CHAPTER 20: THE EMPTY MAN
The young man inside the capsule looked exactly like Adrian.
Younger.
Stronger.
Unscarred.
His eyes were open but empty.
Helena examined the controls.
“He was grown without an identity.”
Claire looked at Adrian.
“A body for August.”
“The final body,” Anna said.
Mercer crawled toward the capsule.
August spoke through him.
“Open it.”
At the same moment, August spoke through Adrian.
“Open it.”
Two voices.
One mind.
Claire Vale aimed her pistol at the capsule.
“If I destroy the body, he cannot complete the transfer.”
Helena blocked her.
“The body may contain another consciousness.”
“It is empty.”
“You don’t know that.”
Lily approached the glass.
The young man looked at her.
His lips moved.
“Help me.”
Everyone froze.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Who are you?”
The young man pressed his hand against the capsule.
“Aiden.”
A file appeared on the control screen.
GENETIC SOURCES:
CLARA VALE.
ADRIAN WHITMORE.
Claire felt the room spin.
“He is our child too.”
Anna read the growth records.
Aiden had been genetically accelerated to adulthood.
Lily’s biological brother.
Created from the same stolen samples.
Mercer began laughing.
“A perfect host born from both bloodlines.”
The countdown reached four minutes.
Helena opened the capsule.
Aiden collapsed into Adrian’s arms.
For one impossible moment, father and son with identical faces stared at each other.
Aiden whispered, “He comes when I sleep.”
Claire touched his cheek.
“Stay awake.”
The island shook again.
The evacuation tunnel began collapsing.
Marcus shouted from the doorway.
“We leave now!”
The children rushed toward the train.
Helena remained beside the memory servers.
Claire grabbed her arm.
“Come with us.”
“If the servers survive, August survives.”
“He is already inside Adrian and Mercer.”
“Fragments. The complete pattern is here.”
Helena activated a manual destruction sequence.
Claire Vale pulled her away.
“No more mothers choosing death instead of answering questions.”
Helena looked at both daughters.
Then she followed.
They reached the train as explosions tore through the city.
Aiden carried Lily.
Adrian stumbled beside Claire.
Mercer appeared on the platform behind them.
His body burned, but he continued walking.
August spoke through the station speakers.
“You cannot leave with my body.”
The train doors closed.
They accelerated into the tunnel.
Behind them, Blackridge exploded.
For several seconds, everyone believed they had escaped.
Then water burst through the tunnel wall.
The train lifted from the tracks.
Claire grabbed Lily.
The world turned upside down.
Metal screamed.
May you like
Glass shattered.
The ocean swallowed everything.
