Nobody understood what Evelyn meant.
The baby couldn't have given anyone anything.
She was only hours old.
Yet my mother held the small device as though it were something precious.
I stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“From the archive.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
That answer made no sense.
Evelyn saw my confusion.
“The fourth sequence doesn't obey the timeline the way you think it does.”
Jason looked at her.
“You're saying the baby sent it backward?”
“I'm saying I don't know.”
For once, my mother admitted uncertainty.
That frightened me more than any explanation could have.
The door shook again.
A crack appeared around the frame.
The people outside were trying to force it open.
Dr. Vale moved to the control panel.
“They'll breach it in less than a minute.”
Evelyn handed me the device.
“Your father designed the lock.”
I turned it over.
There was no button on the back.
Only another symbol.
The same circle.
Four lines now crossed it.
“What does it do?”
“It doesn't destroy the archive.”
“Then what?”
“It disconnects the archive from every living sequence.”
Michael looked at her.
“Forever?”
“If it works.”
“If?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“It has never been tested.”
Jason gave a short laugh.
“Of course it hasn't.”
The door groaned.
A man's voice came through.
“Dr. Vale! Evelyn! You cannot stop what has already begun.”
Evelyn's face became still.
She walked toward the door.
“Who is that?”
“The director.”
“Of Eden?”
“What's left of it.”
The man outside laughed.
“You still think Eden is a laboratory.”
Evelyn replied, “It was never a laboratory.”
The voice became quieter.
“It was a promise.”
“What promise?”
“That human experience would not have to die with the person who lived it.”
I looked at my daughter.
The man continued.
“You've seen what she can do.”
I said, “She hasn't done anything.”
“She already has.”
“What?”
“She remembered you.”
My blood went cold.
The baby looked at me.
Her eyes were open.
For a second, I felt something that wasn't mine.
A woman's grief.
A man's fear.
A child's laughter.
Then it was gone.
The director continued.
“She has connected every surviving branch of the Prescott sequence.”
Jason stepped forward.
“That's why I remember Michael.”
“Yes.”
Michael looked at him.
“And I remember him.”
“Yes.”
The director sounded almost pleased.
“You are no longer separate.”
Jason's expression hardened.
“We are.”
The director laughed.
“Tell yourself that.”
Michael stepped toward the door.
“Open it.”
“Michael.”
“I want to see him.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
“He took me once.”
“He wants you angry.”
“I am angry.”
“That's why you can't go.”
Michael stopped.
The director spoke again.
“Evelyn, you know what happens if the lock is activated.”
My mother looked at me.
“Yes.”
“You'll lose them.”
Her face changed.
I understood immediately.
“Lose what?”
The director answered.
“Everything.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“Is that true?”
She didn't lie.
“If I activate the lock, the inherited memories will disappear.”
Jason stared at her.
“All of them?”
“Not your ordinary memories.”
“But the ones from Michael?”
“Yes.”
Michael looked at Jason.
“And mine?”
“They'll remain yours.”
He touched his chest.
“What does that mean?”
“You'll remember your life.”
He looked toward Jason.
“But not him.”
Jason's face tightened.
Michael swallowed.
“Then we lose each other.”
“No,” I said.
They both looked at me.
“You don't lose each other.”
I looked at Jason.
“You remember being my brother.”
Then Michael.
“You remember being his brother.”
“But the memories connecting us—”
“Are not the only thing that makes you brothers.”
Michael looked away.
Jason stepped closer.
“I'd rather know you as you are than remember you as someone else's memory.”
Michael's eyes filled.
For the first time, they embraced.
It was awkward.
Almost hesitant.
Then Michael held him tightly.
Evelyn turned away.
Dr. Vale wiped her eyes.
The door cracked again.
The director shouted, “If you activate the lock, the child will become inaccessible to you.”
I looked down at my daughter.
“What does that mean?”
“The fourth sequence will close.”
“Will she die?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“She will become ordinary.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“That's what you wanted.”
“Yes.”
The director laughed.
“You'll destroy the most significant biological event in human history.”
I answered, “She's my daughter.”
He shouted something I couldn't hear.
I pressed the black button.
Nothing happened.
Then the baby cried.
The symbol on her back flashed.
Every monitor in the room turned white.
A sound like a deep breath passed through the walls.
The archive began shutting down.
One monitor after another went dark.
The director screamed from outside.
“No!”
Dr. Vale watched the screens.
“It's working.”
The fourth line on the baby's mark faded.
Then the third.
Then the second.
Finally, only the small curved scar remained.
Ordinary.
Human.
The door burst open.
Three men rushed inside.
The director followed.
He was older than I expected.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
No weapon.
He stared at the baby.
Then at me.
“You have no idea what you've done.”
I held her closer.
“I know exactly what I did.”
He looked at Evelyn.
“You taught them to choose.”
Evelyn answered, “That was always the point.”
He looked at Dr. Vale.
“You helped them.”
“Yes.”
He turned toward Michael.
“Subject 14.”
Michael stepped forward.
“My name is Michael.”
The director's expression hardened.
“You are the continuation.”
“No.”
Michael looked at Jason.
“I am the brother.”
The director looked at Jason.
“And you?”
Jason answered, “I'm Jason.”
No number.
No subject.
No replacement.
Just his name.
The director's confidence finally disappeared.
He looked toward the monitors.
Every screen was blank.
“You've erased it.”
Dr. Vale shook her head.
“No.”
She pointed to the central screen.
“We disconnected it.”
The director stared.
“Then the research is gone.”
“The research remains.”
“Then what's gone?”
Dr. Vale looked at the baby.
“Your control.”
The director lunged toward the child.
I stepped back.
Michael intercepted him.
The two men struggled.
Jason grabbed Michael's arm.
“Don't.”
Michael stopped.
The director fell to his knees.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then the old stranger approached him.
“You used my brother.”
The director looked up.
“I used everyone.”
The stranger's face hardened.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
The stranger closed his eyes.
Then he dropped the old metal key onto the floor.
It struck the concrete once.
The sound echoed.
The director stared at it.
The key that had opened everything.
The key that had brought us there.
The key that had also been used to manipulate us.
The stranger stepped away.
“Not anymore.”
Above us, sirens began to rise in the distance.
Someone had called the authorities.
Dr. Vale looked at Evelyn.
“What now?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“That depends on what you want.”
I looked at my daughter.
For the first time since she had been born, there was no screen measuring her.
No number.
No sequence.
No label.
She yawned.
Then she closed her eyes.
Just a baby.
Nothing more.
I smiled through my tears.
“Now we go home.”
Click here to continue reading: PART 20: Her Name
My Twin Brother Had Waited Years for This Child, Yet the First Thing He Saw After Her Birth Made Him Step Away
Part 19 of 20
