Flash cloning: Difference between revisions

While flash cloning entire humans is possible, the procedure is by no means perfect, and unauthorized cloning is illegal. The process involves the modification of a cloned human embryo, which causes it to develop one hundred times faster than it would have naturally. Many anomalies appear as a result of this abnormal development rate -- they lack the [[Wikipedia:muscle memory|muscle memory]] and [[Wikipedia:socialization|socialization]] of their hosts. Though these problems can be remedied with intensive therapy, the worst flaw in flash-cloned humans -- compounding biological defects -- cannot be corrected. Rapid flash cloning of such immense volumes of tissue induces gross DNA base-pair errors; congenital defects increase 42 percent and incidents of Parkinson-plus syndromes increase 67 percent. Although a small percentage of flash clones can have a normal life expectancy, most flash-clones will start to degenerate from metabolic instability as part of a process called "metabolic cascade failure" - death from various neurological and physiological disorders. The average half-life of a flash clone is 14.7 weeks in laboratory conditions.<ref name="journal">'''[[Halo: Reach]]''', ''[[Dr. Halsey's personal journal]]''</ref>

[[Catherine Elizabeth Halsey|Dr. Catherine Halsey]] developed and perfected a technique through which a living person's memories can be transferred to a flash clone's brain, thus creating a clone that is virtually identical to their original host. This process used a "Fast Fourier Transform X-ray 3-D scan" to map a brain's ionic density patterns. This data could then be used to create a virtual map of every individual link in a brain's neuron pattern. This data would then be used in a deep-stimulating scan of a flash clone's "blank" brain, which would cultivate an identical pattern of linkages and accurately replicate the memories of the host person.<ref name="journal"/> Unfortunately this memory replication results in an 82 percent rate of dementia, schizophrenia and brain cancers.<ref name="journal"/>

This technique was used to create identical clones of the [[SPARTAN-II Program|Spartan-II candidates]], which replaced the children after the Spartan-II candidates were abducted from their homes. Most of the flash-clones quickly died natural (though certainly abnormal) deaths, drawing suspicion away from [[Office of Naval Intelligence|ONI]]. Contrary to Halsey's expectations, many of the clones lived far longer than previously estimated based on laboratory conditions.<ref name="journal"/> Internal criticism of the unethical use of flash-clones led to the use of orphaned children in the subsequent [[SPARTAN-III Program]].