Happy Birthday

The Cloning Bay was a few rooms away from The Pilots area in Central Control. It had not avoided damage during the missile attack. The Plate on the ceiling began to reverberate.

Phase 1 initiating.

Everything was black, "I feel strange...I....feel?" Marston was merely a consciousness and memories. He could not see, hear taste or smell. He didn't know what was happening; he just felt a faint uneasiness.

"Okay... calm... down," he thought to himself. "So... I... can think?" He realized he existed.

What Happened Last Night? Had he been drinking? No, he didn't think so.

Could he open his eyes....no?

"A-am I dead? Did-I-I die?" Marston was in disbelief; he didn't seem to have a body. Then he remembered the Cloning Bay. All at once, his memories came flooding back to him.

The Cloning Bay had a large metallic circular plate on the floor in the center of the room and a matching plate mirroring it on the ceiling.

So was he a soul right now? Or a Ghost? What happened anyway, he thought he'd won against the enemy ship; he was sure of that. As he was trying to figure out what happened, the Cloning bay had begun the next phase of the process.

Phase 2 initiating.

Marston could not see, as he still had no eyes. If only he could have witnessed this scene occurring, he would have been amazed. The base on the floor and ceiling of the Cloning Bay began to emit brilliant blue lasers which formed a cylinder of light.

Inside the blue laser cylinder, strands of matter were seemingly materializing out of nothing. It appeared similar to an animated scribble on a piece of paper. Nerves and bone were slowly concentrating and growing. Marston's ship had an integrated gravity system activated to avoid atrophy. The bones and nerves defied that gravity system and were simply floating in the center of the blue cylinder.

Ten minutes after The Cloning Bay had activated, his spine was the first recognizable thing to finish forming. Then his skull and brain slowly took shape. Marston had no feeling anywhere on his body yet. He only had his emotions and thoughts.

(15 minutes in) Marston could feel once more. Amazing! His brain was just about entirely created now. At first, he could feel a faint sense of warmth.

Marston thought back to the Facility Director, warning him it would be painful to get cloned, but this was nothing! "What a fucking wimp." Marston thought.

(17 minutes in) Marston had no idea how long this was taking, but it had felt like a while. Longer than an hour for sure. What was going on? Now his senses were slightly sharper. His forehead had a light ache emanating from it.

(23 minutes in) His skeleton completed, and various organs were forming, such as his stomach, liver, kidneys, etcetera. Now his sense of feeling was much more present. His headache grew far more robust, and now his back started to get sharp bolts of pain suddenly.

"Okay, I see what he meant...!" Marston could barely think straight anymore. Minutes were feeling like hours. Endure!

[33 Minutes in] his blood vessels and muscles began spreading over his body. Now the pain was amped-up like teeth getting drilled without any sedatives. His headache progressed further.

Marston sincerely regretted his cockiness and was merely screaming obscenities in his head. All he could do was stay motionless and endure it. If moving were an option, his body would have thrashed about while Marston wailed and moaned at ear-shattering volumes. But he was utterly still while his body generated.

[44 minutes in] everything except his eyes, hair, and skin were formed. The pain had remained relatively constant until now.

If he lost his mind, maybe this wouldn't be so painful. It felt like two days to Marston. He thought maybe longer.

[54 minutes in]

Phase 3 initiating.

Is the pain finished?

Marston began to celebrate internally; he had defied death! And now that incredible pain was finished. His body began to twitch briefly. And then he had his movement back.

[55 minutes in] the cloning had finally ended. Marston Landed on his feet as the gravity took hold of him once more. He was as he had been before mysteriously dying except for the fact that he was naked now. He took in his first breath in his new body and exhaled. Marston fell to his knees and began crying.

"Well I've got to get rid of it, I would rather die than ever use that hell machine again." Marston rubbed his eyes and took another deep breath. He felt surprisingly healthy in his new clone body.

He looked out the window and was able to see the remains of the enemy drone ship. Metal fragments and shards of glass were slowly floating around. It was quite beautiful.

Marston went to the storage container at the side of the room to retrieve a new spacesuit, but when he opened the box, it was empty.

"Ah, no big deal, I'll just head to my quarters and get a suit from..."

Marston began to feel anxious. He suddenly thought back to how his ship had received damaged.

Marston realized he had made a colossal mistake. No, not just a colossal mistake; if the next room were one of the breached ones, he would get sucked into the void of space, then he would die and be cloned again. Any place could be his death!

He frantically went back to recheck the storage container. Maybe he had missed the spacesuit and not seen it!

He had that sinking feeling like he had lost his wallet or keys, and was checking the same places he had already looked.

No, it was worse than that. A thief getting spotted stealing would not feel the dread he felt. A spouse getting found cheating; even a murderer caught for killing, would not feel the fear that Marston was experiencing.

He began to feel dizzy. He could feel his face getting hot, he started to shiver, and he began to cold sweat all over his body.

"Oh God please don't make me go through that again... oh please, oh please, oh please..." Marston's voice quietly trailed off.

What an incredible fuck up. After the Cloning Bay had installed, he had simply taken off towards the asteroid field without properly ensuring it got appropriately equipped. He should have put a spacesuit and a harness in here. He should have put the repair tools; he even had three extra kits he'd forgotten to take out of the primary storage room. He felt like a colossal moron, and he was right.

He walked in front of the Armored Blast Door. Beside it to the right was a button to open the door and a keypad.

"Please don't be breached, I don't want to die. I've just got to get to my back up spacesuit." He wished to survive not to get cloned again. Cloning had been the worst thing he had ever experienced.

Marston closed his eyes and pressed the button to open the door.