The Final Chapter of the Choirgirl HOTeL…

Written by Adrien Amos

PART THREE

(The Conclusion)

The pounding rhythm of drums floated like silver butterflies in the air above Jenn's head, and the slap-slap of the wooden oars that skimmed through the bog-like waters echoed below her. Strange shapes slithered past the long bamboo boat just beneath the surface of the slime colored water.

Jenn turned as the boat rocked slightly as Adrien's clone stood to peer off into the distance. The morning Haitian jungle steamed like a kettle as the sun began to peek over tops of the dense tropical trees.

The native who manned the mast of the thin bamboo vessel stood tall and silent at the head of the boat, stroking the waters surface with firm thrusts of the oar. The man, Julio Claws sat stoically behind him, Jenn tapped him gently. "What the hell is going on here?" she queried quietly as Claws turned to face her and again, the boat shimmered with the shift of weight. "yes, perhaps now is the time..." Claws began his tale.

Julio Claws was once a genetic engineer after graduating from Plattsburgh university. Shortly after he began an employment in a government lab, under the front name of 'Pickles and Party Supplies', while employed in the lab, he met and fell in gradual love with a young female singer who played often at the company nightclubs, her name was Jamie Barhoe. Shortly after meeting the two became engaged, just as Claws began his work on the government's master project, human cloning....

Claws volunteered for one of the primary tests and it was met with success, he had succeeded in producing a fully functional human clone of himself, "Needless to say, my employers were pleased," Claws paused to see the reaction on Jenn's face.

"So your telling me that YOU are Jamie's fiancé??" Jenn mused incredulously.

"What I am Ms. Caramia, is the surviving clone of Jamie Barshoe's fiancé" Claws remarked looking towards the standing Adrien, as Jenn's eyes followed.

"So what about her?"

Claws breathed in deeply and continued. "Once we had discovered how to successfully clone a human, the government began collecting DNA samples from millions of American citizens, anyone who donated blood, was arrested, went to a doctor for a check-up...virtually in every way imaginable. They were getting out of control, laying the ground work for what they code named "the enlighten society", which came down to basically replicating anyone who the government felt like in order to put the United States ahead both culturally and economically. This is where Ms. Amos comes in. In the past Ms. Amos's novels have been world-wide best sellers, they saw a clone of her as being profitable to store away for the future and thus, you have the Adrien Amos that stands before you now.."

Adrien's clone turned her head to look at the two absent mindedly and then returned her attention back to the jungle landscape swiftly floating by. "this is also were my fiancé, Jamie came in, you see Ms. Caramia, I died in 2007, in a car accident, but I wasn't alone, Jamie was in the passengers side and she died instantly upon impact, I died of excessive blood loss shortly after..."

"You mean Jamie's a clone too?!?"

"Precisely."

"Jesus H Roosevelt K-rist!" Jenn swore as she brought her hand to her head, taking the news in slowly.

"And now were on our way to meet the man who brought everything together, Dr. Eugene Sands. After our success, our government exiled Dr. Sands, because he voiced objections about the mass cloning the government was planning, he said we weren't meant to be Playing God."

"And then what??"

The boat halted suddenly. "were here" Claws whispered gravely as the bamboo vessel docked on a tiny island covered in vegetation and jungle growth, like something straight out of a movie, or an H.P. Lovecraft novel. The home of Dr. Eugene Sands was visible from the weedy shore. A single level abode, with a dim white plaster-like exterior. Raffia covered roof and a wooden wind chime hung domestically from the ceiling of the flat porch. It all look so normal, as if it could have been plucked right out of a retirement home in Florida...it sent shivers down her spine. The three rose from the boat and Claws spoke some to the vessels head in Haitian, and the man nodded and rowed away. Claws turned back to the two women and placed his hands into his khaki pockets as he motioned for them to follow, as he head towards the home of Dr. Sands.

* * * * *

Aboard the Wild Ghea (or what ever the hell it's called)

They were losing velocity fast.

The exterior of the ship was turning slowly into a burning inferno due to the sudden speed at which it was re-entering the atmosphere. The walls began to shake violently as Dan grappled with the main controls...he knew he would never see his home planet Ikaran again. They would be lucky if they made it out alive.

Alarms were sounding everywhere, like ambulances in an earthquake, emergency lights swirled in rainbow colors signaling the ships impending doom. In the corridor Danna tinkered with a small key panel that hung loosely from the wall, it seemed as though the very walls were melting around them.

After several frantic tires, the narrow metallic door slide open to reveal a small escape pod lined with metallic seats. Danna motioned for the others. The group shot out of the corner and into the escape pod as Danna held the door open. He screamed for Dan.

"Come on.. it's too late!!" Danna yelled, now breaking a sweat from the pressure of the door as it insisted upon closing.

No response. "Dammit Dan.. it's too late, there's no time!!" Only the blare of the alarms responded.

Suddenly, Jamie burst from her place in the escape pod and darted past Danna heading towards the control room, Danna frozen as the pressure of the sliding door increased and his hands began to slip.

"Jamie!!" Kyribelle called from her strapped seat.

Then, just as suddenly as she had left, Jaime appeared through the accumulating smoke, dragging Dan by his arms across the ship's floor as it methodically began to breaking into shard-like pieces all around her.

"Hurry" Danna warned as he felt his grip slipping, and then it was gone, the vacuum force of the sealing of the pod sucked him into the metallic vessel, he landed on his back and everything became a blur, he tried to lift his head, to see if Jamie had made it, but the darkness embraced him as his head hit the floor.

In space, the heavens turn silently, serene in their own consistency. The plants spin and the stars stand their watch over the every shifting, metamorphosing world within a world within an world in which they keep their posts. Through this darkness, this silence of ages a tiny 'pop' cut through the air as the stars watched a tiny metallic life pod disjoin from it's ship within the earth's atmosphere. The shock hit, as the Wild Ghea exploded into the universe with a bright ball of rainbow light. It set the silent heaven on fire, and then faded into the mysterious oblivion of space.

Jamie sighed as she collapsed against the wall of the pod, her face drenched with sweat and exhaustion, outside, she could see the earth, the tiny spinning ball of blue, as she laid Dan's body down on the floor, she approached the window, trying to breath in the vast essence of the picture before her as a single tear slide down her cheek in thankful sorrow.

* * * *

Dr. Eugene Sands appeared in the primitive doorway.

Adrien froze in unrealistic recognition.

He was dead, she had seen him die.... and maybe he was or wasn't, but the man standing before them could have very well been the clone of Agent Fox Mulder. Adrien's feet stuck into the swamp ground and refused to move, her eyes locked with Dr. Eugene Sands.

Claws crept up behind her as he spoke. "It's not what your thinking, he's not a clone Adrien, Mulder was Dr. Sands clone, they used his DNA to create Agent Mulder in the first place" Claws finished looking at the woman's face sadly, "I know," he began softly looking as if he were near tears, "I know what it's like to be in love, and then lose them, I fell like I die every day since I lost Jamie, I thought Jenn would be the link to finally help me find her, but it's just another dead end, but not for you, you can have another chance...if you want it" he paused as he watched the two continue to stare.

"Is this it??" Jenn exclaimed near hysterics, "you brought me all the way out here for this?? What does this have to do with Greg and Carol, or Danna and Jamie! She's alive Claws! She's out there, Jesus K-rist," Jenn collapsed to the ground.

"No that's not all...the Dr. and I have a plan we..." but Claws was cut short as his eye caught sight of an unidentified object sailing through the sky. "What the...?" he whispered as he raised his hand skyward to draw the others attention to the small pod-shaped object hurtling towards the land below.

Dr. Eugene Sands smiled slightly. "Get ready" he said seemingly to the air as he turned into his home, "we have to hurry if we're going to beat it there" And they followed.

THE END