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“Big is like a father to us. He’s smart and wise and keeps a home for us at the mining station. Gemma was an illegal clone he found on a transport he boarded to gain plasma. They fell in love. I went to Riddle Station searching for Blade. He’d gone missing for a long time and hadn’t contacted any of us. We worried that he’d been captured and killed.”
“You said something about pirates when you mentioned him before.”
“They had captured him.”
“Did they know he was a clone?”
“Yes. We’re stronger than humans, and they were willing to risk his life by sending him into dangerous situations first. They boarded a luxury shuttle, and that’s how Blade found his human. It’s a long story, but they also fell in love. Hailey has parents who were willing to give up their lives to live with her. That’s all of them living on the station.”
“What about the others?”
“Free lives on a shuttle like this one. He worked with me in finance on Clone World, so we were especially close.”
“I remember. You said the assholes on Clone World at first called him a freak and stuck him with that name until you changed it.”
“It wasn’t just me who made that decision. Free’s shuttle is the same model and make as this one. These are popular with wealthy travelers. Free was in love with the human on Clone World who helped us escape. She was supposed to meet up with him months later after she cleared any suspicion of being an accomplice. Unfortunately, Marisol changed her mind. It broke his heart.”
“That’s so sad.”
“It is. Free and I used to be very close, but now he keeps all of us emotionally distanced.” He paused. “That leaves Rod and Ram. They also shared our sleeping dorm on Clone World. Both had high clearance jobs working closely with Blade and Big.”
“They helped stop people from stealing clones?”
He nodded. “That and more. Parts of Clone World are restricted from our kind because of fears of a rebellion. The main storage buildings and the landing port are off-limits to all of us except for some B and R clones.”
Anna didn’t understand and said so.
“The humans controlling Clone World fear we could steal guest shuttles to either leave the planet or fly them into buildings on the ground to cause mass destruction. One of the storage buildings is where they keep clone plasma. It’s locked up tight and only released in small quantities daily to the medics authorized to give us transfusions every three months.”
“Rod and Ram are R clones? Why are they called that?”
“Repairs in restricted areas. And yes, they are both R clones. Four of them were assigned to share our sleeping dorm. Two were new since the other shift pair had been killed in a fire weeks before our escape. We couldn’t trust them with knowing our plan and had to leave them behind too.”
Anna was horrified. “Clones die on Clone World? The ads state it’s the safest place ever. What liars!”
“The occasional guest has been known to murder a clone too. It doesn’t happen all that often, but we lose a few clones every year from violent humans. There are accidents sometimes, too. Rachet and Rectify were fixing faulty exterior lighting on a landing pad when a guest pilot overshot where he was supposed to set down and crashed. It caused an explosion, and both males were killed. The pilot and four passengers also died. It was a tragedy.”
“I’m so sorry you lost your friends, Fig.”
“Thank you. I’m sure Rico Florigo covered up that accident and hid it from Earth. Clone World is a very popular human vacation destination. Admitting deaths happened there would be bad for his business.”
“That’s probably true.”
Fig cleared his throat. “Ram and Rod live full-time on their shuttles. They sometimes visit Big on the mining station. Especially if he needs their help keeping our home base running when something breaks down. They can fix anything.”
Anna understood that Fig wanted to change the subject to something less depressing. She didn’t blame him. It was sad to lose friends in tragic accidents. She had some experience with that back on Earth. “Tell me about this mining station you want us to move to.”
“It’s nice and large. The mining company housed a lot of human workers. There’s even a mall of shops and a few nice entertainment features. It also has extensive defensive capabilities, so we’re well protected in case of an attack in the future. Not that we believe that will ever happen. There’s no reason for the humans to ever return.”
“It sounds nice, but I like this shuttle too.” She shrugged. “I’m okay with whatever you want to do as long as we’re together.”
“You trust my judgment?”
“I do.” Anna shoved off the covers and got to her knees, throwing herself at Fig. She wanted to make love to him.
He caught her and put her on his lap. “I just want you to be happy.”
“You’re doing a hell of a job of it. Thank you for breakfast. Now kiss me.”
