Carbon Copy
‘I welcome you to the inaugural clone generation ceremony’ I announced confidently on the
podium in the auditorium of Kensington Medical Institute, London. I, Dr Freddie Murphy am
an autistic doctor. I had worked on human clones for the past decade. I had put my blood,
sweat and tears to finally come up with the blue print of human clone generation. And today,
on the 13th of December, 2045, my dreams were one step away from turning into reality.
Scientists had been studying human clones for around 40 years now. Eve, the first clone was
made in 2002. But there wasn’t much progress in this department. The biggest issue was the
unavailability of donated eggs and surrogates to carry those clones. I wanted to find a way by
which clones could be made, without any surrogates. Scientists knew how to remake a human
body, but I wanted to figure out how to put life in that human body. I came up with an
addition to the theory of Therapeutic cloning. It is almost identical to reproductive, except the
cloned embryo is never implanted in a uterus. Instead, the embryo is cloned for the sole
purpose of extracting stem cells. Stem cells have the incredible ability to turn into any other
cell in the human body, which means they're great for developing new treatments for disease.
I tried using this theory in my researches, but I didn’t quite get the desired results. The main
issue was that this technique required specialised equipment and personnel. Though there
were hundreds and millions of AI operated robots in the institute, they were not programmed
to carry this out. I hence looked for a better, advanced and more developed way of carrying
this out. I decided to inject the DNA of a human in a stem cell to generate embryonic cells
that would make a human clone. The previous theory used the stem cells are organ specific
cells to not let a person die. I wanted to create exact copies of humans and my plan, to me,
was very modest and promising. I gave the plan to the chief executive of our institute, Dr
Claire Brown. She studied it and agreed to carry out the trial. I couldn’t really digest the fact
that I had made something which was going to be tested and if it is successful, my world
would change. On the day of the trial, I was nervously excited. It was an autumn Sunday and
co incidentally my birthday week. Dr Brown was confident, for, she had steadfast faith in me,
but deep in my heart, I was scared ‘What If the trial is not successful? What if something
goes wrong?’ I murmured to my assistant. She replied affirmatively that everything would be
fine. The test was carried out by me and the embryonic stem cell was put in a closed freezing
container for it to mature. It would take more than a month for final results and I was anxious
all the time. Driven by my insurmountable anxiety, I stayed in the institute for the final four
days. Finally, the day had come to test if the clone was bio-chemically same as the human
used for the test….and it indeed was. There was no limit to my happiness, I was jumping
fearlessly, it was the best moment of my career. Dr Brown made an entire new committee for
human clone generation and I was made its leading member. A year and a half passed by,
along with my team of highly qualified professionals, I devised a way to quicken the process
of clone generation. And that brings me to the 13th of December, 2045, when this way would
finally be introduced to the world. Being the head of the clone committee, I carried out the
procedure and got overwhelmingly excellent results. This service was now open to people,
who wanted their clones. Because this way was intriguing to many, people began misusing
this way to produce their clones to satisfy their curiosity. Some people made two, while
others three and some even four. The number of clones increased and our country was now
under something called an identical crisis. Crimes were committed by someone; the blame
went to his clone. A clone did something wrong: the other clone was executed. The number
of clones were uncontrollable now and it was important to put a limit on their number. The
minimal number of institutes were instructed to not make more than one clone of anyone. But
politicians use their power to misuse science to pursue their agendas. Our president made it
mandatory for everyone to have more at least one clone. Everyone. The sole reason being: to
increase the economic efficiency of each person. What work one could do, the double work
two people could. And with the AI dominated world we were living in, it would make the UK
economically, technologically and socially stronger. A woman, Taylor Lim came in for the
clone generation in the institute. I was the supervising officer. Simultaneously, other
surgeries were going on in the twelve more specialised rooms. I went in for the surgery with
confidence but I increased the temperature of the embryo cooling container. This was to be
done gradually or it could lead to multiple cloning, a way less explored by us. The AI
operated container was functioned to increase the temperature in regular intervals. For two
whole days, the temperature kept increasing and there was absolutely nothing I could do to
control it. Nothing. Clones after clones were being made. I was genuinely scared. I had
committed a huge mistake that too an irreversible one, at least for now. I knew if these
multiple clones went in to the world, our country was going to suffer, economically. I knew I
had to something. Dr Brown was screaming wrathfully, ‘Freddie, do something. RIGHT
NOW!’ I was breaking down mentally, had these echoes in my mind ‘Oh my god! What do I
do now?’ I asked for advice from anyone I could find near me, nothing worked out. I
unmindfully went to the announcement room and screeched ‘Get out of here! Right now!
Everyone, no questions, just move’. I rushed anxiously into the emergency room and
activated the Conflagration AI, that would set the institute on fire. I was driven by my fear,
by my desperation to do something and this was the most spontaneous decision I had ever
made.
The whole institute turned into flames and the smoke obscured my vision. I had
accomplished everything and now left with nothing. It was almost as if my dreams were
sailing in a boat, and a menacing storm destroyed all of them. I went home and told my wife,
“I made carbon copies of humans, but it was impossible to make a carbon copy of my
institute”
Moksh Gauri (X-A)
Amity International School, Pushp Vihar