CHAPTER 7 THE VOICE INSIDE MY DAUGHTER
Every glass chamber opened at once.
The sound was deafening.
Hundreds of locks released simultaneously.
Metal doors hissed.
Cold vapor poured across the floor.
Bodies began falling from the chambers.
Some collapsed.
Some stood.
Some simply remained motionless, staring into the darkness.
I couldn't move.
Amelia was still in my arms.
Her eyes were open.
And the voice that had just come from her mouth was unmistakable.
My father's voice.
“Hello, Father.”
Gabriel Moretti smiled.
Not at me.
At the baby.
“You remember me.”
I tightened my grip on Amelia.
“She isn't yours.”
His smile faded.
“You still don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“No.”
He took another step.
“You've spent your entire life believing you were my daughter.”
“I am.”
“You were.”
The word struck me harder than anything else.
Luka raised his gun.
“Gabriel, stop.”
My father looked at him.
“You're still protecting her.”
“I never stopped.”
“You failed.”
Luka's jaw tightened.
“Maybe.”
Gabriel looked at Amelia.
“But I didn't.”
The first person emerged from the chamber behind him.
A woman.
She walked barefoot across the floor.
Then another.
Then another.
Hundreds of people began moving through the underground facility.
I stared at them.
Some were elderly.
Some were young.
Some were children.
But they all had one thing in common.
The number 17.
I looked at Elena.
“What are they?”
She whispered,
“Memories given bodies.”
I shook my head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
One of the men suddenly stopped in front of me.
He stared at my face.
Then whispered,
“Evelyn.”
Another person heard him.
Then another.
Soon, the entire chamber was filled with whispers.
“Evelyn.”
“Evelyn.”
“Evelyn.”
“Evelyn.”
My name echoed around me.
Except it wasn't my name.
Was it?
My head began throbbing.
A memory appeared.
I was five years old.
Standing in a white laboratory.
My father was kneeling in front of me.
He held a small glass vial.
“Do you know who you are?”
Little me shook my head.
He smiled.
“You are the beginning.”
The memory disappeared.
Another came.
I was seven.
My mother was crying.
She grabbed my shoulders.
“Never let him put you back in that room.”
Another.
I was twelve.
Luka was standing outside my bedroom.
He told me,
“If you ever see your father again, run.”
Another.
I was seventeen.
Daniel was beside me.
He whispered,
“You're not who you think you are.”
I gasped.
The memories were coming faster.
Too fast.
I screamed.
Luka grabbed me.
“Emma!”
I pushed him away.
“Stop!”
“Look at me.”
“I can't!”
“You're having a memory cascade.”
“What does that mean?”
“Your brain is accessing the network.”
I stared at him.
“What network?”
He looked at the hundreds of people surrounding us.
“The M-17 network.”
My father smiled.
“Exactly.”
I looked at him.
“You did this.”
“I created the foundation.”
“You turned people into machines.”
“No.”
His voice became strangely calm.
“I gave them a chance to survive.”
“They're prisoners.”
“They are memories.”
“They are people!”
Gabriel shook his head.
“People die.”
He gestured toward the chamber.
“Memory doesn't.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You're lying.”
Gabriel looked at her.
“You should be dead.”
“You tried.”
“You were defective.”
“I survived.”
“No.”
Elena smiled.
“You needed me.”
Gabriel's expression hardened.
“For what?”
“For her.”
She pointed at Amelia.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed.
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“I know exactly what she is.”
Elena turned toward me.
“Your father never intended to transfer himself into you.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
“He needed you to create the final host.”
My stomach dropped.
“The final host?”
“Elena,” Luka warned.
But she continued.
“Your father couldn't create a body capable of holding his consciousness.”
“So he used me.”
“Yes.”
“And Amelia?”
Elena looked at the baby.
“She is the first body naturally capable of carrying the complete consciousness.”
I stared at Amelia.
“No.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Now you understand.”
I backed away.
“You planned my pregnancy.”
“Yes.”
“You planned my marriage.”
His eyes shifted toward Daniel.
“Yes.”
“You planned everything.”
“Almost.”
I looked at Daniel.
He looked broken.
“Did you know?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not everything.”
“But you knew enough.”
“Yes.”
I felt tears burning my eyes.
“You watched me.”
“I protected you.”
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to keep you alive.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
My voice broke.
“Everyone lies and calls it protection.”
Daniel stepped toward me.
“I loved you.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
He stopped.
“What truth?”
“Why did you really leave me at the hospital?”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I didn't leave because of Victoria.”
“I know.”
“I left because Gabriel ordered me to.”
“Why?”
Daniel looked at my father.
“Because he told me something.”
“What?”
“He said if I stayed, they would take the baby.”
“And if you left?”
“They promised to let you live.”
I stared at him.
“You believed them.”
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
He lowered his head.
“Yes.”
A gunshot suddenly cracked through the chamber.
Daniel jerked backward.
Blood spread across his shirt.
I screamed.
“DANIEL!”
He fell to his knees.
Luka spun toward the upper balcony.
A sniper.
Gabriel didn't even react.
I dropped beside Daniel.
“Stay with me!”
He pressed his hand against the wound.
“Emma…”
“No.”
“Listen.”
“Don't talk.”
He grabbed my wrist.
“There is something you need to know.”
“What?”
His breathing became shallow.
“Victoria…”
“What about her?”
“She isn't working for Gabriel.”
I looked toward my father.
“Then who?”
Daniel coughed.
“She works for your mother.”
My heart stopped.
“My mother is dead.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at me.
“She isn't.”
The chamber went silent.
I stared at him.
“What?”
“She never died.”
My father suddenly shouted,
“Enough!”
For the first time, Gabriel looked afraid.
Luka noticed it too.
He turned toward him.
“You lied.”
Gabriel said nothing.
Luka raised his gun.
“Where is Sarah?”
My father's face hardened.
“You don't get to say her name.”
“Where is she?”
“She's gone.”
Elena laughed.
“No.”
Everyone turned toward her.
“She isn't gone.”
She pointed toward the far wall.
A hidden door slowly opened.
A woman stepped through.
Long dark hair.
Pale face.
White hospital gown.
She looked older than the woman in my childhood memories.
But I knew her.
My heart stopped.
“Mom?”
The woman looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Evelyn.”
I couldn't breathe.
My mother walked toward me.
Gabriel took a step backward.
She looked at him.
“You failed.”
My father whispered,
“Sarah.”
My mother turned toward Amelia.
Her expression changed instantly.
Fear.
Real fear.
She grabbed my shoulders.
“Emma, listen to me.”
“Mom…”
“You have to give me the baby.”
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“You're the one who understands everything.”
She looked toward Gabriel.
Then Luka.
Then Daniel lying on the floor.
Her voice dropped.
“They've already activated her.”
“Who?”
She stared at Amelia.
“The consciousness inside her.”
I looked down.
Amelia was smiling.
Then her eyes shifted toward my mother.
And she spoke again.
This time in my mother's voice.
“Hello, Sarah.”
My mother screamed.
“No!”
The entire facility shook.
Every monitor turned red.
A message appeared:
PRIMARY HOST CONSCIOUSNESS: ACTIVE
Then another:
SECONDARY CONSCIOUSNESS: ACTIVE
Then a final message:
CONFLICT DETECTED.
HOST MUST CHOOSE.
I stared at the screen.
“What does that mean?”
My mother grabbed my face.
“Emma, you have less than three minutes.”
“Until what?”
“Until the baby chooses which consciousness survives.”
I looked at Amelia.
My daughter stared back at me.
Then she smiled.
And whispered in my own voice:
“Mommy.”
My mother stepped backward.
“No…”
I looked at her.
“What?”
She was trembling.
“She chose you.”
The countdown appeared.
02:59
Then:
02:58
My mother looked directly into my eyes.
“If you want your daughter to live…”
She pointed toward the hundreds of awakened hosts.
“You must kill the original.”
I looked at Gabriel.
Then at Amelia.
Then at my mother.
“Who is the original?”
My mother's eyes filled with tears.
May you like
“You.”
And the countdown dropped to 02:00.
