Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 7: Involved

Daniel had been taken as an urgent organ donor.

The weight of history had fallen on our family unity. Again. The blood drained from my face.

My father's voice over the phone felt alien to me when he told me the bad news. His words felt heavier than a lead beam, sharper and colder than a razor blade, and more tangible than my own life experience. Rost Peneus was a wartime survivor, while I was just his naïve, nineteen-year-old daughter and an aspiring mechanic.

He knew the real meaning of pain and loss first-hand.

My arms and hands began to shake. I put a hand on my boss' secretary's glass desk for support, a gesture that triggered revulsion in her facial features. She was a clone and hated traditional humans like me, of course. But her feelings were the least of my concerns.

Part of me still wanted to deny it. My dear brother, taken as a donor? My worst nightmare would always come second after that.

Daniel was the sunshine of my life. He was supposed to be at home, doing homework. He was just a regular fifteen-year-old kid. Why had clones picked precisely him for a forced organ donation?!

"But... I don't understand." My voice was creaking. Tears were staining my cheeks and my pristine white cleaning-maid coat with the company logo, Replica Ltd. "How could this happen? Why?"

"This afternoon, the police forces fetched Daniel when he was alone at home," he explained in a shaky whisper. "They needed to perform an urgent transplant on a clone with special DNA that only matched Daniel's. I'm not sure whether they had enough time to clone his DNA in the BioBank before the bomb was set off. But now he's gone. They didn't even find any trace of blood or tissue, not even a piece of his clothing. Nothing. That's why they suspect he had something to do with the bombing."

"Nobody disappears like that. Are you sure they searched thoroughly?"

"Daphne, my sugar cube." He sighed. "The police told me Daniel's nanochip stopped emitting any signal after the explosion."

Nanochips were treacherous devices. All humans had got them implanted at the back of our brains, under the skin close to our napes, which the government used to check on our every move, our every thought. They could geolocalise every human being on Earth.

"That only leaves two options." He fell silent.

I swallowed hard.

"One. Either Daniel's chip is malfunctioning on purpose because he tried to defy the government. Or two," he went on with a low, throaty voice that made the hair on my nape stand on end.

"Dad, don't say it, plea-" I whispered feebly. I knew where he was getting at.

"... or he's dead."

"He's not dead!" I exclaimed, unable to face that fact. I wiped the tears from my eyes with fury.

"If he isn't and comes back home for help, I'll... I-I'll have to call the p-police. Daphne, if you see him, you'll have to c-call them, too." His hopelessness was evident in his stuttering.

"Never!" Fire didn't burn as vividly as my anger and defiance at that moment.

"I don't want you involved in this!" he yelled back at me, matching my fury. "If he isn't dead, he will be soon! I don't want to lose you too. I'm serious!" His breathing became ragged. He went on with hopelessness, "Don't let me be the last one alive. I wouldn't be able to stand it!"

He paused. His uneven breathing while being silent pierced my ears.

"Look, if he died during the bombing and his body got torn into bits, it means he's resting in peace already. But if he didn't die, he's dead anyway. We've already lost him, darling." His voice broke by the end. "I don't know what I'd do without you, my sugar cube. Promise me you'll cooperate with the clone police. Don't die out of loyalty to your brother. Please," he begged me.