Orphans Beloved: "Attack of the Fifty-foot Clones…"
Summary: Like my Immortal Beloved and Sheldon Swifties bits in my Buffyverse and Sheldonverse, these are fragments and short bits, some longer…Just to fiddle with ideas, possibly forming longer tales later.
Disclaimer: No copy write infringement intended…
Note-There are always these minor consequences to any great advances in Science.
PS. Sorry for delay in updating. Other things intruding, including the real world…
(PS-It's an AU with divergence from S-3 in that Aldous did not…Yet…while in mine Cal left without Kyra and engaged to Sarah, to resolve the pesky problem of a murdered police officer, and Ally is not going in for breaking somewhat bad. (And of course the ladies are not yet18-50 feet tall…Yet). And Seth is not…Yet…Dead. But we need Seth. The Castors deserved their own road trip, right?)
Part XXV…
"So you're Susan Duncan?" Ally stared at the image on the projection screen in the barn, Mr. Appleyard standing to the side watching with a group of New Proleithian guards.
Rachel's mother, Ethan's wife…God, she looks a bit like my mother. I wonder if that played a role in my implantation? Did she vet the moms selected?
"It's good to meet you, Alison. How are you?" Susan, smiling. "I understand you're in the early stage of this condition, whatever it really is."
"You're with both the Neos and the Proleithians?" Ally shook head. "And how could you do this to Professor Duncan? Do you know he killed himself at Dyad to save us?"
"Poor Ethan…A tragedy…He had a brilliant mind, sharper than mine even, though he was always modest about it." Susan sighed. "But he never understood the implications for Humanity's greater good of our work."
"And of course you were sleeping with Aldous Leekie…" Alison fumed.
"Was I?" she smiled. "I'm afraid not…Aldous and I were better friends than Ethan realized but we weren't romantically involved."
"So you just lied to your husband about saving Rachel and stopping Dyad and the Neos…" stern look.
"I did…What was necessary. Ethan refused to listen to reason, I decided to let him believe he'd convinced me."
"You betrayed your husband and your daughter! By the way, what is the 'Brightborne Instiute'? Isn't that the fancy invitro clinic? Is that another branch of Neolution, Inc?" frown. Susan looking behind her at the wall on which "The Brightborne Institute" was continually printed.
"Something of a side division, yes…Where we apply some of what we've learned to the general public…"
"Before you use the Castors to sterilize everyone but your own master race…" Alison eyed her. "My God, I was created by a Nazi..."
"Hardly that, child…" Susan, patiently. "But Humanity is in need of guidance to reach a better future."
"Decided by you and some group of elites…Sounds like Nazis to me." Alison fumed. "I'll be no part of it."
"By your very existence, you are, dear." Susan noted.
"I suppose the people here share the same 'master race' idea…White supremacists, bible belters…All that…Naturally, if they can accept a little Science they're perfect allies."
"We share common goals on some levels. They're not white supremacists, by the way…" Susan noted.
"I don't see any black clones…" Ally eyed her.
"That will come in time…"
Slight chuckle from one of the guards…Yeah, right.
"I thought so." Ally smiled coldly. "You miserable Nazi. I'm ashamed you had anything to do with me, ever. And I'll die before I play any role in your Nazi eugenics."
"Alison, you're not required here." Susan, calmly. "Your 'role' as you put it, is merely that of hostage. All we want is the material taken by Henrik and stolen by Helena."
"So it was you…" Ally eyed her on screen. "You had Dr. Johannsen steal the original genome from the Castor project."
"They took what was mine and Ethan's. I reclaimed it." Susan, firmly.
"But Hendrik had his own plans for it…" Ally smiled.
"Unfortunately, yes." Susan sighed. "He was an ambitious man in his own right and preferred not to be directed by a woman. I should have realized his limitations sooner but one can't always choose the tools one works with. However, given his followers have seen the consequences of his mistakes, they've agreed to once again work with me, not separately."
Ally, arch look… "For now…"
"Dear." Susan sighed again. "The point is, you have one purpose right now. To passively help us recover my lost material. I only wanted to be sure you understood that it's better for you and your family…"
"Are you threatening my family?!" Ally sat up as much as she could…Head striking roof of the barn… "Ow!"
"Careful there, Mrs. Hendrix…" a guard called out. "Mrs. Hendrix? Best to calm yourself…" Appleyard called after a second guard explained what had happened.
"Alison, you'll only hurt yourself." Susan noted. "But yes, we are. Mr. Appleyard, is Mr. Hendrix there?"
"Hah!" Ally cried.
"I'm afraid we've had a setback there. Hendrik's daughter and the Castor infiltrator, Mark, managed to take Hendrix from us." Appleyard sighed.
"That is unfortunate. Meaning, since he's likely at Dyad now or in hiding, we only have your children, Alison. And your mother, of course." Susan shook head.
"You mention my children, let alone threaten them…And I will kill you." Alison glared.
"You must know that with Topside willing to follow my lead…" Susan eyed her. "And I doubt you are bullet-proof, Alison."
"She's growed some more, hasn't she?" one guard hissed to another by his side. The woman nervously blinking.
"I'll live long enough, Dr. Duncan. Poor Dr. Duncan to have made such a poor choice in you. He was such a fine man, he deserved better."
"Perhaps it would be best not to discuss my late husband, Alison. I have my limits as you have yours."
"Oh, really? You're embarrassed to hear you betrayed your husband and treated him shabbily, caused his death? Forgive me for bringing it up, bitch."
"You Americans and your fondness for foul language…" Susan sighed.
"I'm Canadian. We kicked US ass twice. And when we use foul language, we mean it." Ally, proudly.
"Enough of this. I've tried to make things easier for you, Alison. You are one of my daughters…"
"I'm no daughter of yours, you Nazi bitch." Ally. Coldly.
"Mrs. Hendrix, please." Appleyard cut in. "There's no need for insults here."
"I don't brake for Nazis, you son of a Jesus freak Nazi…" Ally fumed. "And I've had enough of you people. Donnie's still safe and you just threatened my kids…And I suppose I should protect Mom as well, for family honor."
"Alison, there will be consequences if you don't calm down." Susan urged. "I'm on line to Aldous Leekie right now to demand he assist in the return…You've had your venting, lets finish our negotiations and you can be on your way to Dyad or to your children shortly."
"Isn't he your partner anymore?" Ally stared.
"She is bigger…" the woman guard noted, gulping a bit. "Say…Where are her ankle shackles?"
"Mr. Appleyard…!" the male guard hurried over to the old man who turned. "We've a problem!"
"Aldous and I have somewhat differing views as to the course for Dyad and Neolution…" Susan began.
"Thanks. I just wanted to be sure you weren't still together." Ally noted, rising again…To her new height of thirty feet.
"She's broken out of the chains!" the male guard finished.
"She's loose! Shoot!" a guard cried.
"Now I know how Boris Karloff's monster felt when they locked him up in the police dungeon that time…" Ally noted, smashing at a wall of the barn which collapsed.
"Stop her!" Susan's projected image cried. "But save the corpse for study!"
God, and I thought my mother was cold…Ally sighed.
Hmmn…Stings but… She eyed the gunfire, feeling a series of beesting-like hits in her legs…And…
"Ow!" she rubbed her fanny a bit…Standing up and breaking through the collapsing roof as the Proleithians fled in panic, one guard leading Appleyard out.
"Is he all right?" Ally called, looking down. "Don't worry, I won't hurt him!" she eyed the terrified guard as she grabbed Appleyard who squirmed in her huge grip. "Just tell your people to back off!"
"Now, sir. We are going to come to terms." Ally eyed Appleyard who continued to squirm.
…..
The Brightborne Institute…
Vhere ve are not…Monsters…
Well, of course we are…We torture and murder women and children…But…
"It was a foolish mistake to speak to Hendrix." A voice noted to Susan's rather annoyed face.
"I thought she'd see reason…Alison tends to be fixated on her family's safety even above her sisters."
"Your devotion to the LEDA clones is almost as foolish as Aldous Leekie's." Evie Cho, in elegant dress, fresh from a board meeting, an emergency one, eyed Susan from her chair across Susan's desk.
"Topside is still listening to Marion Bowles and Aldous. You were supposed to win them over to our position." Susan noted.
"They still feel the LEDAs and the CASTORs offer too much. Your fault, Susan. You and Westmoreland and your master race visions. You sold them a bill of goods and they bought. Now we have the technology to bypass such idiocy and we can't get them to see it."
"Are you saying this latest development isn't of interest?" Susan regarded Cho with amused scorn.
The inferior defective desperate to save herself in our new Eden with her toys and her gene therapy.
Sadly there's no place for her kind there…
"We just need tissue samples…From the corpses…It's bound to be some minor…"
"Minor? My dear…" Susan smiled. "Didn't you take Physics or Biophysics at university? Don't you realize that this sort of growth defies all known physical laws on a fundamental level? It's not just a question of how they can function at this size. It's physically impossible for them to grow in this way, by our current physical laws."
"Such things always seem impossible until we understand them…" wave of hand.
"On that we agree…All the more reason why we must obtain the original genomes and study this development in living clones. Sweetheart, this changes everything with regards to your plans. The LEDAs and CASTORs must survive, at least one or more specimens."
"For now…And only one or two are needed. Sarah or Helena would do just fine, with one of the males."
"And we need a standard infertile clone for comparison…Alison…Or one of the surviving LEDAs elsewhere, Crystal being lost to us."
"We can negotiate with Leekie if it comes to that. Fundamentally we're still on the same team."
"And we need Cosima, the unaffected clone…We need to see if it's the therapy or her illness playing a role here." Susan insisted.
"I will decide what and whom we need, Dr. Duncan." Evie, quietly. "Brightborne is my project and you are merely a consultant here."
"I don't think so…" a voice from Susan's laptop.
"John…" Susan smiled at the image before her.
"Please, dear…I should always stay in character in such conversations." The thin face in antique style collar and string tie, smiled at her, eyes glowing.
"Doctor." Evie, coldly. Pressing a button that put Westmoreland's face on a wall screen, he beaming benevolently at the two women.
"Neolution has the final say, Ms. Cho…" Westmoreland noted. "As I am Neolution and Dr. Duncan has my full authority, she has the last word here."
"Not if Topside backs me." Cho, coldly. "In that case, Mr. 'Westmoreland', you and your little con game may find yourselves shut down."
"It's unfortunate that Aldous and Marion have chosen their own path…But the board wants what Neolution offers, Evie. Don't think you can stand against us. Even the rebels in Neolution will side with me in the end. And you will be quite out in the cold, dear." Smile. "Perhaps permanently."
"The board won't forego what the LEDAs could offer, Evie." Susan noted firmly. "You may have won them over briefly when they panicked at the first news. But now they're beginning to see the potential and, as always, they're cowards at heart…For their miserable lives most of all. They'll stay with John, in the end."
"And I must point out, dear…" Westmoreland smiled at Cho from the screen. "If I have played a 'con game' on them, as you call it. You have played a role in it and benefitted enormously. It might be wisest for us to continue to work together. I'm still quite open to your point of view, you're a major asset. But we can't give up what LEDA clearly offers, particularly now. Lets not force this to some sort of test of strength, Evie. Cooperation is what built Neolution from the ashes of Cold River and will bring it to triumph, very soon. Tell me we are still friends and partners, with the same final vision and goal, the betterment of Humanity."
Cho eyeing his serene face…
Bastard…But it is true…This could be huge. Huge as those girls are, now.
She nodded. "We're still partners, John. As long as I am a full partner."
"You are, indeed." Smiling nod.
…..