There is Only We—New Earth: Chapter 8, Part 2
Reed and Liberty Connect
A fresh New Earth series entry is here! My mind took me in other directions the past few weeks, so I apologize for not picking up the series quicker. Let’s get right to it.
Tao, Reed, Liberty and Kai are on planet Alpha and guests of its quirky ruler known as Chef—the clone processor. These Clones are being created for Maxwell Rhodes, the genius technologist, who wants to save humanity by populating the galaxies using his ships, products and clones.
Here are the key plot lines:
The genius technologist, Maxwell Rhodes, has become the dictator of New Earth and his hyperdrive technology has hastened humanity’s expansion to other planets
The secret organization known as The Formation is accelerating humanity’s expansion to other planets to get ahead and contain this expansion
Tao’s parents (who are part of The Formation with Tao) are on Earth trying to guide the political and social environment with their powers to instill morality in human decisions. Their main target, JJ, Max’s right hand man
Max’s AI—Kairo—flew Tao, Liberty and Reed to planet Alpha to save humanity but struggles with its next decision
Chef is running planet Alpha for Max and has trapped Tao on the operating table to use his brain to help him create clones that can dream and be more humanlike to populate the worlds
While dealing with Tao, Chef arranged for Reed and Liberty to be on a day outing. One chaperoned by two clones that Reed has named Howie and Will. Reed misspoke and upset Liberty who was abandoned by her parents and raised by Maxwell Rhodes’s robots.
This is where this week’s entry of New Earth picks up below. I hope you enjoy it. And there is a lot more to come!
All the previous entries of New Earth are located here. Paying subscribers can read the full arc on one page here.
Peace.
Chapter 8, Part 2
After stomping through dozens of train cars searching for Liberty, Reed entered the last one. Empty, just like the others. But at the end, a sliding door was open, revealing a balcony. On it, Liberty stood gazing at the red landscape of planet Alpha.
Liberty wiped a tear as Reed joined her.
Trying to cheer her up, he said, “It’s incredible that we’re here, am I right?” Reed locked onto the landscape, making sure to avoid Liberty’s eyes.
“You don’t need to be here,” she said. “I’m fine.”
They stared at the rolling hills in the distance that eventually connected to the mountains. Reed turned to his left toward the pink and orange morning sky. One sun rose slightly higher than the other. To his right, on Liberty’s side, Reed pointed at the stars still visible. He smirked, “I meant it’s incredible to be here among the stars, not to be here on the balcony together.”
Liberty snapped, “Well, that makes me feel a lot better.”
Reed dropped his head. When it came to women, he always found a way of sticking his boot in his mouth. His timing was always off. The wrong words would shoot out while the right words would appear hours later. He began to panic. Finally, he decided to stop trying so hard. “Look, I’m not so good with words. But I am sorry your parents abandoned you. That must be hard to live with.”
She looked at Reed and lowered her voice, “Thank you.” Then she punched him in the arm. “Now was that so hard?”
“Hey! I was being nice,” Reed laughed, grabbing her wrists. Somehow, their hands slid together. Liberty looked up and smiled.
“Are you okay?” a voice said from behind. Reed shot around and stepped away from Liberty. The clones, Will and Howie, looked concerned at them.
“We’re fine!” Reed’s voice trailed off. The color of his face matched the bright red landscape. He turned to Liberty. “We were just talking. Normal human stuff.” The clones looked at each other. “Don’t clones ever talk?”
“Yes,” they said.
“I’m sure you talk up a storm,” Liberty rolled her eyes.
The clones looked perplexed. Howie faced Reed and said, “We communicate constantly. All information is needed to decide on what to do.”
“Or not do,” Will said. “Isn’t that logical?”
“All information?” Reed said. “Seems like that could overcomplicate things, if you ask me. Have you ever given or received a gift?”
Will searched his memory. “No. What is needed is obtained, not given. It is logical to do so.”
Reed pointed at Howie to answer as well. He recited, “What is needed depends on the outcome assigned to the collective. Whatever is needed is obtained by the collective. There is only ‘we’.”
“There are other reasons to give gifts,” Reed murmured. He furrowed his brow. There was a great gift that his grandmother spoke to him about when he was a child. He struggled to remember its details.
An hour later, back in their private train compartment, Reed and Liberty felt a jolt. The landscape went by at a slower pace. They had arrived.
The clones rose and slid the door open, staring straight ahead. “This way,” they said.
As they exited the train, they looked in awe at the flat and barren land that went on for miles and miles. It was sparsely populated with rocks, small boulders and shrubs.
It reminded Reed of back home in Texas. He smiled at the thought.
On the opposite side of the prairie, off in the distance, were giant caves. The sun shone bright, but the overhang kept the caves dark.
Liberty asked the clones, “When will Tao be joining us?”
The eyes of the clones shifted while obtaining the relevant information. Howie and Will’s eyes briefly connected. Howie said, “His work with Chef is taking longer than expected. Unfortunately, he will not make the next train.”