Indentured (2 page)

“
You’ll need to lie perfectly still during this scan. I’m going to step into the other room, but you’ll still be able to hear me,” she stated.

“
Okay,” he exhaled.

A moment later, the magnetic imaging behemoth slowly sucked him into its gaping maw. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift to Biggs and Rebound – two men who were equally as disgruntled with the progress of the “War on Drugs.” He could only hope that they got away with the money even if he personally never saw a dime of it. The way he saw it…

Hydrus

3

A moment later, the magnetic imaging behemoth slowly sucked him into its gaping maw. He closed his eyes and let his thoughts drift to Biggs and Rebound – two men who were equally as disgruntled with the progress of the “War on Drugs.” He could only hope that they got away with the money even if he personally never saw a dime of it. The way he saw it…

The way he saw it…

The way…

He opened his eyes suddenly, losing his train of thought. He discovered in that moment that he was no longer surrounded by the dark interior of the MRI. Instead, it appeared that he was now in a poorly lit basement of some sort with a ceiling made up only of pipes, cables, and unusually long light fixtures.

His uneasiness didn’t abate even as his eyes traced the length of the ceiling, down the dirty gray walls, and ultimately to a multitude of hospital-like beds, each one occupied by what appeared to be healthy looking men. He leaned up on his elbow, an action that felt more than just a little peculiar. It was almost like his own arms were detached from him somehow.

A door opened several meters away, casting a pink glow on the back of the shadowy figure that marched into room. The figure moved with purpose, flipping unseen switches on the wall. Declan sat up, hoping to draw the person’s attention, but the figure instead turned away and faced the other half of the room.

“
Everybody up!” a deep baritone thundered from the shadowy figure, “You have 10 seconds to be standing at the foot of your beds.”

The man in the bed next to Declan shot up quickly as though someone dumped a bucket of cold water on him. What immediately struck Declan about the guy was how absolutely ‘healthy’ the young man looked. This man was a figure straight from a fitness magazine – the epitome of muscular tone and definition.

His eyes met Declan’s in that moment and now it was evident that they both shared the same mask of confusion. Neither had any idea where they were or how they got here.

“
I said UP!”

The two leapt from their beds at the command exploding from the giant, bald, black man near the foot of the bed. When Declan’s feet hit the ground, he nearly toppled over, feeling that odd sensation again that this body wasn’t his own. When he reached out to balance himself on the metal bedpost, he discovered the true irony of that previous thought.

“
What’s this?” Declan muttered, catching sight of the muscular arm that moved in place of his own.

After finding his balance, he held his arms out, twisting them and inspecting the impossibly perfect musculature. He was as sharply defined as the man in the bed next to him. Wearing nothing but a pair of red boxers, he quickly noticed that nothing on his body was as he remembered.

“
You all have questions, no doubt, and I have all the answers, but first I need to make a few things clear,” the bald man blared, “My name is Alpha and you all report to me. If you want answers to the ten-million questions that are racing through your heads right now, you will remain silent – ABSOLUTELY SILENT – and you will follow me right now.”

Alpha turned to leave the room without waiting for a response. Declan glanced at his bed, hoping to find a shirt or a hospital gown to put on, but he found nothing to accommodate. His ‘neighbor’ tapped his arm and gestured for him to follow as the whole group started toward the exit.

While they started filing out, Declan’s discomfort and confusion peaked even further. Watching these people exit in front of him, he noticed a frightening similarity in every single one of them. Each and every man had the same muscular build; the same pale skin tone; and the same dark brown hair shaved in a military buzz. Declan reached up and ran his hand through his own hair, hoping to discover that he would be somehow different. His disappointment rose as he felt the prickles of his own buzz-cut.

“
What happened to us?” Declan whispered to the man in front of him, “Where are-”

Declan screamed out in pain as a pulsating shock tore through his body, dropping him immediately to the floor in the hallway. The others who were still behind him stepped carefully around and proceeded to the room at the end of the hall.

It took him a moment to realize that his body actually hadn’t been ripped in two. The shock had subsided as quickly as it had come, but the ghost pains haunted him for a few seconds longer. He took a moment to catch his breath as he lie on the floor; worried somehow that one wrong move could bring on another torrent of electricity. After a moment, he sat up and caught the smug gaze of Alpha who had apparently been waiting for him at the end of the hall.

“
Absolute silence,” he repeated, crossing his arms and waiting for Declan to get up.

Declan managed to summon the courage to rise from the floor and head to the doorway where Alpha waited. He gave Alpha a wide berth as he entered a room that appeared to be something of a conference room or a classroom. The lighting was much more sufficient in this room compared to the pink glow of the hallway, but it still gave the appearance of an old basement.

The door closed behind him just as Alpha nudged roughly past him, heading toward the small lectern at the front of the room. The chairs, most of them already claimed by his clone roommates, were situated in a half-circle around this little podium. He was also surprised to note that a few of the seats were occupied by women who were likewise limited to clothing from the underwear drawer. The only available chair was the one directly in front of him, comfortably parked near the exit.

“
As Foxtrot so graciously demonstrated, there are immediate repercussions for any transgressions on your parts. I will explain all of this, but for the next half-hour, I would like you to just be obedient to one order of instruction – NO questions from you until I am completed,” Alpha stated, “I guess your most pertinent question is, where am I and how did I get here?”

Declan examined his chest muscle and his rigid abs while Alpha started to explain. As an instructor of Martial Arts, he had always maintained a fit body, but nothing quite like this.

“
Each and every one of you probably had the exact same memory before showing up here. You were most likely getting what was referred to as an MRI in the 21
^st
century – a detailed scan of your brain,” he stated, finally receiving Declan’s undivided attention, “This detailed scan of your brain was saved, for all intents and purposes, in a digital format either on the hard drive of a computer or on a disc of some fashion. Whatever the method, this is not important. Here is what’s important. It’s pertinent that for the next few days, you remember this fact more than anything else: Each and every one of you lived out your
full
lives at some point in the 21
^st
century. Now, how long did you live after that MRI? I don’t know and I don’t care,

“
Maybe you died the next day or maybe you lived to be a hundred. The point is, even though you won’t remember, you
did
live your full share of life and anything beyond this
‘full share’
doesn’t belong to you. The life you are living today – the life beyond your full share – belongs to the United Scientist Space Command. You belong to the USSC and you no longer have ownership over your life.”

The room erupted in angry gasps, shouted questions, and demands for answers. One of these clones even rose from his seat in a threatening manner, but was immediately brought down by some invisible weapon. As he writhed on the floor screaming in pain, the room quickly quieted down.

“
Give me time to explain,” Alpha commanded, “Is it worth these painful consequences to keep testing the USSC? Foxtrot knows what it’s like and now Tango joins our lovely electrocution club. Actually, come to think of it… Foxtrot, how about coming up here so I can demonstrate something?”

Everyone looked around, wondering whom Alpha was referring to. The man on the floor stopped squirming, but didn’t seem to be in a hurry to return to his seat. Alpha sighed in exasperation, then pointed to Declan.

“
You
- get up here,” Alpha waited for Declan to join him, then grasped his forearm and physically turned him to face the room, “Does this guy look familiar to you? That’s because you are all identical. The women are identical to each other also. The USSC created these bodies for you and these bodies are created perfectly to make adapting to your new jobs very easy for you. It’s time to show some respect for this second chance that you’ve been given.”

Alpha turned to Declan and slapped him in the face. Declan only responded with a glare, knowing that a physical response would only reveal the edge that he believed he had over Alpha. Alpha slapped Declan again, but harder this time. Now Declan figured that he was being used as an example. Maybe he wanted Declan to speak or perhaps to cry out.

“
In the year 2078, Dr. CJ Satterfield discovered that you could take a fetus in the beginning of the third trimester and imprint an MRI scan into its virginal brain, thus imprinting the mature identity of someone else entirely,” Alpha stated, slapping Declan even harder, “It was beautiful. It was nothing less than eternal life. It started out as a way for the rich to get to live forever, but the Final War changed all of this. It turned what was originally a luxury item into a way to make smarter, stronger soldiers. I mean, imagine taking a military lifer like perhaps a retired Brigadier General and imprinting him into a child. Think of the wisdom and power this young soldier could offer the next generation.”

Declan turned away from Alpha; disgusted suddenly with everything he was seeing and hearing. Alpha leapt onto his back and caught him in a chokehold.

“
If you want to demonstrate your masochistic weapons of submission, then do it already, you bald heap of crap,” Declan spat, continuing to walk to his seat with the instructor attached to him.

Alpha released Declan and grabbed him by the arm, attempting to twist him around again.

“
Then hit me,” Alpha stated.

Declan turned to him and grinned defiantly.

“
The time will come for that, I promise you, but not like this.”

With that, Declan dropped to the floor, jolted again by whatever weapon had blasted him in the hallway. This time however, he refused to cry out in spite of the horrific pain.

“
This was not unexpected and it still serves my purpose,” Alpha said to the class, waving his hand across the prostrate man on the floor, “You can be angry, bitter, and even rebellious, but no matter what you choose to do to assert your independence, you are the property of USSC.”

“
That’s enough!” a female voice shouted from the back of the class.

Whatever had been causing Declan’s pain had stopped in that instant. The woman, dressed in a dark blue uniform, walked to the front of the class and took a position behind the lectern. She seemed to command some sort of respect from Alpha because he stepped immediately aside.

“
Alpha – this imposing man beside me – was supposed to explain to you why you are here. Instead, he chose to whip you and beat you into submission. This
‘submission’
is
not
why you are here,” she stated, waving suddenly toward the door, “I can take over from here, Alpha. I’ll call for you when I’m done.”

With the assistance of a fellow Indenture, Declan rose from the floor and took his seat. He leaned away from the aisle as Alpha passed, hoping to offer no opportunities for the man to inflict more damage. Alpha quietly left the room without incident. The woman at the front of the class offered an apologetic smile toward Declan, puzzling him for a moment as he tried to get comfortable.

“
My name is Ensign Rowe and I serve as an intermediary between you and the command personnel. Alpha is in charge of you and your day-to-day operations. Basically, he’s your foreman and I am your manager. You’re not slaves, servants, or whatever else Alpha may have led you to believe. You’re…” she paused for a moment to search for the words, “I guess the closest definition would be ‘indentured servants.’ We have our own term for your position, but it would be lost on you since you lack any knowledge of our more recent history. But for us here in this room, we will simply use the word ‘Indentured.’ We brought you back to life in a sense. We gave you powerful and healthy bodies, and all we ask in return is 20 years of service for the USSC.”