...Another golden youth? - the thought flashed through my mind as I found myself before the piercing dark eyes of a tall young Admiral dressed in black from tip to toe. A tight, elegant suit of smooth material, shimmering dully in the subdued lighting of the spacious office of a high-rise building on the planet Daiqi, gave him the stern, emasculated image of a military dictator. Somehow, his appearance and demeanor resembled that of that evil General who had captured Akhala in the base's deep dungeon.
A barely perceptible smile flickered his harmoniously contoured, lean, narrow face... a young man in such a high position?
The meeting, arranged by the leadership with the authority of the Coalition fleet, Gorro, came as a surprise to me... something like this had never happened before. Again, this suspiciously strange attention to me.
- Taen... sit down! Perhaps we could talk like old fellas?
...This unexpected behaviour from the high-ranking official quickly put me at ease...
— Did those rascals give you a hard time?
— ...What? ...Ha...— I was taken aback, perplexed.
— Pretorians! Tough, hot-blooded men... You demanded an investigation? Don't bother, I basically know what happened to you.
...Isn't he being a bit too familiar with me? As if this young Admiral knows everything about me! Of course... it seems the suspicions about total surveillance of me and my team are obvious. They really do see absolutely everything we do! Have the hidden camera footage been studied so thoroughly that I've become close and dear to him? I felt sick again...
— And what did they do to me?
— Nothing bad... you're alive, right? Nothing hurts?
— No... everything's fine!
— Well, good! Can your service to the Coalition continue without any problems?
— Yes, sir! - I blurted out seriously, despite the familiarity of our conversation. "I'm happy with everything the Coalition has provided me. My important position means a lot to me..."
"I thought so... Commander."
"I just don't understand why the Pretorians did that to me... knocked me unconscious... took my biomaterial."
"Your genes... DNA? For their offspring. They need diversity."
"They could have asked that."
"But what if he'd refused and been cautious... returned on board and that was it? The bird would have flown away!"
…The brazen irony on his marble-pale face with his piercing eyes, studying me intently, was becoming unnerving. What does he want? What am I doing here? Perhaps for the same reason…
This group of black-clad military men, standing on the high-rise parade ground of a huge trapezoidal skyscraper with massive dark shining mirrored windows, who greeted me upon shuttle landing, made me realize that there wasn't much variety in male types here. All the short-haired, dark-eyed, brunettes looked very much alike... as if copied from the same template.
"Not a single blonde!" I blurted out, embarrassed. "What do you have, what do they have..."
"Oh, there are blondes on Daiqi, quite a few... I assure you," Gorro chuckled, winking slyly. "They're just busy with other things... more relaxed. That's how it has to be; my valiant officers must adhere to a uniform, strict style of indomitable power, and hope for a sweet treat for their faithful service, reserved for pleasant leisure... I can provide you with our joys, too."
...What the hell was going on in his admiral's head, I tried to comprehend: so this is a method of boosting the soldiers' morale—intimate services somewhere nearby, just like on board…
"But I've already had my fun and I don't want to do it again... like in Pretoria."
"Ha... of course, that's not why you're here. We need your DNA too..."
"With your blondes or brunettes?"
"Ha... funny! No! Not like that... Let's go to our labs, I'll show you something."
Gorro led me down a high-speed elevator into a subterranean chamber with dim blue lighting, lined with tall glass flasks filled with a murky yellowish liquid, inside which human bodies of various sizes swayed and bubbled.
Noticing my disgusted expression, the admiral hastened to explain:
"These are clones of our best employees! Seems a bit repulsive to you... doesn't it?"
I shook my head, wondering why Gorro looked so young.
"What can I do? Be that as it may... I want eternal life by any means necessary. It's a perfectly acceptable solution. Oh, yes... I live in the body of just such a clone! My very advanced self was successfully transferred into a fresh, youthful body, comfortably awaiting my consciousness. And voila! I'm healthy and beautiful! It would be like being reborn as a youth and continuing my service to the Coalition without too much loss!"
"Miracles..."
…What else could I say?
"Taen... all this can be arranged for you too," his low voice whispered mysteriously and solemnly over the rustling noise of the operating equipment, supporting the fragile artificial life. "For faithful service!"
"Why... me this?"
...The question brought obvious surprise to his face...
"Immortality this way! You just wake up in a new body, and doesn't that captivate your mind? Only a few people are offered that! And there's no enthusiasm?"
"But I'm still young!"
"Taen, you're at risk... Our insidious enemy is highly unpredictable, as you've already noticed. You could perish at any moment, despite Luxares's high combat power!"
"And we never got a chance to test its weapons! Fortunately, the protective field protects us from destruction."
"Yes... yes..." Gorro shook his head thoughtfully. "Up to a point... but we're not so capable of fully protecting the fragile shells of our valuable personnel. The mysterious enemy's weapon is vibrational, destructive, and nothing will survive such an impact on the starship and its components. No one will escape. Not a single personnel has survived, despite the escape pods. Therefore, you are being offered the opportunity to live forever in clone bodies after death; all that's required is the extraction of your stem cells..."
"And you will create my clone?"
"Not me... but the science staff..."
"But it won't be me... how will I get into a new body?"
"Your DNA, grown in this lab, will attract parts of your consciousness after your death, and you will be reborn. Remember this while you are alive and your clone sleeps. As soon as we receive the signal that Luxares is lost, he will awaken, awaiting your arrival."
"Despite the distance?" I was surprised. "How so?"
"In the quantum world, human consciousness will automatically attach itself to the clone's brain with its living DNA copies, wherever it may be. A proven method, though not cheap. However, in this way, we preserve all the best mental accumulations of our loyal employees."
"Is my consciousness so valuable to the Coalition?"
"Without a doubt, such beauty and charisma are worthy of eternal life."
...Before falling asleep to have my stem cells harvested, my mind was filled with jumbled thoughts about future prospects. It's all so dubious!
Will I soon continue my journey in another body? Am I able to remember who I am after awakening as my clone? Gorro did, but how will this consciousness transfer be possible for me? How many employees have been granted such a privilege?