Forged Genesis

The light dangling from the ceiling swayed back and forth every few seconds, casting its bright glow over the man’s body lying motionless in the corner of the room. A few moments passed before the man opened his eyes, squinting them in the glare. Slowly he rose to his feet, a confused expression on his face. The small room that enclosed him was rather strange. There were no doors visible to him, only the walls which, strangely enough, were all mirrors.

He took a step closer to one of the walls, examining his reflection. The man he saw appeared to be Spanish, with thick black hair and an olive complexion. He was fairly slim and was of medium height. He realized he had absolutely no recollection of where he was, or even who he was. The man’s confusion eventually led to frustration as he began shouting out.

“What’s going on here?” he cried several times, without an answer. Angrily, he drew his arm back, with his fist clenched, and slammed it into one of the mirrored walls. Not only did the mirror not break; it didn’t even crack. The man slumped his back against the wall in submission and slid slowly to the ground, nursing a bruised hand. At that moment, he was startled by the metallic sound of a man’s voice over an intercom.

“It appears the final stage of development is complete,” the voice said.  Another man’s voice responded.  “Yes sir, this one appears to be a successful replication…” 

Surprised, the man jumped to his feet. “Hey!” he shouted, “What the hell is going on here? Who are you? Where am I?”

The first voice spoke again. “Calm yourself down.” He sounded like someone in a position of authority. “You are in a subject containment cell in the Genetic Development Facility, here at DeltaCo. Who am I? I am the head scientist on your project.”

This only made the man more confused. “Project? What are you talking about? Who am I? What is my name?” he asked impatiently.

“Well you see…” responded the scientist, “You have no name, only a label – KS11. You are what we call, a clone.”

‘KS11’ was bewildered. “I – I don’t understand… A clone?”

“That is correct,” answered the scientist. “We live in an age of technological greatness. The year is 2029… Great advancements have been made in science, especially in the field of genetic reproduction. About a year ago, it was discovered how to reproduce the entire genetic structure of a human being. This is a procedure with a twenty-two percent success rate, and it seems as though you are in that twenty-two percent.”

KS11 remained silent, still quite shocked.

He continued on. “We here at DeltaCo have a special use for this technology. You see, DeltaCo is just a front for one of the world’s largest underground crime syndicates and you my friend, are the successful clone of our leader, Kaso Solero. He is a rather ruthless man, behind more killings and illegal activities than you could imagine. He has an interesting use for you…” The scientist chuckled softly.

KS11 found this information very hard to accept. “Why? Why was I created?” he shouted back.

“Come,” the scientist instructed, “there is someone who wishes to meet you. He has the answers you want…”

At that moment the wall in front of KS11 separated, revealing a long, white hallway. With no other option, KS11 began to walk cautiously down the hallway. He passed by a number of doors, each with a black outline and a number from one to ten. Ignoring the doors, KS11 reached the end of the hallway where the floor beneath him began to make a buzzing noise. Within seconds, the square segment of the floor upon which he stood hovered upwards, ascending through a shaft much like a twentieth century elevator.

After a few minutes of continuous ascent, the ‘elevator’ came to a halt. KS11 felt the cool night air on his face as the strange lift had taken him to the roof of the DeltaCo building. As he stepped forward he admired the city that surrounded him. Piercing the night skyline were hundreds of giant skyscrapers, each emerging from the darkness below. KS11 watched as a sleek yellow hover car passed overhead.

Behind him, a familiar voice spoke. “Ah, I love those hover cars too…” KS11 spun around to face a man. His voice was familiar because it was the same as his own, as was the face and body that stood before him. He was face to face with Kaso Solero.

“Amazing, we must think alike as well,” spoke Solero. He was dressed in a long gray trench coat, his hands covered with black gloves, one bearing a golden magnum, the other, a cigarette. Again, he spoke. “My, they did a fine job with you didn’t they? And it took long enough! The ten other projects turned out grotesquely deformed, but in the end it worked. It’s like looking in a mirror, only better!”

“Shut up! Why have you done this?” shouted KS11, frustrated.

“Well it’s quite simple really…” responded Solero. “I’m one of the most wanted criminals in the world and many people would like to see me dead, something I’m not about to let happen. So I thought of a novel idea where the people get what they want and I get what I want.”

“You’re going to kill me,” said KS11 in disbelief.

Solero smiled wickedly. “When the authorities find the body, they’ll be quite satisfied and I will have already vanished into the night. Brilliant, wouldn’t you say?”

Infuriated, KS11 cried out, “How can you do this? You’re not God! You can’t just create and destroy life at your own will!”

“We’ll see about that!” snapped Solero, and with that, he raised the magnum and fired a single shot. The impact of the bullet knocked KS11 back, hitting the ground with a thud. He cried in agony as blood poured out of the wound in his chest where he’d been struck. Although in pain, he managed to crawl away, but reached the edge of the building. He slowly rose to his feet once more and turned around.

Solero took a puff of his cigarette and threw it over the edge, laughing out loud. “Your toughness is incredible… But then again, that’s my toughness isn’t it? Either way, my genes won’t save you now!” With that, he walked up to the wounded KS11 and tried to push him over the building’s edge. KS11 grabbed his arm and in a low voice growled, “Well, since we have the same genes, then isn’t it ironic that we will suffer the same fate…” In one last burst of strength, he fell back, dragging Solero and himself over the edge of the building.

As the two plunged towards their inevitable fate, it seemed nature indeed had a sense of irony.