The aliens brought three large objects inside the room. They looked like coffins, or better yet, stasis chambers. Each looked large enough to fit a person but not much larger, and each had lights and buttons on the outside. The aliens stuck needles into Yuki and Julia, as they had into Lamont, and seemed to do some more work on their handheld devices. Then one of the aliens starting pressing buttons on the chambers as if to program them. The chambers started to hum and glow, and even rattle a little bit, but then they stopped. The fronts of the chambers flapped open, and the three astronauts were surprised to see three naked humans step out. What surprised them most of all was that the three newly created humans appeared exactly identical to themselves.
The aliens started conversing with the clones in the alien language, and then the strange helmets that had been placed on the astronauts began to buzz. The captive humans writhed and moaned within their straps as memories and basic knowledge were forcefully called up from within their minds by the helmets. Then the helmets were deactivated and placed on the clones. Each alien plugged something like an electric syringe into the helmets, then into the handheld devices, then into their very own selves, as though even the aliens wanted to incorporate something from within the objects. When the helmets went back off, the aliens began to speak again, and this time they were speaking the same language that the astronauts had used in space on their mission.
"Very well, clones. Do you now have the information you need for your mission?" asked the aliens' leader.
"I think so," said the Yuki clone. "I'll take over for the human mission specialist. It seems she acted as a repository for the human crew's biological knowledge. Their mission was something about bacterial evolution when exposed to cosmic rays."
"I'm 'Commander Hernandez', the one they considered the crew's leader," said the Julia clone. "No one back on Earth will suspect me when I access the information in their computer uplink. The space agency will think I needed it for the mission."
"I know how to pilot the humans' craft now," said the Lamont clone. "Once we're back on the surface, we can remain in the space program and observe the human spaceflight capabilities from their own perspective. It's a good thing we understand their language now, so we can fit in."
"Good, good, you all understand your purpose," said the alien leader. "We will take you to the human spacecraft, and we will dispose of these other humans in some appropriate fashion." The clones left with two of the five aliens, but the leader and the other two aliens stayed behind.
"Now, as for you three," said the leader to the original astronauts, "we really don't need you going back to Earth and causing a scene."
"You'll never get away with this!" yelled Lamont. "The space agency will know, they're expecting us. Our friends know us. They'll know we aren't the same!"
"Speaking on behalf of the International Space Exploration Cooperative, I insist that you release my crew," said Julia in a calm but firm voice. "I consent to remain your hostage if required. In my uniform, you will find a list of established radio frequencies and encryption codes. You can contact the Office of Covert Diplomacy in New Delhi, India, to begin negotiations for--"
"There no negotiations," interrupted the leader, "and no hostages. You have already served your purpose for us. We have your ship, we have your combined knowledge, and we have suitable roles for our infiltration clones. We even have your uniforms for them to wear. The only remaining question is how to repurpose you, and the answer is not difficult. We will ..."