My arm was still ruined and I was doing a lot of things with my left hand. I knew it would heal but it looked gross right now.
When Delovoa returned with all his equipment we found about half the clone tubes were occupied. Twenty-four. He discovered how to open them up and began doing so.
There were gang bosses, Order members, Olmarr Republicans, Totki, Kommilaire, and others. A diverse swath of Belvaille’s population. All these people were the original Colmarians who had been put to sleep and then replaced with clones. Some were captured years or even decades ago. Hobardi and Two Clem, and other major figures were among those found.
On the top floor of the Reserve we found the facilities for creating clones. None were being cooked at the moment, thankfully, so we didn’t have to address that.
We also found:
Garm.
It was the oldest tube in the building. A different construction, covered in dust, set back in the corner. It must have been the first one built.
I’d say my heart was in my throat as Delovoa was going through the procedure to release her, but my heart was too thick to get in my throat.
When the tube cracked open and the air cleared, I gasped. Even Delovoa gasped.
There was Garm. She looked exactly like her clone. She must have been in hibernation for at least half a century!
Her eyes fluttered open and her immediate expression was one of confusion.
She reached out a tentative hand and touched my face and stroked my hair.
“Welcome back,” I told her.
“Hank?” she asked. “What the hell happened to you? You look horrible.”
I put out arrest warrants for all the clones, but I had no idea how to handle them. Should we kill them? They weren’t real Colmarians. They only had partial brains and were programmed to act certain ways. But it wasn’t their fault they were made that way.
We tracked them down easily. Without the Ank guiding them, they were just dumb, fleshy robots.
We got a lot of appreciation for returning everyone’s lost companions. Even from groups like the Olmarr Republic. It also proved to the station why we had to remove the Ank. There were some doubts as to the scope of what the Ank had been doing.
The news organizations couldn’t keep up and I granted Rendrae a few exclusive interviews in repayment for his recent help.
Delovoa was concerned about who had been doing the actual cloning. It wasn’t a minor procedure and the Ank, despite their insane financial acumen, weren’t known to be great inventers.
I think he was upset he might not be the only mad scientist on the station.
Garm was appalled with what had happened to Belvaille since she had been away and it was a long process to bring her up to speed on our new society.
She also went on an extremely strict health plan when she saw what us old-timers had turned into.
“It’s good having you around,” I told her at my place. “I missed you.”
She knew all about my mutation and my heart attacks. When she looked at me nowadays, it was often with sad eyes.
“Do you really think Belvaille can recover?” she asked. “I never imagined it could be as bad as it is now.”
“It has to recover. If all these Portals start going offline, just think what will happen. Besides, it enjoys the best location in the former empire. If this city can’t make it, what hope does the rest of the galaxy have?”
“You need replacements for the Ank, but with accountability. They had too much power. They kept saying ‘free market’ but they manipulated everything. You have to root out all their back channels so no one else uses them.”
“Well, maybe you can help with that. I’ll make you Assistant Governor.”
“I don’t want to be Assistant Governor,” she said.
“Heh. Isn’t this funny? Like, eighty-something years ago, you were Adjunct Overwatch and were trying to recruit me for the military and I didn’t want it. Now it’s the reverse.”
“I don’t think it’s very funny.”
“Hibernation probably messed up your sense of humor.”
“At least I’m not two thousand pounds.”
“I wish I was only two thousand pounds. I’m more like seven thousand.”
She looked at me with pity again.
“How long do you have?”
“Who can say? Realistically, not that long. Now that you’re here, when I’m gone you can become Governor and Supreme Kommilaire and Secretary of City—actually, I don’t know if that position exists anymore since it was your clone that created it.”
“Hank, I’m a Quadrad. I ran Belvaille when it was a freebooter stronghold. Yeah, we had a small Navy presence, but there are millions of people here now. It’s a real city. I don’t have the skills, the temperament, the inclination for this.”
“I didn’t either. I got fifty years’ experience on you.”
“I’m also not sure the city can make it. I mean, is it a lost cause?” she asked.
“Belvaille is like me: you cut it, you shoot it, and it heals up stronger.”
“Yeah, but scabbed and bloated and unable to stand up. Using yourself as an analogy isn’t a great endorsement. You have to see that even with an expert at the helm the city will be hard-pressed to survive. I’ve spent half my life asleep. I’m not an expert.”
“It requires patience and compromise. You need to listen, negotiate, reason. Every problem has a solution. Only rarely is it a violent one.”
She smirked.
“When did you become a pacifist?”
“When I stopped being able to chase people. Look, you’re the smartest, hottest, most dangerous person I know. You’ve got the skills—maybe not the people skills—but you’ll get the hang of it. You also got a long life ahead of you. You have to do something for the next hundred or two hundred years. Might as well save civilization. Just tell me you’ll think about it.”
She sighed. She reminded me of me at her age. Crazy kids.
“Alright. But I’m not making any promises.”
“Good. Just know that if you don’t take the job, my ghost will haunt you forever.”
“Your fat ghost would be too slow to be scary.”
CHAPTER 70
I woke up to a bright light shining in my face.
19-10 stood shimmering at the foot of my bed.
“Hi,” I said, rubbing my eyes.
“Do you know who I am?” 19-10 said. Its voice was a scrambly electronic hash, nearly incomprehensible.
“19-10. Some assassin.”
“But do you know who I am really?”
“Not… 19-10?”
“You do know me.”
“Are you asking me or telling me? You’re hard to understand in that thing.”
“I’m saying you know me. Can you guess?”
I thought.
“Garm?”
There was a pause.
“Do I look like Garm? Could Garm fit in this armor?”
“Delovoa?” I asked.
“That’s… stupid. You saw me and Delovoa together at his apartment.”
“I just woke up, give me a break. I don’t know who you are.”
“I’m Valia.”
I lay there quietly.
“No, you’re not,” I said.
“I just told you I am.”
“That doesn’t mean anything, I could say I was Valia but that wouldn’t make it true.”
“Why would I lie to you?”
“I don’t know. You’re an assassin. Maybe you want me to kill Valia. Besides, she couldn’t fit in that armor any more than Garm could.”
“I can shapechange. That’s my mutation. Do you want to know about me?”