The Clone Republic (Clone 1) by Steven L. Kent

Author:Steven L. Kent
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, Science fiction, American, Human cloning, Cloning, Life on other planets, Clones, Soldiers, General
Publisher: Ace Books
Published: 2006-03-27T13:00:00+00:00

“You might want to leave the rifle stock behind,” Shannon said, as we started for the cave. Not waiting for an explanation, I detached the stock and left it with Lee.

Shannon stepped into the cave and stopped to wait for me. His armor was coated with ash, but his visor was clean. “You should give your visor a quick wipe,” he said. “You might not get a chance to do that later.”

I pulled the swatch of cloth from my belt and wiped the glass carefully. As I entered the cave, I saw the bodies of the men Shannon and Lee had cut down. Two sat slumped against the walls as if resting, the others lay on the ground. One had died clutching his mask. If the gunfire didn’t get you on Hubble, the atmosphere would.

Shannon waited for me to get a few steps closer, then drew his particle-beam pistol and pointed it at the wall. “I want to show you something,” he said, and he fired a bright green bolt into the shiny black rock. The bolt bored into the wall of the cave. Slag and vapor poured out of the hole.

“Recognize it?” Shannon asked me.

“It’s the shit from the trenches,” I said.

“It’s like being in an iceberg,” Shannon said. “Make too much heat, and you will bring the whole damned cliff down.”

“I don’t get it,” I said. “The rock melts into vapor?”

“It’s the other way around, the vapor hardens into rock,” Shannon said. “The vapor gets cold and hardens. That’s why the rock looks so shiny; it’s just hardened gas.”

“Now you’re a geologist?” I asked.

“Don’t get smart, asshole,” Shannon said. “Like I said before, I saw shit like this in the Galactic Center War. Since Liberators and Mogats are the only people who were at that little rumble, you can bet they know about it, too.

“Harris, I don’t suppose the good lieutenant uploaded Scooter’s data to you?”

I scanned for beacons, and a thin red line appeared on my visor marking the robot’s path. There was nothing wrong with Scooter’s self-preservation programming. The little robot had explored the caves hidden from danger by traveling in a groove along one of the walls. No wonder the Mogats had walked by the little rodent without seeing it. “Okay, I can read his beacon trail.”

“That’s good. If we get split, you’ll need to find your way out on your own.” Shannon started forward along Scooter’s virtual trail. “You know those machines Scooter passed? Did you recognize them?”

I did not recognize the first machine, though it had looked familiar. I did recognize the second device. “The one on the left was a power generator,” I said. “You planning on turning out the lights?”

“We’re going to do a lot more than that,” Shannon said. “The bigger machine is an oxy-gen.” The term “oxy-gen” was Marine-speak for oxygen genitor.

“I don’t think they know we took out the guys guarding this gate. As long as they didn’t see Scooter, we should be able to slip up to the generators without too much trouble.

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