stOrY conteSt
transfers she’d made with Premiers, like Zareen. ‘Echoes. Memories. Mutual bliss will cover the residues.’
‘But I’ll forgive the grammatical fault. And even the deteriora- He finally understood ‘why’. She needed him to give her peace.
tion of age, repulsive as it is, finds no blame in me. You’re still Artificial clones were expert technicians but lacked the true
fully functioning, I take it?’ warmth of the human. No matter how engineers might perfect
‘No idea, Adelita. I haven’t “functioned” for a hundred years robotics, machines were still machines, even when they housed
or more. No need with medics to take the drudgery out of the the memories and feelings of the real men and women they
continued demands made of me.’ mimicked.
‘Drudgery, Jared?’ He was human still. And she was supreme amongst living
‘Artificial insemination. Not the real thing, like it was with women. And she wanted him.
you, Adelita. And it was never drudgery with you. Far from it. ‘Take it.’ The phial lingered in her palm, offered.
I was new and freshly made. Energy came naturally. I travelled ‘Why haven’t They provided it, if it does all you say?’
with you. We made tracks together, found our mutual destination She nodded, acknowledging his scepticism. ‘They believe the
almost at the same instant. But you’re not changed one iota. Look risk is too high. Having made Their promises and provided this,
at me. You said yourself I’ve aged, become repulsive. You really They now consider the risk of actual use too high a price to pay. It
can’t expect the same of me so many centuries on.’ was ever the way with Them, as you know, Jared.’
‘I can. And I do.’ She displayed a small green vial for him, ‘And that risk is?’
secreted in her perfect hand, liquid contents swirling with an She sat then, on the edge of the floating anti-grav that gave
iridescent glow and the independent movement of a living him soft support without pressure. ‘There’s a small chance you
medium that sent shudders through his fragile frame. might die.’
He’d heard about this. Never seen it. Always thought it an He looked into her eyes and knew she told the truth but
untruth put about by Them. Make a promise like that and They wondered at her definition of small.
knew he’d cling on in hope, no matter what. And he had clung ‘Less than one in twenty. And I demonstrate the risk is worth
on. Taken every step to keep existence actual. Avoided the final, it. Will you defy Them and take the chance, before they come to
ultimate artificial cloning. destroy the only remaining phial?’
‘It’s real enough.’ She held it up for his examination again and he watched the
He felt rather than heard her truth and knew it to be so. By swirling threat and promise move within the small glass tube.
space, she was something to see; always had been. And the scent ‘They say it both restores and preserves. Does it?’
of her. So much female pheromone in one enduringly lovely ‘Would I risk it otherwise? Risk you? It has restored me from
package. the state I was; a state worse than your current condition. This
They were close in many ways; like him, she’d been a foetus. is the last. I brought it for you because you are the one I want.
‘Is it true, My Lord? You both were children of nature, infants… There’s only Jared. Only one. No more. The last.’
actually suckling at your mothers’…breasts, My Lady?’ Zareen Surprising that she said it with such conviction.
quivered. ‘Am I?’
‘Only recent custom and utilitarian tradition have made the Amongst the many billions, how could she be sure?
images in your mind obscene, Sisterclone. There was much soft ‘I know. Even without official records, even without the
and natural about it, then.’ Universal Brain, which agrees with me, there are signs if you
‘Yes. It’s true, Zareen. We knew our mothers. Sucked milk and search. And you know how thorough I can be.’
life where now only sensation lives.’ It was true, he knew. He found a memory of his time with her
Adelita glanced sympathy at Zareen and passed a well-known to curve his mouth. Saw it reflected in her face.
secret to Jared. ‘Artificial has no true understanding of Natural; ‘Will you, Jared? For me.’
the reality of it disappears with processing. That’s why you and I ‘How long will it give us?’
must be and continue.’ ‘I’ve already had an extra century, which I’ve spent in vainly
searching for other men. There are none. Just you, Jared. And,
In the depths of her pupils, the
even if there had been, I would eventually have been forced to
come for you; to spend the rest of time with.’
pain she’d felt and held echoed
‘The rest of time? As short as that?’
She allowed a small smile and held the phial toward him. ‘They
within her. The price… claim eternity. A millennium or more with you will do for me.’
There was no sign of aging in her. Twenty two or three in
terms of what the years once meant, according to the holographic
It amazed him that she transmitted as easily as she received. records and his personal memories. And they’d never age.
Was that also a gift of the phial? She held his hand. ‘They say that if decline begins after this, it
‘Partly, yes.’ She presented it again. ‘Will you?’ ends the same moment. Live young and strong and vital. Die in
The gift promised but the threat made him tremble. ‘I’ve heard an instant of imploding cells.’
it pains more than one can possibly imagine.’ ‘So, we’d end completely, denied the chance of transfer to an
She nodded. artificial clone?’
‘You?’ ‘After what we have as humans, Jared, after what we will have;
Again, that perfect face, framed by wavy pale gold, slowly rose who’d settle for a half existence?’
and fell. It was then he saw beyond the intensity of those aqua- Zareen turned away; the pain of exclusion enough even for her
marine eyes that flashed her want of him. In the depths of her artificial being.
pupils, the pain she’d felt and held echoed within her. The price. He reached for the phial. Trembling, took it. And, suddenly, he
‘The pain has gone now?’ knew the ancient name of what it was he felt for her.
‘Almost.’ ‘Yes. I love you, too, Jared. Here, let me.’
‘And you were really once as…?’ Almost as soon as Adelita administered it, he felt the energy
‘Yes. Even more repulsive, if that’s possible. But age was ever course through him.
more cruel to women than men. There’s a dignity to age in males And, slowly, came the pain.
that finds only pathos and fear of rejection in females.’
It was impossible to picture her in skin as old and dry as his.
The bent bones, blackened teeth, slow aching joints, the hirsute
About the author
sprouting regalia of age.
Stuart Aken is married with a teenage daughter
She smiled. ‘An accurate portrayal. But reversible, as you see.
and has been writing for centuries. He’s had first and
Will you?’
second places in previous Writers’ Forum contests
‘How long in agony?’
and his romantic novel, Breaking Faith, was published
‘A week at least; maybe up to a year.’
through YouWriteOn earlier this year.
‘Afterwards?’
Writers
null
fOrum #99 35
WF99JAN31.indd 5 24/11/2009 10:06:25
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