For the third year in a row, a man from the UK had arrived via plane in same town in Texas with the intention of going into the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert for reasons only known to himself. David went to the same vehicle rental place as the previous year and consulted the old man in the office for the loan of a cheap but reliable Jeep.
"Okay, Mr. Pauling, if you just fill out the paper work, you can take the car whenever you feel like it." The attendant slid a form over to Dave.
"Cheers, man." David took a pen from a plastic cup and scribbled his name down on the dotted line.
"Say, you look a little familiar...Aren't you that same British guy who came here last year?" The old man asked.
"Yup, that's me. I'm surprised you remembered." David handed him the completed document.
"How could I forget? You went into the desert for the day and didn't come back to town until tomorrow morning."
"I'm afraid I'm going to be doing it again. It sort of became an annual tradition for me a couple of years back."
"Can I at least know why?" The elder got from his chair and to a box on the wall.
"Eh...I think even if I did tell you, you wouldn't believe me." David answered. "Let's just say I'm meeting somebody."
"Let me guess...is it a gal?" The senior returned with a key.
"You sussed me out, mister." David laughed. "We first met at Visitor's Peak so that's like our little rendezvous point. She's out of this world!" Dave couldn't resist the pun.
"Why, if I was thirty-five years younger and didn't have to manage this place, I would come with ya to see her!" The old man chuckled before handing Dave the key to the Jeep.
"I really got to get going now, mate. Thanks for everything." David left the office to search for his vehicle.
"If she's got a grandma, tell her I'm available!" The old man shouted after him.
Dave drove to the mountain as fast as the revs would allow and arrived there just as dusk fell on the sands. He bailed out of the car as quickly as he could, excited for the coming of his friend. Sure enough, everything went dark with only the moon to illuminate the land as David looked up towards the milky way. That familiar hum was heard and a big, black disc approached overhead. A dazzling flash surrounded Dave and when his vision returned, he was standing in the shiny, chrome-walled transporter room. Standing opposite of him was the captain, holding up her 'devil horn' hand signal and a smile on her blue lips.
"Greetings, David." Dr. Ruta Saturnyne Terileptus welcomed the earth-male, dressed in the same tight, rubbery, black and purple costume she seemed to wear all the time.
"Hey, Ruta. Did you lose weight? You're looking fantastic!" Dave copied the hand signal, glad to see the extraterrestrial hottie after the long 12 months. "Been up to anything since I saw you last?"
"I'm glad you asked, David, as it relates to this year's research. Follow me." The automatic doors slid to the side and Ruta walked through the metal corridors of the ship with David in pursuit, passing by several male crew members casually going about their duty. "I contributed towards the development and construction of a prototype cloning device. It's still years from being perfected however we have made some significant progress." Ruta and David arrived in a room in some remote part of the flying saucer with several large, glass cylinders mounted on the walls, wired with all sorts of tubs and apparatus. The glass appeared to be fogged up from the inside, making it impossible to see through clearly though there was certainly something inside given away by a dark shadow.
"I see...so what does this have to do with me? You want me to test it and make more Davids for you?" Dave laughed.
"Actually...I already did." Ruta punched in a six-digit code into the keypad mounted on the wall next to one of the tubes. The container was unlocked and cold mist hissed from the crack as it opened itself up. Once the icy fog had disappeared, David looked into the giant bottle to see an exact copy of himself fastened upright into the barrel. The doppelgänger's eyes were shut and was wearing an outfit similar to the one the alien crew was wearing.
"Wha-!? It's me!" David jumped back in fright.
"It's merely a clone of you. All of the capsules contain copies of yourself. The technology is able to replicate the physical appearance of the DNA donor with an accuracy of 100%."
"I don't remember donating anything so you could make a clone..."
"Well...um...about that...we used a sample of your semen that I had collected from you during our last experiment to test the cloning." Ruta's face went slightly blue as it usually does when she was embarrassed or ashamed of something. "Please forgive me, I really should have asked your permission first before going through with it but we were just so eager to try and duplicate a non-Delta Delphini that I could not wait another Earth year to receive your consent."
"Ruta, calm yourself." David reassured the alien. "I really don't mind. I think it's pretty cool that I'm the first human being to be cloned to this degree. By the way, what's a Delta Delphini?"
"It's what my species is called, named after our planet of origin."
"Quite the mouthful, don't you think? How about I just call you Double D's?"
"Very amusing, David." Ruta smiled. "Just two last thing about the clones. They have a very limited lifespan, averaging to about a month, give or take a few days. That is why we have them cryogenically frozen: to prolong their lives."
"Alright, so we can't leave them out of the fridge too long or they'll go bad. And the other thing?"
"They also possess very little intelligence and are unable to do virtually anything independently. However, an unexpected side-effect occurred with earlier clones we created is that the DNA donor shares some sort of mental link to their clones and are able to give them simple commands via merely thinking about them."
"Oh, I see, a bit like giving orders to soldiers, right?"
