CHAPTER 10: TEN MINUTES TO CHOOSE
09:58
The countdown continued.
Ethan stared at the screen.
His mind couldn't process what he had just seen.
Forty-two girls.
Forty-two children carrying Lily's face.
Forty-two lives hidden inside the Halcyon system.
And Richard wanted him to choose.
“There's no way,” Ethan whispered.
His mother stepped toward the control panel.
“Don't play his game.”
“He has Claire.”
“He has Lily too.”
“No.”
Ethan shook his head.
“He has my daughters.”
Emma grabbed his arm.
“Ethan, listen to me.”
He turned.
“What?”
“This isn't really about choosing between them.”
“Then what is it about?”
“The archive.”
His mother nodded.
“Richard wants the access key.”
Ethan looked at the two girls.
“Why can't he get it himself?”
“Because the archive recognizes the genetic markers.”
Ethan stared.
“Lily and Claire.”
“Exactly.”
Daniel stepped toward the computer.
“Then we can use the system against him.”
“How?”
“Reverse the access protocol.”
His mother immediately shook her head.
“Too dangerous.”
Daniel looked at her.
“So is letting Richard control everything.”
He began typing.
The screen changed.
A warning appeared.
GENETIC AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED.
Daniel looked at Lily.
“We need her.”
Ethan stepped in front of his daughter.
“No.”
“Ethan…”
“You're not putting her into that machine.”
“We don't have a choice.”
“We always have a choice.”
The countdown continued.
07:42
A speaker crackled.
Richard's voice returned.
“Seven minutes.”
Ethan looked at the ceiling.
“You want me to choose?”
“Yes.”
“Then choose yourself.”
Richard laughed.
“You still think this is a negotiation.”
Ethan stared at the camera.
“What do you want?”
“The archive.”
“Then take it.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because you don't have the final key.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
She lowered her head.
“You do.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
Richard continued.
“Your mother gave it to you ten years ago.”
Ethan's eyes widened.
“I don't have anything.”
“You do.”
Richard paused.
“You've been carrying it since the day she died.”
Ethan instinctively touched his neck.
His wedding necklace.
Emma had given it to him after their wedding.
A small silver pendant.
He had never taken it off.
His mother stared at it.
“Ethan…”
He removed the necklace.
The pendant opened.
Inside was a tiny black chip.
His face went pale.
“You put this here?”
His mother nodded.
“I had no other way to protect it.”
“What is it?”
“The master key.”
Daniel stared at it.
“With that, Richard can access the archive.”
Ethan closed his hand around it.
“Then we destroy it.”
His mother shook her head.
“Too late.”
“What?”
The laboratory lights flickered.
The countdown disappeared.
Then the screen changed.
AUTHENTICATION ACCEPTED.
Ethan stared.
“How?”
His mother looked at Lily.
“Someone already scanned her.”
Ethan turned.
Lily was standing beside the machine.
She had a small cut on her finger.
Blood was dripping onto the scanner.
“Lily!”
Ethan rushed toward her.
But the doors locked.
A mechanical voice announced:
“SUBJECT ONE AUTHENTICATED.”
Ethan froze.
“Subject One?”
His mother whispered:
“Lily was the first successful subject.”
Emma's face went white.
“What?”
“Richard didn't create the program for Lily.”
Her mother looked at Ethan.
“He created it because of her.”
Ethan shook his head.
“She's just a child.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because her genetic marker appeared naturally.”
Daniel suddenly looked at the screen.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“There are two markers.”
He pointed.
“Lily has one.”
“Claire has the other.”
Ethan stared.
His mother nodded.
“They were never supposed to meet.”
“But they did.”
“Yes.”
“Then what happens?”
His mother looked terrified.
“The archive opens.”
The screen flashed.
A new message appeared.
TWO SUBJECTS DETECTED.
COMBINED ACCESS AUTHORIZED.
The entire laboratory began vibrating.
Cabinets opened.
Machines activated.
Lights flashed.
Then hundreds of files appeared on the monitors.
Names.
Dates.
Hospital records.
Adoption documents.
Death certificates.
Ethan stared.
“This is everything.”
Emma walked toward the nearest screen.
Her face changed.
“I know that name.”
“What?”
She pointed.
“That's the hospital where Claire was born.”
Daniel looked at another file.
“And that's the doctor who delivered Lily.”
Ethan stared at the documents.
Then something caught his eye.
A birth certificate.
He opened it.
His hands began shaking.
The mother's name was listed.
Vanessa Reed.
The father's name was listed.
Ethan's heart stopped.
Richard Carter.
He looked at Vanessa.
She went completely still.
“No.”
Ethan stared at her.
“You and my father?”
Vanessa shook her head.
“That isn't possible.”
Emma looked at the document.
“It says Richard is Lily's biological father.”
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
“He isn't.”
“Then why is his name there?”
“I don't know.”
Ethan looked at his mother.
She whispered:
“Because the system was designed to make him the legal father.”
“But not the biological one.”
His mother shook her head.
“No.”
Ethan stared at the screen.
“Then who is Lily's father?”
Nobody answered.
A new file opened automatically.
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: UNKNOWN
Then another line appeared.
DNA MATCH PENDING.
Ethan frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel's expression changed.
“It means the system is comparing DNA.”
“With whom?”
Daniel stared at Ethan.
“With everyone in the archive.”
The screen suddenly flashed red.
MATCH FOUND.
Everyone froze.
A name appeared.
Ethan stared at it.
His face went completely pale.
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: ETHAN CARTER
Silence.
Ethan looked at Lily.
His daughter.
His little girl.
The child he had raised.
The child he had loved.
The child everyone had told him wasn't his.
He whispered:
“She's mine.”
Emma began crying.
Vanessa looked down.
Ethan turned toward her.
“You lied.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“I didn't know.”
“You told me she wasn't my daughter.”
“I believed the records.”
Ethan looked at Emma.
“You knew?”
Emma shook her head.
“I didn't know.”
Ethan's eyes filled with tears.
He turned toward Lily.
She was staring at him.
“Daddy?”
Ethan rushed to her.
He pulled her into his arms.
“You're my daughter.”
She hugged him tightly.
“I told you.”
“What?”
“You're still my daddy.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, he smiled.
Then the screen flashed again.
SECOND MATCH FOUND.
Ethan's smile vanished.
Another name appeared.
BIOLOGICAL FATHER: ETHAN CARTER
He stared.
The second child.
Claire.
Ethan turned toward her.
Claire was standing beside Emma.
“Me too?”
Ethan couldn't speak.
His mother whispered:
“Both girls are yours.”
Ethan looked at Emma.
“Then why did you tell me Claire wasn't?”
Emma began crying.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
She looked at the screen.
A third file opened.
MATERNAL LINE: UNKNOWN
Ethan frowned.
“What?”
Emma stepped closer.
The system displayed another warning.
MOTHER IDENTITY CLASSIFIED.
Ethan stared at Vanessa.
Then his mother.
Then Emma.
“Whose DNA is classified?”
Nobody answered.
Suddenly, the laboratory doors exploded inward.
Armed men flooded the room.
Daniel drew his weapon.
“DOWN!”
Bullets struck the machines.
Glass shattered.
Emma grabbed Claire.
Maria pulled Lily behind a table.
Ethan covered them.
Then a familiar voice shouted from the doorway.
“Stop!”
Everything went silent.
Richard entered.
But he wasn't holding a weapon.
He looked terrified.
“Don't destroy the system.”
Ethan stared at him.
“Why?”
Richard looked at the screen.
Then at Lily.
Then Claire.
His face collapsed.
“Because the archive just revealed something I spent twenty years trying to hide.”
“What?”
Richard looked at Ethan.
“Your daughters aren't the experiment.”
He pointed toward the screen.
“They're the evidence.”
Ethan stepped forward.
“Evidence of what?”
Richard's voice dropped.
“Your mother wasn't the founder of Halcyon.”
Ethan frowned.
“My father was.”
“No.”
Richard shook his head.
“The founder was someone else.”
“Who?”
Richard looked at Emma.
Then Vanessa.
Then finally Ethan.
“Your mother.”
Ethan froze.
“My mother created Halcyon?”
Richard nodded.
“And I spent twenty years trying to destroy the evidence.”
A final file opened on the screen.
PROJECT EVE: ORIGINAL CREATOR
Ethan looked at the name.
His blood turned cold.
May you like
Because the name wasn't his mother's.
It was Emma's.
