Generation Gamma

The XND-35

The XND didn't want Apello to see his face. His left eye was glowing with red light and had three pupils in it, which were constantly moving. There was an earpiece attached to his left ear which extended to the back of his head and extended to an incision in his right temple. The rest of his face was perfectly symmetrical and without scars. He had a crew cut, which suited his overall bulk. Apello knew that what he saw in front of him was a clone. He was less shocked but more disappointed in seeing him. Cloning technology was very common in this time, but the clones made were registered and marked to distinguish them from the originals. Also they didn't have the same rights as humans.
Apello asked him "Who are you?" 
The XND replied "I am XND-35."

"So you are the 35th model?" asked Apello.

"No, my ranking was 35th. We could challenge any XND superior to our rank. If they were defeated then our ranks would be swapped." said XND

Apello looked puzzled. XND looked older like in his mid thirties, Apello figured that the use of chemicals during his operation and experiment might have aged his skin.
Apello wanted so much to ask but there was no time to ask questions. XND stared at the young man standing in front of him. The young man was wearing a tight charcoal grey body suit with pockets and straps to conceal various utilities. Apello was a tanned, lean, muscular man with medium length hair and a beard. He had a lot of weapons on him, by the look of his outfit he seemed to resemble a mercenary. He was wearing knee length black thrusters. His clothes and thrusters looked dull as they were covered in ash and dust.
XND-35 said "You said that you have a vehicle somewhere near."
Apello opened up his guidance system. He pointed out the direction and said "Its located 75 km that way."
XND-35 looked agitated. "You said it was somewhere remote." he barked.
"You were gonna leave me in this prison. You said you'll be fine anyways." Apello snapped. 

"If it was not for your strange device, I would have left you behind. By the way what was that device, I've never seen it before?" XND asked.

"Its called Energy Entanglement Cord. Its one of a kind." replied Apello

XND-35 gazed down through broken glass. All that was visible was smoke. He was thinking of something. He lifted his arm and pressed a button. A holographic screen appeared in front of him. There was a blinking red and green spot on the screen. The red spot appeared to be moving towards the green spot.
Apello was watching closely but couldn't figure it out. It sort of looked like a map, but he couldn't guess the location. He interrupted XND-35 "Hey, we should keep moving in the direction. If we use our thrusters then we can make it there in less time, besides it will be hard for them to track us on ground under these rubble". XND-35 nodded. He turned down his jet pack to act as thrusters. Then both of them started striding towards the percher.
The northern desert was rocky with lots of dark brown sand. Actually the dirt had mixed up with the ashes to form the brown sand. Some places in this desert were actually highly advanced cities that got destroyed in the war. The debris from the war was still visible.
They were running through one such cities. There were skyscrapers buried to the top floors. There was a huge sculpture of the first interplanetary spaceship. The majestic hovering monolith was buried in dust. The pod lines, which were used as a public transport were broken. The lines were diving into the sand and were coming up again. Everything looked so old and shaky that it seemed like they could fall apart at any moment.
Apello was used to seeing cities like these as he had been wandering through the northern desert for a long time. XND didn't want to spare his mind to look at the scenery. He was too busy figuring out his next plan. He had to follow Apello's plan for now as things were not working out quite well for him. The timing was off, it shouldn't have taken this long. He was tracking the red spot. The red spot wasn't moving at all. It just kept blinking. He turned to Apello and asked "How much farther do we have to go?"
Apello checks his guidance system, they had travelled 50 kms. They were travelling at 150 kmph.
They have been travelling for almost 20 minutes, so now only 25 kms are left to cover.
Apello responded "25.6 kms further."

The touch of the cold dry air and first sunlight was hope inspiring. It was 8.22 in the morning. But there was nothing hopeful for them. For them it was another day, another run.
For the first ten minutes they ran through tunnels and underground city lines. But then they climbed outside and started running towards their destination. Apello saw XND checking his the holographic screen on his arm again. Apello grew more and more curious. He was trying to peep, he saw that the red spot was now closer to the green spot and it was moving at phenomenonal speed. But something confused Apello, now the red spot was moving away from the green spot. Apello turned to XND and asked "What are you checking on the screen."
"It's the people who are following us. I put a tracker on one of their jets." XND replied.
"So the red spot which is moving too fast is them and the green spot is us?" Apello asked.
"No, the green spot is our backup. We are that arrow." XND pointed to the screen.
Apello squinted and then he could see it. The green spot was far away from the arrow and red spot was closing in. They weren't moving fast enough. At this rate they would never make it to the percher. The bigger problem was that the percher could never even match the speed of a jet. Apello turned to XND and said "What kind of backup are we talking about?".
XND didn't reply. It seemed like he didn't want to talk about it. Apello asked again. XND said "They are just some allies."
"Well can they save us from the people who are chasing us?" Apello asked.
"Because if yes then we got a better chance of moving towards the green spot then. Even if we reach to the percher, we can't outrun a jet on it." he added.
XND didn't react at all. He knew it from the beginning that moving towards percher was never an option. As he was the one who placed trackers on their jets.
He just didn't think that they would go to that much trouble to capture just two prisoners. Why would they want to waste these many resources on just two prisoners. He looked at the screen again. Apello was wondering how they were tracking them. He knew it had something to do with XND. He had been acting weird since he saw the red spot on the screen. XND knew something that Apello didn't.
He thought it would be better to just abandon XND and run for the percher. But Apello wanted to know more about the clone cyborg.
His thoughts were disrupted by a thunderous sound. He saw a blink of bright light in the distance. It was like somebody had detonated a Mininuke. They were here. They were just a few kilometers away. He had to make a decision or else he would be taken back to the prison.