TECH
The Intergalactic
Space Chronicle
The Santa Clone Project
By M.B. Alexander
T’was the night before Christmas 2123, when Earth's council met for an emergency meeting. Santa Claus, who had revealed himself to the official authorities of all of Earth's nations thirty years earlier, had decided to retire.
He had been content for hundreds of years focusing solely on the joy of children. He studied bio-engineering and space tech just to keep up with the demand for toys like speaking puppies and hover skates. When the Internet supplied too many temptations for kids, he adjusted the naughty list criteria to be a bit more lenient towards the rapidly evolving world. But now, Santa become tired. He needed a little “me time” to create the pottery he always dreamed of and read his comic book collection. Bear in mind, he had been collecting those since the first comic was produced.
The council was now faced with a dire situation. Next Christmas there would be no Santa. It was a job that nobody was qualified for, so finding a replacement on Earth would be impossible. After all, Santa was genetically different. Though his DNA design was of human origin, there were very complex alterations in his molecular structure. He used far more brain capacity than humans have access to, even now. And his skin had an advanced bio-mechanism that allowed him to make hundreds of thousands of quantum leaps in just one night, without his skin peeling off.
Yes, this Santa was a marvel! Some would define him as the first superhero, others would consider him a noble alien, but many scientists theorize that he was, in fact, a time traveler from a very distant future, who somehow got stuck in our timeline and decided to make the most of it.
But on that night before Christmas in 2123, a new reality came about and it was quite plain to see. It would be a Santa-less world if they could not find a replacement for the jolly man. T’was a sad day indeed for these councilmen, watching their children open what they thought could be the last gifts from Santa.
The solution came from a very unexpected source, but it came faster than an air train or a rapid growth tree. Anna Brightmor was only eight years old, but she could not help but notice the sadness in her father's eyes. She tiptoed down the stairs when the rest of her siblings were asleep and listened very attentively as the adults began to speak. They spoke of “no Santa” and “what will we do?”. They said, “Christmas would be changed forever you see!”
But Anna did not flinch, she was not scared at all! It would take more than one problem to make her pout. The solution was clear, she knew it, you see. For Anna, was quite obsessed with bio-cloning and studied it very thoroughly. In her mind, this plunder was all meant to be.
“It’s time to clone Santa!” she declared as she sprung into the living room. There was no time to waste. Anna began sketching a plan, with timelines and graphs, and things this writer does not understand.
The adults all nodded, her idea was quite solid. So they asked dear Santa if it would be okay, if they cloned him a bit, tomorrow or the next day. The generous jolly man could not resist, after all, he loved to bring joy to the rest.
Two-hundred baby Santas were created that night, so that the burden of handing out gifts to all the world’s children wouldn’t depend on just one person. Of course women Santa Clones were also created in the mix, for it was Santa’s wish that both genders be in his fleet.
They grew in their artificial womb pods and were raised by the kindest people and high-level Androids that humanity could summon. They all went to a special school where they studied every subject required to make the greatest toys humanity had ever encountered. They were just as kind as Santa, and the only competition they ever had between them was who could be the nicest of them all. This would lead to endless cocoa making and surprise gifts under their cloned siblings' beds.
Santa agreed to stay on the job just a little bit longer, till his children were ready to take his place.
Eighteen years later in the year 2131, the project came to be, the Santa Clones were ready to take their place in the red seats. Two hundred flying space sleds were created for the bunch, along with bio-engineered talking reindeer for the launch. The Santa Clones were scattered around the world and beyond, to bring joy and cheer to all human children and young androids.
Christmas was saved and the Santas continued to grow into a nation of givers and lovers of toys.