1:2:4 Underground (Part 3)

The room was similarly decorated to Tolan’s other lab but this one was much larger. It had a small waiting area, an empty receptionists desk and an empty fish tank. Tolan put their hand into the tank and removed a small, plastic stone from the floor; it had a thin string connected to it. Tolan let go of the pebble and, as it retracted, there was a series of whirring sounds accompanied by clicking that indicated something was unlocking. Fish flooded into the tank from apparently nowhere distracting them from the floor to ceiling mirror swinging out, revealing a hidden room.
“Come on through.” Tolan smiled. “We met when you were younger. Inquisitor Loren... You came to me to make use of my talents so, say hello to the fifty second.”
The room was surprisingly larger than expected. There was a cot in each corner with a locker at the head of the bed and a footlocker at the end. Two metal benches sat in the middle. Gathered on them, were four armoured figures. As Lore’s party poured into the room, they stood to attention.
“I know you wanted more but with the changing circumstances, these were the best I could do.”
“What is going on here?” Lore’s worry was beginning to grow.
“On your last visit you came to me asking for a squad of elite troops.” They waved at the soldiers. “Here they are.” The troops immediately formed up shoulder to shoulder. “Roll call.”
“I meant more as in who are these people?” Lore’s protesting fell on ignorant ears.
The first of the four soldiers removed their helmet and held it under their left armpit. Their skin was a pale gold, lighter than Char’s but more yellow than Lore’s. The soldier’s soft silver hair was buzzed down on the sides but slicked back on the top. “Commander Ace.” They saluted “Leader of the unit and resident pistol expert.” They made their way to their bunk and sat down.
The next in line came forward and removed their helmet. His face was nearly identical to Ace’s but his right eye was not dissimilar to those of the natives, entirely blue save the pupil. “Magpie.” He quickly closed his blue eye and reached out his free hand to shake Lore’s “Sniper.” His voice was soft and quiet; it had a relaxing quality to it. He immediately replaced his helmet before sitting with Ace.
“Magpie’s right eye is hypersensitive to light.” Tolan whispered into Lore’s ear as the next soldier came forward.
The helmet came off and again, the face beneath it was nearly identical to his siblings. “Midpoint.” He smiled. “Heavy weapons specialist.”
The last of the soldiers stepped forward. They were thinner than the other three and rather than being nearly twenty centimetres taller, they were almost at Lore’s eye level. They removed their helmet. “Curve.” Her hair was neatly plaited and arranged around her head to hide its true length under her helmet. “Sabre rattler.” She winked at Destiny before sitting back on the bench opposite her siblings.
“Ok. First off, nice to meet you all. Secondly, why the hel do you have four grown adults living in a hidden room in one of your practices? Why did I ask for this?” Lore’s tone was palpably worried.
“They’re clones.” Tolan started. “Some of my best work if I do say so myself.” They smiled. “Four, nearly, fully trained, genetically perfect warriors, bought and paid for.” They whispered but nearly but everyone heard it. “They’re yours when you want them.”
“I bought four soldiers?”
“No. You bought fifty two. These were the only ones who survived the move from my lab to The Conglomeration.”
“I’m sorry, I barely even know you and now I’ve bought people, which is really creepy mind you.” Lore could feel their heart accelerate as their anxiety picked up. Char took their hand into hers.
The tablet in Destiny’s hand trilled as the box next to Doctor Tolan’s name was ticked. She looked at the updated objectives list.
“Mission report commander.” Tolan ordered. As the words left their mouth, Ace stood to attention.
“We can now confirm the reports of increased activity around the satellite centre. Recon teams have been more frequent and have been spending more time observing Celreagaire. They have also been seen around the entrances to The Conglomeration. They’re preparing for the final stage of the experiment. It is a little strange though, they’ve got three months left but in the last twenty six hours, they’ve been, if you’ll pardon the phrase, running around like headless siarc.”
“Thank you.” Tolan turned to Lore as if expecting them to make an address or issue an order but none came leaving an awkward silence. “This is your new commanding officer. You are to follow their orders to the best of your abilities. You are some of the best clones I’ve ever turned out so make me proud and do your duties.” Tolan paused.
“YES SIR!” The clones shouted in unison.
“Dismissed.” Tolan turned around and left the room.
The clones milled about, casually chatting with one another whilst enjoying their down time. With the exception of Midpoint, their grey armour was polished to within an inch of its life. Between the gaps in its plating, crimson under armour poked through. Lore couldn’t help but feel Curve’s staring at them. They walked closer but that didn’t discourage her. Occasionally, she’d look down at her wrist but for the most part, she sat there, staring at Lore through squinted eyes.
“You alright there?” Lore asked.
“Fine thanks.” Curve responded nonchalantly. “What colour is that? It’s not quite grey, not quite blue.”
Lore looked confused before they realised she was talking about their armour. “It’s Aegean blue.”
“I was looking at that but it looked too dark.” She looked to the single, sulphur lamp in the middle of the room’s ceiling. “Damn lighting.”
She tapped at her wrist once more and then, after a moment of glitching, her under armour changed from dark red to grey-blue. “That’s better. Lads and Ace, Aegean blue.” The clones nodded and, after a few taps and some more glitching, they were, once again, all matching.”
“What about the grey?” Char’s question was met with confused looks. “What?”
“Isn’t The Protectorate still using black armour?” Ace called over. “We don’t want to get caught in the crossfire.”
“Fair enough.” Char nodded.
“On that topic, we best get looking for clues or at least something to get Undulia to stand down.” Lore turned to leave the room.
“What’s she mad about now?” Ace smiled as the other clones jeered.
“Someone broke into the museum and stole…” Lore was spoken over.
“A shield.” Magpie finished.
“A sword?” Lore finished, confused. “A ceremonial sword was stolen.”
“That wasn’t a sword I saw Blue carrying.” Magpie set down his helmet. “Blue had one of those Sat’Mach shields and they looked like they were in a hurry to get rid of it.”
“Could you show us where they took it?” Cogs were turning in Lore’s head.
Magpie paused for a moment before nodding. “I would say that I could.”
“Hold that thought.” Lore joined Tolan and Destiny in the other room. “Can I have the tablet?”
“Here.” Destiny handed it to them.
Lore scanned through the objectives connected to Tolan and Illia. There weren’t that many. Towards the end of the list, the second to last objective, read: Access and clear the Serenity Point Data buffer. “What’s Serenity Point?”
“It’s the only active data hub on Illia.” Tolan pulled out a tablet “Since the start of the experiment, Celreagaire hasn’t received a single external communication. Illia has but Celreagaire hasn’t. Every legal update, every scientific discovery, even every fashion magazine is waiting on a series of satellites managed by the Serenity Point.”
“Why would we need anything from there then?” Char loomed over Lore’s shoulder. Lore shrugged.
“We’ve been monitoring the data as it’s been coming in. You’re free to look through if you want.” Tolan gestured toward their back room. “My terminal is all linked up.”
“Right then. I reckon I’ve got a plan brewing.” Lore returned to the clone’s quarters and sat on the central bench. They had significantly more resources at their disposal than when they entered the Conglomeration. It was now a matter of delegation. “If… no… no. I need them there…” They muttered to themselves, gesturing at nothing and waggling their finger as if tracing a map, for a good five minutes before returning to reality. “That could work.”
“Care to clue us in?” Char had joined them unbeknownst to Lore.
“Everyone in here a moment. Gather round.” Destiny and Tolan stood in the doorway. “Ok. We’ve got people so let’s use them. Magpie, you’re confident you can take us to where Blue took the sword shield?” Magpie nodded. “Right then, you’re with us.” He nodded again. “Destiny, I need you here with Tolan, scouring that buffer for whatever the list wants from us.”
“Anything else?” Destiny looked unimpressed.
“I’ll keep you updated.” Lore continued. “Tolan, I’m assuming you have long range comms.”
“We do. Range only covers Illia though.” Tolan removed a small, square receiver with a talk button on the side.
“Fantastic. Ace. I need you, Curve and Midpoint to scout out Serenity point. Get a good look around, get in and get ready to get whatever Destiny finds.” The clones nodded in unison. “We do this right, I think we can get in and out of here with barely a feather ruffled. Undulia’s happy because we solved the mystery of the missing sword and we’re happy because we get whatever the other Lores needed us to get.”
“Win win.” Char looked impressed. She was liking the middle ground they were finding their footing in.
“Win win.” Lore repeated. “Any questions?”
“No Sir!” The clones answered for everyone.
“Right then, let’s get cracking.” Lore gestured with their hand and, with that, everyone was off. Destiny retreated to the back room’s terminal with Tolan, the clones prepared themselves for an excursion outside of the dome and Magpie made his way to the clinic’s entrance.
“I think I saw them talking with the Null fence down in the lower clusters. They’d be a good person to start with. The Middlethem.”
Lore and Char stifled their chuckles, “Middlethem?”