CHAPTER 16 ROOM F-NINE
Emergency sprinklers filled the corridor with icy water.
Smoke rolled across the floor.
Ethan searched the rubble.
“Stephen!”
No answer came.
Marcus pulled him back as another section of ceiling collapsed.
“He is gone.”
“He was standing right there.”
“He knew another route.”
Charles looked toward the black archive key in Ethan’s hand.
“F-Nine has an independent access tunnel.”
Ethan turned toward him.
“You knew about the room.”
Charles did not deny it.
Ava leaned against A-01.
Both women looked pale.
Ava’s legs trembled beneath her.
A-01 tightened her grip around Ava’s waist.
“Tell us what is inside F-Nine.”
Charles stared at the locked service door at the end of the corridor.
“The first human memory vault.”
Marcus stepped in front of him.
“Not another machine.”
“No.”
Charles looked toward Ava.
“A person.”
Ethan felt the air leave his lungs.
“The third subject.”
Charles nodded.
Nathan’s voice suddenly came through the corridor speakers.
“Charles always did have a talent for incomplete truths.”
The lights flickered.
A countdown appeared above the exit.
TEN MINUTES UNTIL LEVEL F STERILIZATION.
Marcus looked at the numbers.
“What does sterilization mean?”
Charles answered immediately.
“Thermal purge.”
Ava stared at him.
“They are going to burn the facility.”
“And everyone inside it,” A-01 said.
Ethan checked the archive key.
“Can F-Nine lead us out?”
Charles hesitated.
“Yes.”
Marcus noticed.
“What are you not saying?”
“The tunnel only opens after the vault is activated.”
Ava looked at him.
“Then we activate it.”
Charles shook his head.
“You do not understand what the vault contains.”
Ethan grabbed him by the collar.
“We have nine minutes.”
Charles’s voice lowered.
“It contains every memory Nathan removed from Stephen.”
Ethan released him.
“All of them?”
“Not only Stephen’s.”
Charles looked toward Marcus.
“Margaret’s.”
Marcus went still.
Charles continued.
“Eleanor’s.”
Then he looked at Ethan.
“And yours.”
Ethan stared at him.
“My memories are already inside Ava.”
“Your altered memories.”
“The vault contains the originals.”
The countdown changed.
EIGHT MINUTES.
Ava looked at Ethan.
“We need the truth.”
Ethan turned toward the service door.
“Open it.”
Charles entered a code.
The door remained locked.
ACCESS DENIED.
A-01 stepped forward.
She placed her palm against the scanner.
The panel turned green.
PHOENIX HOST ACCEPTED.
The door opened.
A narrow tunnel extended into darkness.
Marcus raised his weapon.
“Why does it recognize her?”
Ava answered.
“Because the system thinks she is the primary host.”
A-01 looked at Ava.
“Or because I am.”
They entered the tunnel.
The door sealed behind them.
The deeper they moved, the colder the air became.
Children’s voices whispered through hidden speakers.
Numbers.
Names.
Commands.
Ava stopped.
“I remember this place.”
A-01 stopped beside her.
“So do I.”
Ethan looked between them.
“What happened here?”
Ava touched the wall.
“We were brought through this corridor.”
A-01 closed her eyes.
“One of us was crying.”
“The other one promised to protect her.”
Ava looked at her.
“Which one?”
A-01 opened her eyes.
“I do not know.”
The tunnel ended at a circular steel door.
F-NINE.
Charles inserted the black archive key.
The door unlocked.
Inside stood hundreds of glass cylinders.
Most were empty.
Several contained preserved human brains connected to neural cables.
Marcus lowered his gun.
“My God.”
Charles stepped inside.
“This was not part of my design.”
Nathan’s voice came from a speaker above them.
“No.”
“It was my improvement.”
At the center of the room stood a single medical bed.
A woman lay beneath a white sheet.
Her face was hidden by an oxygen mask.
Long dark hair spread across the pillow.
Ethan moved closer.
The woman’s face looked like Ava’s.
But older.
Ava stopped beside him.
A-01 took a step back.
Charles stared at the sleeping woman.
“That is impossible.”
The woman opened her eyes.
The countdown continued above the door.
FIVE MINUTES.
Ethan leaned over her.
“Who are you?”
The woman removed the oxygen mask.
Her voice was weak.
“My name is Ava Caldwell.”
Ava shook her head.
“No.”
The woman looked at her.
Then at A-01.
Her eyes filled with grief.
“You are the copies.”
A-01 stepped forward.
“You are lying.”
The woman slowly lifted her left hand.
A wedding ring rested on her finger.
Ethan recognized it.
It was the original ring he had given Ava.
The ring that disappeared after her accident.
The woman looked at Ethan.
“You visited me every night for three months.”
Ethan’s heart stopped.
“I have never seen you.”
“You did.”
She touched his face.
“They simply made you forget.”
The cylinders around the room activated.
Memories began flashing across the glass.
Ethan sitting beside this woman.
Holding her hand.
Begging doctors to save her.
Margaret watching from behind a window.
Ava and A-01 stared at the images.
May you like
Then the woman on the bed whispered the truth.
“Your wife never survived the accident.”
