Eve

I repaired the coal car and resumed mining.  I don’t intend to be a miner much longer but I need money for supplies, and to carry out the plans I am making.  The plan to free other clones.  To build an army.  We are outnumbered, and isolated from each other by the naturals.  But we have an advantage I intend to use to the fullest.

Something I learned while I was at the clone facility.  There is not a single clone anywhere who would not give their life for a chance at freedom.  When you are a clone, you are a slave, and you have nothing.  No hope, no love, no children, no future.  When you have nothing, you have nothing to lose.

Someday, I will lead a band of soldiers into battle against the naturals.  Today, there is just me.   It will start with one.

We will never refer to ourselves as clones.  In my army, there will only be people.  And none will have a tattoo.  I have already begun laser treatments to break down the ink.  The naturals had given some thought on how to make the tattoos difficult to remove.  If they had used only standard inks, it would have been no problem.  Colors like blue and black are broken down easily by the laser.  After the first few treatments, those colors were noticeably faded.  But not the titanium dioxide.

They used a mix of colors for the tattoos.  It is black when they are made.  As I progressed through the treatments, the colors gradually faded, except for the brightness of the titanium dioxide.  The laser had no effect on it.  The tattoo faded to bright white.

It took some research to figure out how to fix that.  Titanium dioxide is insoluble in water.  That means it tends to stay where it was put by the needle.  It is made by mixing titanyl sulfate with water.  That produces titanium dioxide and releases sulfuric acid.  Titanyl sulfate is water soluble, so it can move around inside bodily fluids.  I instructed the computer to make many millions of the microscopic nanobots.

Nanobot technology had been around for a while.  Tiny machines that can navigate through the smallest blood vessels.  They are designed to do one specific task, and can be operated by an external controller.  Such as the ship’s medical robot.  They have many uses, most commonly, to release medications in precise amounts in a specific location.  I would have used them to treat Randleman’s broken legs, if I hadn’t killed him first.

A magnetic strip taped over the tattoo serves as a homing signal for the devices.  Two types of nanobots were needed.  One releases sulfuric acid, one molecule at a time.  Enough to convert a molecule of titanium dioxide into titanyl sulfate.  The second detects and absorbs the newly water soluble molecule, as it begins to move around.  When they are empty or full, depending on type, they migrate to the intestines and end up in the recycler via the toilet.

By the time the cargo bay was full of nickel, my tattoo was gone.

It was time to trade the dangers of asteroid mining with that of impersonating someone else, a natural whom I had recently murdered in cold blood.  In order to sell the nickel, and have access to the credits in his account, I would have to become him.

Fortunately, transactions such as selling and offloading precious metals can be done with minimal contact.  The trading company Randleman did business with was in orbit around Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.  I had all of his access codes.  The message I sent indicated that the ship’s communication system had malfunctioned and the only thing that was working was text.  Not true but my best chance for being able to pull off the acting job.

While I was removing the tattoo, I developed a temporary one I could use at times like this, when I needed to interact with others.  The medical robot applied the henna to my forehead before the trading station crew flew their barge out to the ship.  The fake tattoo might not stand up to close inspection but I was certain no one would notice through my helmet’s face shield.  The henna would fade on its own in a couple of weeks.  But I couldn’t wait to scrub it off after I’d traded the nickel for supplies, and the ship was on auto-pilot, heading back to the asteroid belt.

That was when everything got complicated.  One of the things I traded for was a clone.

I was hoping to get a male M90 series or above.  Only the strongest and most athletic of the males got M90 training.  But the station was only willing to sell a female A49, like me.

After the ship was underway, I told the story to my new partner.  F94497366A49 sat silently while I described killing Randleman and removing the chip.  “You’re free now, and you will never be a clone again.  On my ship there are only humans.”  I ordered the ship to unlock her collar.  I unlatched the clasp and separated the two pieces.  I fed the device into the recycler.  I said, “You will never be a slave again.”  I handed her what looked like an ordinary collar.

“Keep this in your locker.  It talks to the computer like a real collar but it cannot hurt you.  This is just for show.  You will only need this when we interact with outsiders.”

When I wiped the henna tattoo from my forehead with an alcohol swab, she burst into tears.  I wasn’t expecting that.  “Another thing.  You are a human now.  You are free.  You do not need permission to speak.  When you talk, I will listen.  I am your employer.  But I do not own you.  I will never force you to act against your own will.”

“Later we will get the chip out of your belly and start removing the tattoo.  For now you need to eat and get some rest.  We’ve got more mining to do, more clones to set free.”

“One more thing.  Your first job is to choose a name.  Unless we are acting for outsiders, you will never be referred to as a number again.  You can pick any name you want.  I found mine in an old song.  If you don’t have a name you already like, the computer can help.  Take as much time as you want, this is important.”

I could hear her breathing as we lay strapped into our sleep bunks.  I fell asleep thinking about what she would call herself.

She was still in her bunk when I arose.  I was eating when I heard the straps unbuckle.  She floated into the kitchen.  It occurred to me, we had been together for nearly 24 hours.  And she had not spoken to me once.  I had done all the talking so far. 

When she broke her silence, she said, “I have decided.  I will be known as Eve.”