““...””

Ticia and the clones stared at one another in silence, neither side speaking up. On one hand Ticia was weary of those clones, which she considered a burden, yet also curious about what the old clone had just said. On the other hand, the clones looked at Ticia and her daughters with confused expressions, but still some reverence in their gazes.

“...Are you a ‘half blood’?” The old clone suddenly asked.

Ticia shook her head. “No, I’m a normal human.”

Her answer surprised the old man. He wanted to say something, but held himself back.

“I see. Apologies, I made a rather rude remark…”

“Uhm, can you take us with you outside?” One clone suddenly asked from the side.

“No”

“Yes”

“Miss Laura?!” Ticia instantly turned towards Laura when she heard this. Why would the woman accept this? It would only make things harder for them. Ticia had no will to lose any of her daughters in order to protect those clones.

“Don’t be like that, Miss Ticia. They can show their use.” Laura replied back with an easygoing tone, which made Ticia angrier. Laura ignored it however and turned towards the clones. “We’ll escort you, but you’ll have to help us too and answer our questions.”

“Thank you, please ask us any questions.” The old clone quickly replied in the stead of the others. It seemed like the other clones all put their fates into his hands.

Meanwhile, Ticia grew frustrated. She wanted to move, so she put back her helmet on and directed her daughters to make sure the perimeter was secure while also keeping an ear open to the discussion Laura was having.

“Why were you frozen?” Laura first asked.

“That…” The old clone’s face twisted into a weird expression, mirrored by the others. But he spoke up. “It was an order from the Council. Every clone personnel had to take place in a cryogenic pod.”

“Why?”

“I do not know, but rumors ran that the AI forces were nearby…”

That answer in itself did not make much sense to Ticia. If the enemies were there, why freeze up your combat force instead of using it? Even if it was a lost fight, it would still result in losses to the enemies in the end.

Laura simply nodded however, as if expecting this answer.

“What’s the deal with the chaos over there?” She asked next.

“It’s complicated…” The old clone answered. “This place is mainly a gigantic prison, a place where defectives are kept by orders of the council.” 

“Defective? That means?” Laura asked with a frown.

“Clones that have a tendency to disobey their owner’s orders.” Ticia replied before the old man could, joining the conversation once she had made sure the place was secure enough. She had learned of the term from her daughters before and realized how this very concept was dangerous by making the concerned clones believe they were ‘abnormalities’, making their fellow clones also change their views on them.

The old man nodded at her words.

“The defectives kept on the first floor are those that committed crimes such as killing humans or provoking riots.” He said. 

“So those were just sort of bandits? If so, I understand why they were jailed, but why not just get rid of them?” Laura asked.

“That-”

“It’s for experiments!” One clone suddenly shouted, surprising the others. “I-I was there on the lower floors-” He stopped mid-sentence, horror filling his face. The other clones looked at him with worried looks. Seeing this, the old man sighed.

“It was never once said, but that is the rumor that has been going around…”

“It’s not a rumor!” The clone shouted back.

“...Access to the lower floors is restricted to us in the first place, and I’m sure our owners wouldn’t have granted you special access. Please tell me more about this.” The old clone said, his gaze sharpening.

“I-I…” The clone faltered under the pressure, his face becoming even paler than before. He then began to cry. “I was just curious, I-I wanted to make sure it wasn’t true. Please don’t punish me, I’m not a defective clone!”

““...””

His frightened look and constant shivering as he cried while repeating the words ‘I’m not a defective’ rendered the others unable to speak. They looked at him with either looks of sympathy or just plain sadness.

“So they’re using the defectives for experimental purposes…” Ticia murmured, a grave look on her face.

Having heard her, the old clone sighed heavily, but did not comment.

“Hey, you.” Ticia directly addressed the traumatized clone. “Any idea what those experiments were about?”

“N-no… I just overheard talking about how their last experiment progressed well before running away to avoid being noticed…”

Ticia sighed. In that case it was not enough to verify whether experiments truly happened there, but if she were to give her honest thoughts, it might have to do either with the sentry clones or the virus…

“Why didn’t you try to rise up in rebellion?” Laura asked next, but her question made the clones look pale.

“They don’t have the ‘ability’ to do so.” Ticia answered in their stead, shaking her head. The old man nodded and continued.

“We are all lower class clones.”

“Which classes?” Ticia asked out of curiosity.

“Worker clones, laborer clones, janitor clones, low class soldier clones and even ‘comfort’ clones…” The old clone answered. “I myself am a low class soldier clone.”

“How does that matter?” Laura tilted her head, still confused.

“Lower class clones have less ‘independence’ and are reliant on orders. That's pretty much the only difference I know of.” Ticia said with a sigh. She then briefly explained how clones were given a certain amount of knowledge while they were growing in their pods, which made it possible to easily influence them. This limited their thought capacity, but also made the clones the most loyal subordinates you could ever have. 

With time and certain conditions though, that said control could diminish and the clones would act more as ‘humans’ than simple puppets. The best exemple Ticia could give was her daughters. The ECGs had been emotionless and loyal to her at first. While the latter was still true, the former was not anymore.

Ticia did not know whether the ECGs could be qualified as low class clones however…

“The more you give ‘autonomy’ to a clone, the more it is capable of questioning its owner’s orders. For those with less autonomy however, such thoughts are simply out of the question, moreso when you’re surrounded by others who have the same thought process.” Ticia concluded.

“So in other words, the word ‘rebellion’ doesn’t exist in their vocabulary from the get go, and since all the lower class clones next to them think the same, they might fear repercussions if the thought ever crosses their mind, right?”

“Plus the fact that punishment for ‘defectives’ can be quite severe…” Ticia finished Laura’s thoughts.

“I see… Then, lower class clones are just scared of any unexpected changes that might happen if it’s not given by their owners.”

“Yeah, but as you can see, those clones are at a loss right now, and there’s two reasons for that.” Ticia followed up, raising her fingers. “One: they don’t have an owner anymore to dictate whatever they have to do. Two: their previous owners have been too oppressive. Isn’t that so?” She asked the old clone after making her conclusions, who nodded in response.

“Yes… Any clone that showed aggressiveness or rejection to the council, or those that simply showed an ounce of hesitation... Any excuse was a good one in recent years… Not to mention the exemples they set up. Most clones were too scared to even question the orders…” 

“That’s pretty much what a rule by force is.” Laura commented.

“No.” Ticia shook her head. “That’s slavery.” She said with disgust clear in her voice. Sure, she might not want to help those clones, but that did not mean she tolerated the treatment they had received before…

“The defectives might have been driven crazy because of the treatment they received, not because they are ‘different’.”

Was there something that could be done for those clones? Perhaps, but Ticia neither had the time nor the will to help those clones. All she wanted was to make her escape from this place and not lose any more of her daughters.

As for why they were going on a rampage right now, Ticia thought it was because they suddenly became free of their holding without anyone to guide them, so the first thing they did was lash out against their former master’s puppets.

“The fact that a rebellion already happened before also justifies their actions.” Ticia continued.

“Most clones here have only heard of it and were yet to be born, but I was there.” The old man added. “While our middle class brethren rebelled with the support of some of the higher clones and most of the integrationists, most of us lower class clones stayed loyal to the council. We fought our brethren in the name of the council, and look how they rewarded us for that…”

The last words of the old clone were filled with regret. He probably felt regret for not joining the rebellion and instead siding with the council. 

“...Once things had settled up and we jailed the rebels in this place, I was assigned guard here, but… things became weird…” The old clone continued, now feeling uncomfortable.

“‘They’ began to appear and replace my colleagues one by one…” 

“The sentries?” Ticia asked.

“Yes, those things. They don’t even show any ounce of humanity…”

The fact that the old clone did not even consider the clone sentries as humans said a lot about how he and the other clones considered them.

“They are abominations. Puppets that don’t even talk. They only commit to basic necessities of a living being, but otherwise do nothing unless ordered. Their eyes are void of any emotions… I, no, we understood pretty quickly. They were our new ‘replacements’.”

Ticia could make out the rest out of what the old clone just said. After the rebellion, the radicals became paranoiac. They could not trust clones as they did before, so they tried restraining their ‘will’ even further, resulting in those sentry clones…

Once they were done, the council was probably planning on getting rid of all clones other than the sentries, but those could still show some use, hence why they suddenly ordered the clones to get into the cryogenic pods…

“...One last question.” Laura asked after a lot of pondering. “Do you know if Stuart Derguer is here?”

At her question, the old clone’s eyes grew wide,while Rebot-ia suddenly became agitated.

“That’s father’s name!” She said, focusing on the conversation.

“Why would you search for that person?” The old clone asked.

“That doesn’t concern you.” Laura replied immediately, showing no will to reveal her intentions. “All you need to know is that I need to have a chat with that person, and if possible, take him with me.”

“...” The old man stared at Laura for a moment, as if trying to understand her motives, before sighing.

“He’s indeed being kept down there…” He finally said.

“!!!” Laura had an immediate reaction. “I’ll go there.” She suddenly declared.

“Wha-!?” Ticia was surprised by the sudden change. “Hey! Didn’t we agree that we would leave this place!?”

“Yes, but that was before I got the confirmation that he was here.” Laura replied back, staring at Ticia in the eyes. 

“That’s reckless. This place is a total mess. What if we face another group of sentries armed to the teeth?”

“Then I’ll face them straight on. I’m confident in my robot’s abilities, and I won’t be surprised like last time.” Laura replied back. “This is important for us, the faster I get what I need, the better it is. I can’t back down here. Moreso if his cryogenic pod opened.”

Ticia stared back into the star shaped eyes of Laura, they shifted to warm colors as she did so. Ticia clearly saw how serious she was on the matter.

“...Fine, do whatever you want.” She ended up saying, walking away. “But that will be without me.”

“Oh? You’re not following me?” Laura asked.

“No.” Ticia replied firmly.

“Didn’t you also have questions to ask Stuart Deguer?”

“It’s not worth losing my daughters over.” Ticia replied shortly, feeling guilty over the loss of Jinxy.

“What a shame, then I guess it’s the end of our cooperation for this exploration then.” Laura said back as she shrugged. She couldn’t hold Ticia back and Ticia couldn’t hold her back. “Losing the support of your clones will certainly strain us, but I’ll have to do without it.”

Ticia wasn’t paying attention to Laura anymore, she faced the old clone.

“Where’s the exit?” She asked.

“This way, down to the central elevator.” The old man pointed out. “Though I must also inform you that you must take the same path if you wish to go deeper.”

““...”” Both Ticia and Laura stayed silent. What the old clone said was that they would have to be together for a bit longer. Not that it bothered them much, they knew there was security in numbers, but after what they both said, it felt a bit awkward…

“Welp, guess that settles it.” Laura said, shrugging it all off. “I’ll take the lead this time and try to avoid dangerous zones with my see-through vision.” She said before going the way the old clone had pointed to her.

Ticia silently followed after the robots, the clones remaining in the room all followed after them.

“...”

““...””

Nobody said a word on the way. Both Ticia and Laura were not in the mood to talk, and the clones were just too worried over their own situation to talk.

“Owner…” 

Ticia heard the voice of Rebot-ia, which broke her out of her own thoughts. The AI was looking at her with an anxious look.

 

“Sorry Rebot-ia, but I’m not changing my mind.” Ticia said, guessing what the AI would say, but surprisingly enough, Rebot-ia wasn’t worried about that.

“No, I understand the situation, owner. I’m more worried about you right now. Are you okay?” The AI asked.

“...No, I’m not okay…” Ticia admitted, but did not talk further. She still blamed herself over what happened to Jinxy, and while she had put the matter aside for now, it didn’t exactly solve anything for her mentally.

“Owner, I know how it feels to lose the ones you cherish, so I understand your feelings. I think you need to take a break and talk about it over a drink, not by getting irritated and lashing your anger at innocent bystanders. I’ll listen to your worries if you want.” The AI advised.

“That would be great, Rebot-ia, but not now.” Ticia answered, well aware the AI was right and that her temper had grown short. She was also thankful the AI put her before her own desires to be reunited with her father.

“Mh?” 

Only then did Ticia notice something. Despite Ticia making it clear she considered the clones a bother, they stuck around her instead of searching security near Laura.

“What do you want?” She asked somewhat harshly. Making the girl that had stuck near her flinch. This made Ticia sigh. “I don’t plan on protecting you, you know?”

“We know.” The old clone replied. “We simply want to follow you.”

Ticia was exasperated by this. Why were they so adamant on following her? She had no plans of taking those people in, even if they escaped with her.

“...Does that have anything to do with what you said before? About the Eve-class.” She asked, remembering what the old clone had first said.

“I can’t deny that.” The old clone admitted.

“What is this about anyway? What is this Eve-class?” Ticia asked. Since she had nothing better to do while Laura was leading the way and Bronz was busy commanding the ECGs, Ticia thought she might as well get more information.

“...Just how long have we been asleep for this information to have disappeared?” The old clone asked incredulously.

“A thousand years.” Ticia replied flatly.

“Th-thousand!?” The old man repeated in surprise, his and the clones’ eyes growing big from the shock.

“Or around that number. I’m not exactly sure.” Ticia’s uncaring comment did not help the clones much…

“What exactly happened outside? What about the council? The war? The virus…” The old clone could not help but ask no one in particular, still in disbelief.

“The council doesn’t exist anymore, nor does the UFG or the war. It’s all gone.”

““...””

Gone. The word rendered the clones speechless, their faces paling to soon become ones of complete confusion. It was clear they had no idea what to do next…

“As for the virus. I have no fucking idea what it’s become other than a real migraine over how to deal with it if it ever appears..” Ticia added, not caring of the clone’s current state.

“I… I see…”

“Will you answer my question now?” Ticia asked again. The old clone stayed silent at first, but slowly spoke up.

“...The development of the cloning process has been a long, hard one. The first attempts only resulted in ugly abominations.”

“I am aware.” Ticia replied. Current attempts by modern nations without the technology of the United Federal Government had given such results after all.

“That is until they found out the specific genes.” The old clone continued. “It made them understand that cloning was really possible. But even then, when they used it, the results did not differ much. Then, they had an idea. They collected as many compatible genes as possible from the people who showed compatibility, then they tried to mix up the genes, only keeping the purest and most compatible out of their new constructions…”

“And that’s how clones were born.” Ticia concluded, making the old clone nod with a small smile on his face.

“Yes. They called the first male specimen ‘Adam’, and the first female specimen ‘Eve’. In a way, they can be considered our ancestors…”

“Wait, does that mean that all clones are descendants of those two?” Ticia frowned. If so, all clones should be similar, but there were clear physical differences between the clones surrounding her. Heck, the women did not look like her either!

“Ah, no, I didn't mean it that way.” The old man quickly corrected himself. “You see, once the scientists had made more clones while experimenting here and there, their understanding over how cloning worked expanded. Little by little, they managed to make clones from people who had a good amount of the gene but had failed to make clones in the past, and they kept on progressing on this path until even those with low amounts of the gene could be cloned! There was only one thing that blocked them from total control over cloning: The gene itself.” The old man raised one finger, making a point, before looking at Ticia straight in the eyes.“Young lady, I am sure you are aware of the special link we clones share between each other?” 

Ticia nodded.

“This is something that has always puzzled scientists to the point of them pulling their hairs over the matter. How and why are clones connected to one another?” The old clone asked, before continuing. “The answer is actually simple: it’s because of the gene. So long as they aren’t one of the original gene donors or a half-blood, an inexplicable link is formed between the bearers of the same genes.”

“Which is represented by the characteristic white hair.” Ticia added.

“Yes, and the color of your eyes is more grayish the purer your genes are.” The old man added. “If the owner has for example grayish hair and red eyes, their clones will always have white hair, but their eyes would stay red. Had his eyes been more grayish, so would his clones.”

“I see…” Ticia nodded in understanding. She looked over at the clones surrounding her. All had white hair, which she expected,  but as the old clone had said, their eyes were of various colors, with only a small number of them having their eyes a bit grayish in color, or with a gray stain within the iris…

But then again, this made Ticia ask herself another question: Why did her twelve first daughters, the null CGs, have black tips at the end of their hair just like her? And why did A4 or the AIs not say anything about it? She felt like those AIs still kept something hidden from her…

“As for what the Eve-class is, it refers to clones that are made out of that purest gene, just like the first clones.” The old clone continued. “Only the female variant though, the male variant is called the Adam-class. Both are very rare to meet, moreso after the virus since they’re extremely sensitive to it, but their presence is always reassuring to other clones…” The old clone then stopped and looked at Ticia straight in the eyes again.

“Young miss, you feel similar to Eve-class clones.” He said.

“But I’m not a clone.” Ticia replied back. This was one thing she was sure of. Perhaps she had some clone blood in her, but she couldn’t be a clone, right?

“That’s what’s so confusing. If you were a human or a half-blood, I wouldn’t feel a slight connection with you.” The old clone also confirmed that she was not a clone, beginning to walk again.

“Then, what do my daughters appear to be to you?” Ticia asked out of curiosity.

“They’re definitely Eve-class clones.” The old man said immediately. “I’ve met one before, and I get the same feeling from them.” He then hit the palm of his hand, as if remembering something.

“Right, there is an Eve-class clone that is currently detained deep within this facility…”

“There is?” Ticia feigned interest. She was more intrigued to know from where this clone got all this knowledge himself…

“Yes, and it’s a named one at that.” The old clone continued. “She didn’t participate in the rebellion, nor did she show any intention to rebel. She had friends and siblings who rebelled though, so maybe that’s why they decided to isolate her?”

“Maybe.” Ticia said without intonation.

“I had the chance to meet her in the past.” The old clone now began to speak with nostalgia in his voice. “She resembles you a lot, that is for sure. But all Eve-class clones look the same anyway. I believe she was discussing with one of her only remaining friends at the time? What was it again…”

“...” Ticia did not care much about the current mumbling of the old clone. She instead focused on what was in front of her as they approached a new intersection.

His next words froze her right there and then though…

“Ah! Averuncum! They were talking about something called Averuncum!”

“!?!”

 

***

 

“There, that should do it.” Exclaimed a woman as she finished putting the wounded clone on a stretcher. She had done her best to make sure to keep the clone alive and dealt with what were the most urgent injuries. She pushed a button, making a plastic material surround the stretcher and covering the clone that was breathing thanks to a mask.

“She'll be kept warm while we move like this.” The Eve-class clone said proudly, before moving towards the table at the center of the room.

“Uhm… I am not sure this is a good idea… Maybe we should just wait here?” The robot commented, fidgeting.

“No, the chances of anyone reaching us are pretty low based on what you said.” The clone replied as she grabbed some pieces of armor that were laying around. Those were from the injured clone, and while not all pieces could be worn, some were still in an acceptable state. The clone strapped those pieces on herself for defense and grabbed some pistols from a cabinet.

“S-still… going straight into the place where there are a lot of enemies is…”

“Don’t worry. I’m confident in my abilities. I won’t let you or that clone die!” The clone declared before taking the half-filled teacup on the table and drinking its content in one shot. She made a bitter smile as she realized tea did not exactly keep a good taste after staying there for a thousand years…

“Either way, I just want to get out of this bird cage, and…” The clone commented, before glancing at the injured clone with a mysterious glint in her eyes. 

“I can’t help but want to meet those eighty other clones you’ve mentioned, and from where exactly did they come from…”