Elizabeth Jakes The Clone System

1- Elizabeth Jakes

‘I don’t want to die.’

The battered naked body of the young woman tossed around in the turbulent waters, falling from a great height and landing heavily in the water below. She had been battered against rocks, her head bleeding even before she plunged over the waterfall.

A single, faint beep echoed inside her head as something brushed against her bare left calf briefly. Her body jolted in fright, but the heavy water slowed her movements. Thankfully, it was only a log.

[System activated] The female heard the sound echoing, and she frowned. Her body was too weak to cry out for help. Instinctively, she knew she needed to scream to attract attention. But even if she managed to shout, how could anyone hear her over the roar of the waterfall?

‘I cannot swim.’ She panicked, not fully understanding what the words meant but knowing she could not swim and would die. ‘How did I survive that?’

[Loading...] Blue words flashed across her closed eyes. [This will take a few seconds...]

‘What?’

Without warning, a surge of images flashed across her mind- blood, the squelching sounds of a blade slicing through flesh, except the flesh seemed rotted. Bodies groaning and walking- ‘Zombies?’

[22%...] flashed across her vision, but her mind whirled from the influx of memories.

‘Mum!’ Pain surged in her chest. Flashes of her family- she instinctively knew they were her family- lay sprawled on the floor in a bloody heap of rotted flesh. Everyone around them is in a similar state- burning buildings, flesh being bitten...

‘What is a mum?’

[65%...]

‘What the hell?’ She swiped at the air in front of her- nothing.

She understood now that she had survived the war, even without knowing who she was or what had happened- she knew she had survived. She had survived the wave too- barely.

[95%...]

‘Got it- mother. I knew that.’ It took a couple of minutes for her mushy brain to function. The girl still did not comprehend what was happening but was too preoccupied to question it. Coughing and spitting on the surface of the muddy water, she drew a breath into her lungs one last time before her exhausted body gave up.

[100% complete.]

It worked out better this way. Her body, heavy yet light, floated down to shallow waters, but she was too weak to move or stand- something she needed to avoid drowning. Her mind was too weak to fully absorb the words she heard or where they were coming from.

[System Integrated. Program running...] The ice-blue words blinked repeatedly for a few seconds before disappearing.

[Welcome to A.I.D.C...] The ice-blue dots blinked and then stopped.

[Searching database...]

Her world went black as her cold naked body turned over; her face now submerged in the murky waters.

[Not found. Should I perform a full body scan?]

‘No. Later.’

[Confirmed. Would you like to activate water mode?]

‘Whatever it means- yes,’ she thought, her thoughts so weak that it might be her last. 

[Affirmative.]

The voice seemed to know what she was thinking because suddenly, her light-headedness vanished, and her eyes opened beneath the water. Whatever ‘water mode’ was, she liked it. Even the burning on her neck did not penetrate her mind; it was blank except for one thing- land.

[Is this pleasing?] The voice remained monotone, words brightly lit now in the dark water, but the girl understood it was a question nonetheless.

Suddenly, her body stiffened, and she stood upright, her shoulders and head above the water. Seeing trees a short distance away, she made her way towards them, the shallow, murky water rolling off her bald scalp easily.

Her stomach growled, and she frowned slightly. What was that?

‘Food.’

On land, she pulled fat leeches from her body, staring up at the treetops to locate food, her primal instincts kicking in. Survival. The hot sun above thawed the chill the freezing water had left on her flesh.

[Please confirm. Was water mode pleasing?] The words appeared in front of her vision.

‘Oh, uh, yes.’

[Satisfactory rating as follows on a scale of one to ten; 1 being the least pleased and 10 the highest.] A display of numbers appeared in front of her, and she pointed to the last one.

“Ten?” she said aloud, understanding that she could have gone into darkness- dead. Her hands held out in front of her, she wiggled her fingers.

The numbers disappeared from her view.

[Affirmative.]

The girl furrowed her brow, her eyes taking in the clear sky overhead- blue with slight white fluff- clouds she noted, her head twisting as she opened her mouth and sucked in a deep breath. Alive.

[Should I finish the scan now?]

“No,” hunger pangs made her frown again, and she bent her head to look at the flat area where the sound came from. This time, a burn accompanied it. She stumbled around from tree to tree, her bare feet sore, looking up into the branches. “Who- what are you? Who am I?”

[A full body scan is needed to know who you are. Should I perform a full system scan now?]

“Yeah, I guess,” she replied, frowning as a loud, predatory cry reached her ears.

[Confirmed. Running scan now.]

The loud, piercing cry was heard again, and her pores rose. Her eyes darted from side to side, then to her forearms, feeling the strange emotion that caused such a reaction. Something was moving inside her- her breathing quickened- heartbeats she understood. An emotion ran throughout her being, and her forehead furrowed as she tried to interpret it.

Ah, she was scared. About to be prey...and hungry herself.

[Scan complete. Hello, Elizabeth Jakes. I am an Artificial Intelligence Program. You can rename me, but for now, I am in default mode. A.I. Kia. Your body diagnostic shows you are part of the human code.]

“What does that mean?” she muttered, turning around to scrutinize the dense green around her.

[DIGITAL CONSCIOUSNESS] displayed in front of her through the tree trunks, suspended in the air.

C5... DISEASE FREE...LOADING...

Age...19

Mass...61.2 KG

Height...172.72 CM

Physical features;

Eyes...black

Hair...black...long

Her fingers went up to her head but felt no hair- she was bald. She tapped gently around- nothing. Realizing the system is wrong and she had no hair but a skinhead, she became irritated.

[Skin tone...]

“Forget that. What is making that terrifying sound?” she growled out as her surroundings abruptly became quiet. No birds, insects...nothing. Even the wind was still.

[The possibility of animal life is almost nil due to the heatwave.]

“What?” The girl proceeded to climb the nearest tree with the thinnest trunk that was scalable to her, her heart pounding.

[Elizabeth...gathering information.]

“I don’t understand what is happening. I know my name and, uh, appearance thanks to you, but I have no clue about anything else. I get I am alive, but where is everyone else?”

The A.I. started speaking again, this time with a display of words going upwards in front of her.

[In the year 2145, the Earth’s axis tilted to ninety degrees, bringing an abrupt end to the world war, with survival becoming the top priority. Every continent experienced intense climate change. Sunlight would be almost twenty- four hours daily, causing massive destruction as rising sea levels flooded coastal lines and land folk life due to the ice caps melting.]

Wide- eyed and slack- jawed, the girl tried to make sense of what she heard while scanning the moist, moss- covered floor beneath her, hoping to catch a glimpse of the thing that made the loud cry.

“World War?” she gasped. “You mean after three?” Something told her she had experienced the third one. She wondered if this was the reason the sun was so bright or if that had passed. Her skin was already dry, and it had only been minutes since she had been out of the water.

[Affirmative. World War Four. The Earth has since returned to its regular obliquity ecliptic, which is approximately twenty- three point five degrees.]

Huh.

The girl let the words sink in. “Am...I...dead?” She knew she wasn’t, but she needed Kia to confirm it.

[Dead. An irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions. So no, you are not dead, Elizabeth.]

Her stomach made another guttural sound.

[I am here for any questions you may have, Elizabeth.]

“Where is home? I need to go home.”

[Data unknown.]

“Wow. Guess I need Webverse,” she muttered about the internet that used to serve as a search engine for just about any question one could come up with.

[Webverse is a dinosaur. I am much better, but you have to earn my information as you go.]

The girl snickered at the A.I.'s wit. “How?” she asked Kia.

[Initiating...] The ice- blue word displayed itself among the leaves of the trees, followed by an automated tone.

[Level 1]