New

Rigel. They were back in the middle of the road, The Hologram beside them. Lore watched for what felt like the hundredth time as a Breacher flashed the traffic and a new Lore appeared. This Lore moved differently to the others; rather than flinching and struggling to dodge the oncoming vehicles, this one merely flattened themselves to the centre line of the road, took a breath and started towards the diner. There were no other Lores in sight.
“And finally, we reach our most recent Cycle. That’s me.” The Hologram pointed to the Lore they were following. “Hello there, I’m a holographic representation of Emm, the final Cycle born Lore.” The Hologram pretended to doff their cap. “This Cycle started with an accident: The other Lore’s arrived two minutes late and thought they were early. Standard quantum variations in the timing circuits. Took them way too long to realise their mistake and, by the time they did, Clayton and I were gone.”
“Why is this the first time this has happened? Surely after twenty four times, they’d know their own timetables and be able to get the calculations correct?” Lore watched as Emm started after their Char.
“This is actually the third time and each time it’s happened, its yielded a Lore of exceptional creativity.” The Hologram stood proudly. “Other examples include Sam and Potts; both instrumental in the overall plan, Potts designing the Tethers and Slingshot and Sam and their Elle discovering a power source for them.”
“So what did you create?” Lore waited for an answer but only got a holographic finger poked into their shoulder.

Time progressed and Rigel became a lab that Lore didn’t recognise. It was extremely well equipped with materials neatly filling the various shelves and fridges, all lined up in rows for easy access and pristine equipment on every bench. This was juxtaposed by the rusted roof above and the bare concrete floor below them. Emm and Clayton were darting about the place, frantically completing an experiment as if their lives depended on it.
“Ah, our first lab. After leaving Rigel, we milled around a bit but Clayton’s bungalow got burgled so we needed to earn money.” The Hologram sighed. “We later learnt that it was the other Lores and Chars but still. We found ourselves empty pursed on the outer edge of the Scilla system so we took a job as chemists, and tried to synthesise a cure for a local plague.” Emm and Clayton continued their dance. The more Lore watched, the more they realised it wasn’t a frantic dash but rather a well co-ordinated and choreographed routine. Each move had a purpose, each twirl and stop to prevent slowing or spillage, each diversion to set up later steps, it was truly a wonder for them to behold. “It was here we learnt our trade: Genetics. We worked out a cure and, as payment, we were given permission to stay and use the equipment as we wanted…” Its voice trailed off. “That was until the other Lores found us. The locals didn’t take well to twenty four of us running around at once. They paid us for our time and told us to move on. Four months… Sometimes I miss that lab.”

The First’s meeting room appeared around them. With the exception of The First, their Char, Emm and Clayton, everyone in the room had taken their chairs. The First’s Char sat. “At long last, we finally welcome our newest additions…”
“I’m Emm.” The Lore nodded.
“And I’m Clayton.” The Char added. “Why are there so many of us?”
“Ah, we’ll have to show you the cubes.” The First sat. “But rest assured, it was for a very good reason.
The meeting progressed with the various Lores and Chars introducing themselves and catching Emm and Clayton up on what had happened. Holographic images of The Slingshot and The Tethers appeared. Their meeting lasted at least three hours but, even when sped up, it seemed to drag on to an eternity.
“After that meeting.” The features of the room melted away, leaving a spartan space; a bed and dresser rose from the floor. “Clayton and I went to our quarters. The cubes were waiting for us but we weren’t sure about them. Not including the already named exceptions, most of the others seemed to think too similarly so we chose to watch the cubes through a viewing device. This allowed us to see the memories but not absorb our contemporaries feelings and biases. We also made sure to talk to the other ‘different’ Lores.” Sam, Elle, Potts and Truly appeared in their quarters. Each of them came bearing a chair that they set up opposite the bed. “They came and talked to us about their experiences with the group, how the other Lores mostly had a love hate relationship with their Chars other than Tree and Charraig who seemed to despise one another and would curse at their partner in an Irish accent every so often.” Lore shook their head. “That’s what got us thinking. Our plan to end the Cycle and save Quatarr… You.” The Hologram returned the sound to the scene.
“We’ve been thinking.” Clayton started.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that around here.” Sam joked. “‘The Tether’s bound to work this time!’…” They shook their head.
“Well, we’re different because we weren’t directly impacted by that lot early on in our time away from The Guild, right?” Clayton continued, the others nodded. “So what if we created a Lore and Char pair that we only communicated to over long distance markers. Gave them a checklist or something and the tools to carry out their mission? Let them solve the problems and then meet us when they’re… ‘cooked’?”
“Cooked?” Potts didn’t have time to be confused.
Emm continued. “Once they’ve spent enough time apart and they’ve developed their skills naturally, we bring them to us and then… Maybe… we can end this mess.”
“It would be risky.” Sam lowered their voice. “First off, how do you create a Lore?”
“That’s easy, they’d be a clone.” Clayton’s simple statement was met with frantic shushing. “What?”
Truly similarly spoke in a whisper. “If you’re serious, you can only talk to one person about this.” First.