Page 15 of Agrippa's Acceptance

The two cyborgs exchanged glances and went to the computer. The image of a clone appeared. They looked from her to the image several times. She eyed them warily, but they called up another image and another.

At last Balthazar turned to face her. “They are losing their souls?”

“I think so.” She couldn’t be sure of this, but she’d noticed when she’d hacked into the cloning temples, that there were more and more defective clones that had to be aborted. It used to be two or three in a century. She’d found records of four failed clones in one year.

“Will it weaken them?”

“Not yet, but with time it will.” They are copies of copies and even with their technology, after so many centuries, it’s starting to accumulate. According to her calculations, the failed cloning was going to escalate.

“How much time?” Balthazar rapped out.

“It is hard to predict, but I have noticed some of the clone’s ryhov was dulled. Then I heard a rumour that a few clones came out of a temple shorter, weaker, and losing brightness and speed in their ryhov.” It had surprised her, the fact that they allowed shorter and weaker clones out of the temple and she’d done some digging and handed her findings to The Souls.

Balthazar’s eyes narrowed. “Interesting. How much time?”

“I cannot say. But I can tell you that the clones that came out weaker, came out weaker no matter how many times they try to clone a better version.”

“We know you improved the regeneration program. If you can do that, you can give me an estimate of the clone’s degradation.”

She bit her lip, the way she’d seen Aurora do when she was worried. If she was wrong, what would they do to her? “From what I have seen and if the rumours about the widespread degradations are true—"

“Continue.” Balthazar snapped.

“Within four generations, the clones will have degraded to the point that it will significantly impact their society. She did not like to make such sweeping statements, but they will just insist on an answer if she didn’t give her best guess.

Hamurabi looked disappointed. “The third generation could be in centuries.”

Balthazar’s smile was all teeth. “We will just have to kill enough of them.”

“I am not sure of this, but I suspect any new ships cloned will be lesser.” The organic and steel component of the ships were cloned.

Balthazar did that thing the cyborgs did, growing bigger. “I did not consider the ships.” Again, that savage smile. “We will have to destroy many of their ships.”

Chapter Fourteen

Three weeks later, Agrippa, alone with Amelagar in the infirmary, read the story that Aurora had started the previous week.

Amelagar’s skull had mostly regenerated; his enforced steel skeleton had regrown and muscles and skin covered it in patches. It may be much better than when he had only half a skull and a bare back bone, but it was still gruesome to see. His hair had not regenerated and she suspected it never will.

His eyes opened. He didn’t groan and look around or even blink. As usual he opened his eyes and honed in on her as if she was one giant beacon. His lips barely moved, “female.” His voice sounded strange, as if the cyborg and organic halves of his voice box have not synced properly.

Agrippa jerked upright. “Did you need something?” She wanted to kick herself. What was she supposed to do for him while he was trapped in the regeneration tube?

“Open the tube,” he rasped.

“You know I cannot. I didn’t think your ability to speak would happen this fast. Don’t overdo it. You still have a lot of regeneration to do.”

“Open the tube, clone.”

“Not yet, there is still the threat of infection. And don’t call me a clone.” If only he was well and could leave the tube, she wouldn’t mind what he called her. “How would you like it if I called you cyborg 321.”

His glare intensified. “You will pay for that. Obey me clone.”

She put her hand on the glass and leaned close. “I wish I could, but it’s almost over. Another month and you will be able to get out without risking infection. It’s a miracle that you are speaking already.”

“What is going on here?” Hamurabi asked.

She opened her mouth to answer, but Amelagar spoke first. “Get me out.” His eyes flashed green. “Now.”

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