moment
Joe came with Oliver.

‘Get her back
to the dome. Oliver.’ Joe didn’t bother with the usual first aid.
Oliver lifted her out of my arms and took her through the dome and
into the medical bay. I tried to follow, but Joe stopped me. ‘This
isn’t what you need to see right now Laddie.’ He said and turned
away. Marcia and Davey were in the main area as I slowly lowered
myself into a camping chair.

‘Coffee?’
someone said.

‘No…. no.’ I
wasn’t trying to think of what we had to find out. We needed more
than just a map reference. I had so many questions. I looked down
at my hand. There was blood. It looked so real. Dammit! It was
real…. To all intents and purposes it was. I didn’t need to be a
doctor to see that under normal circumstances, she wasn’t going to
make it. But then these were far from normal circumstances. Marcia
went to kitchen area with Davey… they were talking. I couldn’t hear
what was said. It was as if, it all had been for nothing. We were
trapped. They knew. They must know? Had Janey… our real Janey been
found out? I didn’t dare think about it. Sooner than I expected Joe
called me in. They had bound her wound, and cleaned her up. Joe had
put her on a drip. Saline.

‘Hey? How is it
now?’

‘Shitty. Well
you know.’ She was shaking.

‘Painkillers
are useless.’ said Joe, ‘the physiology just doesn’t match.’ He and
Oliver exchanged a look. They both left.

‘I am in a
lab,’ she said without preamble, ‘it’s all paid for by the Nimbus
project and two others. There are some lies that have been spread
about the so called “Circle of Five”. Two of those names are
false.’

‘Which
ones?’

‘John Briar,
and Io Ream. They are both from the future. They are not part of
this. They are actually trying to stop them.’