Novice

Sunday morning dawned a little chilly for April, with the clouds that loomed overhead threatening rain later. Joe and Kim hadn’t slept well and woke early, their minds still buzzing with concern for their situation and that of the unknown Emma.

‘I meant to say, could you sort out some more clothes for Xavier? And a pair of shoes? I’ll go shopping for some things on Monday, but for now, d'you mind lending him stuff?’

‘No problem,’ said Joe. ‘It’s lucky we’re the same size.’

Kim knew luck had little to do with it - she had selected replacement legs to fit a body she knew well, but she didn't say anything. 

‘If we’re going to help Xavier avoid what he calls deconstruction, I think we should try to do the same for Emma,’ she went on.

‘There’s no “if” about Xavier, is there? Thought we’d decided?’

‘Mmm.’ It was such a big decision, Kim shuddered with the enormity of it. ‘If and when we find Emma, d'you suppose her owners will just hand her over?’

‘As they haven’t sent her back so far, they’re probably worrying about what to do with her, much like we are with Xavier. It’s not easy, is it? We’re novices in this situation, we’ll just have to make it up as we go along. First things first, we need an address. I’ll give Jean-Claude a call. I imagine he’ll be happy someone is trying to rescue Emma.’

‘I wonder why he doesn’t do it himself?’ said Kim.

‘Me too. He sounds really concerned about the clones when we speak. ‘Course, we don’t know how he’s placed, but it's odd that he’s so passive about it all.’

* * *

Jean-Claude wouldn’t have described his behaviour as passive. Rather he was working actively to remain effective but invisible to the authorities, to protect the sentient clones. Any hint to Management that some of the products wouldn't pass the various strict quality control processes would lead inevitably to their destruction. He had already had to move swiftly to anticipate several issues, the latest of which was Emma's incarceration. Having mentioned that to Joe, he was waiting anxiously to see whether the hint had taken hold. If it had, he expected either Joe or Xavier to make contact and request Emma's location. The hours ticked by and he calculated and recalculated how long Emma's reserves would sustain her. Another twelve hours, he thought.