1:4:5 Negotiations (Part 5)

The clone that summoned them was waiting outside of The Vengeance. She straightened out her armour when she saw Ace approach but relaxed slightly when she noticed Curve. “Sorry to keep you cooped up in your ship. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the common room and quarters.” She started walking then stopped. “Oh, my apologies, I’m Aloe.” She extended a hand to Ace. “Leader of The First’s unit. This way.” She sped off towards the hangar door.
“Nice to meet you too?” Ace and the others were left behind, confused. “Where’s Destiny?”
“She’s probably getting changed. She takes forever.” Curve rolled her eyes.
The other clones stared at her. “I suppose you’d know!” Magpie chuckled.
The Destiny’s landing ramp deployed and from it, Destiny jogged towards the clones. “Where are we going then?”
The clones all shrugged. “A common room I think?”
“Are you guys coming?” Aloe shouted back. “We don’t bite.”
Ace signalled for the clones to move out. Destiny got the message. They jogged together to catch up with Aloe who had somehow crossed the majority of the hangar in the instant after she had shook Ace’s hand. The doors parted, revealing the foyer. Magpie marvelled at the waterfalls; Midpoint stopped him from putting his hand in it or from grabbing the flowers. Aloe led them down the corridor and into the clone common room and housing.

There were clones everywhere; almost all of them in their helmets but they had caught some mid drink. While they mostly seemed to gather together in their units, there were some tables with more than four clones. There was a small group clustered around a single table, all intrigued by the same, hidden object. Magpie could feel himself being pulled towards them but he could feel Midpoint again stopping him.
“Welcome to the holding pen.” Aloe took off her helmet. “Feel free to get comfortable. Fabricators are free and they’re programmed with almost any food or drink you could possibly want. Have fun.”
Ace led the group to an empty table and gestured for them to sit down. “Okay… So there are a lot more of us than I was expecting.”
“I’m guessing each Lore has their own set.” Curve frowned. “And here’s me thinking we were unique.” She chuckled.
“I’m off to see what’s going on there.” Magpie pointed at the large group. “In a bit.” He ran off, bounding over the tables and chairs between him and the others.
“Anyone hungry? Thirsty?” Ace nodded at the fabricators. “I’m getting myself some water if anyone wants anything?”
“I’ll take a cola if they’ve got the usual recipe.” Curve sat beside Midpoint.

Ace wandered over to the fabricator and searched the menu. “Hmm…” They scrolled through the drinks options; there were a series of cola based beverages available. “Last updated three days ago… Not that one then. Two weeks… Fourteen hours… Ah, there we are. Thirteen years.” Ace selected the classic cola then returned to the main menu to fabricate themselves a cup of water. “Strange cups they’ve got here.” They shrugged. Ace picked up the two cups and brought them over to the table. They handed the more colourful of the two cups to Curve then poked a hole in their own drink’s lid and took a sip. “Sorry, that’s your cola.”
“Thanks…” Curve took her actual drink and was about to hand Ace their cup when they stopped. “Hmm.” she chuckled.
“What?” Ace opened their water and rinsed the cola taste from their mouth.
“A rainbow frog. There must be something in the water.” She smiled.
Ace sat down with a confused look on their face. They held their cup as far from their mouth as possible as if it were a biohazard. “What?”
“The frog… They must be putting chemicals in the water…” Curve shook her head. “It’s one of the old comedy videos from one of the classic entertainment packages. The water’s probably fine to drink.”
Slowly Ace took a sip. They nodded and drank some more.
Magpie returned from their fraternisation with a smile on his face which only grew when he saw Ace’s cup. “Ah! You got one too.” He laughed. “Hope it tastes alright. Heard those were pretty rare. Eagle over there said he had to fabricate nearly seventy cups after he heard the rumour of a special cup.” Curve’s eyes narrowed.
“They’re special?” Ace stopped drinking and looked at the cup. “Well isn’t that something…” They drained it then handed the cup to Magpie. “Have it.”
“Thanks!” He held it aloft with a beaming grin. Curve snatched it and started inspecting it. “Hey! Hey! That’s mine!”
“And isn’t it suspicious that none of these had seen one till today?” Curve returned the cup and ran to the fabricator. She tapped at the screen and searched the menus for the water. “Last updated ten minutes ago. Why would you update water?”
Destiny and Magpie lingered over her shoulder. “I don’t know. Why would they?” Destiny smiled as she felt Curve jump in her arms.
Curve composed herself. “Well, what’s changed?” She compared the newer entry to the previous one. “Just the picture being added to one in a hundred cups.”
“Does it say who changed it?” Magpie tried to get a better look at the screen but Curve and Destiny got in the way.
“Change author: L-26. That’s our Lore! Must be a message.” Curve smiled.
Destiny turned both Curve and Magpie around then drew them in. “Why would they do this? There’s got to be a better way… By the gods, communicators have existed for centuries.”
“They have but what don’t either of them carry on a regular basis?” Curve asked.
Magpie pointed to their comm unit. “What do they always ask to borrow?”
Destiny just groaned. “How do we message them back?”
“You two go get sat down. I’ll sort it.” Curve smiled. Magpie started back to the table but Destiny remained. “You too. I think it’ll be good for you to get to know my siblings. That way they can’t keep accusing you of favouritism.”
“They still will…” Destiny wasn’t convinced. “But I’ll go sit with them if you want me to.”
“I wouldn’t mind you getting to know them.” Curve pecked her cheek. “Now go on!” She slapped her shoulder to send her on her way.

As Destiny approached the table, the others stopped their conversation. Ace, Midpoint and Magpie stared at her. Awkwardly, she joined them; Magpie’s smirk grew exponentially as she lowered herself to the chair.
“What?” She stared back.
“Sorry.” Magpie shook his head, still smiling. “These two are too awkward and too immature to know what to make of you. You know, you seem to have emotions and you act like any normal human but then sometimes you’re just a programmed puddle of computers in the shape of the strangely attractive humanoid who trained us.” One of the two kicked him under the table. “Ouch.”
Midpoint tried to act innocent. And shrugged when Ace stared at him.
“He’s not entirely wrong. It is a little strange that you look exactly like Wendy.” Ace took a drink.
Destiny didn’t quite know where to start; did she address the attack on her humanity, the question of her likeness to the training program or Magpie’s sentiment on her appearance. “What?” The confused disgust in her voice slapped the smile from Magpie’s face. He slid down his chair like a wounded animal.
“Sorry.” He averted his gaze.
“I was given a collection of faces from all over space and history; I mixed and matched the bits I liked and created a face I thought looked like me. I guess Lore used that for your training so you’d trust me…” She paused. “Hang on…” Destiny got up and walked over to the group of clones still examining the unique, rainbow frog cup. “Do any of you recognise me?” She made sure to stick her face in as many of the clone’s faces as she could.
“Should we?” Blindside gave her the dirtiest side eye of her existence so far.
“You famous or something?” Eagle pushed her away to get a better look at the cup. “Is it just me, or is the plastic a little denser?”
Destiny returned to her clones. “You guys got a completely unique training program.”
“So?” Magpie shrugged.
“It must mean something.” Destiny sat back down. “Now, I may have been a simple program to begin with but I’ve come a long way since then. I developed my own emotions thank you very much.” She looked ready to backhand Magpie. “What was this Wendy like?”
Midpoint and Magpie shrugged and shook their heads. “Dunno… She was just sort of there whenever Tolan wasn’t.”
“She was like a second parent. She taught us the theory, Tolan taught us how to actually use our skills. She taught us about other planets and Tolan taught us about humanity. Together, they raised us.” Ace smiled as they reminisced. “Wendy also made sure we knew that there was always an alternative and not everything had to end in a fight.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever used her negotiating techniques.” Midpoint gave a small chuckle.
Ace just looked at him. “Oh! Because you don’t talk.” The others watched on as they realised why Midpoint thought it funny.
“Yeah…” Magpie shook his head. “Her espionage drill certainly came in handy while I was helping Lore and Char steal the shield back.”
“Do you still have the programs?” Destiny crossed her fingers behind her back.
The clones all took a moment to think. “I think so.” Ace thought again. “I think Tolan downloaded them to our suits so we could use them whenever.” They produced their helmet. “The heads up display can be used as an augmented reality headset too.”
“It was either our suits or the ship itself.” Magpie covered his mouth. “Sorry, the ship herself.”
“If I’m not in there, it’s an it.” Destiny laughed.

She continued talking with the clones, learning more about Wendy until Curve returned, with a new cup. Wisps of steam faintly curled from over the lip of the rainbow plastic. Curve set it down then set herself down on Destiny’s lap. “’Sup?”
“Not a whole lot.” Magpie smiled. “Just getting to know your ‘friend’.”
Curve ignored him. “I miss anything?” She looked, this time, at Ace. They shook their head.
“What’s in the cup?” They asked.
Curve picked the cup up and moved it around seemingly randomly. “Umm…” She continued to hover the cup around while making strange noises. “Ah, it’s only water.” She tossed the contents of the cup over her shoulder. “It’s not the drink that’s important, it’s the message underneath.” Curve flipped the cup and slid it across to Ace.
They read the base of the cup. “Made in The Occam’s Razor… Ah, Make some friends. Clones may know things.”
“Why’s it written like a fortune cookie?” Magpie swiped the cup. “What? It might help me win over that lot.”
“I think it’s their idea of discretion.” Ace sighed. “Spoon doing the job of a knife.”
“Well, it worked. It hasn’t triggered any alarms silent or otherwise so don’t knock it.” Destiny wrapped an arm around Curve. “I’ve wiped the message and sent one back so they know we’ve got it. I say we each try and focus on getting to know our counterparts.”
Ace stared at her. “That’s my job…”
“Sorry. Got a little excited.” Curve interlaced her fingers with Destiny’s
“It’s not a bad idea though. We should start with The First’s lot. I’ll take Aloe, Midpoint you’ve got Edge, Curve’s on Outlier and Mags, you get Blindside. Destiny can you float between us and gather up any extra data you think might be useful?” Ace revelled in being in charge. “Ready?”
“Ready.” They all started at a normal talking volume but quickly quietened down when they realised their proximity to the other clones. “Ready?” They whispered. “Let’s go.”