Chapter 6 of 7

Angus and Wilt

2040 — 2068

Before I show you how this thing ends, we need to take one more look at the beginning…

The Letters…

A scanned Helix Form CD-01 BIRTH LETTER — Record of First Address, handwritten in a slanted, urgent print. Typed fields: Document ID HX-CDD-2040-0011; Subject MacAskill-X; Custodian Alasdair MacLeod; Custodial role Discipline; Cohort class Ultra-Weight; 08 December 2040; Peregrine Development Complex, Gestational Wing, Observation Room A; Distribution: Subject only. The handwriting reads: 'Hello Angus. It's your dad here. One of 'em, anyway. I'm writing this letter after holding you in my arms for the first time (won't be able to do that much longer, will I?), and though you've only just come into the world, son, I can already see you're cut from stone. You've hardly cried, laddie! And your grip! I've shaken hands with strong men in my life, but something in your grip feels different. Perhaps not strength yet. But intent. They tell me you'll be reading this when you're 25 years old, before your first official clone fight. All I can say is God help the poor'

Continuation page in the same slanted hand: 'bastard standing across from ye! (Aye... I wonder what his fathers are writing just about now!) First of all, I want you to know how proud I am of you already, son. And I'm glad, truly glad that you're here. We all are. A few of your dads may have even teared up the moment you were pulled from your pod, but they shall remain nameless. Maybe you know us all well enough by now to guess. As for me, I've been given a particular charge. I'm not just your father, see. I'm the one tasked with your discipline. Sacred responsibility, that is. I'm sure you know this by now, but discipline is not about punishment, son. That's how small men think of it. Discipline, where I come from, is something closer to devotion. It's choosing the harder path, even when no one would know if you didn't. It's the difference between a man who can and a man who must. And you, Angus, you' — one word scratched out in heavy ink — 'will be a man who must. They're telling me my time is up now.'

A scanned Helix Form CD-01 BIRTH LETTER in a second, rounder hand. Typed fields: Document ID HX-CDD-2040-0012; Subject Chamberlain-X; Custodian Isaiah Booker; Custodial role Unconditional Love; Cohort class Ultra-Weight; 08 December 2040; Peregrine Development Complex, Gestational Wing, Observation Room B; Distribution: Subject only. The handwriting reads: 'Welcome to the world, Wilt. It's been waiting for you. Let me say this to you right now, before anyone else gets a chance to tell you who you are: You are not a copy of anyone. You are one of one. There's a kind of presence in you already. You're about 45 minutes old, and you're already making it known that you didn't come here to be handled. The robots barely got the diaper on you! You kept kicking like you had someplace to be! I'm the father they assigned to love you "unconditionally." Like it's something you can assign someone. Like it's a category. I don't know what "unconditional love" means to them, but I'll tell you what it means to me. It means there's nothing you can'

Final page in the same rounder hand: 'do that will make me turn away from you. Ever. No matter how bad you mess up, you and I are always good. But make no mistake. I will push you. I will exhort you. I will speak greatness onto you. Until greatness is all you know. They're telling me I've got a minute left. I can feel them hovering just outside the glass. I'll leave you with this, son. I want you to know that I was never surprised. Not once. Every time you walked into a room and owned it. Every time you said something that made people lean forward. Every time you did something that had no category yet, I already knew. I knew it in this delivery room, 45 minutes in, when you kicked' — a word crossed out — 'that robot square in the face and looked around like you were checking if anyone saw. They saw, Wilt. When it's you, they always see. I love you, and I will always love you. Your father and your best friend,' signed in tall sweeping letters: ZAY BOOKER.

The Briefs…

I’ve already delved into the nuts and bolts of identity conditioning, but obviously, each clone’s identity development plan would be tailored to psychological inferences made based on the behavior of the clone’s genetic predecessor.

Page one of a leaked brief (HELIX CONFIDENTIAL — RESTRICTED — FATHER TEAM MACASKILL-X ONLY): 'ANGUS MACASKILL-X — Developmental Brief. Document ID HX-BHA-2040-0087, effective 01 December 2040, Subject MacAskill-X, Cohort class Ultra-Weight, audience Father Team MacAskill-X, prepared by Behavioral Architecture Division.' Epigraph: '"Alright, my friend, but let us first shake hands." — Angus MacAskill.' Verbatim: 'THESIS: What is suppressed does not disappear. It concentrates. The objective of this subject's conditioning is not to eliminate undesirable impulses. It is to contain them, name them, and assign them a place of lawful expression. For Angus MacAskill-X, this place will be singular: The Octagon. PSYCHOLOGICAL BASELINE MODELING: Based on historical inference of the original Angus MacAskill, we are working with the following projected psychological architecture: 1. Baseline Temperament: Gentle / Withdrawn / Conscientious. The subject's predecessor demonstrated exceptional social conscientiousness. He avoided attention. He modulated his physical presence around others. He was, by all accounts, gentle. "His mild and gentle manner endeared him to all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance." "He was of a very gentle nature and was slow moving, and he would not use his strength until his temper was aroused." Interpretation: High executive control. Elevated empathy response.'

Page two of the Wilt brief, verbatim: '2. Quantitative Narcissism: Statistical / Comparative / Inflated. The historical record reveals a consistent pattern of numerical self-aggrandizement that goes beyond ordinary athletic boasting. "I mean, I'm a guy who was bench pressing around 600 pounds." (actual estimated max: 500 pounds). "I'm getting 50 inches off the ground in a vertical." (actual estimated vertical jump: 38-42 inches.) "Yes, that's correct, twenty thousand different ladies." His public exaggerations regarding his feats — athletic, sexual, and otherwise — suggest not ordinary vanity, but a compensation mechanism. Interpretation: Dependence on measurable dominance as self-proof; ego reinforced by external awe; chronic susceptibility to perceived diminishment. The subject's predecessor does not appear to have experienced worth as a steady state. He appears to have experienced worth as something to be repeatedly re-established. This is our point of leverage. A self that must constantly prove its worth will train harder than a self at peace. 3. Performative Identity: Wilt Chamberlain understood the value of spectacle. He did not merely wish to win. He wished to be spoken about. "My impact will be everlasting." "Nobody roots for Goliath." He appears to have grasped, at an intuitive level, that greatness is not granted to talent alone. It is granted to contrast, drama, and symbolism. He cultivated stories around himself. He understood that true dominance always occurs twice: first in the event itself, and then in the explanation of the event. "No, no, I'm glad. It gives the night a certain mystique." (On his 100-point game not being filmed.) This instinct must be reinforced. Interpretation: High receptivity to crowd-mediated reward; deep responsiveness to narrative framing; capacity to metabolize attention into performance intensity. Wilt Chamberlain-X will not simply seek victory. He will seek unforgettable victory. CONDITIONING STRATEGIES: The program for Chamberlain-X operates on a single organizing principle: He is already the greatest. The fights are just the proof.'

The Journal Entries…

A Helix Custodial Development Journal page (Form HX-CDJ-02, Rev 1.4). Subject: MacAskill-X; Custodian: MacLeod, Alasdair 'Dair'; Assigned role: Discipline; Entry no. 17; December 8th, 2043; Subject age: 3 years, 0 days. Custodian notes, verbatim: 'Initiated the Monster Protocol this afternoon. Angus pushed Nikolai Valuev-X into a stool for playing with his favorite toy. (A He-Man doll) I took him by the hand and walked him to the quiet room. He didn't make a sound the whole way there. Just watched the floor go by. Valuev-X was still crying behind us. The room is small. One chair. One mirror. One candle on the floor. His feet didn't touch the floor when he sat down. "You know who that was, don't ye?" I said. Angus didn't answer. "That there was the Monster. He lives inside ye, but ye mustn't let him out. Not where others can see. Only in the cage, laddie." He nodded. Then I told him to say it with me. "I must not let the monster out. I must not let him out." I repeated it with him a couple of times. I lit the candle and told him to keep repeating the words in the mirror until it burned out. Then I left. Watched him on the feed from next door. He did exactly as he was told. His feet were swinging. After about a minute, they went still. He kept going until the candle went out. Then he just sat there in the dark. I got up, but Ewan stopped me. "Wait," he said. "Let's see how long he stays." So, we waited. Ten minutes passed, and I went in anyway. Didn't say anything. Just picked him up and carried him out. Gave him his He-Man doll back and let him play.'

A Custodial Development Journal page. Subject: Chamberlain-X; Custodian: Booker, Isaiah 'Zay'; Assigned role: Unconditional Love; Entry no. 11; February 19th, 2044; Subject age: 3 years, 73 days. Verbatim: 'Bedtime duty tonight. Same routine. He asked for the video before I sat down. Started yelling, "The game! The game!" (That's what he calls the 100-point game now.) He makes me fast-forward to the last shot. Four seconds left on the clock. Wilt Chamberlain rebounds a missed free throw off the back iron — Bill Russell goes for the ball and gets there a half second too late. Wilt dribbles the court as the clock ticks down. He takes off from behind the three-point line and lays it in off the glass as time expires. Three points. Warriors win. We watched it four times. After the fourth time, I said, "That's enough for tonight, big man. Last night you fell asleep in twenty-one seconds. Faster than every other kid in the program. Think you can beat that tonight?" He put his head on the pillow immediately and closed his eyes. Before I left, I said, "I love you, Wilt. And I will always love you." He didn't react. I closed the door. Went into the observation room. Pulled up the monitor to check his brain waves. He was asleep in eighteen seconds.'

A Custodial Development Journal page (Rev 2.1). Subject: MacAskill-X; Custodian: MacLeod, Alasdair 'Dair'; Assigned role: Discipline; Entry no. 467; March 18th, 2052; Subject age: 11 years, 101 days. Verbatim: 'He lost today. Sparring partner was Declan Brandt. Seventeen-year-old with two professional bouts already. Kid knows what he's doing. Took him down and locked up the armbar before Angus could settle. Fair fight. Angus taps, and the first thing he does, before he looks at Declan, before he looks at anyone else — is look for me. But I'd already looked away. I kept my distance the rest of the day. He knew not to come looking for me. I got an alert around midnight. Motion in the sparring room. I pulled up the feed. It was him. He turned the light on, went into the cage, and sat down on the center of the mat. He sat perfectly still for an hour. I watched him the whole time. He wasn't meditating. He was just sitting in the space. After about an hour, he got up, walked back to his room, and went to bed. I poured myself a whisky and sat there a while longer.'

A Custodial Development Journal page. Subject: Chamberlain-X; Custodian: Booker, Isaiah 'Zay'; Assigned role: Unconditional Love; Entry no. 398; June 1st, 2052; Subject age: 11 years, 175 days. Verbatim: 'He lost today. First time ever. Opponent was Tariq Osman. Seventeen-year-old who's already a pro. Wilt went for big shots early. Tariq was patient and picked him apart. All the fathers were ringside. The second the decision came in, he turned to us and asked, "Is this real?" The others nodded. I didn't. He looked at me. "Zay," he said. "Did I really lose?" I said yes. Something shifted in his face when I said it. He was still looking at me, but something behind his eyes had gone somewhere else. He ran out. I checked the feed. He went to his room, stood on the bed, and told the room to pull up his most recent sparring match on every surface. Kept saying "Again" after each play. He watched it twelve times. Then he said, "Delete." I closed the feed.'

A Custodial Development Journal page (Rev 3.0). Subject: MacAskill-X; Custodian: MacLeod, Alasdair 'Dair'; Assigned role: Discipline; Entry no. 713; June 3rd, 2057; Subject age: 17 years, 177 days. Verbatim: 'Angus sparred with Sione Taufa this afternoon. Tongan kid. 300 pounds and tough as nails, but not a pro. Shouldn't have been in there, but we're running out of bodies. Angus caught him on the chin with a gazelle punch. Sione went down and wasn't moving. The room got quiet. Nobody knew what we were looking at. Angus was moving before anyone else. He knew right away. Cormac tried to pull him away. Angus brushed him off without looking, and Cormac bounced off the cage wall. Angus knelt beside Sione until the doctors came in. His eyes were calm, but he may have twitched a couple times. Some fidgeting at the very least. He leaned down and said something in Sione's ear. I couldn't hear what. The doctors worked on him for a long time. Angus stood near the far wall and didn't move. Sione came around. Concussion. He'll be alright. I went to Angus's room later. He was sitting on his bed with the lights out. I asked him what he whispered to Sione, and he responded, "I just told him I was sorry." It sounded like he had been crying.'

A Custodial Development Journal page (Rev 3.0). Subject: Chamberlain-X; Custodian: Booker, Isaiah 'Zay'; Assigned role: Unconditional Love; Entry no. 618; June 24th, 2057; Subject age: 17 years, 198 days. Verbatim: 'Not sure how to write this one. I was reviewing his punch velocity data when he knocked. I knew something was up. He walked in and didn't sit down. Told the room to play the radio broadcast of the Philadelphia Warriors versus the New York Knicks on March 2nd, 1962. Gave it the exact timestamp of Wilt's last basket. The commentator says, "Rodgers throws long to Chamberlain. He's got it. He's trying to get up. He shoots. No good. The rebound Luckenbill. Back to Chamberlain. He shoots. Up. No good. In and out. The rebound Luckenbill. Back to Ruklick. In to Chamberlain. He got it! He made it! A Dipper Dunk! He made it!... 100 points for Wilt Chamberlain!" He wasn't confused. He was angry. He looked at me and said, "Who did this?" I had to come up with something. I told him, "There's something you probably already know about how Helix operates. Sometimes they adjust things like footage and radio broadcasts to make you doubt yourself, so you'll stay hungry. They must've gotten to the broadcast." He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "I know exactly what Big Bro was thinking when he laid in that last shot." "I know you do," I said. He nodded. Moved toward the door. Stopped for a second before he left. Didn't turn around. Then he was gone. I tried to go back to the charts after he left. Couldn't. Just wanted to get this down and go to bed.'

A Custodial Development Journal page (Rev 5.2). Subject: MacAskill-X; Custodian: MacLeod, Alasdair 'Dair'; Assigned role: Discipline; Entry no. 1,213; July 15th, 2068; Subject age: 27 years, 219 days. Verbatim: 'Angus is four days into his allocation. They tell me he's on some Greek island. I never quite know what to do with myself this week. Don't know where the thought came from, but I realized I'd never read original Angus MacAskill's Wikipedia page. I read the Gillis biography, the Halliburton pamphlet, the Sinclair biography, the newspaper notices, and I never once read his Wikipedia page. Read something I didn't know. Angus's father, Norman MacAskill, five-foot-nine fella, raised the roof of the family home to "provide headroom" for his son. Five-foot-nine. I think about Norman often. Can't imagine what he would think of me.'

A Custodial Development Journal page (Rev 5.2). Subject: Chamberlain-X; Custodian: Booker, Isaiah 'Zay'; Assigned role: Unconditional Love; Entry no. 1,118; July 15th, 2068; Subject age: 27 years, 219 days. Verbatim: 'Wilt is out of the country. Somewhere in the Mediterranean, I believe. Four days into his allocation. I always tell myself I'll use this week to rest, catch up, do something for myself. Tonight, that meant ending up on Youtube at midnight. (It's still there. All of it.) Came across an original Wilt interview that I had never seen. With someone named "Conan." Conan asks him how tall he is. He says, "5'11 and a half. But it's a big half." I laughed out loud. I don't think my Wilt would've come up with that. I wonder if that's on me.'