The Long Miles of Night

Sevens: "A kilometre or so in height."

Luke: *Well I have no idea how long a kilometer is except that it's rather long but less than a mile* We aren't climbing to the very top, I hope?

Sevens: "Heck, no! We're already near the top. You'll probably never see most of the station."

Luke: I don't really plan on it.

Sevens: "Good." *leads him out onto the mezzanine and past the balustrade* *there are all sorts of strange creatures out here* *perhaps the strangest are a group of what look at first like normal human women, but on closer inspection are almost identical to each other, and almost identical to Sevens*

Luke: *glances around warily at... well, pretty much everything for a while* *his eyes come to rest on the group of women* *What* *his eyes jump from Sevens to the group and back* Uh... Sevens?

Sevens: "Yeah?"

Luke: Uh... do you have, like... sisters or something? *That doesn't seem like an adequate explanation but like* *The only other reasons I can think of are really fucking weird*

Sevens: "Sisters...? Well... I guess about forty-four billion sisters if you-" *spots the Zans* "Wait, I know those two! That's Hammer and Dragonfly! They must be on shore leave."

Luke: Wait what. *Does forty-four billion mean something different here* *Seriously though what*

Sevens: "Yeah, those are some of my sisters. The big, brawny one with the broken nose and the metal hands is Hammer. The slim, jittery one with the cybernetic left eye is Dragonfly. They're always crewed together. I don't know the others, though. They must be newer." *sure enough, they do look a bit younger*

Luke: ...No, like, go back to the fourty-four billion part.

Sevens: "Oh yeah, you're new here. I'm a clone. They're always cloning more of us to fight in various wars. At the last count I heard there were about forty-four billion. We're called Zans, named after Suzanna Zero." *taps her chest over her heart twice, almost subconsciously*

Luke: *What* There... are clones. Billions of clones that are just created to fight in wars. *What* *That's got to be wildly unethical*

Sevens: "Yep, and I'm one of them."

Luke: How on Earth is that even allowed? People get up in arms about whether absolutely minuscule issues are unethical and no one thought creating a clone army was a bad idea?

Sevens: "Oh yeah, it has its detractors. Honestly I'm not sure how ethically sound it is. The good news is that if you survive to thirty-six, you get the offer of a re-education for civilian life and a monster severance package. Plus we have pay and shore leave and the like. It's not a perfect system, but we're at least treated nearly like people."

Luke: ...nearly like people? Nearly? You've got to be joking. That's bullshit.

Sevens: "Look, if you knew how the klashtu were treated back in the day, you'd think it wasn't so bad either. I mean, sometimes I feel angry about how I didn't get a choice in the matter, but nobody really gets a choice how there life goes, do they? You get born somewhere random without asking for it, and then you just have to hope you get a chance to choose your path. At least they give us a good education and a fighting chance after our contract ends."