Chapter 11 - Twenty-Six Years AgoThe darkness was absolute.
Sarah heard Hank curse.
Frank slammed against the basement door.
“It's reinforced.”
Cutter remained strangely calm.
Sarah turned toward him.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“You knew everything.”
“Not everything.”
“Then start talking.”
Cutter sighed.
“Twenty-six years ago, the Directorate ran a facility outside Boston.”
Sarah listened.
“It was called Saint Twelve.”
Frank interrupted.
“Don't.”
Cutter ignored him.
“There were children there.”
Sarah felt cold.
“How many?”
“Eleven.”
“Why?”
“They were candidates.”
“For what?”
“A human archive.”
Sarah looked at Frank.
“You were one.”
Frank nodded.
“Michael too.”
“What about me?”
Cutter hesitated.
“You were the only successful female subject.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
Elizabeth closed her eyes.
Frank whispered:
“Sarah wasn't born.”
“She was transferred.”
Cutter corrected him.
“She was manufactured.”
Sarah couldn't move.
“What does that mean?”
“Genetic material came from multiple donors.”
Sarah looked at Elizabeth.
“And you?”
“Your mother was one of the donors.”
Sarah's voice cracked.
“My mother…”
“Yes.”
“She gave them my DNA?”
Elizabeth shook her head.
“They took it.”
Sarah turned to Frank.
“And you?”
“I donated mine willingly.”
Sarah stared.
“Why?”
“To create someone who could carry information without electronic storage.”
Sarah touched her head.
The memories.
The numbers.
The names.
The impossible recall.
Cutter continued.
“Michael was the first successful male subject.”
“Then why did he disappear?”
“Because he learned the truth.”
“What truth?”
“That Saint Twelve was never created to protect information.”
Sarah looked at him.
“It was created to control people.”
Cutter nodded.
“The Directorate planned to embed information into children and distribute them through influential families.”
Sarah whispered:
“Children as databases.”
“Yes.”
“The children wouldn't even know.”
“No.”
Sarah felt nauseous.
“And Michael?”
“He escaped.”
“Then why did he come back?”
Cutter smiled faintly.
“Because he wasn't trying to escape.”
“What?”
“He wanted to destroy the program from inside.”
Sarah's mind raced.
“That's why the second archive exists.”
“Yes.”
Cutter pointed to the notebook.
“Michael created it.”
Sarah opened the notebook again.
There was a final page.
One sentence.
WHEN SARAH REMEMBERS, MICHAEL WILL RETURN.
She looked up.
“Where is he?”
A voice answered from the doorway.
“I'm here.”
Everyone froze.
The basement door stood open.
Michael Mitchell stepped inside.
Sarah stared.
He looked almost exactly like Frank.
But younger.
Colder.
His eyes never left her.
“Hello, Sarah.”
Sarah's voice trembled.
“Are you my brother?”
Michael smiled.
“Yes.”
“Are you Unit Two?”
“Yes.”
“Then who's Unit Three?”
Michael glanced at Frank.
“He is.”
Frank's face went white.
“No.”
Michael continued.
“Unit One was Frank.”
“Unit Two was me.”
“Unit Three was created from both of us.”
Sarah stared at Frank.
“That's why you don't know who you are.”
Frank looked broken.
Michael turned to Sarah.
“And you…”
He stepped closer.
“You are Unit Four.”
Silence.
Sarah's hands went numb.
“What?”
“You were created from all three genetic templates.”
Frank whispered:
“Michael…”
Michael shook his head.
“Tell her.”
Frank said nothing.
Michael looked directly at Sarah.
“You are the final archive.”
Sarah's pulse hammered.
“What does that mean?”
“It means every memory we lost…”
He touched her forehead.
“was transferred to you.”
Sarah suddenly remembered.
Not fragments.
Everything.
The laboratory.
The red door.
Her mother.
The nurses.
Michael.
Frank.
Vale.
And one final memory.
Robert Vale holding a newborn baby.
Sarah.
And beside him, a document.
Her original name.
She whispered it.
“Project Saint.”
Michael smiled.
“Now you remember.”
Then another voice came from behind them.
Robert Vale.
May you like
“You remembered too early.”
THE SECOND ARCHIVE
