I.

Origins
The stars wept in her palms. She closed her eyes as another drop fell into the pool
in her hands and made the stars shiver. Suddenly, she opened her eyes and let her
hands fall to her sides.
She had made her decision.
She left her Sklaven familys house at a fast gait in no direction in particular. They
would have objected to the use of that word, but thats who they were, she thought.
Sklaven. Slavers. By the time she reached the perimeter of the residential zone her
fast walking had turned into a run and she ran towards the lake. Tears of fury began
flowing down her face as the last scene before she left started coming back to her.
What is this? Madam Marta Corian had shouted, holding up her paper reader
displaying the title page of The Origin of Species. Marta had later smashed the
screen of her reader against the corner of the kitchen table, shattering it and the
last remnants of her restraint. Her genetically programmed will to remain
subservient had finally snapped.
But the seeds of this had been planted much earlier, she thought. Her earliest
recollection was also the most traumatic. She faintly remembers a large transport
truck leaving God-knows-where, somewhere near the industrial zone outside
Ceruliana, she had later deduced. She remembers the filthy journey towards Godknows-where-else, Apricot Valley, as it turned out. But what she remembers most is
the immense happiness she felt at the journeys end when she was introduced to
her adoptive family, and how that happiness shattered when she realized that they
had no intention to be her family. You will sleep in the quarters over the barn at the
back. You will not talk unless spoken to. The only words you shall say are Yes and
Thank You.
She clenched her fist as she ran past a grove of Apricot trees, remembering the first
time she broke those rules. One day, a few months after being taken by the Corian
family, she had pointed to an Apricot tree and had asked what the orange balls were
on the tree. She had received a backhanded slap from Master Corian and the
immortal words: Never show such ignorance again, you abomination in human
flesh. You are nothing more than a horse grown in a lab which speaks, never
presume that you can have a conversation with purebloods. On that day she had
vowed to never eat an Apricot and never be caught ignorant again.
She tried to remember if that was the day she grasped that she was a clone, but
realized it wasnt. It was the second day after being taken by the Corian family. She
had decided to try to talk to the children, thinking they would be friendlier than their
parents. As she was about to knock on the door of the younger daughters room,
she heard voices inside. As she ran past another farming zone and house, she tried
to recollect what those voices said. Mother has said to not talk to the new girl. Shes
not like us shes a clone, the older boy had said. The younger girl had asked what
a clone is and the memory of his reply made her collapse mid step into the dirt and
double over. Clones are human-like animals grown in large plastic bags filled with
slimy liquids. They grow quickly and are then sent to work for humans until they are
useful and are then killed, just like our piggies outside.

She got up and started walking slowly now. Every step reminding her of another
verbal or physical assault by the Corian family. She had even tried to reason with
Marta when she discovered her reader. I only wanted to know what humans in the
old Earth said about clones. That text did not even mention clones at all. I just want
to know what I am.
She had reached the lake now and all she wanted was this to end now. She took one
step into the water and recoiled because of the frigid temperature. Im a coward.
Im a coward for tolerating that bullshit for so long and cant even end it all when
she has the chance. She picked up a rock and threw it at the lake. The rock made a
pathetic splash and sank to the bottom. She picked up another rock but, overcome
with exhaustion, collapsed onto the ground without throwing it. She smashed it
against a rock near her feet and saw sparks flying from the point of contact of the
two rocks. The sparks interrupted her wallowing and then curiosity took over. She
smashed the two rocks together one more time and saw the sparks leap out again.
This time, she followed one of the sparks to a single blade of grass that lit up,
consumed itself and disappeared into the air as smoke. She was fascinated by this
power to evaporate something by mere touching two rocks together. She played
with the rocks and sparks, captivated by the ability to turn the grass around her into
black dust. She learnt to control her sparks and make the light last longer. The more
grass and leaves she used, the longer her light lasted and began to give heat as
well. She built bigger and bigger fires until she lost track of time until she finally
looked up, and it was night.
Tears streamed down her face once again, but this time, past a smile on her face.
The stars wept in her palms as she looked down upon the dancing flames of her
newfound supremacy. She let her hands fall to her sides and clench into fists. She
had made her decision.
She walked back fast, purposefully, to the Corian farm with two stones in her
pocket. The family would be settling into their beds for the night now. Smugly
asleep in their comfortable memory foams. She wondered if Master knew more
about the curious light-and-heat giving force that she had discovered. It would be
ironic if this time he was the ignorant one. The lights were dimmed low across the
Corian house, indicating that everyone was asleep. Yes, thank you, Corians, this
should not take long. Fire caught hold quickly across all the carefully arranged piles
of hay around the farm. The house lit up like a splendid sun in the middle of the
night.
Midori did not get a chance to see the main support structures of the house fall,
collapsing the house into itself, but in her mind it was glorious.