Chapter 11: The Original Daughter
The glass pod shattered.
Fragments exploded across the chamber.
Ethan pulled Clara behind him.
Daniel rushed into the hall.
“Get down!”
The newborn inside the pod did not cry.
She simply floated in the shallow pool of liquid that remained at the bottom.
Her eyes were open.
Watching.
Waiting.
Lily stared at her.
Then she whispered:
“That’s me.”
Ethan looked at the little girl.
“What do you mean?”
Lily stepped closer.
“She has my face.”
Clara shook her head.
“No.”
The baby slowly turned her head.
Her eyes locked onto Lily.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then the baby smiled.
Lily smiled back.
Ethan's skin crawled.
“That isn't normal.”
Helena didn't seem concerned.
“Of course it isn't.”
She stepped toward the chamber.
“This child is the original.”
“The original what?”
“The first successful genetic transfer.”
Ethan stared at the baby.
“How old is she?”
Helena answered:
“Eighteen months.”
Clara froze.
“Eighteen months?”
Helena nodded.
“She was born on the same night as Noah and Lily.”
Ethan's eyes widened.
“There were three babies.”
“Yes.”
The room went silent.
Clara shook her head.
“I remember two.”
“Because the third was removed before you woke up.”
Ethan looked at the baby.
“Why?”
Helena smiled.
“Because she was perfect.”
Daniel raised his gun.
“You've been keeping her in that machine for eighteen months.”
Helena looked at him.
“She wasn't suffering.”
“She was imprisoned.”
“She was preserved.”
Ethan's voice hardened.
“She's a child.”
Helena's expression remained cold.
“She is the key to everything.”
Lily suddenly screamed.
The baby inside the chamber began screaming too.
Their cries matched perfectly.
The lights flickered.
Every monitor in the room activated.
Numbers appeared.
SUBJECT A: 100%
SUBJECT B: 51%
SUBJECT C: 49%
Ethan stared.
“What does that mean?”
Helena smiled.
“Your children.”
Clara's eyes moved across the screen.
“Which one is which?”
Helena pointed.
“Lily is A.”
Ethan stared.
“No.”
“She carries the complete genetic memory.”
Then Helena pointed toward Noah.
“He carries the paternal half.”
Finally, she pointed toward Clara's stomach.
“And your unborn daughter carries the maternal half.”
Ethan looked at the three children.
“What happens if you combine them?”
Helena's smile disappeared.
“You activate the original.”
Ethan frowned.
“The baby?”
“No.”
She looked at the machine.
“The system.”
A low vibration passed through the chamber.
The machine began powering up.
Ethan stepped backward.
“What system?”
Helena looked toward the ceiling.
“The one that can rewrite a person's genetic memory.”
Clara stared at her.
“You mean you can change people?”
“Yes.”
“Make them forget?”
“Yes.”
“Make them remember things that never happened?”
Helena nodded.
“Memories are only signals.”
Ethan suddenly understood.
“My mother didn't just erase my memories.”
“No.”
“She replaced them.”
Helena smiled.
“Exactly.”
Ethan's face went pale.
Every memory of his childhood.
Every memory of his father.
Every memory of Clara.
Every memory of the last eighteen months.
Any of it could be false.
He looked at Clara.
“What if…”
She grabbed his hand.
“Don't.”
“What if everything I remember about us…”
“Ethan.”
“What if it isn't real?”
Clara's eyes filled with tears.
“I know what I feel.”
He looked at her.
“That can't be rewritten.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Lily screamed again.
“Mommy!”
Clara turned.
Lily was pointing toward the machine.
The newborn had lifted one tiny hand.
The machine responded.
A wave of blue light spread across the chamber.
Ethan stumbled backward.
A memory hit him.
A hospital.
Clara holding three babies.
Margaret screaming.
Helena standing beside her.
A man with a gun.
Then Ethan heard his own voice.
“Take me instead.”
The memory vanished.
He gasped.
Clara stared at him.
“What did you see?”
“Three babies.”
“I saw it too.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You remember?”
Clara nodded.
“Everything.”
Another memory hit.
Clara screaming.
Margaret taking Lily.
Ethan fighting.
Michael carrying Noah.
And Helena carrying the third baby.
The original.
Then another image.
Ethan's biological father.
Alive.
Standing beside Helena.
He looked at Ethan.
And said:
“Don't trust the woman who says she saved you.”
Ethan opened his eyes.
His father was standing across the room.
He looked terrified.
“Dad.”
The older man stepped forward.
“You're remembering.”
“Yes.”
“Then listen to me.”
Ethan stared at him.
“What did you do to my biological father?”
His father looked away.
“I didn't kill him.”
“But you let them keep him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I was trying to save you.”
Ethan's voice broke.
“You always say that.”
His father looked at him.
“I made the wrong choice.”
“What choice?”
“To let Margaret believe you were hers.”
Ethan froze.
“She thought you were her son.”
“What?”
“She couldn't accept that your biological father had a child with someone outside the Cross family.”
“So she raised me.”
“Yes.”
“And my memories?”
“Changed.”
Ethan looked at Helena.
“Why?”
Helena answered:
“Because we needed to know whether the genetic sequence could survive outside controlled conditions.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You used me as an experiment.”
“Yes.”
Clara's face hardened.
“And our children?”
Helena nodded.
“The next generation.”
Daniel stepped forward.
“Enough.”
He raised his gun.
“Everyone move away from the machine.”
Helena smiled.
“You still don't understand.”
“What?”
“The machine isn't responding to me.”
Daniel frowned.
“It is responding to Ethan.”
Everyone turned.
Ethan looked down.
A faint blue light was glowing beneath his skin.
“What is happening?”
Helena smiled.
“You are the final key.”
Ethan's father shouted:
“Run!”
Helena pressed a button.
Metal restraints shot from the floor.
One wrapped around Ethan's ankle.
Another around his wrist.
He fell.
“Ethan!”
Clara rushed toward him.
Another restraint caught her.
She screamed.
Daniel fired at the control panel.
Sparks exploded.
But the machine continued.
Lily ran toward Ethan.
“Daddy!”
Ethan reached for her.
“Stay back!”
Too late.
A beam of light connected Lily to the machine.
She screamed.
“No!”
Clara struggled against the restraints.
“Let her go!”
Helena watched calmly.
“It's working.”
Noah began crying.
The newborn inside the broken chamber opened her mouth.
But instead of crying…
she spoke.
One word.
“Daddy.”
Ethan froze.
The baby's voice was impossible.
Too clear.
Too familiar.
He stared at her.
Then the entire chamber went silent.
The baby looked directly at him.
And Ethan suddenly remembered something that made his blood turn to ice.
The night his biological father disappeared.
The man had placed a newborn baby into Ethan's arms.
And whispered:
“Protect your sister.”
Ethan had been ten years old.
But he remembered.
The baby had the same eyes as the one in the chamber.
His sister.
Not his daughter.
His sister.
Ethan looked at Helena.
“Who is she?”
Helena's expression finally cracked.
The woman who had controlled everyone for decades took one step backward.
For the first time…
she looked afraid.
The baby looked at Ethan.
Then she spoke again.
“Brother.”
Ethan's heart stopped.
Helena whispered:
“No.”
The machine suddenly began overheating.
Alarms erupted.
The screen changed.
UNAUTHORIZED MEMORY RESTORATION
SUBJECT ETHAN: 87%
SYSTEM CONTROL LOST
Daniel looked at the numbers.
“What happens at one hundred?”
Helena screamed:
“Everyone in this building gets their memories back!”
The lights exploded.
And from every corridor beneath the estate came hundreds of voices.
People waking.
People screaming.
People remembering.
Then a final message appeared on the machine.
ORIGINAL SUBJECT HAS AWAKENED.
Ethan looked at the baby.
Her eyes were glowing.
May you like
And she was no longer crying.
She was smiling.
