Chapter 2 Explanations
“Quit making a fuss, nobody is coming to help you,” E71 states as he tightens his grip on Elon so he can’t get away. Spaceship Man keeps Elon over his shoulder and marches back to the black triangular ship that is parked in the middle of the intersection. “Someone save me!” Elon screams at the top of his lungs.
Once they are aboard the Staryacht, Elon is placed on a seat and bound with rope so he can’t run off. “Look kid, I’m not the bad guy,” E71 says sternly. “I’m doing you a favor and you’ll thank me later. I’ll let you go as soon as I know you're not going to try and do anything crazy,” E71 says and then straps Elon in with the chair’s safety belts, preparing him for the upcoming flight.
Elon continues to scream for help hoping he might be heard by the police who are now outside the black triangular ship, guns drawn, and calling for reinforcements since they have no clue whether the Staryacht is Earth-made or of extraterrestrial manufacturing.
After taking care of Elon, E71 stands and barks out the order: “Staryacht! Go to orbit!” Next, a computerized voice replies, “Preparing for lift off.” E71 then walks over to the flight deck and straps himself into the pilot’s chair. Elon finally stops screaming once he discovers no one is coming to save him.
Despite being afraid of the situation, he becomes excited because he is in a time-traveling space hovercraft that is being piloted by a guy from the future! “Perhaps I should calm down. Maybe this isn’t as bad as it seems,” Elon grins nervously.
Outside of the Staryacht, the police are gathered, awaiting reinforcements, and the neighbors are congregating in the street and watching the strange black triangular hovercraft that is sitting in the road. Just then, The lights at the bottom of the Staryacht illuminate, and the craft silently lifts off the ground - retracting its landing gear. From there, it hovers up above the jacaranda trees, turns 360 degrees, and then speeds off in the blink of an eye without making a sound!
Suddenly, Elon’s body feels as light as a feather, and the rope and seatbelt restraining him in the chair begin to pull against his body. This reduction in gravity also leads him to feel odd. “I think I’m going to be sick!” Elon thinks to himself. Just then, E71 slowly floats out from the flight deck, “Enjoy the ride, kid?” He asks. Elon’s wooziness still hasn’t passed as he feels like his insides are floating around. E71 notices young Elon’s complexion looks a little green, “I feel sick…” the young man states.
“Staryact, turn on gravity controls!" The clone orders, "there that should help." “Commencing gravity control mode,” Staryacht’s mechanical voice chimes through the stereo system and then E71 falls out of the air like a dead duck! “Cat’s spit!” He yells as he hits the metal floor like a sack of potatoes and groans from the pain after he falls a good 6-7 feet. Elon feels himself drop back into his seat and laughs. “You think that’s funny?” E71 grumbles as he rolls onto his belly and gets up onto his knees.
“Shouldn’t you have gotten yourself closer to the ground before doing that?” Elon snickers. E71 stands up, “Oh, shut up…” he growls while brushing himself off. “Can you untie me now?” Elon requests, “These ropes are pressing on my upper arms a little too hard and it feels like the circulation is being cut off to my hands.” Releasing him from his bonds is debatable for E71. But after making Elon promise “not to cause any sort of trouble”, he is set free. “I’m glad you finally stopped panicking. After all, in space, nobody can hear you scream…” E71 chuckles evilly as he returns to the flight deck with Elon following him close behind.
The flight deck looks like something out of a sci-fi movie to Elon. In the middle of the room are 2 white bench seats with armrests and cupholders. Towards the front of the room, there are large sleek touch screens displaying all sorts of data and charts, and behind these screens is the pilot’s chair. Beyond the dash, a large window looks out into the depths of the universe.
“This is incredible! I can't believe this, ” Elon says as he takes a seat on the bench, “I'm in a real spaceship in space with a guy from the future, wow!” “Yeah, get used to it, kid. There's a lot more stuff you're going to see like this, ” E71 says as he removes his boots and slips on a pair of flip-flops that he pulls out from a drawer beneath his seat.
“Flip-flops?” Elon questions as he watches E71 push a button on his portion of the bench which induces the seat to kick back like a recliner. “Do you want a pair?” he asks and points to the drawer that is underneath Elon’s seat. “Sure!” Elon replies, kicking off his sneakers, and then retrieves a pair of his own. “Who came up with the idea of keeping a drawer full of flip-flops of various sizes beneath the seating?” “I did, about 200 years ago. Well, the Emperor version of me did, but since I'm his shared brain clone, I get to take the credit too. Haha,” E71 laughs. “Wait what? You're a 200-year-old clone? How is that possible?” “Well, technically I'm going to be 210 in June, but I'm living in a 25-year-old version of my body, or I guess you could say ‘our body’.”
“What do you mean our body?” Elon interrupts, still quite amazed by the story he is being told. “Oh, well, I think you’ll find that we have a lot in common. Haha.” E71 continues, “Anyways, the whole reason you're even here with me right now is that when you grow up, you become the Emperor of Mars and start a war with all the inhabited planets in the universe so you can rule all humanity under your perfect empire. So I had to go back in time to kidnap the original young version of him, which is you, so I can stop this all from ever happening.”
“Wait! So you are saying I’m the Emperor of Mars?” Elon gasps, “How do I live so long? Do I have to eat special food? What do I look like? How-” “I’ll get there,” E71 says and puts a hand over Elon’s mouth to keep him from asking more questions. “Now keep quiet so I can finish!” E71 orders. “Anyways, you clone yourself and put your mind in all your clones with the use of Mind Data Transference chips also known as MDT chips. Then you create a hive of clone workers that are used in all the authoritative positions and rule the people at every angle, thereby creating the ultimate form of imperialism.”
“Woah, ” Elon exhales,” that’s deep…”
“That's just the beginning. So with the MDT chips, you're able to collect everything the clones learn, so when they die, you receive all the information and plug it into your MDT chip which allows you to become smarter and sort of all-knowing. Then before you die, you assign a new clone your job as the Emperor, they get the old Emperor’s MDT chip, and then his mind takes over the new body. So basically you create a way to live indefinitely. You're not too confused are you?” E71 asks Elon who seems to be deep in thought.
“Yeah, I get it. So every generation of myself, I keep getting smarter and remain the Emperor of Mars eternally. But what's this got to do with the war you were talking about earlier?”
“Well, since you've found a way to have the ‘perfect empire’, you want all of the inhabited planets in your possession so you can prevent them from becoming like Earth. To do this involves destroying all governments. Yet what that means is that you are starting a huge war with all the other inhabited worlds who don't want your imperialistic empire ruling over them.” E71 explains.
“Since you're a clone, shouldn't you be working with the Emperor? Wait, you've gone rogue haven't you?” Elon realizes. E71 smiles, “I’ve always been different than all my clone brothers. I ended up getting a faulty MDT chip by chance, and though I got the memory download, the personality re-code function failed and that is why my thinking is substantially different from all the other clones.”
“Your E71 x300 name is like a product number code,” Elon says, thinking out loud. “E71 stands for which clone out of the batch I am and x300 is our generation marker. So in a sense you are correct,” E71 explains. Elon leans back in his seat and crosses his arms. He is once again deep in thought. He doesn't speak again for 10 minutes until he finally tells E71 that he has decided something. “I’ve decided to give you a proper name. One that will suit your personality.” E71 is delighted to hear he will get a name as he has always desired one.
“As the future Emperor of Mars, I hereby declare that your new name shall be, 'Rogue'. For you have courageously stepped out from under the empire and become your own person,” Elon states and places a hand on the clone’s left shoulder. Rogue begins to feel something that he hasn't felt in a long time - happiness. His eyes start to water from these foreign feelings "Thank you, Elon,” he says with a big smile, cheeks red with embarrassment, and wipes the corner of his eye.
“You don't have to cry about it, ” Elon chuckles. “I-I’m not!,” Rogue stutters and shakes his head trying to avoid a potential emotional breakdown. He wipes his nose and lets out a loud cough. Rogue feels pretty ridiculous that something like this got him so choked up. “I get that you don’t want me to become the Emperor and wage a giant space war. But how am I supposed to do anything about that? Are there certain things I need to avoid doing in life or something?” Elon asks, trying to get Rogue to think about something else so he doesn’t have to cry.
“Oh, uh… yeah… there are some things you should avoid and also some things you should fix for the sake of humanity,” Rogue replies and then reaches into one of the inner pockets of his jacket. He pulls out a solar powered smartphone and hands it to Elon who has no clue what the device is. He then proceeds to give Elon a brief demo of how to operate the device, and Elon is baffled. “You can’t make any calls or use the internet with this because that feature has been disabled,” Rogue explains, “the only thing this will be good for is taking notes and reading the document I have typed up on there that explains some things you need to avoid in life and things to fix so you can save humanity.
“Also I made it so you can’t edit the document or delete it off the phone, and if the device ever goes dead, just place it face down in the sun so the solar panel on the back can charge it up. Additionally, when I take you home, you can’t let anyone see this thing because it’s technology from the future and I suggest you copy all your notes down in a journal just in case you lose the phone.” The clone adds.
This is a lot for young Elon to take in, but he learns quickly. He begins to read and scroll over the rather long document of daunting tasks and goals, “How am I supposed to do all this?” He asks with a concerned look plastered on his face. Rogue shrugs his shoulders, “I want to find two people who can stay with you and help you fix the mess humanity got themselves into.”
“Humanity’s mess? Oh man…” Elon thinks to himself. “I thought you were going to help me, Rogue?”
“I can’t-”
“What? Why!” Elon interrupts.
Rogue turns his gaze away from Elon to the large window that looks off into deep space: “Because I don’t belong in the past. I belong in the service of the Emperor,” he sighs. “But I am the Emperor,” Elon furrows his brows, “So in a sense, you belong to me, right?”
“Look kid, you are not the Emperor yet. Not until the year 2071. And even if I did go back with you, I’d be putting the entire space time continuum at risk. Two of us in the same time period could be disastrous. Especially if someone were to find out I was you.”
“Can’t you just pretend to be my older brother who just so happens to look like my identical twin?” Elon hopes as he tries to think of ways that Rogue can stay. “Surely there is a way we can make this work. I don’t want to change the world by myself. I can’t do it alone!”
“You won’t be alone. We’re going to find people who can help you. And like I said before, I can’t go back with you and stay.” Rogue coldly replies. “Even though I’ve lived your life, I can’t go back and dictate all of your decisions. That wouldn’t be fair to you…”
“But you don’t have to decide everything I do. You can just guide me. I just need a little of your input so that I can have the correct output. Making sure none of this happens so-to-speak.”
“That’s just it… I brought you here so none of this will happen!” Rogue raises his voice, becoming frustrated with the conversation. “You're going to decide the future to never go to Mars. Then you won’t clone yourself and thus I will never come into existence…”
Elon now understands why Rogue couldn’t go back. “Sorry… I-I keep forgetting you’re just a clone version of me. You're like a friend, you know? I don't really have any friends except for my siblings and cousins… I wish there was a way you could stay.”
A friend… those words touch Rogue’s heart. His eyes begin to water. Then an idea pops into Rogue's mind. “Where are you going?” Elon asks as he watches Rogue get up from his seat with a mischievous smile engraved onto his pale face. Rogue didn't say anything, for he didn't even hear Elon’s question. He was deep in thought. “Perhaps I best go see what he's up to,” Elon thinks to himself as he gets up from his seat and walks after Rogue.
He finds his older clone self in a separate room which is rather dark, yet illuminated enough to see by a holographic screen in the middle of the room. In front of the screen stands Rogue. Although all Elon can see is his sinister-looking shadow. His tall stature and dark clothes make his appearance positively menacing. Not to mention Rogue’s soft low pitched laughter gives Elon a feeling of uneasiness… “What could he possibly be doing that makes this all feel very wrong?” He wonders to himself.
Elon tries not to make any noise as he cautiously approaches Rogue from behind. He wants to see what he is up to yet does not want to make his presence known in case whatever Rogue is looking at isn't meant for him to see.