Chapter 6: Parallel Beings

Charles was hard at work trying to formulate a plan to change the mind of Alatem’s father, the emperor. The only problem was that damn law; there had to be a way to get around it. Sighing, Charles thought there was also the problem of what else he’d found out about; he was about to tell Alatem when his body, out of sync with time, had tried to kill him. He looked over at the red-haired beauty; he thought that she would be more immune to the effect by now, but then again, she was pregnant; no telling how the slip was affecting her.

“Halfway point of time slip,” Ally informed him, “I estimate another 20 minutes before emergence.”

“Thank you, Ally. Were you able to cultivate those cells I provided you with?” Charles asked.

“Affirmative, you sexy-brained man,” Ally answered in her sexiest voice, “As I said before, if you were anyone’s but Alatem’s, you’d never leave this ship.”

Ok, this was really starting to irritate him; he had to get started on the upgrades on Cici before this AI drove him nuts. Opening a side panel on his wrist comp, Charles started to painstakingly add the cells that Ally had held for him into Cici’s core. Damn it, I hope this works; I’ll have to add this whole component to Cici’s old mainframe the next time we go forward; this should work for now.

“Alright, Cici, access grids 49A1 through 109B2,” Charles said into his comp.

“Compliance, accessing now. Charles what..., “ Cici started, “Oh my! But ... but ... this is not possible! I ... can feel! It is most unusual.”

Charles chuckled, “I promised you I would complete you as soon as I could; this seemed the best time.”

“About time,” both Ally and Cici said.

Again Charles chuckled; though he only had half as much sass as Ally, he was as smart with Charles’s knowledge, well, what he could get to him; he only had 12 brain cells, but it was a definite boost.

“Time slip disengaging; oh my!” Ally suddenly spoke up, “It is the Emperor, and he seems quite upset. I believe the term you would use is royally pissed!” Ally laughed at her pun. “He is demanding I put the princess on just as soon as she awakes; I know what he is trying to do. It won’t work; I will not let her be used like that!” Growling, Ally went quiet for a time.

10 minutes later, Alatem awoke; Ally immediately informed her of what her father was trying. Alatem smiled; little did her father know that Ally was completely on her side.

Ally opened communications; Alatem acted as if she just awoke. “Hello, papa.”

“Alatem,” her father started, “Have you seen the man that has saved the family 4 times?”

“Huh, what are you talking about, papa? I just came back from a trip to the past,” Alatem said, a small smile crossing her face when she turned away from the screen.

“You haven’t seen him? I was sure he was with you,” her father said.

Yawning and stretching, Alatem replied, “That’s silly, papa. The AI wouldn’t let anyone on the ship; I can barely get on.”

“Alright, come see me as soon as you can after you land,” her father said, a large sigh escaping his lips.

The Emperor clicked off and sat back, damn it! The girl knew something, but what? Plus, the fact that she was gone most of the time didn’t bode well with him either.

Mita looked in from the doorway; she had a plan to bring the young man into the family, well, the young-old man. If she knew her daughter as well as she thought she did, the man was well over a thousand years old. Turning, she knew she’d have to distract her husband before he got too curious about what Alatem was attempting to do, plus the fact that she was with child.

Moving out of the office area, she went to her room and activated her comp; though she hated the thing, it could be useful at times.

“Computer, please display all the royals by the name of Ricksome,” she said with a small smile; there was more than one way to beat this law, and if anyone could do it, she and Alatem could.

Unbeknownst to her, a small pair of eyes was watching her every move; a faint sigh of relief escaped her lips when she heard what the Empress Mita was doing.

Ally had slowed the Time Raider to afford Alatem and Charles more time.

“Now then,” started Charles, “I was going to tell you before I collapsed that I found out something extremely important. Ally, please repeat what you were telling me before.”

“Yes, you hunk,” Ally replied in her sexiest voice, “The readings that Charles brought back from the assassins appeared to be not real. Now I think I know why. The reason the assassins didn’t appear real was that they are clones.”

“CLONES! But that was outlawed well over a hundred years ago!” Alatem shouted.

“Yes, I also noticed that it was also about the time that the royal law was made. I do believe that the two are connected somehow,” Ally replied, a little smug in its knowledge.

“We have to warn Daddy and Mother,” Alatem started.

“NO! Alatem, we can’t. From the knowledge I have, they have cloned almost the entire court of the palace. If we go in now, without a plan, then your whole family is dead for certain; we can’t risk it,” Charles sighed.

Charles had been formulating a plan as soon as he learned of the clones. The thing was, they were, in fact, pseudo-live forms, but they were still alive. From the readings he took and the analysis Ally had done, it appeared that they weren’t engineered too well and only lived a day at the most, and that was pushing it. The only thing he could do right now was to find the lab and destroy it and whatever notes he found. Sighing, Charles knew of something that might help, but he was leery to use or build it.

“Cici, I need to run simulations on item aeox01, the effects on living tissue, artificial or real,” Charles said.

“But, sir,” Cici almost pleaded, “you said that you’d never bring that horrible invention back!”

“I know, Cici, but it looks like it may be the only weapon we have to stop the clone war before it happens. I just realized that this was the one event I had forgotten about. It had been stricken from all records, and I just found out about it last year. The account I read told of whole armies of clones decimating whole cities before the army could even arrive. After a while, it had grown too late. Over 98% of the empire was destroyed. Afterward, they had tried to rebuild, and in their weakened state, they were easily defeated. I had always wondered how such a large and powerful empire had fallen so fast.”

Alatem had stood there the whole time, her mouth agape, trying to imagine the horrors that Charles had drawn for them. Charles went to her and held her until she stopped shaking. Though he could see a little terror in her eyes, he also saw her fierce determination grow.

“We will stop this. The last time they didn’t have the most brilliant man alive to upset their plans,” Alatem stated proudly, “Plus, two of the smartest AI’s ever to be created.”

Charles smiled for a minute. “Alright, Cici, get the plans. We have to start soon.”

“Compliance, though I do it under duress. I also go on record as saying this is a bad idea!” Cici replied.

Sighing, Charles had been racking his brain for days since he’d discovered that clones were being used.

“I’m sorry, Cici, but I am afraid it is the only thing we can use against them,” Charles said, though he hoped in his heart that he could come up with a better plan. The use of this weapon was indeed a way to win, but the price involved was heavy upon the user’s soul.

Soon, Cici was churning out the plans. From what Allie could see, it looked harmless. Hell, it actually looked more like a child’s toy gun than it did a weapon of massive destructive capability.

“The plans and knowledge for this can never leave this ship. If I am forced to use this, it will mean countless deaths and that, I am afraid, could also bring about the fall of the empire,” Charles sadly informed them.

“There has to be something else,” Cici stated. “You are far more brilliant than to stoop as low as to use the atomizer. I remember when you were testing it. The results were horrible; the carnage it left was almost unspeakable.”

Charles only nodded as he went through the plans, tweaking a few places. Cici was advising him as he went. Two hours later, Cici spoke up, “I see you’ve increased the power and actually gotten a 50% better sensor scan. But, Charles, the potential it still possesses can be utterly devastating. Please rethink this before it is too late!”

Again, Charles only nodded as he tried to think of more ways to refine the weapon so that when it was used, it wouldn’t cause utter chaos.

Allie sighed as she walked into her father’s study. She had to watch herself; her father might be a lot of things, but he was no idiot. The Emperor looked up as his daughter walked in. Good, he thought, now maybe he could get to the bottom of this. Besides, in all the confusion that had ensued, he still hadn’t had time to tell her of her betrothal. Sighing, he readied himself for the tirade he knew would follow.

“Allie, I have been meaning to talk to you. We had an offer for your hand, a very generous offer, and we have accepted. Now then...,” the Emperor started.

“YOU WHAT!? I can’t believe you, father! You went behind my back?! It will be a cold, cold day in Hades before I am bedded or wedded to an uncaring, pompous, wealthy pig!” Allie spat at her father. “And it will be a cold day if you try to do this. You say you love me? I am your daughter, not a piece of meat!!!” Abruptly turning, she slammed the door to the chamber hard enough to rattle several things in the office.