By N. E. Shaw
Mother venator looked on while the twins stared each other down. Neither was more frightened then the other-- for different reasons though.
Andros looked over his doppleganger in speechless shock. It was so like him...right down to the birthmark next to its navel. The only differences were in their musculature--the duplicate wasn't as toned as Andros--and in their hair--the duplicate bore no artificial blond streaks like Andros.
Meanwhile, the duplicate glanced about fearfully as it observed the world for the first time--a dark, cold, metal place. Then its eyes returned to the person who had torn it from the womb. The duplicate's eyes remained blank, unthinking, unknowing.
The mother venator simply watched.
Then suddenly the duplicate fell silent, its gasps cut off by fluid in its weak lungs. Its chest began to heave, and it made wet, choking sounds, but no air would go in. His panic rising again, Andros grabbed the duplicate and dragged it out onto the floor where he could try to help it--but somehow he knew there was no hope.
Five minutes later, he was still trying to force air into its lungs long after it stopped moving. The venator lay down to mourn, as Andros closed off the duplicate's mouth with his own and blew. Something wouldn't let him stop. He wanted to save its life so badly...
But finally it was over. The duplicate was dead. The mother venator dragged herself over and reached out to touch its face with her forelegs, like she had done since the beginning. Her touch was still tender, still loving, like the touch of any mother.
Then she dragged herself to the door to wait for Andros. He realized there were four more duplicates onboard the ship. He had four more chances to save a life.
One by one, he waited for the duplicates--no longer "bug-babies"--to break out of their cocoons. In the SimuDeck, he didn't wait for the duplicate to drown in the pod fluids. He cut the membrane right away, ignoring the tide of liquid, and withdrew another perfect replica, this time, of his friend TJ.
But once again, Andros had barely gotten a look at the clone when it fell into distress. This time, there was no fluid in its lungs, but it was suffocating anyway. Andros could do nothing to save it, and yet another human being died in his arms.
Despite all his efforts, he couldn't save the Cassie clone, who hatched in the Jump Bay. She didn't last two minutes before her lips turned blue and her eyes rolled back in her head. The frustration was almost too much for Andros, and he held her desperately for a moment, even though he knew she was gone.
But something strange happened in the Training Room. As the last traces of life faded from the duplicate Carlos, mother venator dragged herself up and reached for its face again. She had done this with all of them, but this time she deliberately put her two front forelegs into its mouth.
"What are you trying to do?" Andros asked out loud. After a moment's work, she had succeeded in scoring the inside of "Carlos's" cheek with her claw. It had no effect of course, but mother had been desperate to get it done.
"What are you trying to do??" Andros asked again.
It was then that he noticed the tiny drop of liquid trembling on the tip of the claw. It was not saliva, nor pod fluid. The venator had secreted it from her talon like a snake drips venom from its fang. She had been trying to inject something into the duplicate.
Andros's heavy heart beat faster with hope. Perhaps there was a way to save one of these clones. The mother knew how, but was too weak to do it. If Andros could figure out what she was trying to do for her babies, he could help her complete the process with the last duplicate--the clone of Ashley.
There was little time left. Leaving the dead clone of Carlos to rest, Andros scooped up the venator and headed for the infirmary.
A quick analyses of the mother's "venom" yielded all the answers. The liquid contained an enzyme that the newborn clones needed to survive. In her exhaustion, the mother venator had neglected to administer the stuff to her clones and they had died without it. But now, Andros could make sure the Ashley clone got what she needed. Andros took a good-sized sample of the liquid and capped it up in a hypodermic syringe. Then he took the mother venator to the Engine Room.
Night-time mode had been activated hours ago. Most of the ship was dark. In the Engine Room, the only light was the steady red glow of the HyperCore which was cast about spookily.
In the corner, the Ashley clone was already moving. Arms pushed outward against the membrane, trying with all their strength to break free.
Andros didn't even think, setting the mother bug down and withdrawing his knife quickly. But before he could get there, one hand burst through.
Pod liquid began to drain as it had before. The hand became an arm, reaching out through the broken pod wall. The Ashley clone had busted through the end instead of the side, and now Andros waited to help her in any way he could. She fought dilligently to tear the hole wider, soon getting another trembling arm through. She was coming through face-down.
A slick head was next, followed by a pair of shoulders, and Andros finally reached out to help her the rest of the way. He pulled her upper-body into his lap while he slipped the empty membrane the rest of the way off her....and flung it away.
She was free, lying half-conscious across his lap. Ever-so-gently he turned her face upwards, and saw the familiar lips, nose and cheeks of the Yellow Ranger.
The tapping of claws alerted him to the mother venator's approach. She reached for the clone's face as if to remind Andros what to do. He complied, taking out the syringe and pressing it against the moist skin of the clone's neck.
She didn't respond. At all. She didn't begin to choke or struggle or turn blue...she simply fell asleep in the warmth of the engine core, there in Andros's lap.
He found himself almost embarassed, holding a naked woman's body. But when he looked to the venator for her reaction, his heart fell.
The mother was dead, lying belly-up on the floor. She had lived to see the last clone survive, and then she had let go to take her eternal rest. Her only daughter was left in Andros's hands now.