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[cloningblues]

[The discovery that yet another alien enemy race is presumably human-like drives Asagi to reflection. He's looking at the bonsai tree in his room, which seems to be growing fairly well.]

...The Wulgaru use an army of obedient clones to fight. These clones don't even have the will to refuse; they can only fight, and die when they're no longer needed. The Balmarians are similar; they want humans to be their soldiers. They want someone other to fight for them.

[A pause. He draws parallels to his own situation.]

...Are they really that different from humans?

Comments

[actuallyselfish]

"Probably not." Dido snorts with contempt. "Pretending to be a superior species elevated above the rest of humanity...it's a very human thing to do."

She looks at Asagi. "Or were you comparing yourself to their slave soldiers?"

[cloningblues]

I'm not a slave. I know I'm not!

...But the cirsumstances are still very similar.

[actuallyselfish]

"Especially the bit about them tweaking your DNA and wiping your memories." Dido says. "Seriously, if you ever feel the need to defect from the MJP and go on a quest to recover your past, I'll help out."

[cloningblues]

I don't know. I don't feel like I miss my past much... But I remember those clone soldiers, on the Wulgaru ship. They were born with one purpose; to fight. Nobody asked them if they want to do this, they just do.

...My DNA was "tweaked" before I was born, not after. I'm not fully human; nobody on Team Rabbits is.

[actuallyselfish]

"I don't think you have to worry about 'being human' or not, man." Dido says. "We're all descended from the Protoculture anyways."

Dido scratches her head. "But to play devil's advocate, you never really had a chance to choose to fight either. It's probably why they wiped your memories: so your only bonds would be to the military, and so your only sense of self-worth would be fighting."

[brought_it_back]

That's...

[A disturbing question.]

...Yes. Those races do it as standard procedure, whereas humans...there's not...many...people like that.

[cloningblues]

There's the MJP project. That's enough for me.

[brought_it_back]

...Do you have any less freedom than a normal soldier?

Will anything other than a court martial happen if you leave?

[cloningblues]

Not really...

[If anything, he has more, at least by non-Unity Group standards.]

And I don't know. I know it's probably possible to leave, but I didn't dig deep enough to find out. I've always been surrounded by people telling me how important the MJP program is, and what vital role we all have. It's... very hard to even think about quitting in such conditions.

[star_of_sad]

I don't know. I can think of many differences...

[cloningblues]

Such as?

[star_of_sad]

Humanity uses cloned soldiers but they're not forced to, their future stolen away...

[cloningblues]

Yes. Their past is stolen instead.

I don't think any of the Wulgaru clone soldiers are forced either. They just fight because it's all they know...

[sang_av_helten]

I would not know Asagi of Toshikazu as I am not human. What I do know is that warriors should have the ability to choose and fight for themselves. Even if one serves under a leader for a glorious cause then it should be their own decision to do so.

[Skald grunts from his pillow off to the corner.]

And to force others to fight for you when you are too cowardly. Pah. Both the Wulgaru and the Balmarians are dishonorable curs in need of pillaging.

[cloningblues]

What about humanity? We do exactly the same thing.

[keep_your_dignity]

NOT ALL THAT MUCH, TOSHIKAZU.

AT MOST YOU COULD MAKE A CASE FOR A DIFFERENCE BEING THERE IN HOW MUCH AND HOW EACH DOES IT, IF YOU'RE FEELING LIKE DISCUSSING ETHICS.

[cloningblues]

Major... You too were made specifically to fight, didn't you.

Did it ever bother you?

[keep_your_dignity]

WHAT I THINK OR THOUGHT IS NO BUSINESS OF YOURS, TOSHIKAZU.

YOU SHOULD BE WORRYING MORE ABOUT SOLVING THAT LITTLE CRISIS OF IDENTITY OF YOURS.

[cloningblues]

My apologies, major. I just thought your answer could help me with this... crisis of identity, as you called it.

[deathflag_survivor]

Maybe we can just blame the Protoculture on all of this...

[cloningblues]

I don't think that'd be very helpful, the Protoculture is long gone. If they made clone soldiers, then all of them are long gone too.

[gold_four]

Well, we were created for space exploration, initially...

[A wild Ataru appears.]

But I suppose the main difference is the extent, so far. I mean, the ESUN didn't commission an entire species' worth of us.

[cloningblues]

I don't think the world could take a whole species of Izurus and Tamakis.

[gold_four]

And we'd all die of food poisoning if there were a legion of Kei.

[After a brief laugh, Ataru sighs again.]

Though I suppose... that kind of gets into that debate of what we do once we're done fighting the Wulgaru, assuming we ever win this war. I know a bunch of people in Unity Group have offered to help us if we ever want to run away, but...

That kind of assumes we won't be just allowed to go, right?

[cloningblues]

You think that will happen? That they'll just let us go and do whatever we want when the Wulgaru threat is over?

...I wonder when it will be over. We're not doing very good at pushing them back so far.