Nothing about Floor F had been familiar, despite him having been there before. It was a gap in his memory, just like everything that had happened between being trapped in the clone factory control room and resurfacing in a bungalow somewhere.

Nonetheless, something was familiar about the corridor he jogged down.

It didn’t take him long to work out what it was. The clone factory control room was dead ahead.

Alex’s common sense conflicted with his instincts. One told him to investigate; to gain clues about the gaps in his memory. The other told him to get the hell away from there.

He went inside.

His decision was helped by Kate’s assurance that time was no longer a factor. That, and he would probably never get another opportunity to revisit the place where his memory ended. The door was unlocked: there had been no reason to secure a door to a disused room.

The Alpha Control Room was similar to how Alex remembered, as much as he could remember it. The layout of the control panels and diagonally downward windows all matched the picture in his head. The view past the windows, however, was entirely different.

The clone factory was a metallic wasteland. Steel and glass lined the floors, with raised pads that had once been the bases of the clone pods dotted approximately across the factory floor. Chemical pipes that had been ripped apart still lay in place like gutted snakes. The monorail carriage stood at the station, charred and useless. But most striking of all was the silence: even behind the glass, the constant hums and hubbub of the factory floor had made it to Alex’s ears. It had since been replaced with deathly silence.

Alex became aware of a feeling that had subtly entered his head without his permission. It was loss, anger, and panic rolled into one – and the image of Dean Ginelli lay under it all.

Dad? Why am I thinking of Dad?

Alex was no stranger to negative feelings about his father. But why they nagged him so strongly in New London’s clone factory, he had no idea.

However, the papers in his left hand would give him some clues.

Alex had almost forgotten about the report from the Central Research Headquarters. The half nine deadline was so firm in his mind that reading it had been an impossibility. He sat down in one of the swivel-chairs, kept one hand on his assault rifle, and started to read.

Executive Summary Report: The Ginelli Project Last updated May 18th, Year One

They were working on this yesterday !

This document provides information relating to the following: • The cloning of insurgent Alex Ginelli from Terrorist Faction 001; • Events concerning the deal made between Alex Ginelli and New London Complex staff on April 25th; • Cross-references to the early experimental stages of Acceleration (see separate report); • Subsequent attempts to locate the insurgents’ base of operations (referred to by Ginelli as ‘Spitfire’s Rise’).