“ | Dr Hugo Grief: That was the second part of my plan. I was creating sixteen copies of myself. But that wasn't enough. You remember what I said about the strands of the tapestry? I had to bring them here, to draw them together- Alex Rider: To replace them with copies of yourself |
” |
—Hugo Grief reveals the aim of the Gemini Project |
The Gemini Project was an operation spearheaded by Dr Hugo Grief.
Objective
It aimed to make Grief the most powerful man in the world, and allow him to reinstate apartheid globally.
Method
In the 1980s, Grief cloned sixteen copies of himself in his home country of South Africa (where he greatly supported the apartheid regime). While the real boys are at Point Blanc, a plastic surgeon named Baxter surgically alters Grief's 14-year-old clones to resemble them. Soon, the clone and the real boy are swapped. The replica rooms are used by the clones to imitate the boys' behavior so the parents will not notice that they have been swapped. When the parents die and pass on their inheritance, Grief would acquire the assets from them. Grief had to orchestrate the killing of General Viktor Ivanov and Michael Roscoe since both became suspicious of their so-called sons' behaviour towards them.
Outcome
Alex Rider, who had earlier escaped from Grief's centre of operations, leads an SAS team to attack the place. Upon taking out several patrols, the task force triggers the alert. An ongoing fire-fight ensues as the team encounter more guards. Wolf demands Alex to stay back. Alex goes into the dining room and sees Dr Grief about to escape in a helicopter. However, Mrs Stellenbosch appears who is surprised and disappointed that Alex is still alive. An ex-weightlifting champion (having earlier bent a two-inch thick metal fire poker into a knot without breaking a sweat), Mrs Stellenbosch proves impervious to Alex's attempts to subdue her and knocks him down. She pulls out a gun and just as she points it at Alex, Wolf appears. Wolf is shot three times by Mrs Stellenbosch but manages to shoot the woman himself with his machine gun, sending her crashing through a window. Alex prevents Dr. Grief escaping by driving a snowmobile up a ski jump and sending it on a collision course with Grief's helicopter, jumping off at the last second as it obliterates the doctor.
Aftermath
Although the clones had all been incarcerated, it eventually transpired that one had escaped custody. Alex Rider would encounter him in the former's school, followed by a fight between both in which Julius Grief, the clone, was badly burnt and captured. He would develop a psychological hatred for Rider, culminating in a tense showdown some time later between both.