Chapter 7 - The tunnel became colder.Daniel followed the sound.
A faint child's voice continued calling his name.
"Daniel..."
Again.
"Daniel..."
He reached a steel door.
There was a small window.
Inside was a room containing a chair.
A medical chair.
Straps.
Wires.
A monitor.
Daniel felt sick.
"This is where you erased me."
Arthur nodded.
"This is where they changed you."
Daniel looked at him.
"Who?"
Arthur didn't answer.
Evelyn stepped forward.
"The Architects."
She opened the door.
Inside, the walls were covered with photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Daniel.
Thomas.
Evelyn.
Arthur.
Other agents.
Dates.
Operations.
Medical notes.
At the center of the wall was a single photograph.
Daniel at age eleven.
Sitting in the chair.
His eyes were closed.
Standing behind him was a doctor.
Daniel recognized the doctor.
He had seen him in the mansion.
In old family photographs.
His father.
Daniel stumbled backward.
"My father did this?"
Arthur spoke quietly.
"Your father designed the memory system."
Daniel stared.
"Why?"
"Because The Architects wanted obedient agents."
Daniel looked at Evelyn.
"How did you survive?"
She touched the scar on her cheek.
"They tried to erase me too."
Thomas moved toward another wall.
"There."
A monitor displayed a file.
PROJECT REBIRTH.
Daniel walked over.
The file opened automatically.
It contained his name.
SUBJECT 17.
Then a sentence appeared.
Memory replacement successful.
Daniel's stomach dropped.
"What is that?"
Evelyn answered.
"They didn't erase your memories."
"They replaced them."
Daniel looked at her.
"With what?"
"An artificial childhood."
Everything became silent.
Daniel remembered birthdays.
School.
His mother.
His father dying.
Moving to Chicago.
Working as a mechanic.
Meeting Thomas.
Joining The Circle.
All of it.
Every memory.
Every moment.
Could have been fabricated.
Daniel sat down.
"Then who am I?"
Arthur walked toward him.
"That's what we've been trying to find out."
Daniel looked up.
Arthur continued.
"The Daniel Cross you remember may never have existed."
Daniel stared at his own hands.
"What was my real name?"
Arthur hesitated.
Evelyn answered.
"Gabriel."
Daniel's breathing stopped.
"Gabriel what?"
She shook her head.
"We don't know."
Thomas suddenly shouted.
"Someone's here!"
They all turned.
A red light appeared at the end of the corridor.
Then another.
Then another.
Motion sensors.
Arthur looked at the monitor.
"We triggered the defense system."
Evelyn stared.
"That facility has autonomous security."
Arthur nodded.
"It's been offline for twenty years."
Daniel looked at him.
"Then why is it turning on now?"
The lights went out.
Metal doors slammed shut.
A deep mechanical voice filled the corridor.
"SUBJECT 17 IDENTIFIED."
Daniel froze.
The voice continued.
"MEMORY RESTORATION INITIATED."
Thomas looked at Daniel.
"Run."
But Daniel couldn't move.
Every monitor suddenly displayed the same image.
A little boy.
Daniel.
Standing in a room.
And beside him was a young girl.
Evelyn.
They were holding hands.
Daniel stared.
"No..."
Evelyn's face went white.
"I remember this."
The screen changed.
A man entered the room.
Arthur.
But younger.
He knelt in front of the children.
And said:
"One day, you will have to save each other."
Daniel turned toward Arthur.
"You knew us before."
Arthur's eyes filled with something that looked like regret.
"Yes."
Daniel whispered:
"How long?"
Arthur answered:
"Since you were five."
The corridor shook.
A blast echoed from above.
Then the mechanical voice spoke again.
"SECOND SUBJECT IDENTIFIED."
Evelyn looked at the screen.
Her name appeared.
SUBJECT 18.
Then the system displayed a final message.
BOTH SUBJECTS REQUIRED FOR FINAL ACTIVATION.
Evelyn stared at Daniel.
"What does that mean?"
May you like
The answer appeared in red.
THEY WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO ESCAPE TOGETHER.
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