He took her arm and turned her toward the large TV wall. He reached up with his other hand and touched part of it. A small blue keyboard appeared and he tapped commands into it. The beach view disappeared, and it became a giant mirror. He stepped closer to her and met her gaze in the glass.
She studied her face. It looked like her old pictures of herself. Her hair had been pulled back into a bun, something she really hadn’t noticed until then. It had been too distracting waking in what she thought was a coffin, then immediately dealing with the annoying robot, and finally the pirate taking her onto his ship.
She leaned in, almost pressing her nose to the glass. Her skin appeared flawless and healthy. The scar on her forehead wasn’t there anymore. She’d fallen off her bike as a kid and needed six stitches. She backed up a little, checking out her body.
“This is amazing. Look how thin and in shape I am!” She tugged out of his hold and flattened a hand over her stomach.
“There’s your proof.”
She grinned and met his gaze in the mirror. “Honey, I don’t think I ever looked this good in real life. I was always chubby when I was younger.” She turned sideways. “I always wanted to be skinny. Now I am.”
“Some of your genetics would have been enhanced. That’s standard for a clone.”
“Enhanced?” She was still admiring her body in the mirror.
“The company screens out genetic defects. All illnesses are removed and you have an improved immune system. You were altered on a cellular level to avoid aging the way normal people do. Every three months, you need a plasma transfer to feed those cells that work to keep us in great health. We also need plasma if we’re seriously injured. It’s one of the reasons I targeted that transport. They were carrying clone plasma to resupply Clone World. I’m stockpiling a vast supply. What I just stole is enough to last six clones for approximately five years.”
“Blood?” She scowled at him. “Now we’re vampires?”
“It’s not blood as you know it. It’s plasma cells that were created by JDJ Cryo Corp to replenish dying ones in clones, and they keep us in peak condition. Without new plasma, we don’t begin to age, but our bodies will start to break down. We’ll grow weak and die in a matter of months. It was a way for the company to keep control of us, while also making more money off the clients we’re sold to.”
“This is getting too weird for me.” She faced him. “As kickin’ as this body is, I’d like to see the beach again.”
He reached up and tapped the panel, changing the screen back to the cove. “You don’t believe me…but you will.”
She sighed, growing tired of the dream. “This can’t be real. It’s too crazy.”
“I understand. You’re from a time period where none of this was possible. It’s true, though. You died, and I believe your body was mistakenly stolen by JDJ Cryo Corp to get tissue and the brain of the singer who shared your name. They began doing that in the early two thousands, from what I remember of the information I’ve read. They just couldn’t perfect the technology until much later. You were ordered to be created by the owner of Clone World, and were being shipped to him. You’re a clone with the memories of someone who died.” He paused. “Look at it this way. You are the same person, but you have a new and much-improved body.”
“Cool concept. Who wouldn’t want to be given a second chance at life in a young body? Not me, said no one ever. It’s the thing fantasies are made of. One problem, Big.”
“What’s that?”
“How did they rip my brain out of my body and put it into another? It’s one thing to donate a kidney or something. It’s entirely another to pass memories and emotions to someone the way they can with a transplant.”
“Your brain is also cloned. The original one will be kept in storage in case someone else orders a Gemma Grady clone.”
That was a disturbing concept. “There could be more versions of me out there?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“Who wake up in the future?”
“Yes.”
“With all my memories intact?”
“Yes, if the buyer wants the clone to retain the memories and personality of the source material. It’s a law that clones must be blanked of any memories, until