By the time they reached the surface Malcolm’s mind was beginning to clear. His mom was waiting for them as they ascended, and she handed each of the boys a towel. Malcolm took it and lightly began wiping away the moisture from his makeshift hazmat suit.
Lori was waiting for them as well. He didn’t want to look at her.
“I understand.” He heard her say softly.
“Didn’t exactly find what you wanted, did you?” His mom asked sympathetically.
“No.” Malcolm heard himself answer.
She sighed. “I didn’t want to tell you…None of us did. We figured it would be best if you found out on your own.”
“Hell, you could have at least told me!” Jericho whined. “That was a hell of a trip!”
“If we told you, you wouldn’t have gone with him, and he needed you there in order to find the courage to make the trip himself.”
Jericho grumbled something, but Malcolm didn’t hear him.
…
Malcolm spent the next four days in his room, shivering beneath blankets and sipping on warm soups his mom and sister brought him.
“You have a fever, sweetheart.” His mom said, shaking her head.
“Those tunnels…Poisoned me.” He’d say.
“There’s nothing in those tunnels that’s harmful to humans.” She said. “The poison’s coming from within.” She handed him a large glass of juice, and he gratefully began to sip it. “You have a stress fever.”
“How do you know?” Malcolm fired back weakly. He wanted to rebel in any way he could, but in his physically and mentally weakened state it was difficult.
“Do you honestly think there haven’t been doctors, psychologists, and other professionals who’ve willingly given themselves up to the Colony? We share their knowledge now.”
“Doctors.” Malcolm repeated. “I thought they were the smartest…Too smart to give up so easily.”
“You’d be surprised…Even the smartest human is susceptible to stress. In fact, given their increased responsibilities, I’d say doctors experience some of the most stress, and really, when it comes right down to it, that’s all it takes. Stress. Too much stress and anyone will accept our offer.”
So Malcolm continued sipping juice and soups as his strength slowly returned.
At one point his dad paid him a visit. “I’m sorry I’ve been so distant son…I promise to be more active in your life in the future.”
“You’re one of them now, aren’t you.” He didn’t even need to open his eyes. His dad’s tone was a touch too cheery, and his presence too uncharacteristic.
“One of whom, exactly?”
“Whom…I never knew you to be so eloquent.”
His dad gave a small chuckle. “Lately I’ve just been feeling a lot less stressed, and it’s really helped clear my mind.”
Malcolm gave a knowing nod. “You too.”
He felt his dad sit on the bed. “Your whole family.”
“My whole family.” Malcolm repeated tonelessly.
“I’m sure that’s a lot to handle…Probably pretty stressful.”
Malcolm simply grunted.
Eventually he felt his dad stand up from the bed. “Take care, son.”
Malcolm grunted again.
So that was it…His whole family had been replaced, but there was nothing he could do.
He put it out of his mind.
…
Malcolm’s health eventually recovered, but he continued spending most of his waking hours in bed. His family, father included, were happy to accommodate his decision. They brought him food and trifle luxuries, but his mood did little to improve.
“You seem really upset.” His sister said to him one day.
“Yeah…You died.”
“I’m still around.” She said. “From your point of view, what’s the difference?”
“You’re not my sister.”
“I have every memory she ever possessed and act exactly like her. I am an identical copy.”
“No…She smoked, and I think…” He didn’t want to mention the faded scars that he once saw on her thigh.
…But he didn’t have to. “What, you want your loved ones to cut themselves and fall into addictive habits?”
“No.”
“Then you should be happy I quit.”
“You never quit, because you never started.” Malcolm snapped. His head was beginning to hurt. “You’re not her, and you never will be.”
“Tell me, bad habits aside, what’s the difference?”
“You’re a clone.”
“Every neuron of her brain has been perfectly copied. If her brain exists, then she exists, yes?”
But Malcolm didn’t feel much like delving into philosophy…Not now…Not with a fungal clone.
“Just leave.” He hissed.
His sister frowned. “I thought I’d see if you wanted to go to the zoo or something.” She said. “You’ve been stuck in your room for nearly two weeks. You can’t live like this.”
“And what if I do, huh?” Malcolm shouted. “What if I choose to spend the rest of my life up here? Will you kick me out? Force me to get healthy? Make me get a job?”
Lori pursed her lips. “Of course not. If you want to remain up here forever, then we’ll tend to your every need.”
Malcolm put a hand on his head and ran his fingers through his greasy hair.
“And every day I spend up here, I’ll just feel worse and worse.”
“Very likely, yes.” Lori agreed.
“Worse and worse, until one day the mere act of existing becomes too intolerable, and I beg to be replaced with my own clone. That’s it, isn’t it? That’s how you plan to get me, right?”
“Get you?” Lori seemed surprised.
“Your plan? Your plan to replace me?”
“Why should we care about replacing you?” Lori asked. “You’re not important. None of us are, really. We just needed to replace a large enough section of the populace to slowly push scientific research in a direction that will benefit both humans and Mycelloids. Individuals rarely matter when playing a numbers game.”
“Then why are you doing this?” Malcolm asked. “I know for a fact my real mom wouldn’t have let me do…Well, any of this! She would never have let me get away with slacking off or locking myself up here or playing video games or wasting time. Tell me, if you perfectly copied her brain, why is she so different?”
“She’s only different because we got rid of some of her bad habits, same as we did for your sister.”
“Her forcing me to better myself was a bad habit?”
Lori shrugged. “Her overbearing nature? Yes.”
Malcolm grunted.
“Think about it. Ever since she’s been replaced you’ve done nothing with your life. You grew dependent on her to push you, never once taking time to improve yourself for your own sake. That’s not healthy. Without her screaming at you, without that outside pressure, you’ve lost your way. You need to cultivate motivation in yourself. You always believed she was the one directing your fate, but the truth is, the only one directing it is you.”
Malcolm didn’t respond.
Lori placed a delicate hand on his shoulder. “Listen, I’m heading back to university next weekend. Before I go, if you wanna go to the zoo sometime, you’re gonna need to wake up early enough, get ready on your own, and come downstairs to tell me.”
“Yeah…I might do that.” Malcolm said, staring off into the distance. “Maybe tomorrow.”
He’d been given a lot to think about and wanted to spend the rest of the day calming his busy mind.
…
He didn’t get out of bed the next day, or the day after that. On the third day he managed to force himself into the shower, but couldn’t muster the energy to go downstairs.
On the fourth day he got a shower, put on some clean clothes, and made his way down into the living room. His sister was busy reading, but she smiled when she saw him.
“You’re looking better.” She said.
He nodded solemnly.
“Finally decided to leave that tomb of yours, eh son?”
“Yeah dad.” Malcolm mumbled.
“Well, I promised you I’d take you to the zoo.” His sister smiled. “Are you ready?”
He nodded, then followed her out to her car.
He wasn’t sure why they were going to the zoo. He’d never showed interest in it earlier.
“Why-”
“-the zoo? Lori finished.
He nodded.
“Why not?” She asked. “It’s something to do. It’s a small goal, but it still requires expending some effort. It’s not difficult to walk through the entire thing and will give you a chance to take your mind off recent developments.” She shrugged. “It seems like something you can handle, and something you might enjoy.”
“Yeah, I think I can.” He agreed.
They drove in silence, but Malcolm couldn’t stop thinking about his sister…His real sister…His mind vividly painted the memory of her withered form controlled by the Mycelloid colony like some sort of macabre puppet…A horror…An absolute horror. Dead beneath the Earth’s surface, but her memory kept alive by a clone on the surface.
“When are you going to leave?” He asked.
“Next weekend.” Lori replied. “I’m heading back to college.”
“That’s not what I meant.” Malcolm said.
Silence.
“I know.” She nodded grimly. “You want to know when I, that is, this form I’m taking, will permanently return to the colony.”
He nodded.
More silence. Lori seemed to deliberate on something.
“Your sister…That is to say, I, am in a very good position to help advance scientific research. My potential intellect is far greater than most peoples’, and I’ve been provided the resources to explore and fulfill that potential. It’s been decided that despite the original being in her current state-“
“Dead.” Malcolm interjected. “Go ahead and say it. She’s dead.”
“Not entirely dead. There was a single ember of life still within her, and we were able to rekindle it somewhat.”
“Dead!” He nearly shouted. The thought sickened him, but he realized her death was far more merciful a fate than being a perpetual plaything for the Mycelloids
Lori nodded. She understood. “Yes. Dead. Despite my original’s death, it would be too great a waste for me to simply disappear. Not when I still have so much I can give to the world.”
Malcolm processed this.
“Without you and your fungal colony, that’s what would have happened.” He said. “She would have died and the world would have missed out on what she could have done for it.”
“And that’s not something anyone wants.” Lori added.
More silence. Malcolm felt too drained to continue the same circular conversation.
They passed an exit…Then another…
“Why did she do it?” Malcolm asked. “You’re her clone, right? So you should understand her better than anyone else. I knew she had some mental problems, but never thought she was so close to… So close to the edge. Why? What happened?”
“She carried around extreme stress. She felt as if she were a perpetual failure, but so long as she maintained stellar grades, she believed she still had some value. She built her reputation on being the best.” Lori frowned. “But that couldn’t last. Her roommate started excelling in ways that far surpassed what Lori herself could achieve. She was no longer Number One. Her identity was entirely built upon being the best, so when she was no longer the best, she snapped. She felt like she was disappointing our mom, her teachers…Everyone. She fell into despair and…Well…” Lori fell silent.
“So she wasn’t happy when she…”
“She wasn’t ever happy.” Lori said quickly. “But as she was losing consciousness, that was the happiest she’d been since she was very young. She felt as if she were finally free. If nothing else, perhaps you can take comfort in that.”
He didn’t. She hadn’t been freed. She was still being used by the Mycelloids.
They pulled off the highway, then meandered through a few back roads until they reached a large parking lot. Lori paid and parked, and Malcolm followed her out of the car.
It was hot, and the Sun beat down heavily upon his back. He felt it sapping his strength and wished he could go back to bed.
“Doesn’t this feel lovely?” Lori asked, pushing him along.
“I thought fungus was supposed to hate sunlight.”
“Usually, yes.” Lori nodded. “But fungus doesn’t usually move and speak either.”
“Good point.”
They entered the zoo, and fighting through crowds, headed toward the first animal exhibits.
“When we threw those toads and things into the pit, you cloned them, right?”
“We did.” Lori nodded.
“Why? What good does that do you? I get cloning humans to make scientific advancements, but I can’t imagine a frog’s gonna do much.”
“We’re a hive intelligence, so having a lot of smaller creatures act as our eyes and ears really helps us learn a lot about the surface world.”
“So you guys could clone those rhinos?” Malcolm asked, pointing to one of the nearby specimens lazily resting in the shade.
“In a manner of speaking.” Lori answered. “But what we’d create would not match them on a genetic level. It might look like the creature, it might act like the creature, but it wouldn’t be the creature.”
A wave of sadness fell over Malcolm, and clone-Lori seemed to understand.
“You treasure animals for their biodiversity.” She said. “Their genetic differences are what make them appealing to mankind. Humans do not view each other through the same lens, however, and when it comes to people, the most important aspect is our minds. It’s true that I’m completely different than your sister on a genetic level, but mentally we’re the same.”
But Malcolm still felt as if everything were falling apart. His family…They weren’t his family. They were clones. Perfect clones, perhaps…Clones that even exceeded the originals.
Everyone around him. He hadn’t bothered asking Jericho if he’d been replaced…He wasn’t sure he could handle the answer.
“You seem quiet.” Lori said.
“Just thinking.”
And he was. He realized that it didn’t matter if he was at the zoo or at his house…He was trapped.
“What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking…” He sighed. “I’m thinking that there’s nothing here for me. If everyone’s a clone, then it’s clear this is no longer a place for real people.”
“So you think that maybe you want to be replaced as well?” Lori’s voice was stoic and level, as if she were afraid of sounding too eager.
“No. I think I want to try and kill all of you off.”
Lori nodded. “I thought as much. Have any plans?”
A memory that had lingered in Malcolm’s mind since the day they’d gone into the depths of the Mycelloid colony rose to the surface.
“Maybe.” He said.
“Wanna talk them over with me?”
He shook his head.
“I understand.” She answered.
“It’s just…It feels weird to discuss this sort of thing with your enemy, you know?”
“Eventually, I hope you’ll realize we’re not enemies. We want the same things.”
But Malcolm was starting to understand that that wasn’t true. Languishing away in his bed didn’t make him feel better, nor had endless hours of hedonism…It was only when presented with a struggle, like descending into the lair of the Mycelloids or forcing himself to go to the zoo, did he really feel alive.
“I think humans might need to struggle.” Malcolm said at last. “And I think that’s something you might not understand.”
“Struggle? Why in the world would you ever want that?” Lori asked. “Why not just take the easy way out on everything?”
“Because I think evolution’s hard wired us to struggle.”
“I share your sister’s mind, and I can assure you that the urge for struggle isn’t present. Indeed, if anything there’s been too much struggling. Your species needs a break.”
“You share her mind, but not her genes. I think the need to struggle far predates our intelligence.” Malcolm said. He watched an elephant lazily stuffing its mouth with hay. “And I think that without that struggle, I’m no different than these animals.”
“Then I must ask if you want to destroy us in order to rescue humanity from an unimaginably lazy future, or if it’s because you want the challenge?”
Malcolm shrugged. He wasn’t sure. He just knew that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t try.
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