Hugo

by Michele deBes

They decided it would be best to lock Hugo up for the night. The staff had been lax lately and hed been seen wandering around the installation at odd hours. At the last minute Gerard checked the room himself via the video. Hugo was there but glaring up at the camera. His genes had been manipulated for complacency and the change intrigued Gerard. He caught himself before he activated the audio and he turned away.

“I have to learn to let go” he said, gazing around at the empty laboratory. “This isn’t my problem now.”

He made his way down to the large foyer of the building that had been converted into a ballroom for the occasion. It was the only space large enough in the building to hold all the staff, clients and guests. They mingled under the colourful confection of holos playing beneath the vaulted ceiling.

Margaret, his wife, waited for him inside the door, slim body sheathed in a silver evening dress, hair drawn up and away from her face, looking much as she did when they met as research fellows all that time ago.

Gerard took her outstretched hand and they turned and walked though the crowd to the stage. The music softened and the talking subsided as they climbed the stairs.

Gerard began his speech with a brief history of the company. How he started it with his wife when Genetic Engineering was in its infancy, branched out quickly into Cloning, led the field in Body Rejuvenation and finally pioneered Intelligence Enhancement. He paused and gazed around at the room. Relief and tiredness swept over him. He could rejuvenate his one hundred and seventy four year old body any number of times, but nothing could rekindle his enthusiasm for controlling the giant corporation.

“I have an important announcement to make. As many of you know my son, Raymond, turns thirty today ...“ There was polite applause and he glanced over at the side of the stage where his son stood, tall and handsome in his black suit. “... and my wife and I have decided to retire from the company and hand over the reins to our son, who I’m sure you will agree has the youth and vigour to carry this company into the next century.”

There was a thunder of applause as his son strode across the stage and Gerard thought he had never felt so proud. His handsome son was the culmination of all their work, a blend of his wife and himself and as intelligent and beautiful as technology could make him. He grasped his son’s outstretched hand in both his own and pumped it up and down.

“Thankyou father.” His son said before he turned to the crowd and began his speech.

Gerard watched his sons profile. The straight nose, the perfect skin of his cheek ... where was the small scar that his son was so proud of, the little act of rebellion over which they’d argued so bitterly? The realisation hit him and he took a step back. This was not Raymond but his clone Hugo. He opened his mouth then shut it again. He couldn’t say anything with the world watching. Hugo was not meant to exist, a highly illegal entity, a clone created for the sole purpose of providing transplants for Raymond in case of accident or disease. If this got out it would ruin his company and his reputation. He searched the crowd below to signal the most trusted members of his team but the conspiracy was clear in their eyes. Some had the decency to look guilty but most smiled in triumph. Oh course, they would have augmented Hugo’s intelligence.

Hugo’s firm vibrant voice cut into Gerard’s dark thoughts.

“ ... I intend to lead this company into a new era of social responsibility, use our discoveries for the benefit of mankind ...”

Gerard groaned inwardly. The company would be broke in a year.