Chapter 13 - The Children Who Were Never BornThe room seemed to stop breathing.
Noah stared at the screen.
“No.”
His father stepped in front of him.
“Don’t listen.”
Hale smiled.
“You always hated the truth.”
Noah turned.
“Dad.”
His father looked at him.
“Is it true?”
Silence.
“Noah…”
“Am I your son?”
“Yes.”
“Was I born?”
His father closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Hale laughed.
“Not naturally.”
Mara stared at the files.
“This says genetic duplication.”
Daniel swallowed.
“Three embryos.”
Hale nodded.
“Three successful iterations.”
Noah looked at Evan.
“And Lily?”
“The third.”
Evan stepped closer to the monitor.
“Why us?”
Hale answered:
“To determine whether memory patterns could be transferred genetically.”
Mara shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“Not anymore.”
Noah touched his temple.
The implant.
The archive.
Everything.
His father whispered:
“You were created from my genetic material and your mother’s.”
Noah stared.
“I’m still your son.”
His mother grabbed him.
“Of course you are.”
Hale smiled.
“That’s the beautiful part.”
He revealed another file.
MEMORY INHERITANCE: SUCCESSFUL.
“Every generation improved.”
Evan clenched his fists.
“You made us.”
Hale corrected him.
“Your parents did.”
Noah’s father looked sick.
“I thought I was saving people.”
“You were creating them.”
Silence.
Hale continued.
“Your father discovered that the archive could be stored in human neural pathways.”
Noah looked at him.
“Why store it inside me?”
“Because nobody searches a child for a database.”
Mara stared.
“This is insane.”
Hale smiled.
“Science often sounds insane before it becomes profitable.”
The room began locking down.
Daniel checked the exits.
“Another trap.”
Hale’s image remained on the screen.
“Not a trap.”
He looked at Noah.
“A choice.”
A door opened.
Beyond it was a laboratory.
At the center was a second chair.
Beside it was Lily’s cradle.
Hale spoke.
“Noah remembers.”
“Evan remembers.”
“Lily is biologically primed to remember.”
He smiled.
“Put all three into the system, and the archive becomes permanent.”
Noah’s father stepped forward.
“You’ll kill them.”
“Possibly.”
His mother shouted:
“No!”
Hale’s voice softened.
“Or you can destroy the archive.”
The system displayed a command.
DELETE MEMORY NETWORK?
Beneath it:
YES
NO
Noah looked at his father.
“What happens if we delete it?”
“All evidence disappears.”
“Everyone forgets?”
“Everyone connected to it.”
His mother whispered:
“Noah…”
He understood.
If they destroyed the archive, millions of people might lose the memories necessary to expose the program.
But if they kept it, Lily could become the next experiment.
Hale smiled.
“You have ten seconds.”
Noah looked down at his baby sister.
Then at Evan.
Then at the screen.
He reached toward the console.
And pressed—
Nothing.
The system rejected him.
ACCESS DENIED.
Hale laughed.
“You thought you were the key?”
Noah stared.
Then the system displayed a new message.
PRIMARY AUTHORIZATION: SUBJECT ZERO
Noah looked at his father.
“Who is Subject Zero?”
His father went completely still.
Evan whispered:
“Dad?”
The lights flickered.
A hidden speaker activated.
May you like
An old woman’s voice said:
“Me.”
