Doctor Redinium stood over the body of John Xander, the corpse brought back to the Hornet from the cave close to the original colony site on Morristown. Even though the body was supposed to have been dead for many months, it still looked in near perfect condition, as if he'd died yesterday.
Axeline knew that given the conditions on the planet surface, caused by the detonation of the colony's power core, the radiation would probably have wiped out most of the insects and bacteria that would have made a feast of the bodies.
The cave had also been sealed from the outside world, the atmosphere becoming an enclosed, sterile atmosphere. Even so, the body showed high levels of radiation exposure. The first of many puzzles.
"Computer start medical log," Axeline requested. "Subject. John Xander."
[Recording started,] the computer replied.
"Visual scans of the body show that the corpse, identified by DNA as John Xander shows few signs of damage or decomposition. Tricorder scans show that the body has been exposed to high levels of radiation. Although I am no expert on radiation exposure, the computer projections show that the radiation levels are consistent with being within two hundred meters of the colony's power source when it was detonated," Axeline recorded.
Axeline brought up a map of the colony and examined it carefully.
"However, the distance is inconsistent with the area in which the body was found. Given that this level of exposure would have caused major burns to the skin, these kinds of injuries would have caused death within minutes. The only way they could have survived without suffering radiation poisoning would have been to hide in the caves where the bodies were actually found. The only problem with this scenario is that the cave walls would have protected the colonists from most of the radiation," Axeline continued.
"Deep body scans show that all the internal organs are intact, again showing exposure to radiation," Axeline recorded. "That's strange. Pause recording."
[Recording paused,] the computer acknowledged.
Something about the body had caught his attention. Axeline brought up the medical records of John Xander and started to look at them. It took him three attempts, reading through the fine details before he found what he had previously seen.
"Resume recording," Axeline requested. "I have found what I believe I was looking for. The medical records show that John Xander had only one kidney, the other was removed after he was injured in an engineering accident. Although he was offered a replacement, genetically grown kidney, he did not take up the offer. The records do not show the reasons he gave, but the average human can live with just one kidney. The corpse on the medical bench has both kidneys and is therefore not that of John Xander, even though the DNA records say otherwise. I must therefore conclude that the subject is not John Xander, but a clone. End recording."
This is getting beyond my capabilities, Axeline though to himself. What I need is someone with knowledge about genetics.
"Computer, do we have anyone onboard with knowledge of genetics, specifically cloning techniques?" Axeline asked.
[Affirmative,] the computer replied. [Lieutenant Jenara Chee has extensive knowledge of Dominion cloning technology.]
"Clarify," Axeline asked.
[Unable to comply. Those records have been classified by Starfleet Intelligence,] the computer replied.
Okay, Axeline thought to himself. If the computer won't tell me anything, I guess we should talk to the Lieutenant herself.
"Sickbay to Lieutenant Chee," Axeline stated.
<Chee here. What can I do for you Doctor?> Jenara asked.
"Lieutenant, I have a problem which I would like your opinion on. Would it be possible for you to visit sickbay?" Axeline replied.
<Of course Doctor. I'll be with you in about ten minutes,> Jenara said.
"Thank you Lieutenant. Sickbay out," Axeline replied.
Fifteen minutes later, the Doctor and Chief Science Officer were examining the body once more.
"Doctor, did you find any abnormalities in the DNA structure, additional strands that don't normally exist, normally dormant strands showing that they've been re-activated or areas where the chromosomes show gene splicing having taken place?" Lieutenant Chee inquired.
"No. The DNA matches exactly down to the last base pair, the DNA samples on file," the Doctor replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Because if this body was cloned using Dominion technology, we'd see strands of DNA used to increase the developmental rate of the clone. Most of the DNA is removed just before the clone matures, but there's always the odd piece," Chee stated. "If there's no sign that the DNA has been tampered with, then I doubt this was the work of the Dominion or someone with access to their cloning technology. Do we know how old the clone is?"
"No, the radiation has stopped me making any carbon dating analysis," Axeline replied.
"Then we need to get at the internal organs. I'd say a biopsy of the liver would be best," Chee stated.
"It'll transport a section out and have it put in the analyzer," Axeline replied.
"No, we're going to have to get it the old fashion way. The transporter will damage the cellular tissues, we'll never get an accurate reading. I'm hoping to find out the age of the cells themselves, I read about the procedure once. Before the Dominion war, there was a clone created of a high ranking Admiral. Eventually, the clone was captured, but every medical test showed the two to be identical. The only way to find out which was real was to test the cellular tissue and attempt to age it. The clone showed an age of sixty five days, whilst the Admiral was well into his seventies," Jenara explained. "Would you like to do the procedure or would you like me to? I did an ‘old fashioned' autopsy once whilst I was serving aboard the Virgo."
"I'll do it," Axeline said, walking across to the replicator and pressing a few buttons. An instrument appeared below the replicator and Axeline picked it up, returning to the bench.
"This should do the job," Axeline stated, pushing the instrument into the abdomen of the corpse. A few seconds passed as Axeline pushed the instrument deeper, then with a low hiss a small piece of reddish brown tissue appeared in the sample tube. Axeline removed the instrument and extracted the now sealed tube from the instrument, placing it down.
"Okay, let's see if we can age this sample," Axeline said, passing the tube to the Lieutenant.
They both walked across to the medical analyzer that sat at the opposite end of the medical lab. She placed the sample into the piece of equipment and after a few seconds the analysis started.
[Analysis complete,] the computer announced.
"Computer, can you give an age for the cells?" Chee asked.
[Affirmative. The cell structure shows that the age is between twenty-five and thirty days,] the computer replied.
"Why can't you give a more accurate age?" Axeline asked.
[The cells have been exposed to Delta radiation, causing cellular damage,] The computer replied.
"Why are the cells showing signs of Delta radiation, the power core wouldn't have produced that kind of radiation?" Axeline asked, more to himself than to the computer or the Lieutenant.
"Most likely it's part of the cloning process, Delta radiation has been shown to increase the rate of cell division, but all the Federation studies have been unsuccessful, the radiation has caused so much damage to the DNA that the cells never survived more than a few hours," Chee replied.
"That's one thing this body never did Lieutenant," Axeline stated. "One thing my examination showed up was that all the fluids in the body were within the blood stream. All the muscles and other tissues have no blood in them at all. At first I thought it was somehow linked to their deaths, but now it makes sense. If the clone was never alive, then none of the fluids would have circulated."
"You mean that whoever created the clones never intended them to have a life?" Chee asked, the realization shocking her.
"Exactly. Whoever did this wanted a set of dead bodies, probably to throw us off the scent and not look any further for the colonists," Axeline replied. "We need to find out who did this -- who took the real colonists and why did they take them."
An hour later, Axeline, Jenara and Commodore Wallace were in the Commodore's office.
They explained that the analysis of John Xander had proved beyond doubt that the bodies in the cave were not those of the colonists, but clones left to stop anyone looking for them. Chee told the Commodore that the technology used was unknown to the Federation and as far as she was aware any other race known to the Federation.
Finally, Wallace had to make a decision.
"Doctor, I want you to secure all the records you have on the bodies. As far as the Federation knows, you never found the bodies," he requested. "If we say that we've found the bodies, then six months later the real colonists turn up alive, it's going to be a shock to the families."
"Commodore, what about the bodies in the cave?" Axeline asked.
"I'll order the cave to be resealed," Wallace replied. "They can remain there."
"And the missing colonists?" Jenara asked.
"Someone went to a lot of trouble to leave us a set of bodies to be found, hopefully in the false hope that we would stop looking for them. But now we know the truth, they've only added to our mission. We're going to do our best to find the people who left the bodies and if possible find and return the colonists home. Given the age of the clones, someone knew we'd be returning to Morristown. The orders were only given last month and we only received the assignment three weeks ago," Wallace stated. "Someone came here and left the clones for us to find."
"We'll keep examining the body we have, maybe we can glean some additional information," Axeline said.
"Good, any information you find please bring straight to me," Wallace replied.
Jenara and Axeline left the Commodore's office and headed back to the medical lab.