Power Supply
by Patric Quinn
Part 1 appears
in this issue.
conclusion
“Colonel, the people who run things, even the little things, in government are pledged to serve the country above all. They are the blood flowing in the veins of the nation. We stay alive and proceed with that blood. When you strip that down to the bone and go back to our beginning, we serve the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. All those nice words. Those are our reasons for living.”
The colonel again indicated the complex with a broad wave of his hands. “And this man didn’t really believe them, sir. He believed in what past history, before us, has always believed: that people are subjects to be ruled and life was by and for a few elite. But ruled people, not free; and his people would be running the country.”
“How deep do your intelligence sources say they are, Colonel?”
“Pretty deep, sir. It’s going to play hell digging out every clerk and official that’s working for his takeover. It will play hell getting the poison out of our blood.”
Crenshaw sighed, shook his head and seemed to shrink in face of the job he had to do. “Well, we have to start somewhere, Colonel.” He pointed out over the room. “What are all these things anyway?”
“Incubators, sir.”
Crenshaw’s sweeping arm froze in air. “Incubators?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How... what... why incubators, for Chrissake?”
“His managing doctor can explain the details, but, essentially, this is the future, sir. These are clones.”
“Clones? Of what?”
“Of whom, sir. Clones of him.”
“This is crazy. How many of these things are there, Colonel?”
“Two hundred and fifty. Here. We don’t know if there are others in other places.”
“This is crazy, Colonel. What a gigantic, mad ego. All of... him? Two hundred fifty more of him?”
“Yes, sir.”
Crenshaw paced rapidly back and forth before the double doors while he spoke, wringing his hands and combing his fingers through his slick gray hair. The colonel spoke into his wrist phone while Crenshaw ranted on. “That’s like growing a new Napoleon or a new Castro, as many as you want. Insanity! Get the doctor, Colonel. I want to talk to him.”
“Her, sir. The doctor is a woman. And I’ve already sent for her.”
A few minutes later, the doctor was escorted in by a soldier. She wore jeans and a sweatshirt, her dark hair pulled back tight in a ponytail. But for her angry expression, she was attractive enough in a plain way. She examined him as sharply as he did her. Her eyebrows rose over her piercing blue eyes.
“Well, what do you see, whoever you are? What are you looking for?”
“Answers, Doctor. My name is Crenshaw. I’m from Washington to find out what this is all about.”
“Hmph. Casual words, ‘what this is all about’. This is history, Mr. Crenshaw. I’m recreating the human reproductive system. I’m Henrietta Anderson, Doctor Henrietta Anderson.”
“Clones.”
“Yes, clones. They are the end result. And you need me with this project. Whoever is in charge of this affair needs me. Because I have reproduced the womb.”
“The womb?”
“Yes. I don’t need a woman to create a clone. I can do the process at will. All I need is the DNA, and, to say it simply, place it in my artificial womb and I can reproduce the person.” She stretched her hands over the incubators. “Like these.”
“You’re likely to get a different result than being needed, Doctor.”
She smiled, almost a smirk. “Do you really believe that science like this will be discarded? Do you think no one will be interested in it and in me, the inventor of it? You’re from Washington, Mr. Crenshaw. People there will be salivating over this. And, should they misjudge, there’s the rest of the world, isn’t there?”
“You know, Doctor, you’re probably right. Someone will want all of it. If what you say is true. My job is to make sense of this whole operation, the why and wherefore. What happens after that, I don’t know at this point. How did you start this?”
“My mentor wanted it. He heard about my research and contacted me.”
“Why so secret?”
“The idea of his living forever would be, at the very least, most controversial.”
“His?”
“Yes, his living forever. He wanted a living legacy of himself.”
“That’s insane, Doctor.”
“I’m interested in the science, Mr. Crenshaw. The funding and why are secondary.”
“And you did it?”
“Yes.”
“And you cloned a human being?”
“I reproduced a human being in my artificial womb. I reproduced the natural process.”
“And you used DNA?” She nodded. “Whose DNA did you use? His?” She nodded again. “You reproduced him?”
She waved her hand out over the room. “He’s out there, Mr. Crenshaw. A living infant.”
“In one of those incubators?”
“In all of them, Mr. Crenshaw.”
“All of them? Two hundred and fifty infants? All him?”
“Yes, all him.”
“And twenty years from now, maybe before, two hundred fifty of him will be set loose on the world?”
“Not that long. I’ve devised a method to expedite maturation. He’ll be mature in a few years. They’ll be mature.”
He stared at her trying to take it all in, get a handle on these concepts.
“You know how much a puppy grows in a year? Almost full size, if not full size. I learned from that.”
Crenshaw’s face darkened and he snapped at Colonel Murray. “Colonel, have her taken away.”
The colonel took her arm, but she pulled away. “Mr. Crenshaw, You’d best let me move freely. I can’t go anywhere. I have this place to run. Two hundred fifty infants.” Crenshaw glanced at the colonel and back at her. He peered out over the incubators. “That’s two hundred and fifty little live crying babies, Mr. Crenshaw. And more in the artificial wombs.”
He nodded. “Let her move freely, Colonel, but be sure a guard is with her at all times.” He looked at Dr. Anderson. “You can go, Doctor, while I sort this out and make a final determination.”
Colonel Murray took her to the door and turned her over to the guard. He walked back, a look of puzzlement on his face. “What now, sir?”
“My orders are to terminate whatever activity of his that I discover.”
“But we didn’t anticipate this, sir.”
“The powers in D.C. want anything to do with him wiped out. Gone. Kaput. No clues or ashes left.”
“But, sir, this place can’t be wiped out. It’s too big to even blow up. It won’t burn.”
“Make it disappear, Colonel.”
“There’s only one way to close this down, sir, destroy the power source. Then, everything ends.”
“Well?”
“My mission was over when we took this place. This is your mission, now, sir. Are you ordering me to destroy the power supply?”
Crenshaw stared at the colonel.
The colonel waited, then spoke again and pointed into the room. “That’s two hundred and fifty infant kids, sir.”
“I know. Two hundred and fifty... of him.” Crenshaw turned his back. “Make it disappear, Colonel Murray.”
“Two hundred and fifty live...? Are you ordering me to destroy the power supply, sir? Do you have that much authority, sir? To order me to—”
“Yes, I have that much authority, Colonel, and more.” Crenshaw turned and faced the colonel. “And you know your orders put your military unit and you, Colonel, under my... direction.”
“Yes, sir, those are my orders, but—”
“Colonel, I don’t like this any better than you do.” Crenshaw raked his fingers through his hair. “But, well, let me think.” He walked to the edge of the platform and stared out over the machines with babies inside and the nurses tending them, listened to the murmur of voices and movement. He straightened up tall. “Colonel, get me the doctor.” Colonel Murray lifted his phone and called. They stared at each other while they waited. “A solution depends on her, Colonel.”
The guard escorted Doctor Anderson into the room. She looked at them and settled her gaze on Crenshaw. She said nothing.
“Doctor Anderson, I have the authority to destroy your work here. The colonel can do it in the next ten minutes , if I say so. Do you have anything to say about that?”
Her face flushed with anger. “Yes, Mr. Crenshaw, I have a lot to say. What kind of man are you to even suggest such a thing. Mostly, that’s inhuman, cruelly inhuman. More so because destroying them... it... all of it... would be abjectly stupid.”
“Why do you say ‘stupid’?”
“This is revolutionary science, the opening of a whole new frontier of research and development. You have no idea of what I’ve done here. The final frontier of years of work. This science is here, Mr. Crenshaw, and it’s mine, and it’s not going away.”
“Doctor, suppose I were to propose that your work go on, but the direction of the training and education of the... product... be directed by me or my agents.”
“What education?”
“They would become expert in our Constitution and other founding documents... of this country. They would train as speakers and debaters. In short, Doctor, they would become a corps of champions for this country, the way it was meant to be.”
“I told you, I am interested in the science. And I have no objection to your politics.”
“Not ‘politics’, Doctor. The architecture of the only free society in world history. So, are you agreeable to this proposition?”
The anger gradually slid away and her face grew calm. She studied Crenshaw carefully. “Do you have the authority to do this?”
“Yes.”
“What happens now?”
“You will continue here. There may be some changes, but nothing that will affect your science. You will be kept informed and be included in much of the future decision-making. So, do you agree to work with us?”
She started nodding her head slightly. “Yes. I do. I agree.”
“Very well. You may go back to work. You will be free of your guard in due time. And, Doctor, thank you for your decision.”
Colonel Murray watched the door close behind her and turned to Crenshaw. “Sir, do you really have this much authority?”
“Yes, Colonel, I do. It may be a little rocky going back in D.C., but I can make it work. And the doctor is right, this is important science. It’s fantastic science, and it’s going to be ours. For all those nice words we mentioned.”
“But who are you, sir, really?”
“Think, who are we? You’re Colonel Murray, United States Army, and I’m Crenshaw, the guy from Washington. And all this is strictly secret. You are assigned special duty for your unit here. In effect, you’ll disappear into the National Security Agency. The NSA will see that the rumor mill is shut down and the whole enchilada is swept under the rug as if it had never happened.”
“And you, sir? What about you?”
“I’ll be hanging around Washington.” Crenshaw allowed a slow smile.
“And you can pull all this off, sir?”
“It’s done, Colonel. This place is going dark.”
Copyright © 2018 by Patric Quinn
