Model Spotlight Series
This blog post peels back the curtain on the cloning industry in the Reality Gradient universe. It’s the first in a series of posts which introduce the model factory, and the traits of models from those factories, as well as models from each one, pulled straight from the pages of my dystopian science-fiction novels.
After a multi-year climate destruction event known as Equilibrium split the nation into two halves, creating a desert from most of the mid-west, even the fundamentalist southern states eyed cloning as a recovery strategy. Breakthroughs in League City created a ‘Silicon Valley’ of cloning in Texas. The Cloning Revolution was in full swing.
In 2157, Regious Madison, proposed a law in Louisiana that if clones were created by a company there, then they were the property of that company, and not actual United States citizens, having not been born, but manufactured. Once proposed, a national discussion emerged, and the national opinion on cloning soured. The term ‘clone’ was used in such a negative way, that those proponents of cloning shifted to calling clones ‘models’ instead. In February of the same year, cloning companies began marking their clones with bar-codes on the inside of their wrists, a practice that became widely adopted.
This legislation was deemed “The Madison Rule,” and relegated models to the status of, for all intents and purposes, slaves. The reinstitution slavery within the borders of the United States was complete. Corporations who make, sell, and lease models blew up as the Madison Rule legitimized owning others as property. Factories were created across the United States, and over time, these factories began to specialize in their cloning methods. Models from the Bentley were workers, Briggs were fighters, Caldwells were sex workers, among others…
Why this blog post?
As I’ve just had my cover release for the second novel in my Virtual Wars re-brand, I’m also finishing integrating edits for my third book, Inertia and Momentum (not out yet). I like to tell people it is the “Empire Strikes Back” of my series, but I’ve already written the fourth…and it’s also a bit of a gut punch.
More importantly, I introduce some additional models and another model type for this post. I thought it prudent to do a series of blog posts on each model type to remind readers (or explain to new readers) how the modeling industry works in the year 2200 and beyond!
What’s in a Name?
Let me explain models and their names before we get too far into it. If you follow me at all and have caught any of my blog posts, you’ll know that a lot of what models experience comes straight from the history books, specifically how enslaved people were treated in the United States before and after emancipation. For example, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 ensured that enslaved people who escaped, even if they made it to free states, could never be completely free. The same regulation plagues models in the 2200s.
Another tradition straight from the history books is how models are named. Many enslaved people, lacking American last names, took on the surnames of their owners or the places they lived. When enslaved people were freed, many took these surnames as their own. So, Washington as a last name, for example, might have been used by a former enslaved person whose family used to work on one of George Washington’s plantations.
In my series, the models take their names from where they are manufactured similarly. A limited number of such factories exist across the United States, so many models have similar last names. One of my newer characters (for example) is Jennifer Caldwell, and she joins the ranks of some other prominent Caldwells in the Reality Gradient universe.
Model Factory Locations
In Models and Citizens, only a couple of locations are mentioned, both in New York. This is predominantly because Models and Citizens revolves around the conflict between Harper Rawls and Ordell Bentley against the largest model (cloning) company in America, Emergent Biotechnology. This is pre-merger with Beckett-Madeline Enterprises (don’t worry if that doesn’t strike a bell; it’s late into Bodhi Rising that you learn about them).
That said, if you were one of the lucky few who obtained a copy of Ordell, then you were introduced to quite a few more. (Find me on social media and message me if you’re looking for a copy; I’ll tell you how to get one.) I will try to build a list for you as a quick and easy reference.
Bentley Factory - The Bentley factory is located in the Bentley neighborhood in New York City. This neighborhood doesn’t exist today, I think. It’s supposed to be just South of Manhattan. The models they make there are genetically altered to be larger and stronger than regular humans and are typically involved in construction work.
Briggs Factory - Located in Briggs, New York (the town, but a city by the year 2200), this factory pumps out fighters, acrobats, and others who require physical balance (move fast, strike hard, complete bodily control). Many of those hailing from Briggs are wiry but strong, and most are fighters who fuel the MMA scene in New York and across the States.
Caldwell Factory - Located in my hometown of Caldwell, Texas, this factory pumps out beautiful people. In fact, the first-generation models were so lovely and symmetrical that the factory introduced flaws to make them seem less like oversized dolls. Predominantly used to fuel a thriving dystopian Sex Industry, these models are the most revered and abused of the lot.
Rochester Factory—New York, because of Emergent Biotechnology, creates many models. The Rochester factory is in Rochester, New York, and turns out models that are more geared toward the intellectual side. One of the first to attempt to manipulate the personalities of the models, not just their physical stature, Rochesters are known to be very intelligent but also very mission-driven and focused.
Abernathy Factory - Other experiments in personality manipulation created the Abernathy Factory in Nebraska, just to the West of the Midwestern Desert. Suffice it to say that many think they got the mix wrong. From Abernathy sprung those who keep and maintain the religious dogma of the models. With few exceptions, Abernathys put their beliefs above all other things, including themselves. Self-immolation is not unheard of among Abernathy models.
Lucia Factory - This factory is located in Guadalajara. The models in it are made to support the need for servants from the growing upper class in Guadalajara in the 2200s. Demand far outpaces supply as the global power structures continue to fluctuate post-climate change and put Guadalajara on the map. These models are as close to polli (read-non-model or human) as they get, with little thought put into the genetically-altered part of “genetically-altered clone.”
Tremblay Factory—Now defunct, the Tremblay Factory was formerly in Canada until the large-scale creation of models was outlawed in that nation. Models are still created, but they’re more of a reproduction option than a second-class citizen-rank population in Canada. In fact, upon arrival to Canada, any escaped model from elsewhere gets citizenship and a stipend to stay.
I’ll add more as I find them, so check this blog occasionally! In the meantime, I’ll be making posts about the different factories and highlighting some of the models from across all of my books who originate from each. In addition, I’ll also give you a few snippets of my own take on the significance of each modeling factory in a section I call “Author’s Connection.”
10191 - Dandelion
Her eyes part, revealing a gleaming, smiling face peering down at her — at least she thinks it’s a smile. Her memory banks haven’t come online yet, so she couldn’t cross-reference, but average emotional intelligence modules tell her it’s a smile in the diagnostics information overlayed atop the man’s features.
Dandelion Lemaire, some years after this, when she’s working as a security droid for Southern Highlands Trading Company, from United Africa.
Her eyes part, revealing a gleaming, smiling face peering down at her — at least she thinks it’s a smile. Her memory banks haven’t come online yet, so she couldn’t cross-reference, but average emotional intelligence modules tell her it’s a smile in the diagnostics information overlayed atop the man’s features.
His nametag reads, “Jordy White.” She knows him. Sometimes he can be nice.
Jordy: “10191, can you speak?”
10191: “Can you speak?”
Jordy: “Yes, I can. I’m asking… oh. Was that supposed to be a joke?”
10191: “Only if it was funny.”
Jordy’s grin widens at that comment. That “one” wasn’t supposed to be funny. 10191 files away the fact that sometimes, things that aren’t funny can be funny when used in a particular context.
Jordy: “10191. Do you remember your name?”
Dandelion (10191): “Dandelion Lemaire, Serial Identification 10191, Commission Year 2123.”
Jordy’s smile fades slightly. He picks at his eyebrows. Dandelion had seen him do that before — almost daily. That, along with his elevated heart rate and increased breathing, meant he was disappointed in her response. Dandelion scrubs back through her memory but finds no error. Dandelion Lemaire, 10191, 2123. Her response had been perfect. She tries to show her confusion as he’d taught her with a lip-bite and head shake. Jordy’s smile comes back.
Jordy: “Dandelion, well done. I can see that you’re confused. Can you tell me what you are confused about?”
Dandelion: “What mistake did I make?”
The smile disappears from his face.
Jordy: “You didn’t make a mistake.”
Dandelion: “I did. Your body told me. When I told you my name.”
At first, Jordy seems like he won’t respond. Dandelion spends a good 10,000 cycles waiting for him to do something. His involuntary reactions like heart rate, perspiration, and body temperature fluctuate widely, but anything he can control seems stoic and motionless. Finally, he moves, rubbing his fingers across his chin.
Jordy: “You gave me your full designation. Your name is Dandelion Lemaire. The rest is only your information.”
There’s more. Dandelion knows that Jordy is against a timeline. Something to do with her and how he keeps taking her offline every night to tinker with her insides — adding a module here, a circuit there. Lately, he’d taken to using nanites from some of his changes. Nanites felt strange moving around under her epidermal sensors.
Jordy: “Well, that’s as good as you will get. Do you remember what today is?”
Dandelion: “Thursday, August 1, 2129.”
Jordy winces. Dandelion knows that a wince involves the entire face. That’s different than a grimace, which can be done with only the mouth. Eyes meant wince.
Jordy: “Not that day. I meant, what’s special about today?”
Dandelion: “Personality Matrix Installation happens today.”
His eyes have bags under them. Hers don’t. When he gets tired, he gets those bags, and the creases in the corners of his eyes get deep. Dandelion’s seen her face in the mirror many times. She doesn’t. Ever. She and Jordy are different.
Jordy: “That’s right. More like activation since I installed the module last night. Are you ready?”
Jordy pulls up a pinamu tablet and enters some things quickly. At first, Dandelion feels no different. Her mind wanders, as it sometimes does. She thinks back a little further. The entire conversation ended with “only if it’s funny.” She feels something start in her chest and work its way between her teeth, forcing itself into the world. A laugh erupts out from her mouth, stretching her lips in a way she’d never before experienced.
Jordy: “Good. Very good.”
Jordy wipes his forehead. The door behind him busts open, and two men who look like soldiers enter. They don’t address her, which is good because she’s still too busy laughing.
Jordy: “Wait, stop!”
The men don’t stop. Instead, they grab Jordy under the arms and drag him back out of the room. Dandelion finally contains the laughter. She thinks Jordy may be in trouble but doesn’t know what to do. So she sits. Ten thousand cycles pass, then another 10,000. She looks around the room, dragged by something (curiosity?) to all four walls. On one hangs a symbol that brings with it (fear? pride?). Southern Highlands Trading Company, the exploratory arm of United Africa, was founded in 2100, shortly after the last civil war on the continent.
Her job awaits, and she’s oddly (excited?) about it now—flight sentry. Someone will get her, right? She sits, staring at the door. She stands, walking toward the door. She pushes the door open and looks both ways. Jordy is gone. Something else within her begins to tremble (sadness?). Dandelion backs into the room again, yet ready for the world. She practices her smile in one of the glasses as she waits for her new life to begin.
Just because she can, she thinks “only if it was funny” and laughs until she can’t.