3

 Haggerty and I had both been leaning forward, eyeball to eyeball in the intensity of this conversation. Now he took my cue, leaned back in his chair, visibly drawing a breath to relax himself again. I did the same.

"I don't need to remind you that the charter of the Agency is to nurture, support, and protect Talent," he said. "That includes Minors. Even before all the evidence was in, we started watching as many of the key wealthy Minors as we could. The effort paid off. One of our agents was nearby his active clone when Conover Wrenthrop got taken. He was sponsoring a rather prestigious social luncheon. Several minutes before he died, he looked around himself with the somewhat absent expression usually typical of a Major whose primary attention is elsewhere, and said, quite distinctly, 'Alex Linkowski, what are you doing here?'

"Our agent tried to get him to explain himself, but he brushed her off. He didn't really seem able to recall the incident, she says.

"We know now that Conover was one of Linkowski's clients years ago, as were several of the others. We think Conover knew him well enough to identify his presence in the clone. Linkowski must have developed this ability to pick up another person's clones during the years since his assumed death. Perhaps the transfer from his Primary into his own clone enhanced the ability somehow."

"Okay, hold it right there," I said. "Operating someone else's clone from your own Primary is one thing. Surviving the death of your Primary in a clone, even one of your own, is another altogether. What do your theories have to say about that?"

Haggerty smiled. He had been expecting that and was ready for it. "The usual case, of course, is that when the Primary dies the clones revert to a comatose state. They become 'vegetables' as you pointed out earlier. But we don't really know why, do we? After all, the brain of an aroused clone is presumably active and recording experiences right along with the Primary. There are theories that suggest that an active clone functioning in synchronous with the Primary is imprinted much more deeply than just recording surface events, that many of the incidental recalls and other mental activities of the Primary get picked up as well. According to this theory, a clone that's been in tune with the Primary for some time should retain some, if not all, of the Primary's memories after the Primary's death."

"But that's just not the case!" I protested.

Haggerty cocked an eyebrow. "Do we really know? What we know, certainly, is that when the Primary dies all his clones go comatose. There are no records of a clone having come out of that state with the Primary's memories and personality intact. In the few documented cases where a clone has been roused to consciousness at all after the Primary has died, it has been in a nearly mindless, infantile state. If they are allowed to live, they seem to develop a personality similar to the Primary, as would be expected genetically. But the memories are gone. Legally, the Primary is dead, and the clone becomes a new person."

"So much for that theory."

"On the face of it. But as I said, do we really know? Proponents of the theory suggest that it may be the trauma of the Primary's death, rather than lack of neural verisimilitude, that causes coma and memory loss in the clones."

"But that's hogwash! We've all experienced the death of an operating clone, often violent death, sometimes several at once, without going off the deep end. Why should the death of the Primary be any different? Doesn't that prove that the Primary is the true seat of consciousness, and that never transfers?"

"That's been the obvious conclusion. And we've all assumed it to be correct, even in the face of other evidence. Like tests that show the brainwave patterns of the Primary fading dramatically when conscious activity is concentrated in a clone, and the clone's patterns becoming indistinguishable from an active Primary or a Normal. The theory I've been quoting says the clones are simply conditioned to expect and depend upon the dominance of the Primary, and that it should be possible to break that conditioning. Now we seem to have an example to support that."

"Based on Wrenthrop's chance statement when he was bemused by some unknown distraction. A statement he couldn't even recall, much less verify. Pretty slim evidence to rest your case on."

"You're right, Johnny. But it's all we've got. And whether it's in fact Linkowski, or someone else, we've got to find out if this is what's really happening, and who's doing it. That's where you come in."