ReBecoming

(c) Ben McIlwain 2002

The package Riaa had been waiting for anxiously the past week had finally arrived. She excitedly wheeled the large smooth-cornered container into the center of her living room and laboriously stood it up on one end. Riaa's heart lifted as she gazed upon the black coffin. It was taller than Riaa by a good many decimeters and similar in shape to a black monolith. On the front of it a single green light blinked steadily on and off, a pulsing indication of life.

Riaa composed herself, thought inwardly for a few moments, and slowly reached out her hand to touch the green light. The rate of its pulsations became more rapid and it shifted to a bright pink color. The black machine started hissing and making mechanical noises. The package startled Riaa and she quickly took two steps back.

The light ceased its pulsations and became a steady point of bright purple light. The black container starting splitting open all along its width where no seam had been previously visible. With a hiss of evaporating cryonics, clouds of super cooled gas poured out from the bottom of the package and dissipated as they roiled along the floor. Finally, the opening was complete, and the package laid at rest, split exactly down the center, revealing its contents. The light was no longer glowing.

In the center of Riaa's living room stood a man. He was blond, dark-eyed, and stood quite taller than Riaa. He was shivering from the cold the package had spewed forth, as well as his utter nudity. Riaa handed him a towel, feeling a little bit uneasy with this new man all of a sudden standing naked in her living room where just five minutes before there had been a nondescript package.

"Welcome to my house," Riaa said eagerly. The man was still cleaning off the last vestiges of the cryonization process, the sealants and protectants coming off of him in thin layers like glue.

"Greetings," the man said. Imagine that, Riaa thought. He effectively came into existence just a few minutes ago and already he's speaking my language. "What would you like to call me?" he asked uncertainly.

"I'm going to name you Jacoob. It's a very fitting name but I'm not going to tell you why."

"Very well then," Jacoob responded. "Would you like to show me around?"

Riaa spent the rest of the day introducing Jacoob around the house, showing him their bedroom, where the rooms were, how to operate the house robotics, and where the bathroom was. That night, Riaa went to sleep beside her new husband Jacoob, who was not even a day old at this point.

The following day a black hovervan pulled up outside Riaa's house. Two Clonetech technicians dressed in all black suits jumped down out of the hovervan and approached Riaa's door. The house sensors saw them coming and automatically let them in.

"Good morning, Ma'am. We're from Clonetech and we're here for the scheduled day after visit to see how your clone is doing. May we see him?"

"Just one minute," Riaa replied, "Jacoob is still upstairs. Jacoob!" she called up after him. He descended the stairs and stood in the hallway awkwardly between Riaa and the Clonetech technicians.

"Ma'am, I take it everything was fine yesterday and last night? No immediate problems?"

"None," Riaa replied sheepishly. "He's just what I ordered," she said with an almost involuntary wink.

"I am bound by contract to inform you that Jacoob will last another 364 days, at which point he will be liable for termination and must be picked up by us again. You will be able to order another replacement exactly like him, or pick another model, it's up to you. We shouldn't really need any more meetings like this before then."

"Finally, for the required tests," the first Clonetech technician said. "Jacoob, please take off your shirt and place this measurement belt around your chest." Jacoob did as ordered.

"Breathe slowly and deeply for thirty seconds," the gadget spoke in a tinny voice. Jacoob did as ordered. The diagnostics completed within a minute. The belt automatically unwound from around Jacoob's body and returned to the technician's hands. The technician glanced down at it cursorily.

"All looks well," he affirmed. "Very rarely people do have problems with our clones. Remember, they're guaranteed for a year, after which point the clone will quickly die a painless death and will need to be replaced. If you have any problems before that time period is up, contact us. We'll do a test, and if we find Jacoob to be defective, we'll terminate him and give you a free clone for another full year."

Jacoob stood in silence, his very fate being discussed before his eyes. And he didn't care. He was conditioned not to care. The technicians glanced into the living room, spotted the black case, and lugged it back towards the front door.

"Okay Ma'am, good-bye, it was nice meeting you, and don't hesitate to call us if you have any problems with your clone." The technician finished his sentence with a feeling of finality and the two of them carried the black case out to the hovervan. A robotic arm extended from the back of the hovervan, picked the case up, and automatically stored it in the cargo rack. In less than a minute they were gone, and all traces of anything unnatural about Jacoob gone with it. Except, of course, Jacoob had an expiration date. "This product good for a year after initial unpackaging," Riaa mused silently.

"Okay Jacoob, we're going to have a lot of fun together!" Riaa said excitedly as she turned to Jacoob. He was still gazing out the window at the spot where the hovervan had floated, now long departed. He snapped out of his trance and turned to face Riaa.

"A whole glorious year before I die, Riaa. We shall have such fun together."

Riaa easily found a job for a strong young man such as Jacoob. And he was going to have to work hard, because buying clones was expensive. Between the two of them they could barely pay off Jacoob's price with six months of combined wages.

But for Riaa, there really was no option. To be lonely, like she had never been in her entire life, or to get another husband, quickly and conveniently, a perfect man. It was not a mere coincidence that Riaa ordered Jacoob the day after her previous husband had died. And it was not coincidence that both husbands were named Jacoob.

Jacoob and Riaa carried on a happy existence, working during the day, goofing off and having fun at night. Riaa took up painting; Jacoob took up music, and between the two of them, they were quite talented. It must've been in the genetics.

Days became weeks, weeks became months, and a hidden sadness became evident in their relationship. They were newlyweds, acting as if a chronic illness would soon break the two of them apart. And that describes the situation quite accurately.

Time wore on irrevocably as it always has, and it seemed all too soon when the fun ended and the Clonetech technicians, the same ones as before, pulled up at the house the day after another black package had arrived.

"We're here to inspect the latest clone. We just need to check that everything is alright." They gave their little speech about contracts and guarantees again. They pulled out their gadget again and took the required measurements. The measurements were normal. The technicians made a passing joke that they had never seen any irregularities before.

"Well, all seems well here," the first one said. "We're going to go now. First we'll just get the clone case. Jacoob, if anything is wrong with your new wife Riaa, contact us and we'll give you a free replacement for another year."

Six months after the previous black package arrived, this one had arrived. But it was not bearing a new husband, but a new wife. In six months more time Jacoob would die and Riaa would get herself another husband and certainly name him Jacoob. The cycle would begin again, and last ad infinitum. Every six months, one member of the household was replaced; every twelve months, and it was two entirely different people living there. But you wouldn't know it by looking at the house. The clones were always the same as the clones who came before them, and the house looked as it always had, the clones having no desires to change what was already, by their standards, perfect.

This situation was not alone in Riaa's household; it was commonplace all over. Clones had replaced normal people. Clonetech was the de facto government. Clones were sold into such slavery that it effectively took their entire life of one year just to pay for themselves.

But there was one weakness in the scheme, one piece of humanity that still existed that must surely rebel in the distant future. For the Clonetech technicians themselves are real people, effectively immortal thanks to the advanced drugs of an elevated human society. And although most "normal" people were long ago swapped out for their superior cloned counterparts, the Clonetech employees continued breeding in secret, all the while destroying the outside world with their products. They began as simple biotech workers and are now the only true people left on the planet.

Where the clones are weak, the people are strong. The clone population only replaces itself, never duplicating. But the Clonetech technicians duplicate in a predictable animal exponential pattern. Perhaps most of the people in the world now are clones, but that is going to change. The very foundation that brought about such a fundamental change in the dynamics of humanity is proving to be the weak link in the chain of human life. It brought about this situation, and will surely end this situation.

Clonetech is not our future; it is already our distant past. For it was defunct the very moment it began making limited lifespan clones. I know, for I am the lead technician that arrived at Riaa and Jacoob’s houses those two times. You cannot abandon the unbearable sadness that permeates my soul; I’m always meeting the same people over and over, yet they never remember me, and never seem to live a full lifetime of accomplishments. The human race is dying. We are no longer making any progress, societally, culturally, scientifically, or otherwise.

I am a Clonetech technician. Pass this on to as many people as you can. The sooner we real people re-conquer the world, the better. Clonetech is not our future; it is already our distant past. For it was defunct the very moment it started putting expiration dates on humans. Our goal throughout history has been to live longer and longer, and surely we cannot allow Clonetech to reverse that trend.

I am a Clonetech technician. I fight for the future of our people.