Chapter 16 - The Twin ProtocolWe sat in silence.
"Forget?"
Jake looked at me.
"I don't understand."
I read the records.
The twins had been monitored from birth.
Our personalities.
Our memories.
Our reactions to fear.
Everything.
Then I found something worse.
Jake had been selected as the "anchor."
I was the "mirror."
The anchor remembered emotional events.
The mirror remembered visual information.
Together, we could reconstruct everything.
Dad looked sick.
"You knew."
He shook his head.
"Not all of it."
Mom whispered:
"They wanted to split the functions."
"Why?"
"Because memory can be dangerous."
Maya opened another file.
"Look."
It contained experiments.
Twin subjects.
None had survived.
Except us.
My hands shook.
"Why didn't they kill us?"
Mom looked at me.
"Because I stopped them."
She explained.
Years earlier, she had discovered the program.
She stole the archive.
Peter discovered her.
She made a deal.
She would disappear.
Dad would cooperate.
Jake would stay close to him.
I would be pushed away.
And Halcyon would stop looking.
I stared at Dad.
"You let me hate you."
"Yes."
"Every day."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the moment you knew the truth, the protection ended."
I wanted to forgive him.
I wanted to hate him.
I could do neither.
Then Jake found something.
A recording.
Peter appeared on screen.
Behind him stood Dr. Vale.
And another person.
I recognized her immediately.
The woman with the silver triangle.
She was alive.
My father's old partner.
Peter's wife.
Halcyon's true director.
My childhood nurse.
She looked into the camera.
"Hello, Evan."
My skin crawled.
"You were the only successful mirror."
She smiled.
"And we are finally ready to finish the experiment."
The screen changed.
A countdown appeared.
24:00:00.
Jake stared.
"What is that?"
Mom whispered:
"Twenty-four hours."
"For what?"
"Every file in the archive will be released."
I frowned.
"That's good, isn't it?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because the files contain the identities of the four hundred and twelve survivors."
"And?"
"People will hunt them."
Dad looked at the screen.
"We have twenty-four hours to destroy the archive."
Maya corrected him.
"No."
She pointed to the final file.
"We have twenty-four hours to copy it."
I looked at her.
"Why?"
She smiled.
"Because once Halcyon burns, the truth needs somewhere else to live."
Then the vault door locked.
From outside came Peter's voice.
"Excellent."
May you like
He paused.
"Now we can all talk."
