Number Four

Out of breath, tired, covered in sweat and limping from a recent fall, Number Four makes its way just over the hill and into a small ravine. The sound of barking dogs not far behind, as the mob of guards and security personnel rush after the escaped prisoner. The moon above providing just enough light to give some color to the night sky. Branches broken, bushes pushed aside, the rustling of the leaves creating noise for the pursuers to follow, as Number Four comes upon a rushing river.

With nowhere to go but into the current, Number Four takes a leap of faith and jumps into the water from the embankment. Attempting to hold its own in the intense rush of current, Number Four is able to trek forward ever so slowly to the other side. The collection of man and dog now coming out from the edge of the flora, spotting the prisoner in the thick of the current. Before they can take aim and take a shot, Number Four intentionally loses its footing and is swept away into the water, traveling further down the river. An attempt to follow from the embankment proving fruitless as the speed that Number Four is traveling is much faster than running on foot.

Out of harm’s way, Number Four swims to the shore. Across a major obstacle, the night still young, Number Four continues its journey through the brush of the forest.

// Slowly moving from one placard to the next, you read each piece of information with amazement and awe. The exhibit presenting itself to you and to its many thousands of patrons in a very heavy but heroic way. Overhead, a banner exhibits a phrase, “The Beginning”, as you make your way inside the new room.

Number Four is not a man, nor really machine either. Number Four is what we call, a cybernetic clone. Originally, a creation born out of the need for a human workforce and made in the image of what we are familiar with; ourselves. Neither born from two parents, or put together in a factory, Number Four, or as it is known by its given labor name, A.D.D.L.E.R, was created for the Asteroid Mining Corporation. As the major powers of the Space Syndicate fought for territory and the right to expand their own borders, they required massive amounts of resources. Most of those resources were readily available in the mining of the near endless amounts of asteroids seen all over outer space.

This is where the A.D.D.L.E.R line of asteroid mining cybernetic clones came into play. With most of the rival power’s own citizens taking up arms against each other, there was little manpower available for the logistical part of maintaining a well-balanced war machine.

Since the use of a clone army is prohibited under Federation Law, for fear of an uprising or eventual revolt and takeover by their own creations, cybernetic clones were instead geared to the many jobs available in the industrial and commercial sectors of the workforce. In nearly all areas of manual labor, cybernetic clones were employed and expanded on. The Asteroid Mining Corporation employed nearly 97% of its’ workforce with the A.D.D.L.E.R line of asteroid mining cybernetic clones. As such, a great deal of their own logistical, operational, and maintenance costs went towards the control and repair of these clones.

Assigned to the Testudo Division of the Gold Sector of Operations, an A.D.D.L.E.R crew of asteroid mining clones were tasked with the procurement of titanium, uranium, gold, and nickel ore for the sustainment and continuation of the ongoing war. Usually, a crew of twenty-four cybernetic clones was assigned to a particular division of any given sector. However, the Testudo Division is only ever assigned when a major find of rare materials is discovered in enemy territory and requires all hands on deck to acquire said materials in a short amount of time. With 108 assigned cybernetic clones, the Testudo Division can work and carry the load of nearly five other divisions combined. Pilots and engineers make up a small percentage of the division, with miners and security personnel making up much of the rest of it.

This is where the story of Number Four begins.

AMCC-7794 was assigned as a mining clone, experienced in the acquisition of rare metals and trapped gases. As an A.D.D.L.E.R asteroid mining cybernetic clone, AMCC-7794 was outfitted with and expected to adhere to all mining regulations and protocols when in the process of mining and collecting of any targeted resources. However, as a member of the Testudo Division, certain protocols and nearly all regulations are wiped from the mission directives, effectively giving the cybernetic clones free reign with how to collect and secure the targeted resources. This lack of basic codes can easily create a recipe for disaster, especially within an active warzone or behind enemy lines, which the Testudo Division regularly finds itself in.

With camouflage capabilities, the Testudo Division found itself in an untenable situation. Assigned to the Gold Sector, an active war zone, enemy patrols would be detected and monitored with increasing frequency, with each patrol hugging the outer perimeter of the mining location. Eventually, those camouflage capabilities would be rendered useless when that outer perimeter is broken, and the enemy patrols begin to inch closer to the actual mining position.

It did not take long for just that, as a ship’s coordinates are locked and monitored off the horizon. Breaking the perimeter and heading straight for the Testudo Division’s location, its weapons are locked, and it begins to jam communications. There is no way out of this one...