CHAPTER 13: THE LAST FIVE MINUTES
CHAPTER 13: THE LAST FIVE MINUTES
The countdown continued.
04:59
The numbers on the screen changed every second.
Each flash felt like a heartbeat.
Each second felt like a door slowly closing.
Nobody looked away from Evelyn Vale.
The woman who had just revealed herself as the true architect behind Helix.
Not Thomas.
Not Sophia.
Not Richard.
Not even Daniel.
All of them had only been pieces on her board.
Dr. Adrian Cole stared at her.
“You created all of this?”
Evelyn looked at him calmly.
“No.”
A pause.
“I created the possibility.”
She walked toward the center of the laboratory.
“People like Thomas turned it into power.”
She looked at Sophia.
“People like Sophia turned it into obsession.”
Then Daniel.
“People like Daniel turned it into science without morality.”
Finally, Adrian.
“And people like you…”
She smiled faintly.
“Turned it into humanity.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“I expect you to remember.”
The words struck him.
Again.
Memory.
That was the weapon everyone wanted.
The thing hidden inside his own mind.
Adrian closed his eyes.
And another fragment appeared.
A room.
Twenty years ago.
A younger version of himself.
Not as a child.
As a young scientist.
Standing beside a glass chamber.
Inside was a small embryo.
A voice said:
“Subject Eden requires a biological foundation.”
Another voice answered:
“Adrian’s genetic pattern is compatible.”
Adrian opened his eyes.
His breathing became uneven.
“No…”
Elena looked at him.
“What did you see?”
He looked at her.
“I was there.”
Richard lowered his head.
“I tried to stop it.”
Adrian turned.
“You knew?”
Richard looked devastated.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“But I was too late.”
Evelyn smiled.
“Your father always wanted to save you.”
She looked at Richard.
“He just never understood that saving someone sometimes requires sacrificing everything else.”
Adrian clenched his fists.
“You used me.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
She looked toward Elena.
“You used yourself.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
Evelyn pointed toward the DNA records.
“You volunteered.”
Adrian stared.
“I would never.”
“You did.”
A pause.
“Because you believed humanity needed a future.”
Adrian looked confused.
“No.”
Evelyn stepped closer.
“You created the original Eden theory.”
Silence.
The words were impossible.
“You believed evolution could be guided.”
She continued.
“You believed humans could overcome their own limitations.”
Adrian looked at his hands.
The memories returned.
Not as fragments.
As a flood.
Late nights in the laboratory.
Research papers.
Genetic models.
A dream.
A dream that slowly became a nightmare.
“I wanted to cure disease…”
His voice was quiet.
Evelyn nodded.
“Yes.”
A pause.
“And then Helix took your dream.”
She looked at Sophia.
“And removed the compassion.”
Sophia’s expression remained cold.
“Compassion slows progress.”
Adrian looked at her.
“No.”
His voice became firm.
“Compassion decides whether progress is worth having.”
For the first time, Sophia looked uncertain.
The countdown continued.
03:30
Matthew’s voice suddenly came through the speaker.
“Adrian.”
Everyone turned.
His face appeared.
“Listen carefully.”
Adrian approached.
“What?”
Matthew looked at Elena.
“The child is not the key to Eden.”
Everyone froze.
Evelyn turned sharply.
“What did you say?”
Matthew continued:
“The files I found…”
His breathing became weak.
“They were incomplete.”
Daniel frowned.
“What files?”
Matthew looked at him.
“Helix believed the child carried the next evolution.”
A pause.
“But they missed something.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What?”
Matthew looked directly at him.
“The child carries something else.”
Silence.
“Your original genetic pattern.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
Matthew nodded.
“Not mine.”
A pause.
“Yours.”
Everyone stared at Elena.
The realization moved through the room.
The child was not valuable because of Phoenix.
Not because of Matthew.
The child was valuable because Adrian’s original genetic blueprint existed inside the bloodline.
Evelyn looked angry.
“That changes nothing.”
Matthew disagreed.
“It changes everything.”
The screen beside him displayed a hidden file.
A file nobody had seen.
EDEN TERMINATION PROTOCOL.
Adrian looked shocked.
“What is that?”
Matthew answered:
“A failsafe.”
A pause.
“Created by Adrian.”
Everyone turned.
Adrian.
He did not remember.
Matthew continued:
“You knew Helix would eventually misuse the technology.”
A pause.
“So you created a way to stop it.”
Evelyn’s expression changed.
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You knew.”
Evelyn finally lost her calm.
“Impossible.”
Daniel quickly moved to the computer.
“She’s right.”
He looked at the data.
“The protocol requires Adrian’s neural signature.”
Adrian frowned.
“Meaning?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Only you can activate it.”
The countdown continued.
02:15
Evelyn looked toward Elena.
“Take her.”
The Helix guards moved.
But before they reached Elena…
Subject Zero stepped forward.
“No.”
The guards stopped.
Evelyn looked at him.
“You were created to obey.”
Subject Zero stared.
“I was created to understand.”
A pause.
“And now I understand.”
He looked at Adrian.
“I spent twenty years believing I was the perfect version.”
A pause.
“But I was wrong.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Why are you helping us?”
Subject Zero answered:
“Because you were the first person who looked at me like I was alive.”
The guards raised their weapons.
Subject Zero moved.
Fast.
Almost impossibly fast.
But he did not attack.
He blocked.
Protected.
For the first time, his strength was used not for control.
But for choice.
The laboratory erupted into chaos.
Security alarms screamed.
Machines exploded.
Scientists ran.
Adrian grabbed Elena’s hand.
“We need to get out.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“What?”
She pointed toward the countdown.
“If we leave, they will just start again.”
Adrian understood.
She was right.
Helix was not a room.
Not a building.
Not even a group of people.
It was an idea.
And ideas survived.
He looked at the terminal.
The Eden protocol.
The thing he created.
The thing only he could stop.
“I have to activate it.”
Elena grabbed his arm.
“Adrian…”
He looked at her.
“I don’t know what it will do.”
A pause.
“But I know what happens if I don’t.”
She looked at him.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then she nodded.
“Come back.”
Adrian gave a small smile.
“I will.”
He walked toward the terminal.
The countdown reached:
01:00
Evelyn fought her way through the chaos.
“No!”
She reached for Adrian.
But Subject Zero stopped her.
For the first time, the creation stood against the creator.
“You made me.”
Subject Zero looked at her.
“But you don’t own me.”
The countdown continued.
00:30
Adrian placed his hand on the scanner.
The system activated.
A message appeared.
IDENTITY CONFIRMED.
SUBJECT ZERO: ORIGINAL.
Adrian froze.
The screen changed.
ADRIAN COLE: EDEN SOURCE.
Then the final question appeared.
DO YOU CHOOSE HUMANITY OR EVOLUTION?
Everyone waited.
Sophia.
Evelyn.
Richard.
Matthew.
Elena.
Subject Zero.
The entire future depended on one decision.
Adrian looked at Elena.
At the child who had never asked to become a symbol.
Then he looked at Subject Zero.
A person created without a choice.
Then he looked at the scientists who believed humanity was something to replace.
And finally…
he pressed the button.
HUMANITY.
The countdown stopped.
00:00
The entire facility went dark.
For three seconds…
nothing happened.
Then every screen displayed one final message.
Not from Helix.
Not from Eden.
From Adrian.
A message recorded twenty years earlier.
His younger voice filled the laboratory:
“If you are watching this…”
A pause.
“Then I failed to protect the world from my own creation.”
Everyone listened.
“But remember this.”
The voice became stronger.
“Humanity was never defined by perfection.”
A pause.
“It was defined by choice.”
The screen went black.
And beneath the hospital…
Project Eden began to collapse.
But before anyone could escape…
one final alarm appeared.
EDEN PROTOCOL COMPLETE.
SECONDARY SUBJECT ACTIVATED.
Everyone froze.
Because the system had recognized another person.
Another genetic match.
Another creation.
The screen revealed a name.
SUBJECT TWO: UNKNOWN.
Adrian stared.
Because somewhere in the world…
another version of the Phoenix experiment had survived.
May you like
And it was awake.
TO BE CONTINUED...
