But is it really Kelly and Troy?

The crack in the concrete gives us a limited view of the screen – the faces are definitely those of Kelly and Troy.

But is it really them?

How could they have got in here?

They need a security pass.

How could they have got one of those?

Maybe The Surgeon's people went outside, slaughtered them and brought them back in here?

So many questions flood through my head, but there's one I have to share with Kade and I rapidly tap it out on my cell – 'A trap? To tease us out, like rats!'

He gives me an affirmative thumbs up, then begins to furiously thumb his response – 'No rash decisions, we watch and wait. We're not that stupid.'

I give him my thumbs up and we both return to our observation cracks.

......

Eventually the images of Kelly and Troy fade from the screen and the female speaker begins to wrap up the meeting – "So, are we satisfied and do we have your oral permission to enter the next stage of Clinical Trial 2?" She asks, all breezy and confident.

The male voice answers, "Yes, in principle. But I have a question – when is the male to female transition scheduled to begin?" He asks.

We watch as she moves toward the miniature Kade; who stands next to little Thomas, both with passively bowed heads. She puts her finger on his chin and lifts up his head, "We will begin hormone therapy on his fithteenth birthday, with a full surgical reassignment taking place a year later," she says.

"Are you absolutely sure he has no female inclinations?" He asks.

The woman let's out a big breath, "Absolutely 100 percent, this little boy is all boy." She turns her attention to miniature Thomas, "Unlike this little specimen, who as you will observe, already demonstrates an inherent femininity, which is also present in his physicality – just compare his petite frame to that of the more solid musculoskeletal system of his cis gender friend," she says.

Her words are laced with such disdain and contempt for the mini me, that I'm hit with a smack of anger and literally want to go out and slap her.

But I resist, hold back, and continue to observe.

A female scientist steps forward and as she does the speaker interjects, "Do you have a question?" She asks, as if to halt her getting too close to our mini me's.

The woman halts, and stares intently at our clones, "No, I don't have a question, I have more of an observation," she says.

"Would you care to share it with us?" Says the man.

I note the female speaker getting worried, she fidgets with her watch and continually glances at the screens, "Erm, can I just say that we are running short on time, we have a lot more to go through down at the core of our facility and we mustn't over run here," she says, with an almost nervous shake in her voice.

The man interjects, "But we'd like to hear our colleagues observation, please share, it may be of importance," he says.

The woman looks from the screen then back to our mini me's, "I noted that when the corpses of their adult genetic sources were displayed on the screen, there was no emotional reaction from these clones, which is most odd, given their innate connection," she says.

The female speaker jumps in, divertingly, "They've been trained to display no emotion, to have no empathy, that would explain their lack of response," she says.

The woman looks at my clone, "Is that so, young man?" She asks, with a soft, caring voice.

I tense, because I know the little me was incapable of lying.

The little me nods a shy 'No.'

The woman moves in, "No. Then why were you not upset when you saw the dead bodies of your adult selves?" She asks.

Mini me looks her in the eye, "Because those two people weren't us," he says.

A collective gasp emanates from the assembled scientists as mini me continues with, "Grown up Kade and Tanya are back there, hiding in our living complex." He says, pointing in our direction. Kade's clone calls out, "I want to grow up to be just like him, I don't want to be a girl." He says.

When we see the man marching towards our bunker we engage our weapons – ready to kill!

"STOP!" Shouts the speaker woman.

He halts and looks at her as she presses her earpiece. She appears stressed but in control as she fiddles with her earpiece, "Control are informing me that an error has been made. Please see the screens to observe the correct corpses," she says.

All heads turn to the screens as images of Kade and I are displayed, the camera zooms into our contorted faces to display a bullet hole in the center of our foreheads, exactly as it was on Kelly and Troy.

Kade nudges me, smiles and winks – and in those two gestures I know he's saying that Kelly and Troy are probably more alive than dead.

I punch a message into my cell – 'Should we confront them with the truth?"

He texts back – 'Let's go for it.'

But the sudden swoosh of the walls opening to allow someone in distracts us.

Kade grabs my arm and pulls me back as we crouch down, our weapons at the ready.

There is an ominous silence, before all hell breaks loose.

The violent patter of rapid gunfire invades our ears, immediately throwing us down, defensively.

We crouch down, suddenly defenseless against the onslaught of bullets that are ricocheting off, of the walls around us.

Kade holds me tight and whispers, "We lived and loved together, and we'll die together if we have to, my love."

Knowing we can't compete with this tirade, I squeeze him into me and wait for death, hoping it's swift.

But instead a sudden silence descends.

Slowly, Kade and I unravel and take to our feet – alert and primed, rather than inert and passive.

We look at one another as our ears pick up the soft sounds of children sobbing.

It's so surreal and sad hearing our own childhood distress.

We hold our weapons outright as Kade asserts, "We're armed back here – can we have a ceasefire for the sake of the children, I'm sure you don't want to jeopardies Clinical Trial 2?"

The reply is swift, "Kade, it's me, Kelly, I'm with Troy!" She exclaims.

I'm hit with a huge heap of hope as Kade grabs me and says, "Brace yourself for the carnage, this won't be pretty."

But as we emerge, there is no carnage, no blood, no bodies – just Kelly and Troy, their weapons by their sides as they comfort our sobbing clones.

"What's happened?" Asks Kade, looking around disbelievingly.

Troy approaches us, "They were obviously holograms, when we shot at them, they just disappeared as if they were being switched off by some unseen controller," he explains.

Kelly joins us, "It would seem all their top people only appear remotely, they won't risk putting their physical selves in danger." She lowers her voice to protect the children, "But those lower down the hierarchy aren't so lucky, we shot near on twenty people to get down this far," she explains.

"How'd you get in?" I ask, my head and heart still soaring at the sight of them both.

"Little Kelvin came out, with a pass key. I took it from him, then gave him what for. He's now tranquilized out with the other kids, safe and sound," she explains.

Troy drops his tone, "To our great distress, we saw that they got our friend Drew." He shakes his head, "It's beyond belief the way they have his body hanging from the auditorium and are inviting people abuse it. If ever a man deserves dignity in death, it's Drew," he says.

Kelly interjects, "We have no doubt he died protecting you guys?"

Kade lowers his head shamefully, "Unfortunately..."

..."Unfortunately now's not the time for talk, we really need to get going down, to the core of the facility," I cut in, divertingly.

Kade lifts his head, "Yep, Tan's right. Let's take the little one's and go down to the next level," he says.

......

We see our clones smile for the first time as they jump off the plinth and join us, "Do you want to come on an adventure with us?" Asks Kade.

"What's that?" Asks his little counterpart.

I laugh and answer, "It means to have some fun together; but you have to be very good and stick close by us as we venture downwards."

My clone looks suddenly terrified, "Down to the core, that's where all the most important people are, the physical beings, not their virtual holograms,' he says.

At this we all exchange glances, knowing that's exactly where we have to go – and obliterate them all.

But a question strikes me and I ask my clone, "If the people who were here earlier were holograms, then how could they physically examine you, like the speaker invited them to?" I ask.

Little Kade lifts his shirt, "We have implants which allows them examine us remotely." He points to his exposed abdomen, "Look, I'm being examined at the the moment.

We all stare in horror and disbelief as we see finger indentations press into his little belly and move over his abdomen like invisible hands, "They check are organs all the time," he says, pulling his shirt back down."

Troy looks aghast, "Yes, I remember them developing this technology; so many subjects succumbed during the clinical trials for it," he says, with horror and sadness.

Kade brings us back on track, "OK folks, let's go down!" He says, assertively.

......

Kelly and Troy take each of our little counterparts and position them on the descending space.

Pointing the key to the silver circle I waste no time on thumbing it hard. We descend with the familiar belly flop; but it's a short-lived drop compared to the one we experienced en-route to the lab.

......

The walls part and open, and Kade and I tentatively step out into a sterile white room, which is more akin to a lab than the space we just vacated.

With our weapons tightly primed we do a quick stakeout and seeing no immediate danger we gesture for the others to come forward.

As we all turn to take in our surroundings, my clone, Thomas, speaks up, "This isn't the core, it's the Vessel Rooms," he says, with a burst of confidence.

We all turn and look down at him, and it's me that asks, "What happens in the Vessel Rooms?"

He looks happy, that he's helping us, "It's where the incubators are kept, that we come out of," he answers.

Kelly, her body still primed, asks, "Incubators, you mean machines?"

Little Kade turns around, "No, not machines, there's one," he says, pointing behind us.

Following his pointed finger, our eyes settle on a high tech hospital gurney, upon which lies a heavily pregnant woman, her body seems encased in a transparent like plastic resin that is molded to her form.

My clone points to the left, "And there's another."

Suddenly a familiar voice fills the room, hard and harsh with authority, it's The Surgeon – "And if you look behind, you will see a third vessel," she says.

We all swivel to see a third hospital gurney, on which lies another plastic encased, heavily pregnant woman.

When we look back to the source of her voice, we notice our clones kneeling with their heads bowed.

Her voice has the same, smart smugness to it, "Look at how well behaved your clones are, they respond perfectly to their superior."

Anger compels me, "Reveal yourself, bitch!" I shout.

She responds with a wicked cackling laughter, "Have patience Tanya, you're all about to meet the real me in triplicate – you deserve more than my boring old hologram, that's so book one. I'm like that monster in the movies, the one that keeps coming back, who never dies. Or in my case, is continually being re-born."

I look at my clone and see he's trembling. The Surgeon is acutely aware of my gaze and responds accordingly, "He's such a sniveling little runt, aren't YOU Tanya?"

When I don't respond, she continues, "We won't make the same mistake with our second Clinical Trial, oh no, all will go to plan this time. The Surgeon WILL get her way. We will forget our first trial, and begin again – we won't be beaten this time, not with the fruits of our perfected cloning techniques."

She is interrupted by a pained groan from one of the women on the gurneys, which elicits an excited lift in her voice – "Splendid, vessel one is ready." When the same pained grunt emanates from the two remaining women The Surgeon's claps diminish – "Splendiferous, perfect timing."

When she finishes her applause, she continues, "You see – you have caused so much death in my facility today, for balance, it's only fitting that you're all here to witness three momentous births." She pauses for dramatic effect, before continuing, "You're all about to be instrumental in delivering your nemesis, times three – The Surgeon's