Chapter 1
The warm body next to him wasn’t as big a surprise as it
would have been nineteen months ago. As
he opened his eyes and looked at the body curled up next to him, he was mildly surprised
to find that it was
“Good morning.” Garret whispered as
“You don’t mind, do you?”
“No.” Garret answered honestly, drawing
“I… you’re just the strongest and I wanted to feel safe.”
“Not a problem,
“Yeah, she put numb cream and everything on them.”
For months after the Great War had ended, debate had raged
in the Republic Deliberatorium about what to do with the six million excess
military-model clones. Those still in training had been sold off already, or terminated
as was allowed by law for untrained excess-model clones. Garret had been one of those and ended up
sold to a Pleasure House in the city of New Prejat, on the other side of the
planet from the Capitol city of
Finally they had decided to send five million of the various infantry and non-commissioned officer model clones to barely habitable planets on the outer edges of Elacrar space. They would toil for the next twenty years to make those planets comfortable enough for True Born colonists, serving in that new capacity now that the sixty-three year war with the Sol Empire, and Mother Earth, had ended.
The first wave of the clone colonists had left six months ago, and now the news services were reporting ‘surprising’ advances in the preparation of the new worlds for ‘true’ colonists. During the war, no new planet had been colonized, although military bases had been established on several marginal worlds or on deep-space outposts along the border with the Sol Empire. Three of the new colonies were in those regions while the rest were along the ‘outer’ edge of Elacrar space, the sections not bordering either of the other human governments.
Since there had still been no contact with another sentient species, humans were the only form of life in the universe that really mattered.
It took nearly twenty minutes for the light snoring to begin
indicating
Moving quietly, he headed into the large bathroom, shutting the door behind him and going right to the medicine cabinet above the large washstand. It only took him a few seconds to remove the dry contacts and put them in the watery solution that would clean them and moisten them for another day of use. So far, he’d managed to maintain the secret of his non-clone eyes, except for that one near-miss on his first day with Deci.
While he used the toilet, he continued scanning the news net for more information. He did his best to ignore the announcement that Lieutenant William Lars had been promoted to Lieutenant Commander after heroic actions in a battle with privateers. Garret also tried to ignore the news that the newly frocked Lieutenant Commander was being given command of a heavy destroyer. Despite trying to ignore the article, his eyes teared up at the glowing praise by House Lars Speaker Marja Lars for her ‘only son’.
Over an hour later, after a shower and the rest of his
morning ablutions, he had the cleaned contacts back in his eyes and he moved
into the main room of his quarters.
He’d been pleased that the Pleasure House had a good-sized gym. Daily exercises there kept him in reasonable shape, and kept his chest well-muscled if not overly built. Unfortunately he’d not be able to visit it today.
He slipped into a pair of house sandals on his way out the door and made his way downstairs to the main dining hall. It was in a part of the house customers never saw, and was filled with all the male and female clones getting their ‘brunch’ from a self-service buffet. Most of the workers here didn’t go to sleep until the wee hours of the morning, so the first meal was always served closer to noon.
On this planet, galactic standard time was a nuisance at
best. With a twenty-seven hour day, the
standard 24 hour time system was lengthened to include the extra three
hours. Thus, noon was usually nine hours
from dawn instead of the Earth standard of around six to seven hours. Why the
“You had a busy night.” Deci said with a leer as Garret sat next to him at the table after gathering a plate full of food.
“Six customers.” Garret muttered.
“And all of them were appointments.” Deci pointed out. It had been months since Garret had been required to join the rest of the clones in the ‘entertaining’ room where clients were wined and dined until they picked a worker for their pleasures. Most of Garret’s clients were repeat customers now, or special referrals and his appointment calendar was booked up weeks in advance. “I told ya, you 10 models get all the good ones. Before too long you’ll be bought into a House just like Willet.”
“I have no desire to be in a House again.” Garret muttered as the flash of memory filled his head, with Marja’s face bending over him, kissing him goodnight and saying how proud she was of her two boys.
“Well, I’d kill for the chance.” Deci muttered as he always did before returning to his plate of food.
“I’m sure you would.” Garret agreed with his friend quietly, taking a deep breath to calm the rising emotions. The large screen on the wall was tuned to a broadcast about recent sporting events and he let himself be lost in the mindless reporting of scores and winners, as well as the occasional controversy. The workers of the pleasure house kept abreast of things like that since it was the most common ‘small talk’ expected by customers. Of all the things he missed about his former life, it was the conversations about politics, philosophy, military tactics, and even quantum engineering that had been commonplace at the academy and at home.
Home.
That was another disturbing line of thought he pushed away before he felt the sickness grow in his stomach. Instead, he focused on his food and the latest scores of the Longden Leanders. Their star player, Avis Burgham had apparently won the game for them as usual, but there was controversy about his off-field life again. His wife was filing for divorce on the grounds of ‘neglect’, a scandal that would be very popular later tonight.
“We still going to that play tonight?” Deci asked after a few minutes of silence. He had a slightly scrunched-up look on his handsome face, something Garret recognized immediately. Deci never did really like the plays that Garret often took them to on their Free Day. The law required they be given one full day off after fourteen consecutive days of work. Like most establishments employing only clones, the pleasure house got around that law by giving them a ‘Free Day’ of fourteen hours on the fourteenth day. It usually lasted from noon to midnight, and while they might be expected to work immediately upon their return, they were often allowed to sleep until the next morning without taking clients.
Both Garret and Deci were lucky that today they had no duties around the house, and while they could not yet leave, they didn’t have to do any of the cleaning or maintenance chores that were usually assigned during the morning and early afternoons when business was slow.
“I’m afraid you will have to miss the play, Deci.” Damion’s voice from behind them caused both to stiffen, and Garret tried to ignore the twinkle in Deci’s eyes. He knew Deci only went with him so he wouldn’t be lonely, but Deci didn’t have to be so happy about missing the play tonight. He knew how Garret hated going alone.
“What’s up?” Deci asked the older 10 model clone. If Garret ever wondered what he might look like in forty years, Damion was the answer. Thanks to excellent care of his skin, there wasn’t a wrinkle on his face, and his long blond hair, tied in a nape at his neckline, held only the barest trace of silver.
“
“But why do I lose my Free Day?” Deci started to pout. “Shouldn’t you replace
“Garret is still our only other model, and his clients pay much more than yours do.” Damion said with a long-suffering sigh. His answer was really obvious. Whichever of them didn’t get our Free Day today would get a full day off tomorrow, and while Deci might have one or two appointments, Garret’s calendar was full, and his clients paid higher fees. The house would lose more money by canceling Garret’s appointments than the one or two Deci had.
“This sucks.” Deci said as Damion moved away, heading over
to talk to a group of older female workers.
“You’re not going to miss the play all that much.” Garret said with a frown for his best friend. He grinned guiltily, not denying Garret’s claim. “Don’t worry, we can go next time we share a Free Day.”
“Gee, thanks.” Deci said with a stupid grin that was one he’d learned was reserved for him alone.
“Mind?”
“You doing okay,
“Yeah, I feel better now.”
“Not a problem.” Deci said with a smile as he finished off the last food on his plate. He got an evil grin on his face. “Hey, is Damon counting today as your Free Day?”
“Yeah.”
“You feel up to going out?” Deci asked and Garret narrowed his eyes at his friend.
“I could, why?”
“Garret has tickets to a play and I can’t go with him now.” Deci said excitedly and Garret suppressed a groan. Deci was always trying to get him to do things with Gary, who was usually less than happy for Garret’s company.
“I like plays.”
“You do?” Garret heard his own voice ask with a surprised
tone.
“You sure?”
“Yes.” Garret said with a nod. “How long have I been here? We’ve never done something like this together.”
“I always thought you looked down on me.”
“Why would I do that?” Garret asked in a suddenly hoarse voice.
“I don’t know.”
“I thought you were… jealous of me.” Garret admitted.
“I thought you didn’t think I was as good as you because you
weren’t made to be a pleasure giver like I was.”
“I’m the one who should be ashamed, not you.” Garret said a little more loudly than he intended because he could feel the eyes of others watching him suddenly. “You’re doing what you were designed and gestated to do. I was made for something else and now I’m doing this. If anyone should be ashamed, it should be me. I’m not even doing what I was really designed to do.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“It’s nothing like that.” Garret said quickly as a shudder went through him. Few clones were comfortable being compared to a True Born in any fashion. He had lived his life, until just over a year and a half ago, being compared to True Borns every day of his life.
“The two of you have been tap dancing around each other long
enough.” Marna’s light voice startled all of them. She was a beautiful blond, of course all
female models were beautiful. Marna
smiled down at the two blond male clones. She was approaching middle age, and had been at the pleasure house
longer than any other clone except Damion. She helped with running the place now that she had fewer clients
requesting her, and had proven to be quite proficient at first aid as well as
some of the administrative tasks. “
“Yes, Marna.” Garret said with a slight bow of his head. She left them with a slight smile on her face.
“What time should I be ready?”
“How about we leave just after sixteen hundred instead?” Garret proffered. “We can go shopping for a bit before dinner.”
“Sounds fun.”
There had been a few times.
The first he remembered when he was taken from the Gestation and Education center for the first time to meet the Lars family. He had been happy at the G & E, as were most clones. His center had been a production plant solely devoted to the production of 10 models. Pleasure models, military models, business administrative models, all the various types of 10 clones were produced there and trained from gestation in their specialties. Garret had been different, and had spent the first few years out of his gestation chamber sampling all of the various disciplines. His trainers had told him from the beginning he was different, and had sought to instill in him the basics of each of the disciplines that 10 models were used for in the Republic. He’d had different trainers in each of the disciplines. As he approached the age where clones were sent to the next facility for advanced training and socialization, he’d met his first True Borns. They had interviewed him and the two others who had moved through various disciplines like he had. He’d had this feeling deep in his stomach then, and the next day the Lars family had shown up to bring him home with them.
It was at the age of ten that he and Billy had been playing in the irrigation canals on the estate’s southern region. Billy had loved this one sluice gate that allowed him to shoot down the gate and further down the canal like it was a water ride. Normally the current would push him down near the bottom of the canal, and then back up, but some debris had been building up there and when the two boys had gone to play at the gate that day, Billy had been pushed into a build up of sediment and become stuck.
That was the day Garret had saved his life, even performing breathing revival techniques to push the water out of Billy’s lungs and get him breathing again. It was that night, as the two lay in bed, that Marja Lars had called Garret her son for the first time. From that point on, Billy had never let any of his friends insult Garret for being a clone (although other things, the normal taunts of children were allowed). After he had saved Billy, Garret had felt the feeling in his stomach, knowing change was underway in his life yet again.
When they had graduated from Advanced Preparatory Education
with two of the top thirty grades in their year for the planet, the feeling had
grown again in Garret’s stomach. It had
lasted a full week that time, until they entered the
Three years later, he had the same feeling in his stomach as he woke up to go to his guard duty post (a part of the regular training routine of all officers). Peace had been declared and the whole Academy waited with bated breath to hear how the outbreak of peace after more than sixty years of war would change their plans for the future. Garret had never guessed that early morning as he left Billy asleep in their bed together that his contract would be sold to a pleasure house and later that night he’d be servicing some overweight guy in his seventies.
Now the feeling was back, and he wondered what would happen
now. Would he fall in love with
When his quarters were in order, Garret took a few moments to sit down at the small computer terminal in his antechamber. It was inlaid to one of the small tables, hidden unless in use. It took him only a few moments to pull up his records with the pleasure house and he looked them over carefully.
When the Liberal Party had taken power in the Deliberatorium many years ago, they had pushed through the Clone Recognition Act. It had given new rights to clones, and made them something more than mere property. Back when the creation of clones was first approved, the minority Liberal Party had insisted the creation of life that would be viewed as little more than property was not something to be controlled by private business. It was argued, successfully, that if living beings were to be controlled property, only the government had the right to create them.
The CRA had changed that more. When it passed, it recognized clones as having rights as something more than slaves, and had established a system of contracts. No longer was a clone property, rather they were something more like the ancient practice of indentured servitude. For their creation and training by the government, they were assigned a value and a contract. That contract could be purchased by private corporations or individuals. The ‘contract’ would pay the government for the value of raising the clone and the clone’s training. Contracts were rarely cheap, and only the richest of individuals or corporations could afford more than one or two.
Clones that were employed in work that generated revenue, whether it was mining gold on a planet, or in a pleasure house as an ‘entertainer’ would be credited a portion of the revenue they generated towards their contract. When that credit reached the value of their contract, they were considered to be ‘Valued’, and freed from contractual obligation. They were ‘free’ to pursue a life of their own choosing, after a fashion.
Most clones never reached their ‘Valued’ state until late in life. Here at the pleasure house, Damion was an example of a clone who had become ‘Valued’. He had negotiated with the owner, Davlan Tremere and entered employment as the Director of the pleasure house instead of simply being one of its entertainers. Marna would be reaching her valued state in a year, and was already entering negotiations for some type of employment in one of the other pleasure houses owned by Davlan Tremere. As ‘Valued’ clones, they were given the same rights, and pay, as any True Born who might work in the field (something nearly unheard of in this day and age). They enjoyed two days off per week, and much more stringent limits on how hard they could be worked.
According to the figures on the screen in front of him, Garret was probably the most prosperous clone in this house. He earned quite a bit of money each night. His contract wasn’t nearly as high as it should be, and he knew Tremere, a political nemesis of the Lars family, had somehow worked a deal to purchase Garret at the normal price for a military 10 model, not the real price that should have been paid. That was all in Garret’s favor in the long run, because it meant he would become ‘Valued’ all the sooner.
Fifteen years from now, he would be able to choose what to do with his life, and he had no intention of spending it as a Director at a pleasure house.
He had known ever since he’d learned the name of the owner of his contract that he was here as a piece of political revenge against the Lars family. It still hurt that they had not sought to buy his contract from Tremere, but knowing he was being forced to service people like this because he carried the name Lars had been a slight balm on his soul. One day, he’d be able to pay back Tremere, in at least a small way, for this, but he’d wait patiently for that day.
“Garret?” Deci’s voice from the doorway drew Garret’s attention away from the computer screen, and he turned to the clone who was his best friend now. The smaller, dark-haired young man came into the antechamber from the hallway, shutting the door behind him and moving to sit on Garret’s lap. There was nothing sexual about the move, just the pleasure model’s deep need for physical contact.
“What’s up, Deci?” Garret asked with a small smile for his friend.
“Damion called me down to his office.” Deci frowned, but it turned into a small smile. “There’s an interested buyer coming to look at me today.”
“That’s good news, it’s what you want isn’t it?” Garret asked while plastering a smile on his face. Maybe this was what the thrumming in his stomach had meant.
“Yeah, but what if he doesn’t like me?” Deci asked in a worried tone, burying his head in Garret’s shoulder. Garret let out a sigh and began to stroke the boy’s soft hair. Deci was the one who had helped him the most, helped him to accept the work here and the future he had ahead of him, at least for the next fifteen years. Deci had helped him go from being ‘competent’ in the various forms of pleasure clients wanted, to ‘excellent’. It wasn’t always sex the clients wanted, sometimes little more than an ear to listen to their rants, rants that they would never be able to voice elsewhere.
“I can’t imagine anyone not liking you.” Garret said honestly. “Deci, even amongst your model, you’re the best. You really care about people. I don’t know how I would have survived the first few months without you. You’re my best friend.”
“I am?” Deci asked with a little surprise, looking up to see into Garret’s eyes. Garret nodded slowly, with another gentle smile.
“Yes, you are.” He assured his friend. Without Deci’s tutoring and support, he’d have been flummoxed last night with his client, the ‘Brigadier’. Certainly seeing who the client was had been a surprise. He’d known the Brigadier in his previous life, before the pleasure house. The man had been an instructor at the Academy, and now, at least according to his ramblings, was assigned to re-training some of the clone infantry cadres to be colonists.
All he’d done with the Brigadier was to give him a deep massage while the man rambled on about having a bad day at his work. Thanks to Deci’s tutoring he’d been able to act like a regular clone, never giving away that he’d once been a student of the Brigadier. He must have done a good job, because the Brigadier had handed him a small reader card, valid at a bank as a tip.
Tips were the sole property of the clone, and not something the pleasure house could take, or manage. Clones weren’t really slaves. They could have their own property, their own money, within certain limitations. Garret’s only problem with the reader card was that the money it represented was stored at a bank he did not want to enter. It was the same bank House Lars used regularly. He’d even had his own account there, along with Billy, but the card for that account had been in the quarters he shared with Billy at the Academy, and more than likely the funds in the account had already been returned to the Lars family.
“I’m going to miss you.” Deci said after several long minutes of silence.
“You’re not gone yet, but I will miss you as well.” Garret murmured.
“At least I finally got you and Gary talking.” Deci said with a sigh as he leaned back into Garret’s chest. Garret raised up a hand and ran it along Deci’s arm. He really was going to miss the dark-haired clone if the buyer took him away. Not that the buyer was necessarily buying Deci, just Deci’s contract.
“You were right, again.” Garret admitted with a sigh.
“Took you long enough to listen to me.” Deci said with a pleased tone in his voice. Garret pinched him lightly on the arm and Deci squirmed a bit in his lap. Their heads were next to each other, and Garret could almost feel Deci’s warm breath as he exhaled. “Will you tell me about where you came from?”
“You know I don’t…” Garret said in a rush.
“I know you wouldn’t share with me before, but I’m leaving
now.” Deci almost whined. “I told you
all about growing up in the
“You are.” Garret said with a tightening of his arms around Deci. The smaller clone really was his best friend. He knew their lives had been so different with Deci having been raised in a standard training center for his type of clone, trained only in the things he needed to know in order to make a client happy. Garret had never talked about his own past, mostly because of the strictures that had long been laid on him. Garret knew he was an experimental model, and that as much about him as possible was always to remain secret. If he’d told Deci all about his past, there was the chance Deci would have told others. There still was, but he also knew something about how Deci was trained now. The training included how to handle the loss of relationships when the clone was transferred or his contract sold.
Many times Garret wished he’d been given that training directly. No matter how much he tried after learning of it from Deci, it never seemed to work quite as well as Deci described. With Garret gone from his daily life, he’d not think about Garret as much, just once in a while. With that, there was far less chance he’d slip up and reveal things he shouldn’t. It was almost uplifting as Garret realized he could safely tell Deci now. Bittersweet emotions filled him with a soft joy and an urge to cry at the same time. He was losing Deci, his best friend, but he could finally share some of his deepest secrets.
“I stayed at the G&E facility for the standard six cycles after gestation.” Garret began while Deci shifted slightly, getting comfortable as he lay against the blond clone. “Then I was transferred to my family.”
“Your family?” Deci’s voice was full of shock, and a little of awe. He lifted his head up so his eyes met Garret’s as if to see if he was lying. “You had a family?”
‘Yes.” Garret said as tears came to his eyes. He didn’t have to be ashamed though, Deci had held him many, many times as he cried. The only difference was that this time he’d tell Deci why he was crying. “They were the Lars family. Marja Lars, Timat Lars, and William Lars. I called her Mom, Timat was Dad, and Billy was my brother.”
“But you’re a clone.” Deci protested with a look of confusion on his face.
“I’m a very experimental model.” Garret explained softly, not meeting those dark eyes for the moment. “With the war, too many True Borns were dying in combat even with all the lower enlisted ranks and many of the non-commissioned officer slots being filled by clones. They decided to breed a new, smarter, version of the 10 model. As they saw it, the biggest fault with using clones as officers was that they don’t usually show enough initiative or independent thought.”
“Well, duh, if you want that you get a True Born.” Deci snorted and for a moment Garret smiled. That was a very common truism in the Republic. Clones were not thought of as being independent thinkers. It wasn’t necessarily a matter of genetics either. Clones were gestated in large batches, and spent most of their early life in the constant companionship of hundreds, or thousands of other clones. Their lives were orderly, and as a result individuality suffered. It didn’t cease to exist, but it was far more muted than in True Borns.
Or a clone raised as a True Born.
“Or you get me.” Garret said softly. “When I went to live with the Lars family, it was weird at first. I mean, sure they welcomed me to their home but it was really formal at first. Billy and I got along great, but Mom and Dad kept looking at me like they didn’t know what I was. Then, when we were ten, Billy almost died. I saved him, and after that they treated me no different than Billy. I mean, Billy, he always treated me like I really was his brother. We did everything together.”
“Everything?” Deci asked with a leer and a raised eyebrow.
“Yes, everything.” Garret smiled with fond memories. Sure, he’d been fully strip-trained for that first time of sex with Billy, but they’d both been nervous. By the time they entered the Academy, there was nothing that made either of them nervous when it came to sex. Billy and he had explored every aspect of the strip-training, even the things they really didn’t like, just to at least experience them once.
“That must have been so blasted.” Deci was almost drooling.
“Yeah, well, when we went to the Academy, it was together.”
“The
“Yes.” Garret affirmed.
“You were a student there, not a servant clone, but a real student?” Deci asked in awe and disbelief.
“Yes.” Garret affirmed again.
“A clone was admitted as a student?” Deci still had problems believing this.
“Yes, although they did tease me a lot at first for looking like a clone.” Garret said with a laugh. “When they found out at the end of first year that I really was a clone, they freaked. Still, when second year began, it was easier than that first year and I’d proved I belonged.”
“Your eyes.” Deci said, shocking Garret. “That first day you were here, I saw you with green eyes. These purple, their contacts aren’t they?”
“Yes.” Garret admitted. “I was gestated with green eyes, not purple. When I was brought here after my contract was sold, I was told to wear the purple lenses so no one would know I was a different type of clone.”
“Oh.” Deci said with wide eyes. “Why did they sell you?”
“The war was over, I guess.” Garret answered with a shrug of his shoulder.
“But that’s not a good reason.” Deci pouted.
“But it’s to be expected for a clone.” Garret countered. He could say more, but he didn’t want to, just in case word ever got back to Tremere. That would be a mistake he’d never recover from.
“What about your family?” Deci asked. “If they loved you like family, why did they let you be sold? Couldn’t they afford you?”
“Oh, they could afford ten thousand like me.” Garret admitted sourly. This was why there were tears in his eyes. He’d lost his family; his belief in their love was pricked when they never bought his contract. Now he was losing what he had come to think of as a new family, Deci.
“Then why don’t they just buy your contract?” Deci asked. “They could probably Value you based on your saving their son’s life!”
“That, Deci, is why I cry a lot.” Garret admitted, and when Deci rested his head against Garret’s, he let himself cry again.
“Oh my poor Garret.” Deci murmured, rocking slightly in Garret’s lap.
“I’m going to miss you.” Garret said again, tightening his arms around Deci and holding him close, at least one last time.
As with all my stories, E provides immeasurable input, grammar checking, and all those other lovely editing thingies that make the story so much better!
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