Mr. Murder

had a chance to ask Karl Clocker, Why did it look like me?
        One of the most powerful men in the Network, primary owner of a media empire, had lost a four-year-old son to cancer. As the boy lay dying at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, five years ago, blood and bone marrow samples had been taken from him because it was his father's emotional decision that the Alpha-series clones should be developed from his lost boy's genetic material. If functional clones could be made a reality, they would be a lasting monument to his son.
        "Jesus, that's sick," Marty said. "What father would think a race of genetically engineered killers might be a suitable memorial? God Almighty."
        "God had nothing to do with it," Paige said.
        The Network representative assigned to obtain those blood and marrow samples from the lab had gotten confused and wound up with Marty's samples instead, which had been taken to determine whether he would be a suitable donor for Charlotte if she proved in need of a transplant.
        "And they want to rule the world," Marty said, amazed. He was still far from recuperated and in need of more sleep, but he had to know one more thing before he drifted off. "If they only started engineering Alfie five years ago… how can he be a grown man?"
        Paige said, "According to Clocker, they 'improved' on the basic human design in several ways."
        They had given Alfie an unusual metabolism and tremendously accelerated healing power. They also engineered his phenomenally rapid maturation with human growth hormone and raised him from fetus to thirtyish adult with nonstop intravenous feeding and electrically stimulated muscle development over a period of less than two years.
        "Like a damned hydroponic vegetable or something," she said.
        "Dear Jesus," Marty said, and glanced at the nightstand to make sure the Uzi was there. "Didn't they have a few doubts when this clone didn't resemble the boy?"
        "For one thing, the boy had been wasted by cancer between the ages of two and four. They didn't know what he might have looked like if he'd been healthy during those years. And besides, they'd edited the genetic material so extensively they couldn't be sure the Alpha generation would resemble the boy all that much anyway.
        "He was taught language, mathematics, and other things largely by sophisticated subliminal input while he was asleep and growing."
        She had more to tell him, but her voice faded gradually as he surrendered to a sleep filled with greenhouses in which human forms floated in tanks of viscous liquid… … they are connected to tangles of plastic tubing and life support machines, growing rapidly from fetuses to full adulthood, all doubles for him, and suddenly the eyes click open on a thousand of them at once, along rows and rows of tanks in building after building, and they speak as with a single voice, I need my life.
        The log cabin was on several acres of woodlands, a few miles from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which had yet to enjoy its first snow of the season. Karl's directions were excellent, and they found the place with little difficulty, arriving late Saturday afternoon.
        The cabin needed to be cleaned and aired-out, but the pantry was stocked with supplies. When the rust had been run out of the pipes, the water from the tap tasted clean and sweet.
        On Monday, a Range Rover turned off the county road and drove to their front door. They watched it tensely from the front windows.
        Paige held the Uzi with the safety off, and she didn't relax until she saw that it was Karl who got out of the driver's door.
        He had arrived in time to have lunch with them, which Marty had prepared with the girls' help. It consisted of reconstituted eggs, canned sausages, and biscuits from a tin.
        As the five of them ate at the large pine table in the kitchen, Karl presented them with their new identities. Marty was surprised by the number of documents. Birth certificates for all four of them. A high school diploma for Paige from a school in Newark, New Jersey, and one for Marty from a school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. An honor able discharge from the United States Army for Marty, issued after three years of service. They had Wyoming driver's licenses, Social Security cards, and more.
        Their new name was Gault. Ann and John Gault. Charlotte's birth certificate said her name was Rebecca Vanessa Gault, and