Quill & Cosmos

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story. Journal Entry 719 I went back to the magnolia tree today, the way I promised myself I would. ZX98 was already there when I arrived, sitting on the bench with his hands folded, watching the petals come down the way he always does, like a man keeping an appointment with something only he can see. He did not seem surprised to see me. I have stopped expecting him to be surprised. "I brought the question I told you about," I said, and sat down beside him. "The one with no number on it," he said. "The one with no name on it," I said. "The shape behind my bunk still has none. And 583's two figures under the m...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story. Journal Entry 712 I unfolded the slip last night. For a week it had sat folded in my pocket, the curve waiting the way a held breath waits. I told myself in yesterday's entry that I would finish it, and I keep my promises to this journal even when I am afraid of them. So I sat on my bunk after the lights went low, and I took out the pencil I keep hidden in my boot, and I finished the line. It did not become a petal. That is the first honest thing I can write about it. The curve wanted to go somewhere the petals never go, and my hand followed it with a sureness that did not feel like mine — or perhaps it felt like the most mine anything has ...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story. Journal Entry 705 I went back to the magnolia tree today. ZX98 was already there when I arrived, sitting on the bench with his hands folded in his lap, looking at nothing in particular the way he does when he is thinking. He did not seem surprised to see me. I have begun to suspect that very little surprises ZX98, which is either wisdom or exhaustion, and I have not yet decided which. "You have the look," he said, "of a Jack who has been carrying a question." "I have been carrying it all week," I admitted, and sat down beside him. The petals were coming down slow in the afternoon light. I watched one land on the be...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story. Journal Entry 698 I watched the ship leave last night. The cargo ships climb on the same night every week — you can set your shift schedule by them — and yesterday, when the whistle blew and the sky went dark, I walked out past the mill yard alone and stood in the open ground where nothing blocks the sky, and I waited. It climbed. That is the only word for it. It did not fly so much as it climbed , the running lights blinking steady as it rose, the long grey hull shrinking until it was nothing but a thread of light, and then nothing. No sound reached us. The ships are automated. No one waves from their decks. There was no one on it to miss, and ...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story. Journal Entry 691 Seven days. It has been seven days since I sat beneath the magnolia tree and told Black Bird ZX98 I would ask 583 to teach me to sketch, and tonight I am writing with charcoal dust under my fingernails. It will not wash out. I have tried three times. Part of me does not want it to. I did not ask him the next day. I waited three days, because asking felt like stepping off a ledge. On the fourth morning, I found 583 on his break, drawing the mill's great door on the back of a thread-crate slip, and I said it before my courage could leave me. "Teach me." He went very still. Then he laughed — not a mocking laugh, bu...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story. Journal Entry 684 It has been eight days since Jack Unit 754 whispered to me about females, and I have thought of little else. I have tried to distract myself with my observations — 583's sketches grow more elaborate by the day; he is drawing the magnolia tree near G7 now, petal by petal — but my mind keeps circling back to 754's words. Soft curves and delicate features. I have stared at my own face in the washroom mirror until my eyes blurred, trying to imagine what the opposite of this face might look like. I cannot do it. It is like trying to imagine a color I have never seen. And there is something else, something I have not wri...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story.   Journal Entry 676 Time has become a river, flowing relentlessly, carrying me further along the currents of curiosity and self-discovery. Days have melded into weeks, and weeks into months since my conversation with Black Bird ZX98. In the interlude, my pursuit for individuality has taken a new form—one of keen observation, as I search for elusive signs of uniqueness amidst the seemingly homogeneous sea of Jack Units. Within the bustling confines of Raven 5, I encounter my fellow clones, each bearing the same face, the same stature, and the same scripted routines. Yet, there is a flicker, a hint, that dances in the periphery of my awareness. I...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story.     Journal Entry 657 It's strange how much I'm looking forward to going to work these days. I'm on a mission to find Black Bird Unit ZY98. He has information about Jack Maltus, the man who was cloned to create me and all the other Jacks. I need to know if I'm just one of many copies or if there's something unique about me. I need to discover my true identity. I hope to find the Bird who spoke to me at the party and see if he's willing to share what he knows about Maltus. Finally home. What a day it's been. I anxiously waited for my shift to end. As soon as it was over, I hurried towards G7, where I hoped to find Black B...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story.   Journal Entry 656 I stumbled out of bed this morning, skipping my usual routine. Last night's drinking had left my head spinning, but I had an urgent mission—to find Black Bird ZY98. I walked the familiar path, the grass worn down by countless factory workers' footsteps. The looming factory emerged before me, belching smoke and emitting a foul stench. If only I could escape this job, but we were all trapped without a choice. Just as I reached the entrance, Jack Unit 305 walked out. "Hey, 382," he greeted me. "United are we." "Hello, 305. United are we." "382, it's not time for your shift yet. Is some...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story.     Journal Entry 654 It has been 654 days since the treaty granting our freedom was signed, coinciding with the start of a new year on Raven 5. Some of the Jacks seem excited because the day number is in reverse sequence, making it New Year's Day. Although I don't see the significance, I don't want to diminish the small joys my fellow Jacks find in life. To observe the holiday, all factory workers, including the Jacks and the Black Birds, have been given the day off. We are obligated to attend a joint celebration this afternoon, with the consequence of losing a month's pay for refusal. Given the economic restrictions on this planet...

Jack Unit 382 is a clone — one of a thousand identical Jacks laboring in the textile mills of Raven 5, a world his kind can never leave. Each night he journals the days since the treaty. But 382 has begun to suspect he is different from his brothers: he dreams, he wonders, and he wants things no Jack is supposed to want. This is his story.   I'm currently working on an episodic story called "The Clone Ranger." In the past, stories were often published in newspapers as episodes, and I'll be following this tradition by writing serialized fiction and short stories that I'll share for free on my blog. "The Clone Ranger," revolves around Jack Unit 382, a clone who feels deeply isolated amidst a sea of identical faces. After the war, the clones were set free, expected to lead "normal" lives, but they had no idea what "normal" even meant. Struggling to find their purpose in a world where everyone is just like them, the clones yearn for a s...