The very concept of memory mapping opened a whole new world for Sylpharien civilization. Stacked with cloning and genetic sculpting, it suddenly became possible to imprint the minds of an individual onto a clone. Thereby, we immortalized our brightest minds. Unfortunately, the procedure didn’t have a perfect success rate. Every decade or so, some new complication would turn up and make the concept harder to market.

  -Excerpt from the Diary of an Imperial Researcher, Date Unknown

  Mari, Age 19:

  As Mari left the small living space she’d been allotted, she peered up at the sunlight that filtered down from the city above. The sun had already drifted beyond sight as the afternoon wore on.

  Her apartment was underground, built into a deep inverted ziggurat shape with a solid, fully translucent ceiling to the surface. The style allowed for the dense underground living arrangements to feel a little more vibrant, instead of the dark and unwelcoming tunnels the city of Elitheen had been in the past.

  There was a time when the poorer people of Sylpharia often lived in the cramped underground homes while the wealthy used up the limited space above the ground. According to history class, there was a time when the humans of the world had overtaxed the surface ecology, nearly leading to a collapse of the forces of nature as the delicate equilibrium became less stable. At the time, they’d used their impressive technology to reshape the natural world itself, leading to a new form of city that became the norm all over.

  Cities became a fraction of their original footprint, with most jobs and homes being built underground while the surface dwellings gained new gardentops. Even in the modern era, Elitheen still had those vibrant greenhouses built into the uppermost floors of every single building. Everyone on the surface grew their own produce, and most neighborhoods shared the variety between one another.

  That also doubled as a bit of incentive for the post-revolution citizens. If you offended the local who grew lettuce, you weren’t having salads until you mended that bridge. Unless you were so crabby you were willing to grow your own, of course.

  Those odd neighborhood political challenges were far beyond Mari’s perspective, though. She lived underground in the second district, where most students who lived independently resided. The whole complex was in the intersection between four topside buildings, and the sprawl of the actual apartments got larger the further down the inverted ziggurat that one went.

  Her place was really small. A bedroom and dining area all in one, with a tiny kitchen in one corner and just barely her own small shower and bathroom. That was to be expected of single-person housing, though. The idea of more space and comfort was there for people who needed that, such as in the case of expanding families. Most of her fellow orphans who weren’t already graduated were living in similar tiny apartments alongside her. She took the elevator up and out of the complex, then began her trek across the district to the truly extravagant residences.

  The city bustled with the energy of the festival, even if it was a little more subdued in the inner districts. A lot of the war veterans made their home in the innermost regions, or the families of those who’d lost people in the war. It meant that while many were celebrating, other parts of the cultural landscape would be performing annual rites for their lost loved ones instead.

  Fourteen years to the day since the war ended.

  Not that it really had anything to do with Mari. She kept walking, sharing in neither the merriment, nor the grief of those around her.

  Kris’ family lived in one of the nicest homes in the entire city. It had been forced on them after the war as the only one that hadn’t been badly damaged. It also was in the furthest corner of the district, making it also the quietest. The mansion stood at four floors tall, with a sprawling garden shaded by a few flowering trees that gave the entire building a lively aesthetic.

  The building itself was a complex pattern of irregular angles and balconies. Laundry was set out to dry on the third floor, blowing slightly in the wind as Mari approached, taking it all in.

  She’d been invited to that house on a monthly basis ever since she was a child, and that often coincided with her treatments, where Karin herself would escort her to the hospital in the central district for her transfusions. She’d assumed something similar once again, but was surprised to find the lights off when she entered the fenced off perimeter.

  Mari crossed the stone garden in the front yard, feeling like she was crossing stepping stones over a creek. At the door, however, she could only hear silence from inside.

  She knocked, and heard footsteps beyond, followed by a conspicuously distant, “Come in!”

  Mari opened the door and was instantly blinded.

  “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!” A half dozen people cheered as she blinked the stars from her eyes.

  “Yikes. Uh, thanks. Give me a minute to get my vision back.” She blinked rapidly as she heard a few amused chuckles and grimaced as her eyes took in the lit up entryway before her. Her eyes took far too long to adjust to sudden flashes of light.

  Of course, Kris was there, at the back of the room where she’d told Mari to enter. Next to her were Council Chairwoman Karin, Former Councilor Wovren, Councilors Constance and Alynne, and finally, her friend Wilke.

  Karin had barely changed at all in the fourteen years that Mari had known her, but Wovren had already been a wizened old man back then, and he seemed to be winding down as he lost his former vigor. It was an upside to the revolution that the old Anvien was even allowed to live as long as he had. The empire had a policy in place to put down the elderly slaves once their productivity fell.

  Constance was, effectively, immortal. She wasn’t one of the ageless Sylphariens, but she had some bizarre circumstances of her own, and required a particularly complex set of legal codices that Mari hadn’t involved herself in. Something about her not being allowed to remain on the council for too many consecutive years.

  Alynne was just beginning to show some wrinkles, which were more of a reflection of her fitness than her age. Still, she had her own sons that were in their earlier years at the academy. Given the culture of their people, it was likely that the council role would be passed to them in a decade or two.

  Wilke was the one who’d changed the most, though. He’d been a little timid in his youth, but he’d bulked up into a very fit young man over the years. In the pit of her gut, she felt like he’d become more and more familiar with every passing year.

  “I can’t believe you went to all this trouble for me.” Mari gave a rueful smile as she entered the home and closed the door behind her. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome!” Wovren made his merriment known loudly. He’d changed over the years, and steadily become more and more jovial as the city was reformed and his plans took shape.

  “You’re absolutely welcome,” Constance wrote on a board she kept at her side, showing it in her direction. They had sign language, but with a crowded room, she often preferred to just show a written note to others.

  “Thank you for having me over.” Mari signed back to her, smiling at the party’s hosts. Constance just nodded back to her with her own smile.

  Kris stepped in and gave Mari a hug, next. It was a warm gesture, and Mari wasn’t too certain if she was comfortable with that sort of contact, but she had already identified her weird quirk and realized she needed to fix it. That would be something to discuss with Kris in the future. She hoped they could work on it, but alternatively, she would prefer to set a boundary about touching one another.

  “Good to see you. Happy birthday, Mari. How’ve you been feeling recently?” Kris was always a caring and thoughtful person, and Mari did appreciate that, even if their friendship was a little awkward at times.

  “I’m fine, for the most part. A little overdue for treatment, maybe, but it isn’t like I’ll collapse or something.” Mari knew better than to outright lie, but hedging it tended to get Kris to go easy with her worrying. In truth, her veins felt a little like they were burning, which created a constant discomfort.

  “Mom said she’d need to talk to you before you go home tonight, so that might be what that’ll be about.” Kris stepped back as the last two Councilors briefly stepped up to wish her a happy birthday, though Mari had no idea what they were doing there.

  Finally, Wilke was at her side. “Hey, Mari. Happy birthday. To both of us, I guess. Doing okay?” His voice was soft, casual and reserved. He cut the figure of a gentle giant, and his presence was always reassuring.

  Mari turned to look him in the eye. His dark brown irises didn’t meet hers, and she wondered why. “Yeah, thanks. Happy birthday to you, too. If only we knew when our birthdays actually were.” She turned towards Karin, who’d approached once Mari had spoken to everyone else.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Come in, let us all get settled for dinner. Enjoy these things while you can.” She was as severe as she always was. The woman didn’t know when to rest, and despite that, she was always full of energy. Some parts of Kris’ mother were emotionally absent and Mari had to wonder if that was who she was, or if it had to do with being a leader, both in war and in the new nation she led.

  “I appreciate it, Chairwoman. Pleasure to be welcomed into your home.” Politeness was the best way to get the nice side of Karin.

  She just nodded and turned around, striding into the hallway that led to the dining room. Everyone else followed her on an unspoken order, so Mari and Wilke also joined them.

  “Any idea why all the main councilors are here?” Mari whispered to Wilke.

  He shook his head, seemingly a little confused about the same thing.

  Mari was forced to stuff down her thoughts as they entered the dining room to a huge spread of food. Constance was the best cook in the city, and she had won festival awards to show it. She drew upon several cultures to create a diverse spread of meats and vegetables. Some foods were steamed, others grilled, and one large stew pot was positioned particularly close to Wovren’s spot. Pretty much any dish you could find in the city, Constance knew how to prepare. And everything was delicious.

  Once they’d all had their fill, Karin stood with her glass in hand. In it was a special type of strong fruit tea with crisp leaves of pungent herb decorating the glass. It was a customary blend for festivals and parties.

  “Thank you all for being able to be here for Miss Mari’s and Master Wilke’s birthdays.” She began. Mari was calling bullshit. If the event were a social call, then Wovren would’ve brought his son, or Alynne, her mate and her boys. With just important people, something else was up.

  “Every year we put between us and the war is another year to remember our fallen, but this year, I thought it would be pleasant to remember those we have gained.” Karin smiled gently down at Constance with that last comment. “Mari, Wilke and the other orphans we found have grown a lot these past years. Soon, they’ll be beyond education, and begin looking for a future. I wanted to ensure they knew they had our support going forward. So I hope that despite the difficulties of mending this troubled world, you can understand and join hands in that endeavor with us.”

  That whole speech was a little too… calibrated for Mari’s tastes. The way it had been phrased just put her on edge. It felt like the way her gut often twisted up when she listened to politicians. She had no actual reason to despise them, but it was just there anyway. Karin actually had become a politician, but she was also one that you could find getting her hands dirty helping to rebuild whenever there weren't legislative things to work out. They’d all tried their best to smooth things over for the orphans of the Citadel, even if that effort was in vain.

  Mari kept on a fake smile, letting her small worries hide under the mask of calm, then raised her own glass while closing her eyes, just as every person at the table did.

  Sightlessly, she guided the glass to her lips, feeling the leaf tickle her nose as she took her first drink, then sucked on the leaf to cut the sweetness of the fruit tea. Finally, she opened her eyes and set the glass down.

  Everyone else finished the customary drink ritual, then the mood shifted. All eyes fell on her, and Karin cleared her throat as she sat back down.

  “Miss Mari. You are nineteen. We have some things we would like to share with you now, and we have asked Wilke, here, to join you, since this could be sensitive. I thought you might appreciate the support.”

  Mari swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. None of what was about to be said could be good after that introduction.

  “The rub of it is this.” Wovren took over, his usual cheer completely gone. Another bad sign. “We know who you were supposed to be. I’m sure that by now, you’re at least somewhat aware of the rumors about where you came from before we found you all. They are partially true, and also largely wrong.”

  Karin nodded, sweeping back in. “You are all clones, yes. And the empire’s intent for many of you was to restore your memories from your previous lives once you’d developed enough. Where things go differently from the rumors is exactly who you were cloned from.”

  Mari stiffened. That was the core reason why she didn’t ever stand up for herself. An intense self-loathing at the idea that she’d been some awful person in her previous life. In her silence, Alynne stepped in.

  “Don’t dwell on it too much. Half of what we read, we don’t even begin to understand. Instead of jumping to conclusions, why don’t you look at the file we recovered about your predecessor?” Alynne was often as intense as Karin, but she also had her family side, and having ‘family Alynne’ in the room helped to settle some of Mari’s nerves. Still, Kris was just staring down at her lap, totally silent. That fact offset a lot of Alynne’s reassurances.

  Despite her internal worries, Mari accepted a tablet that was passed to her. The slim, translucent crystal device that stored logged information came to life in her hands, reading her thumb print before revealing the information there.

  Name: Marielle Smith/Mari Kishibe (sometimes Kishibe Mari, unknown distinction)

  D.O.B.: Unknown. Format foreign: alternate calendar.

  Birthplace: Osaka, Japan (location unknown, not in historical records)

  On and on, the useless information went. None of it made any sense, and by the time she had made it through the personal information on her ‘predecessor,’ she wasn’t any closer to knowing who the woman had been.

  The second page, however? There was a picture. A stunning woman with skin slightly more tanned than her own. Sharp eyes, slim features, slicked back short hair, and a pair of small scars, one on her left jawline and the other near her left temple. It didn’t look like her. Hell, it didn’t seem to resemble her. The woman on the page looked strong and capable.

  Mari scrolled back a page. The height mentioned was one hundred seventy-five centimeters. That form of measurement should’ve meant nothing to her, just like the file mentioned, but she knew. She’d thought about it earlier that very same day. She was shorter than she should be.

  “None of this makes any sense.” She finally spoke up as she looked across the table at Karin. It suddenly felt like a vivisection, and she wasn’t even the person they seemed to want to question.

  “That is only true if you do not keep reading.” Karin had a smile on her face as she replied, and Mari stiffened. She knew better than to trust smiles from the guest demon of physical training class.

  She kept reading.

  The random notes about genealogy meant nothing to her, besides noting something about her sickness, which was a whole other can of worms.

  Eventually, she reached a section that was… pages and pages long. All of it was in a language she hadn’t seen before, but she could easily read it. Every character should’ve been hopelessly complex to her eyes, but it simply popped into her head.

  Mari skimmed through the records of a particularly harrowing military career. A global war fought over dwindling resources as mass migrations began due to major storms, fires and droughts. Her predecessor was made out to be a woman who’d led a strike force behind enemy lines to pincer a whole army and force their surrender. She had survived alone after luring away enemy soldiers to allow her own squad to escape. A decorated sniper, leader, and hero. Even the part before the military career had been insane. Allegedly, Marielle had learnt to speak almost fifty languages despite being under the age of ten while traveling with her mother, who’d been a linguist in something called the “Peace Corps.”

  It just wasn’t true. It had been hundreds of years since any war of that nature had occurred, and even then, none of the locations or factions in the story rang a bell, and Mari was friends with Kris, the biggest history nut in the city.

  “I’m cloned from a nearly mythical soldier?” By the dead bloody emperor, the files even noted her as some sort of super soldier. It was laughable.

  “It doesn’t seem to be a myth. If the translations are accurate—good job on reading that unaided, by the way—then it isn’t that she was some ancient hero. Your predecessor was from another world entirely.” Karin let that revelation hang there.

  Alynne seemed to prefer a different topic, though. “The record you’re holding is only slightly sanitized. Most of the notes and personal information isn’t in the records at the Citadel, but the rumors came from some administrative officials reading the redacted copy and assuming they were all fabrications. The only part they believed there was about your illness. Beyond that, they made you out to be the second coming of a Sylpharien war hero to place you as a scapegoat for their lingering grief and hate.”

  “You have our apologies about that.” Wovren supplied.

  “No, I just don’t believe any of it. I’m nothing like this person. I don’t even look similar. What even is this about another world?” Mari found herself shaking her head, unable to wrap her mind around any of it.

  “About that. We believe that the gravity on Sylpharia is a bit stronger than the world your predecessor is from. Growing up here with her biology might naturally result in you being shorter, for example. I’m no medical professional, but it could be possible.” Wovren just shrugged, which was so like him when he was trying to be helpful while also being clueless about social interaction.

  A gravity difference… she hated that idea. She could’ve been someone powerful, if only the gravity weren’t so strong? As if that explained it all. She hated every scattered thought her mind threw together.

  “On the topic of your illness, though.” Alynne cut back in. “The condition you have is already unusual. The Empire had designs to use you for several experiments due to an unusual gene you carry. We fear that your condition is the result of an experiment that was ongoing when we set you free. Yet another thing we apologize for, even if there was never any alternate course of action available. Your affliction will be another topic for future discussion. We don’t wish to overwhelm you.”

  Mari just blinked. She was suddenly receiving a lot of apologies. She was already wondering what they were buttering her up for.

  “Miss Mari. We really brought you here for another reason. Please scroll to the last page.” Karin cut through to her with a sharp command. It was as if the woman had noticed her emotions spiraling and knew just how to push her past it. Kris had stopped staring into her lap, instead giving her pitying eyes. It looked like she might just cry.

  Mari obeyed, scrolling to the end of the file and onto a final image.

  There, on the screen, was the magnified image of a ship in space. Something very far away, based on how blurry it looked.

  “What is this?” Mari asked.

  “Unknown. But it is headed directly here. The remaining Sylpharien we have with access to the orbital relays has confirmed multiple times that the ship poses a threat. We just do not know how dire it is, since the image is a bit fuzzy.” Karin took a deep breath, then settled her intense military commander visage on Mari, who found herself shrinking back in her chair.

  Mari did not like where the conversation was headed.

  “According to the notes for all the orphans in your group, you were their Captain when fleeing that other world. Based on the rough coordinates we have worked out, your predecessor is being tracked down. Once upon a time, I had hoped to give you a full, complete new life without the weight of the past on your shoulders. I have lamented my failure in providing you a comfortable life. Now, fate has conspired to make things even worse for you.”

  Mari swallowed a thousandth lump in her throat for the night.

  “All this to ask… Would you permit the procedure to restore the memories of your predecessor’s life?”

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