Chapter 18 - The ReturnSarah ran to the door.
Her father grabbed her.
“Don't.”
“She's my mother.”
“And Richard is behind her.”
Sarah looked outside.
The woman was standing beneath the porch light.
She looked older than the photograph.
But the resemblance was undeniable.
Sarah opened the door.
The woman whispered:
“Sarah.”
Sarah stopped.
No one had ever said her name that way.
Not like recognition.
Like grief.
“You're my mother.”
The woman nodded.
“I am.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“Why did you leave me?”
Her mother looked at Richard.
“I was trying to save you.”
“You all say that.”
“I know.”
Sarah's voice hardened.
“You abandoned me.”
Her mother began crying.
“I had no choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
The woman looked at her.
“No.”
She pointed toward Sarah's father.
“He made the choice.”
Everyone turned.
Sarah's father stared at her.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You shouldn't have come back.”
Her mother laughed bitterly.
“I came back because our daughter deserves the truth.”
Richard stepped forward.
Sarah looked at him.
“You're not leaving.”
Richard smiled.
“I never planned to.”
Sarah's mother walked inside.
“Richard controls the remaining Foundation servers.”
Sarah frowned.
“I thought we destroyed them.”
“One server remains.”
Sarah's stomach dropped.
“Where?”
Her mother looked at her.
“Inside this house.”
Everyone fell silent.
Evelyn pointed toward the wall.
The house began humming.
A hidden panel slid open.
Inside was a small black device.
The same symbol.
Three vertical lines.
Sarah approached.
Her mother stopped her.
“Don't touch it.”
“Why?”
“Because it contains the original transfer protocol.”
Sarah understood.
“The first one.”
Her mother nodded.
“And if someone activates it?”
“They can overwrite an entire identity.”
Sarah looked at Richard.
“You want to replace someone.”
Richard smiled.
“Your grandmother was right.”
“Who?”
“Anyone.”
Sarah felt a chill.
Richard looked toward her father.
“He can become anyone he wants.”
Then her father raised a gun.
Sarah froze.
But he wasn't aiming at Richard.
He was aiming at himself.
“I should have died twenty-three years ago.”
Sarah stepped forward.
“Dad.”
He shook his head.
“No.”
His face was covered with tears.
“The original man died.”
He pointed at himself.
“And I am what they made afterward.”
Richard whispered:
“Finally.”
Sarah stared at Richard.
“What are you?”
May you like
Richard smiled.
“Your grandfather.”
