The Jacobs Trask Courts-Martial
One of those unintended side-effects of cloning that tend to plague all scientific advancement turned out to be a throwback to the days of slavery, when a master could send his slave to fight in his stead. Once this opportunity was discovered, the wealthy spared no expense to secure that no legislature would stop them from sending duplicates of their heirs. There were a few unfortunate incidents where the heir revealed and was subsequently KIA, sometimes these stories came out and sometimes the cover-ups were successful; a clone cannot legally replace an inheritor so the slip ups were costly and legally messy. The fine was negligible to most that could afford the initial cloning, but prohibitive to all else. The loophole that was wedged open forbade the armed forces from checking until the soldier was dead or accused of some offense. It was so common a practice that no man serving with a scion-of-industry believed he was with the real person, and scandals about avoiding military conscription were done to death and carried no weight anymore.
There was one point carried by the opposition. In the case of cowardice or desertion both clone and person could be tried by a court-martial. The punishment was not exactly equal. When a clone was convicted of anything but a minor misdemeanor he would be eliminated, whereas if the scion was convicted his sentence could vary depending on if the act of cowardice was deemed to be situational or a personal attribute. This was another point won by the opposition where those looking for a loophole were hoisted by their own collective petard. Laws meant to apply to repeat offenders were successfully tied to personal attributes on a nature vs. nurture basis. Murder is in his nature, theft in her nature, these were turned around so that a killing spree by a clone could be pinned on an original with no genetic evidence whatsoever (or knowledge of what that evidence could be), simply the demonstration of a pattern which could be generalized to a psychotic predisposition in the clone and extrapolated to a defect in the original. The original would be labeled predisposed to crime and shut away for the rest of his life to be continuously "re-evaluated."
Most of these sentences were being passed on families that would have clones, so they were reduced to probation or therapy, or residence in a resort-clinic. The military was less forgiving. If cowardice in the face of danger could be pinned to your genetic predisposition (which now has as broad an interpretation as obscenity) you could find yourself in life imprisonment. It was the only satisfaction taken by those in the armed forces that cherished not politics and didn’t enjoy a squadron where potential clones were frequently sacrificed needlessly to escape from situations brought about by ineptitude. Potential clones were the first to be shot. They were at the front and back of any attack in enemy territory, the first to starve when rations were low and the last to receive medical care. No scion would dare enlist in that climate, with no way to prove that he was an original and subject to be used as bait by any blue-collar sergeant.
* * * * * * * * *
Jacob Trask was engaged in the necessary activities required to pass him as a clone: exercise and not much else. A clone’s singular given purpose is to grow healthy organs to be donated to the original in case of illness or injury. It was more active than his usual schedule, which included no forced appointments, and he looked the better for it. He engaged in the outdoor regimen to keep up appearances, but was allowed to do as he liked inside, safe from reporters’ eyes. Today his third nap was followed by a brisk game of tennis with his fellow clone impersonator and family friend James Monmoth. It was the second set when he heard the news. The P.A. summoned him to the main house where his father, Helden Trask II, looked at him gravely.
Jacob knew it was the worst. Images of his younger brother Helden III sunning by the cove while he rotted in prison filled his mind. The prison in his mind was dark and dank and resembled the Bastille the day after it was taken, with walls that let through hissing drafts and a straw bed in a wet corner. Military prison. Not Doubles. Military prison, where you lived a life much like that of a clone: physical regimen, following orders. Its sleek white corridors and bare walls did not impinge on Trask’s vision of Hades. He was not going to the Cloner’s Prison, built specially for outside world clone offenses and as such paid for by the families of the offenders. It was better financed than any museum in the world and those most in danger of ending up there referred to it as "Doubles." Jacob knew several inhabitants of Doubles, and he had never envied them before.
It was time to know his transgression.
He asked, "What have I done?"
His father said, "Desertion during a battle that cost seven humans and one clone their lives. Rather messy. It seems that the other clone was your sergeant."
* * * * * * * * *
"Sergeant Harry Black and I planned the whole thing," said a Jacob Trask not too unlike the one we’ve seen at home.
"Why," asked the prosecuting attorney, "would you do such a thing?"
"I would do such a thing to show that you had best not place your safety in the hands of people you treat as less than human."
The prosecuting attorney moved that the word "people" be stricken from the record and replaced with "clones." The attorney for the defense objected. The judge declared that this was not a can of worms that would be reopened in his courtroom. He ordered that it be recorded as spoken with the defense’s motion noted.
"You realize that this premeditated desertion is a far more serious offense than mere cowardice. You are accepting responsibility for all seven and-a-half deaths you have caused."
"I expect to be given nothing less than the full sentence."
"It behooves the court to remind you that should you be convicted of said offense, all other clones you have had contact with may now be reevaluated."
"I should think so. Who can say how many innocents my sick ideas may have infected?"
Those less interested in the safety of cloners had ensured that the trial’s record be open, and outside the reach of the Trasks the defense attorney was instructed to never to silence or contradict his client.
"It has been determined, Jacob Trask, that you have a genetic predisposition to cowardice in the face of danger, conspiracy and murder, which you are found guilty of committing. You are hereby sentenced to lifetime reevaluation and elimination."
* * * * * * * * *
There could have been a mirror down the center of the table. Jacob Trask sat across from himself. He was on his way to prison, he was on his way to elimination. He sat in silence. He was led away, and never saw him again.
* * * * * * * * *
The original sergeant was called in. The man who appeared was no sergeant at all. In attempting to keep a regimen to appear similar to his military clone he had been running stairs in his house, tripped, rolled down a flight of stairs and broken a metatarsal. The Henry Black who hobbled into the courtroom was a far inferior specimen to the sergeant charged with conspiracy to commit multiple murders. When Black reached the bench he was sworn in and feebly took the stand.
Original witnesses were not preferred. When accused of a crime in a military court, the criminal who has obeyed his nature is considered more trustworthy than an original (and draft dodger to boot) who has not.
Black testified on the stand that he was thirty-two years of age, and that he had made enough to purchase a clone through fortunate stock investments, but not enough to cover the fine should he be caught. Keeping his cloning a secret he was forced to live a prison-like existence until the five-year term was complete. He was tended to by his sister and things went as planned until Harry Black was promoted to sergeant. Harry sent a photograph of himself in uniform to his sister. Her brother was awestruck to behold the physical giant he had become, and now he was required to become it, so none would know when Harry returned from war. Then, as he had to hide from neighbors and exercise indoors, came the fall down the stairs and any quest for physical similarity ended.
The day he was found to be at home instead of KIA he received a letter from himself which he now produced before the court. It was addressed to Henry’s sister but the line of introduction read "To Henry,". It proceeded, "Henry, I am afraid I’m going to be putting you into a bind. There is a man here like myself, but in a position to make people listen to us. It may cost a few lives, but it will be worth it for the message. As he has asked me, what were you planning to do with me when the war or my term of service ended?"
It was signed, "Harry Black."
* * * * * * * * *
Trask and Black only came within earshot once. It was on their path to prison. They were not allowed to speak, not that they would have had anything in common, but they had conspired to commit murder once. Black had never been so close to such an important person before. He felt he owed him some sort of apology.
"Mr. Trask," he shouted as they passed each other in a corridor, "I want to apologize for Harry’s…er, my actions, sir. I didn’t think I had it in me."