Body-gene Box
A body-gene box is part stasis field, part freeze field. It is a 20-cm cube made of federanium. A small piece of a character's epidermal covering is placed inside it. As long as the box remains closed, the sample remains fresh. The body-gene box is kept in a bank vault that is now standard at all major hospitals. Once a character is declared dead, his genetic sample can be removed from the box and a clone can be created of the character. As might be expected there are numerous hitches involved with this item and the entire procedure.
Cost: Besides the high cost of the body-gene box (see the Equipment Tables) there is also the cost of having the sample prepared and taken (5000 Cr), the cost of storage (10,000 Cr per year), and the cost of having the clone made (75,000 Cr). Once a clone is grown the sample is destroyed. Another sample cannot be taken for at least three months.Legalities: Society has a great fear of clones running wild. No character with a felony criminal record can have a sample taken, maintain a sample in a b-g box, or have a clone grown. Proof of a character's death must be positively established before a clone can be grown. This either requires witnesses, a medical certificate of death, or the identifiable remains of the character.If it is discovered that a clone exists while the original still lives, a general order to shoot on sight is immediately given. Unfortunately this usually results in both the clone and the original being destroyed.A character can only be brought back through cloning if he has died an unusually early accidental death. Most of the Frontier believes that if allowed a free hand, the clone merchants would overpopulate the systems in a matter of decades. Therefore, by law, no one may be cloned who has died of old age or a natural death. Interpretation of this are left to the referee's discretion. (Of course, there are always rumors of the "filthy rich" who can buy their own clone banks and almost become immortal, but that is for NPC consideration only).Dangers: If a close discovers that his original is still alive, he becomes obsessed with a desire to kill the original character and never stops trying until one or the other is dead. The next step, usually, is that the cloned character then becomes suicidal after realizing that he has killed himself.Campaign Considerations: When a character has a sample taken, the referee must record all of the character's abilities, skills, and so forth. This record is then the basis for the clone, if and when it is grown. Any new abilities or skills developed after the sample is taken are not recorded, unless the character has another sample taken later (whereupon the original sample is destroyed). A player can never control two versions of the same character at the same time. If, for some reason, a clone is grown while a character still lives, the Referee will control the clone.(Gamma Dawn Expanded)
