‘Delphine, when you say “we”, who do you mean?’ asked Kim.
She had been trying to suppress her growing unease about this, but Xavier’s graphic explanation of the way he learned had goaded her into asking a question whose answer she wasn’t even sure she wanted to know.
Delphine hesitated and glanced at Emma. Again, that subtle shake of the head. She looked at the floor and said nothing.
‘You mean the sentient ones, don’t you? There would hardly be any point in programming the joint replacement clones like that, would there?’
‘We can’t really explain,’ said Emma. ‘All we know is how we feel ourselves. So I suppose we mean the six of us.’
‘But there were more than six of you that differed from the ordinary production line of clones, weren’t there?’ Kim couldn’t leave it alone. ‘I’m fairly sure Jean-Claude mentioned thirty of you, at one time. What has become of the others?’
And why were there so many, she wanted to ask. But perhaps they didn’t know.
Delphine shook her head. ‘We don’t know. One by one they went silent. There are just six of us now.’
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