“Where is she?” he asks.
Ruby sucks in her lower lip.
“Everyone wants to know,” Ruby says, shaking her head. “Where is our lovely broken angel?”
“We have our theories. She could be dead,” he says. “But if that’s true…”
“Extinction would have occurred,” she interrupts. “I’m aware of the rumors behind the reasons we kept her. I’m also aware of the rumors about our synthesis program. Been aware for a long time.”
“And?”
“It’s all true,” she says. “Does that surprise you?”
The man leans forward. “Tell me more.”
“Clones have a degenerative quality to their essence. Our code is corrupt like a compromised file on a computer. Over time, the body can’t handle it. Most of us deteriorate after birth. Others can live long and healthy lives. Full lives, even. But Cassian… he developed a special code for Rae. A destiny woven right into her very being,” she says.
“What will happen?”
“First, her body will deteriorate. It won’t be long until death. Afterward, there’s not much time. The clone must be…”
She stops. This time, he finishes her sentence for her. “Exterminated.”
“Burned,” she says. “Wiped clean. That’s why we burned the bodies of the remaining clones. We couldn’t be sure if Cassian gave it to the others.”
“But you’re one of them, too. An extinction bomb,” he says.
She bows her head. “No. We both gave samples. Tissue, blood, hair, and saliva. My genes normal. Only my sister holds the irregularity.”
He leans back. “How do we stop it from happening?”
Before the wars, she spent a lifetime of searching for Rae. As she traveled, she learned everything there was to know about the cloning process. She wanted to fix these problems before they became an inevitable threat. She failed.
“I tried my best to find a solution. Synthesis was regarded as a worthwhile experiment. With the right device, connecting body and mind together with a new host can yield positive results. But it’s a constant loop of maintenance; clones have to switch bodies too oft
en, and we don’t have the technological capacity for a large scale operation. It’s painful for them to lose so many lives.”
“I don’t follow.”
“For a successful synthesis, we must achieve the process through fetal transfer. Meaning, we transfer the clone’s genes into an unborn child. If successful, the clone can be reborn in the fetus, but the memory of dying, the reality of an endless stream of lives—that feeling must haunt them. Remember, even if they can’t recall past lives, an awareness never leaves.”
“Phantom pains,” he says.
Ruby struggles to keep herself from choking up. This is her sister. Her life’s blood. They are the same.
She continues. “I believe Ouroboros scientists designed a special synthesis tank, along with a plan to force her rebirth when the time came. I think Severin gave his life to see that plan through, but they have failed in that plan. If Rae beat Cassian, he’d want her dead. That’s why he created the extinction gene. To prove he’s God.”
To prove he still has control over her.
“But if she’s alive, she can go through synthesis, and the world can go on as normal,” he says.
Ruby blows out. Her lungs feel heavier than usual. “I thought the same, but it’s not that simple. Once the body goes through the beginning stages of necrosis, I won’t be able to bring her matter back to stable levels.”
“Meaning?”
Her heart aches. “Someone needs to be there to collect the body. They need to burn her before the final stage sets in,” she says.
The room is quiet, but Ruby can’t hold back her emotions, no matter how strong she wants to appear. She doesn’t wipe the tears that fall from her eyes.