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    The Edge of Nowhere
    The Edge of Nowhere
    The Edge of Nowhere
    Ebook522 pages7 hours

    The Edge of Nowhere

    By A. Foster

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Tess Mayweather Jakes... the Queen... was now in full power. she was the major governing force from Earth to the far reaches. That did not make for peace, but it was a good start. The story continues... and never stops...! Rayanne or rather Raya Mayweather Jakes steals her mother's ship. That sounds small like taking the car, right? No... this was the mothership... the fastest, largest, most powerful ship in the galaxy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherA. Foster
    Release dateMay 16, 2022
    ISBN9781005312831
    The Edge of Nowhere
    Author

    A. Foster

    Hello friends,Thank you for taking a moment to check out my site. I hope one of my stories catches your attention. Love to hear from you. Please like me, follow me and above all, tell someone else. I would be so grateful.I love to write, all kinds of stories. I am interested in real pirates from long ago, spaceships of tomorrow and all the time travel I can get. When I am not writing, I am thinking about new stories to tell and try out. Love to attend campfires and volunteer in classrooms often. A great place to entertain and experiment on themes.Hope to be invited to your campfire one day...Have fun and keep reading, dreaming, writing and hugging those you love most.

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      Book preview

      The Edge of Nowhere - A. Foster

      The Edge of Nowhere

      By A. Foster

      The Everlastingly War!

      The epic saga… continues...

      Eternal Soldiers,

      and

      Humans

      With, and without

      Hearts!

      "This is a work of fiction.

      Names, characters, places, and incidents

      are the products of the author's imagination

      or are used fictitiously.

      Any resemblance to actual events,

      locales, or persons, living, dead,

      mistaken for dead, or undead,

      is entirely coincidental."

      Copyright 2020 by A. Foster,

      Ann Foster

      Aka Annette Foster

      Thank you

      A short note to say…

      Thank you!

      Thank you very much,

      for supporting, a true dreamer.

      God Bless!

      The Edge of Nowhere

      Table of Contents

      Hail to the Queen

      1. An so it begins… again!

      2. We just left…?

      3. Why are there always so many rocks?

      4. I hate rocks…

      5. Who turned the bus over?

      6. You need an Umbrella

      7. Did you bring pizza?

      8. You are in Love, the DNA Answer

      9. There is something in the sink.

      10. Opportunity presents itself?

      11. Captain and Commander

      12. Sure I can do that.

      13. The way we love somebody…

      14. I thought you said…

      15. All the pretty lights…

      16. Happy Birthday

      16.5 Files Updated

      16.75 Jayzak

      16.85 First Officer of the Mothra

      17. Betrayal has eight letters. Dead, only as four!

      -17 maybe 18. New Friends Meet

      19. The betrayer steals material…

      20. Shaken to the Core, Not Stirred

      21. Exit

      22. Trekita Angeles from Tellus

      23. Long live the Queen

      24. Mirror, Mirror

      24.99. Fishing

      25. To be or not to be?

      26. What is life after all?

      27. Watch that first step.

      28. All the King’s Horses and all the Queen’s Men

      29. Mercy for the Dead, Already

      30. Home

      31. Goodbye

      Notes and Acknowledgements

      God Bless America

      Hail to the Queen!

      Raya’s mother was Tes Mayweather. She was the daughter of Liza Rayanne Mayweather. Both, mother and grandmother were accomplished scientists in several fields. Liza received her education from the most advanced professors available in the world... her whole life. She had an extremely high IQ naturally, and it was fed by the governing system of the times. She had been tested at a young age and shown worthy of attention. A path had been made clear and she had accelerated quickly through college and beyond. Liza had been awarded many times for her breakthroughs in several fields, concerning genetics and biomechanical engineering. That alone with other minor awards, accolades and acknowledgements in biology and the general sciences piled up her knowledge-base to be lofty indeed. It had allowed her to outthink or rather, stand outside her self... and look back at her own actions... her own life from a critical point of view. Liza had found that the truth was not pretty.

      Forever Soldiers were not just a general goal any longer. They were a reality, with all that she had been able to discover and achieve. That meant that clones would be able to shift, thanks to Liza and her team's findings... as well as mimic their own human creators. The ramifications of that possibility alone, much less all the other variations immediately springing from the main root... were all too violating and egregious to consider. It simply could not be allowed to happen, ever.

      People... in power... that had designs on Liza's ideas, findings and ultimate achievements were no longer hiding in the wings. They were lining up and taking turns... reviewing uses, daily. Their plans were solid as concrete. The truth, whoever controlled the clones, would control all. That kind of power... was final. It would only bring evil, exactly to hand for those that would use it mercilessly. The clones would be... the eventual and definitive governing force and army, greater than any ever known in man's history before. An even darker thought, it would be the future of forever... Forever!

      Liza had run...

      She had tried to save her team...

      and failed.

      She had been captured.

      She had died.

      But...

      the Lizard King made a mistake.

      Tes Mayweather had received her own education by the on-hands direction of the run-away scientists. Liza's team had become Tes's surrogate family. They had all tried to raise her as their own and maintain her safety. They were thankful to Liza for helping them get away, but her loss was sorely felt by all. Their own efforts and plans always to keep the powerful secrets they had found from ultimate misuse by their own government, still the driving force of their desire to remain hidden. Father, as the group referred to him most; whose true name was Professor Alexander Jedrick, and the others had taken Tes to live on the distant world Omega. It was a low tech world at the edge of a tiny sun's influence, covered with forests and cold country. It was easily habitable, but not the most hospital... Freak storms, temperature-fluxuations and unpredictable thermo-geographic stability issues, left it low on the list of AFC; acquisitions for colonization. That had been in the scientist's favor or so they had hoped.

      They had gone there after her mother Liza had been caught. She had sacrificed herself... and they had all lived and went because of it. The scientists then saved Tes from her own father Michael Wilder. It was all they could have done in Liza's honor, and they had been humbly glad to do it. The evil man, Michael James Wilder had been consumed with ultimate power and his desire to be emperor of all had been revealed to Father. The older man had already guessed much of what was planned in the back ground, hidden by the betrayer... but he had been nearly too late. He had only warned Liza... just in time.

      Wilder had long since given over his humanity in favor of … better. Well... or rather... that was ??? The world he wanted and nearly obtained? It was hard to fathom. But that was a long story all to itself. It was a drama full of trials and sadness, betrayal and madness, ultimately ending in one instance and beginning a new chapter in human kind. Wilder had spent his whole life cheating and standing on others to get his place next to Liza. Then, once he had what he needed he took it.

      The rise of the Lizard King was a chapter in history

      that marked a time of fear...

      and it continued even after his demise.

      Yet... an awakening... a renaissance,

      a thirst for yesterday

      was gaining a foothold

      in every corner of the known world(s)!

      Liza Mayweather was fed to the beast, by Wilder himself, the man once her lover. He had used her not once, but repeatedly to gain everything during their personal and professional relationship. Funny how Liza, berated herself; in the moments before she passed. So smart... so blind... The young woman whispered with her last breath. Was it that she was so smart? It had blinded her by love to be taken advantage of by such darkness? Or... was their more to see, that Michael Wilder had missed in his anxious desire to achieve...?

      His soul was consumed with greed and power even still... for more. The beast, so named for its insatiable hunger for information and materials... The same machine that turned out the clones, or more precisely or... ultimately named... Forever Soldiers! But for Wilder, everything from a slave to a useful guinea pig to experiment upon was all inclusive of his final need. Clones did tasks, jobs, daily chores of life for all humans... that could afford them... from the smallest to the largest. The task of making dinner, or cleaning up, on one side; and the exploration of dangerous planets..., at the other end, were both accurate pictures of a larger position. The process continuous and growing all the time. There were even human-run companies willing to pay for throw away bodies. Those individuals that could be sent to far places... with little or no chance of survival at all, which no one would miss? Oh and no way to return, so… no planned retrieval. It was all considered okay, if it were in the final effort... to further the empire and glorify the Lizard king.

      The action of pushing Liza into the workings... to tear her very being apart at its molecular level... was complicated, and a work in progress for Wilder. He had thought out every possibility, or so he believed he had... Yet, it had been Liza's DNA that had triggered everything for Tes and a nightmare for others. When she, daughter of Wilder… came aboard the command ship… on day one as counted by the clones, all progressed. That was the celebration day of the clones awakening. Or in this case… the choosing of a queen. For them all time before that had no meaning at all.

      Michael Wilder a powerful scientist, an elitist that rose to the top on the backs of others… oh and their deaths as well was in complete power, or so he contended. He had captured Liza and extracted all he could before she died. However, in his efforts to win all the marbles things went wrong. He longed to be emperor. Leader of the galaxy, at least the known part was only one of his goals. Yet all his efforts failed, all his aspirations, all of his dreams. Liza had changed the way the clones perceived things… when they were presented with the new DNA. The structure of her belief system, her inner core, was made part of their whole. The clone insect mind found it had new question(s). It was unclear how to ask… so it waited for more… as it could; it was without age. That is how it understood things as the passing of time, by marking the acquisition of information gained or AIG.

      That was the basis of Wilder’s supreme rule. Lost in one moment… when he ordered that they push Liza, unwillingly... violently, screaming into the machine… Liza became part of everything. The clone army he had built from scratch was forever changed. It had been fed new information. The would be emperor had held the republic completely captive with their help, the clone forces. However… he had lost it and was completely un aware.

      They, the empty ones with a new, ... hunger... had waited. They had waited a long time. They had waited long enough for the next step to take place… They had found the link. Tes was the DNA match. When she was brought to Wilder’s ship in captivity by the clones, the guards were soon… different. Others followed. Similar to a virus spreading through a body like a wild fire fever, the clones were aware. Now they would no longer listen to anyone… but the daughter of Liza… from her first encounter aboard the Lizard King’s command vessel. They took her into their charge, and she took them into her heart… forever understanding their emptiness and their oneness.

      Hale to the hive queen! a silent single voice composed of millions stretched across known space. It was beautiful, horrific, scary and unsettling on levels yet unknown by most.

      Changed and altered as it had been, but still holding the worth and wisdom of the center core. The mythical, heart of the machine was stabbed, and the captives chained to its needs were set free.

      The machine that takes and does not give!

      That is how Raya looked at it. The mental beast, was the one that gave all information… to the clones… from their creation to their demise, or at least that is the way that Raya liked to think of it. She like her own mother Tes, had the imprints of Liza’s own thoughts and patterns. At least up until the time that Liza had been captured… by the evil Lizard King… Michael Wilder. Then she had been forced into the darkness, but it had not worked as planned. Instead of taking from Liza the clones… learned… what they were… and they … were not happy.

      The history of a family and its roots are important. In Raya’s case, it was littered with great minds destroyed, or at least consumed by intent. The desire to do something beyond…

      The mantra that should be taken closest to heart...

      The soul song that should be sang by all...

      Just because we can do a thing... we need to remember and ask... should we do it? and why are we doing it at all? What goal? What outcome? Lastly... are we willing to accept the failures and the consequences? Will there be no choice?

      In Liza Mayweather’s case it had been to make better people. It was a high goal to eliminate danger and risk to humans and provide for better lives all around. She had been romanced into idealism; to make a race… that did not feel pain or perhaps could heal quickly. Longer life for true humans and gains all around with every step toward furthering science was fulfilling. Or at least the grand ideas seemed incredible and worth while in the beginning. They were not bad ideas right? No more sickness, deformity or other issues to deal with ever, sounded perfect. That would make living all the more worth while. That is until you mixed in the clones. That is what had tripped her grandmother up badly. They were a race created by the government. They were to do all things needed by humans. They did the dangerous jobs, or the ones that were in fact suicide missions from the get go. But soon after seeing how useful they were in that, they became so much more. So much more needed by all, they could not be done…without. They were even harvested for organs…

      (1) And so it begins… again!

      From the bridge of the Science Vessel; Mothra One

      (Mothra… a fictional butterfly of enormous size and strength.)

      Raya kicked back in the big chair at the front. It gave an excellent vantage point for the entire open area of the command deck, and allowed for perfect viewing of both the fore and aft screens… It was not the captain’s chair, but the second in command position. Just to be clear… the choice was not because she was avoiding power or authority by the way, it was simply more comfortable, and compliant to her needs. The young woman was never about pomp or circumstance. Even now she was not dressed any differently than a casual crew member on board a local Tazin freighter. She had no special braiding on her sleeves or even markings at her collar. The power and authority she controlled had nothing to do with chain of command in general or especially in symbols. It was about connections. The reality of that was even now too new for Raya to understand, so she chose to ignore the hum in the back ground of her deepest thoughts. It did not make it completely go away, but it did help.

      Rin, aka Rina Porter, Raya’s adopted grandmother… further known as the old one as it made her feel at least a little important… would never have let Raya be so lax. Once a direct and right arm assistant to Liza Mayweather and an excellent geneticist herself… Rina demanded that Raya stand up straight and be all that she could be 100% of the time. The problem was, Raya had no idea, what 100% even looked like. Her DNA was mixed up and even doctored together, beyond a casual experiment the final product was a road map to a genetic heaven… or worse, maybe a bio-genetic hell? Along with that… Raya’s own father Jakes, had been IAI, (Improved and Injected). He had also been personally experimented on by Maxel, the lap dog or rather lap cat of the ugly king. Her own grandfather by direct bloodline being, Michael Wilder had been changed into a new kind of being... The very parameters of that final outcome, never documented well. All of that, the change... had originally been due to the quick thinking of Father the owl… but again that is a deeper story. Some would say he, that being the man, Michael Wilder had been consumed by his own ambitions. Being a giant lizard, does tend to affect one’s appetite.

      The final product of planned and perhaps unplanned events; Raya… or more specifically and importantly for those keeping historical records;

      Rayanne Liza Mayweather-Jakes, the future Queen of the Hive.

      The last word, hive being the most important part of the equation. For a human, or at least someone that is… or was mostly still… human, to fully understand … the insect style of thinking… was a constant task. The control of so many, all at once, wears on the physical and well being of mental capacities. It is noted that when the clones are close together, this influence is easier, further apart… it drifts and is not as sure. All things that had happened since Tes came to be the ruler were still being analyzed and considered. However, the facts were fairly apparent. Well better stated, the main issues could be plotted, tracked, planned for and even altered. The small situations were not as important and primarily set on the basis of auto-pilot control, APC. As long as there was no direct change in a clone’s task, it would just continue. That led to less need or stress on the higher functioning nodes... and that in turn eased the control for the Queen.

      Liza Mayweather and then her own daughter Tes; had caused a species wide transformation realization. The closest thing to definition or explanation would be, an awakening. Liza had tried to prevent it by escaping Wilder, to stop the creation of forever soldiers… but failed. However, she had succeeded in saving her own daughter and the others of her science team for a short time, but not for long. She had only pushed the process off, not stopped it all.

      When Tes was captured and brought back to the labs, Michael Wilder and his minion Maxel had applauded their success. But it was short lived too. They were in for more than they were ready to handle. It led to Wilder’s death and Maxel’s current state of affairs. Which was not altogether the worst, but few would find his life comfortable. When he knew all was lost, and Wilder was dead, Maxel panicked and gave himself a monster dose of genetic material. He thought by brute strength alone, he would be able to repel Tes. He did not realize that it was not her alone, but the whole race of clones. They had chosen a queen, so none of it mattered. In the end… he was still alive. Well, mostly. The cocktail of material Maxel consumed did not kill him, but it also did not make him stronger. Even now he was still just barely learning to talk again. It had taken years. As for his physical appearance... he had been changed to be more catlike ever than before. Yet... all his hair had fallen out. His tendencies to accept the creature within had grown... and his humanity had lost ground considerably. Many that had been forced to work under his evil oppressive guidance now smirked... that he had received only half of what he was due.

      What did that meant? was a little unclear to those that heard the echoes in hallways, by people without faces or names to step forward. If that was only half...?, what could be worse?

      As for Tes herself… she had found it acceptable; the current set of events were just part of the plan. Besides, choices had been made that could not be unmade. They may not have been in the original draft or outline, but it the final outcome… was a consequence. Having the imprints of her mother told her it was a possibility that Liza had entertained, but only remotely. A hive queen was not a true explanation, but Tes found she had no other way as yet to explain it. She… Liza had at least a dozen scenarios worked out to the tenth degree for every experiment… always. She had been very intelligent and of good stock… long before alterations, were ever added. This one possibility among so many just happened to be true.

      The ultimate outcome changed the clones forever, and even parts of the main population that embraced more, suddenly wanted less. That included both the IAI promoters and the historians that wanted a pure path. The alteration, in thinking; from true… to… something else, very different, maybe no longer what it ever was before? It was hard to say. However; being all human and only human now, was more unique than ever. It was also more desired than ever. It was something to be guarded. They called themselves… Blood Born. That was important. They were not clones. They were not IAI…; injected or made better. They were simply as they should have always been, human. That included all the positives and all the negatives. That was precious. It was valued. It was vanishing.

      There was also now a growing unrest in the general population. They were thrilled to be rid of Michael Wilder… and his henchman. But there was a political battle looming over how to choose the next governing party. The division between acceptance and tolerance was growing wider and deeper. The clones would always do as Tes commanded. There would always be peace. The blood born and the IAI population would just continue. But that did not mean that the population would always be happy? Politics and ruling made Raya feel angry inside. She had questions that needed answers. Even with all the knowledge of Liza and Tes in the background of her own mind, she wanted to find out for herself. Living… ? Freedom? Answers to questions, that needed more than all the combined knowledge in her head so far, to find.

      Not all things can be learned by intellect alone.

      Experience is a harsh teacher and a violent master.

      Emotion is a tyrant that takes control of wisdom in the face of fear.

      Rin… had been Raya’s self appointed teacher and guardian for all of her relatively short life, and was even now ever on the young woman’s heals. Raya Mayweather-Jakes… having attained the age of passing… or more defined… as adulthood would never be considered grown by the old one. So the lessons were never going to stop. That is just how it was and would always be, while Rin drew breath. Raya was to be the next queen… and there were things to do to be ready. Things that needed to be taught… and known… Well, at least in the old woman’s point of view.

      That may have been one of the main issues or at least one of the very top reasons… or driving forces for Raya to take the ship in the first place. But she did not take just any ship. She took her mother’s finest… the Queen’s prize… and the best vessel in the fleet. Perhaps not the most formidable in armament, but it did possess all the right updated and important exploration gear. That was appealing to Raya. She had designs on going far...at least in her dreams... and treading just a few paths not yet marked on the map. Well, maybe not that far this time..., but some day. At least around the sun and back at the moment would be a great chance to stretch. Someone had to test the new flight drives, and a birthday party with cake and ice-cream just was not going to do it this year.

      The Queen's ship was spectacular. The hull shape was similar to a graceful, if streamlined looking butterfly from home world. It was built as both a science vessel and a small fortress of war. At one point an onlooker would find there was a sense of awe seeing her framed among the mighty stars of heaven. Beauteous! Yet from a different view; a sagacity even greater... only a bit more subdued..., of foreboding even fear... as the power of her blue metal hummed... That is, for those that could hear it.

      Liza Mayweather, Raya's grandmother... had been double crossed and betrayed by her own emotions. That lesson had been taught sadly to Tes. The imprints even now belonged to Raya. The underlying lesson... Be prepared for anything. So, using that definition of need the Mothra, the Queen's flag ship... had been constructed with multi levels of interwoven redundant processes. Perhaps a simpler explanation; if the Mothra were ever hit or attacked, the ship would simply heal itself. Shutting down areas and re-routing as necessary, to avoid any possible direct system failure. Liza's favorite past time in college had been thinking up fail scenarios.

      Puzzles; to be solved by semi thinking machines!

      In addition to all the Mothra's other incredible features she was a deep space vessel, so although not as large as most used for that purpose, it or rather she... was extremely ready. Mothra even had sleep chambers and regeneration pods. Everything cutting edge… some of it, or most in fact; untested and untried… but that was just part of the fun. Raya liked the uncertainness of adventure. It appealed to her on every level. No extras were spared in the ship’s design or construction. Raya was not even sure what that meant her self, as the science teams on Tes’s personal cabinet were excellent and always at work. No longer force focused just on clone-tech and issues of war they had been reassigned. They, the men and women of the science field were guided to projects more general to the wellness of the total population. They were reassigned to help them, all of them… all of the people… instead of the one ultimate machine. That is what her mom called it, as that is how she pictured it in her own head. A giant man made monster, of metal and gears, that consumed and took, without heart and certainly without soul.

      Escape! However, the deeper reasons were all far more intense, and hard to express. It was… independence, liberty and ultimately, hope! Everything… responsibility, and the ever present grooming of royal succession to ultimately take her mother’s place were just too much. Raya had no intention of being the next queen of anything. Her father, Jakes… had agreed. That is why he had left the passage open, and the main area to the doc unguarded at the right time. He may not be connected like Tes was to Raya, but he understood her maybe far better than her own mother. He himself had the same feelings of unrest and raw hunger for the next unknown. That is what had always led him forward in his own life.

      Jakes himself had run from the evil Maxel when he was younger. That… monster… barely human at all… had been his step in father after his mother passed away. No not stepfather. Step in adequately defined his title as pseudo father, but not all fathers are equally well meaning as their title first implies. Later Jakes learned that the evil creature, the cat shaped thing was more catlike than human at all… Maybe his outward appearance was just the true picture of the reality within? It, the animal… had toyed with Jakes. It had toyed with his mother also… maliciously and at length. The truth was revealed in the creature's files and personal notes. He had kept a journal. He had enjoyed himself. The low … crude feline… had kept records… lengthy written documents about the depth at which he felt torture was still deemed useful, for scientific purposes. She Margaret Niles had been the second scientist that never woke up. The one that had been left behind… by Liza and her group… at their first attempt toward ultimate escape… It had not been intentional, it had just happened. According to the records, as if they themselves had been written in blood; Margaret had been used like so much material. Cut and pasted, bled and disfigured, into nothingness.

      Margaret Niles had changed… but not as they thought. She had taken the drugs like the other scientists before the plan was in place. Father had given all the team the same chance… of failure or success as he thought important. But she had a bad reaction, and fell into a deep coma. Margaret had been left behind, just like Maxel. But in the cat’s case it had been on purpose. Father had been heartbroken at Margaret’s loss for ages. He had rarely spoken of her, after changing to owl form. But when he did, it was always with regret and longing.

      Yet… something had happened before she passed. There had been no outward sign. Not like a butterfly that ultimately springs from a cocoon, as she never opened her eyes, not once. She just passed in the end. As for inside… the blood counts and tests… never showed anything unexpected…. Yet, not all things that were done to her were noticed. Some changes were passed to her son, and not charted or readily viewed by anyone ever. He had been born, while she was still laying near death. He, the boy... had been healthy. Maxel had been thrilled.

      Whatever was inside… whatever was; Margaret, the whole of what mother meant … passed to him. It went from her body, to Jakes. Her bloodlines were strong, long before the forced change as well. That was just another asset for Jakes. The culmination of every good wish, and every good thought. It transferred lovingly from mother to son quietly too. All things before she met her last breath were given to him, because love is stronger and by far more mysterious than science can ever attempt to chart. Whatever it was… was far deeper than imagined… missed by mad men. That would prove a good thing to his, Jakes own daughter, Raya. As Jakes was the son of Margaret Niles. Raya was the daughter of Tes and therefore royal by pressures outside the norm. But… Raya... yet was unsure of all she was capable of... because her own father had no idea himself.

      It was a fact, the knowledge of Jakes whole life had been skewed into a twisted mess. Maxel, the amoral, highly unethical human that he was, had used him personally. Under the facade of a near family connection, one that actually never existed, he did exactly as he pleased. Toying with is head, his mind and his body for years, like a tiny white mouse in a cage. That went on and on, until Jakes finally found out. Even those that are often blinded by their unconscious gratefulness, or un-based gratitude for groomed reasons, wake up. That is when Jakes thought he had obtained freedom too. Well at least at that point in his life. So, stealing a ship himself, he had escaped... or thought he had. The reality was to find out that he was bait to catch Tes and her whole group. He had inadvertently hurt Tes, but she quickly found out, it was not his fault. After that a love and romance followed. Raya was born… and Jakes had found a bit of peace for the first time ever. Being a father was important. It had been the best thing that Jakes had ever known. It was precious to love and be loved, without betrayal and deceit at the core of everything. Maybe the most important thing he found he ever wanted to do. Sadly, Raya was in no way typical, and everything was a challenge… everything. There was little he could teach her as she already carried the information of two former high end scientists, not to mention her father’s line. That was more scary than comforting, but it was true. Yet… Jakes wanted to give his daughter all that he could. He wanted to be the finest that he could be...for her.

      One thing was for sure, like any good father he wanted the best for his daughter. Being queen of anything was not necessarily the best for loads of reasons. It was hard, and the fact that his daughter already had a harsh beginning, he was not on board with the rest at all. He had sought freedom for himself once and he wanted as much for Raya as he could get, or give. There would be a ruckus later between the Queen and Jakes, and another one in private between Tes and Jakes... but he would win both. Tes loved her daughter more than the clones. She was simply heavily pressed to be responsible for their well being. That would quite possibly take up the rest of her life, to work out. He did not want it to take the rest of their daughter’s life as well.

      For being old Rin was often surprisingly agile still. Her real name… Rina Porter. Rina was funny. Not like in the way that could make you laugh, but the other kind. You dare not ever say a word… of offense, by accident or otherwise if possible. She talked oddly most of the time. Her age was showing… as her ability to shift had become half hazard. She was tiny as always, still in human form, having not been able to change back to a squirrel with accuracy, she was instead… Shifted!. Her teeth and features were more squirrel-like over the years and less human. The old scientist also made chitter-ing sounds instead of words at times. Sadly she never noticed herself... but talked on as if all could hear her well enough. Raya could always understand Rin regardless of what language she uttered, as her own abilities were wide in range. She just did not let on that she could very often, as to get out of long… pointless lectures. Rin had made it her duty to see to Raya’s formal education. The old woman had not clearly understood that the imprints of the past, had taken away all hope of youth. Raya was basically an adult from the beginning. It was not fair. It was just the way things happened. In fact… recently that fact had grown to be quite a problem. When you have all the appetites and crazy thoughts of a young person, and a wreck less, driving desire to find a direction and prove your own worth… chaos often ensues(ed).

      The mysteries of life, real joy and laughter had long since been paid out, to get something illusively better. Long life and perfection, of which man had always fallen short as that was the business of the creator alone. To date, the veiled… altruistic human’s return on investment; poor at best. Only He, the Lord was perfect. Stupid scientists and evil men had tried to cheat and steal what they could never build, produce or construct… for themselves. Life was precious and a miracle. Raya herself was a product of that greed. The want of evil men in power, and women too… was off the Richter scale by many factors. All of them equally guilty, put there by the weak willed and easily led. The reality was, the clones were not the only ones with basically no free will but at least they were made or rather designed that way. The excuse for the rest of the population to let such atrocities happen, such as the rise of Michael Wilder… Lizard King?; was thin to none. They deserved what they got Raya thought. If they wanted it to be different they should not have been in a hurry to throw away their very humanity.

      It all plagued Raya in ways that would not cease. She wrestled with the idea of not knowing who, or what… she really was. Human was distant at best? Her designers had left that back at the gate somewhere in favor of; what they thought was worth more?

      What was ever worth more? More importantly, when was the payment demanded… too much? The resonating question was only the tip of a monster that had longer teeth and a far greater reach than even the Lizard King himself. It was bewildering to many, and scary to most with any brain to think freely. As for Raya it was consuming to the point of distraction.

      Better? Well that was really the question. Making people better? Few dared to say or rather ask it too loudly, but many knew it to be worth considering even questioning morally. Yet, the sweetness of a life without age or harm was enticing. The populace, were bought for the right price, or a great percentage of them according the historic records. The rest had to go along.

      Or did they?

      A better human, or in this case a better clone? That had been the goal of Michael Wilder and his team. The original altruistic idea was to help humans; lead safer happier lives. Yet in the end, it was altogether about a different purpose, a darker one. A whole race of sub human flesh to be exploited as needed. Well that was Wilder's own agenda anyway. It is noted that records were later uncovered... that his was not the only team... but we are not concerned at this time with the tributaries of rivers whose courses have changed recklessly in re-action not action at all. As for Wilder; ultimately it was just him and his minion Maxel; the cat man. All the rest died of one … thing … or another. Those were the lucky ones. Some were also eaten. Wilder liked to record his meals reactions, for future study. Or at least that is how the files were listed. The color codes on the tabs were later found to be levels of distress.

      Michael Wilder had literally eaten his way to the top. Methodically and with sauce at every opportunity and he had thereby advanced his own position, soon there was no one else high enough to rival his rule. It had been a façade to think Michael Wilder was part of a larger government. Wilder had simply gone along, gathering power and consuming everything quite literally… that got in his way. That is until he ran across his own kid. Tes had put an end to the cold hearted, future emperor’s goals. It had not been pretty. It had been final.

      Nightmares in the dark,

      for sins we never committed.

      writings by Rin

      Wilder and Maxel both had lost focus. Their thirst and hunger, their desire and want… even personal need for;… knowledge and power, culminating in dominion over everything, possessed them. Wilder was dead. Tes had seen to that. Her memories were Raya’s. She knew even now what it felt like to take a life. Yes, to take her own grandfather’s life? Well, he was not close family, as Rin would have pointed out. Regardless, it had not been pretty. It had led… to

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