Chapter 7: The Truth Buried Beneath My Birth
The word stayed on the screen long after the video ended.
*CREATED.*
Not born.
Not adopted.
Created.
I stared at it until the letters stopped looking like language.
My entire life had been built around a story.
A mother.
A father.
A childhood.
A name.
And now I was standing inside a hidden chamber beneath the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by people who had known the truth before I ever had.
I looked at Kane.
Then Voss.
Then Vale.
Nobody looked surprised.
That was the part that hurt the most.
“You all knew.””
My voice was barely above a whisper.
Nobody answered.
I turned toward Commander Voss.
“You knew.””
Her eyes lowered.
“Yes.””
The answer came quietly.
And somehow that made it worse.
“How long?””
She swallowed.
“Since before you joined the military.””
A sharp laugh escaped me.
“So everyone gets a file about me except me?””
“Hannah—”
“No.””
I stepped back.
“No more explanations that start with my name and end with another secret.””
The chamber was silent.
Even Ward stopped talking.
The man who had walked in like he owned the entire ship was watching me carefully now.
Like he was studying my reaction.
I hated that.
I hated being observed.
Measured.
Analyzed.
Like I was something on a laboratory table.
I looked at him.
“You knew too.””
Director Elias Ward tilted his head slightly.
“Of course.””
“Did you know who I was?””
A small pause.
“Yes.””
“Did you know what I was?””
His expression did not change.
“Yes.””
My stomach tightened.
There it was.
The honesty I had been asking for.
And somehow it was worse than the lies.
I raised my weapon.
“Then start talking.””
Several soldiers behind Ward shifted.
Voss moved closer to me.
Not away.
Closer.
That surprised me.
Ward noticed.
“Commander, you always did have a weakness for misplaced loyalty.””
Voss’s expression hardened.
“Don’t.””
“Still pretending you are different from the rest of us?””
I looked between them.
“What does that mean?””
Nobody answered.
Again.
The endless secrets.
I was done.
I pointed my weapon toward the floor.
“Everyone leaves this room with the truth.””
Ward smiled.
“You think you are in control because you have a weapon.””
“No.””
I looked directly at him.
“I think I’m in control because you’re afraid to tell me what happens next.””
For the first time, his expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
I saw it.
Fear.
Not of me.
Of what I might become if I understood.
Ward looked toward the Meridian Device.
“You have no idea what you are asking.””
“Try me.””
The chamber lights flickered.
The device began projecting images across the walls.
Not files.
Not records.
Memories.
I watched scenes appear.
A laboratory.
Scientists.
Military personnel.
A young woman lying on a medical table.
A baby.
My breath stopped.
The woman was unconscious.
The child was wrapped in a white blanket.
A doctor stood beside her.
The face was familiar.
Thomas Mercer.
My father.
Except he looked younger.
Different.
Not the man from my childhood memories.
The scientist behind the secret.
The recording played.
Thomas looked into the camera.
“We cannot continue.””
A voice from behind him answered.
“We are too close.””
Thomas turned.
“I said no.””
The second voice belonged to a younger Elias Ward.
Even then, he had the same cold expression.
“The Meridian interface requires a human connection.””
Thomas shook his head.
“She is not a tool.””
Ward stepped closer.
“She is the solution.””
I felt sick.
I looked away.
But I couldn’t.
Because the baby on the screen was me.
My existence.
My beginning.
A military project.
A decision made by strangers.
The recording continued.
Thomas stood beside the newborn.
“If she survives, she gets a normal life.””
Ward laughed softly.
“Normal?””
He looked at the baby.
“She was designed to do what no human can.””
Thomas stepped in front of him.
“She is my daughter.””
Those words hit harder than anything else.
My daughter.
Not a subject.
Not an experiment.
A daughter.
The recording ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then I heard Kane.
Quietly.
“He loved you.””
I looked at the speaker.
“You knew.””
“Yes.””
“You knew this entire time.””
“Yes.””
“And you still let me hate you.””
A pause.
Then:
“I needed you to hate me.””
I stared.
“What?””
Kane’s voice became quieter.
“Because if Ward believed you trusted me, he would have taken you years ago.””
The room froze.
I looked at Ward.
He didn’t deny it.
“You were hiding me?””
“Yes.””
“By becoming the villain in my story?””
“Yes.””
The answer hurt because it was simple.
No excuse.
No defense.
Just a choice.
I lowered my weapon slightly.
Not forgiveness.
Never that.
But understanding.
A small piece of it.
Ward stepped forward.
“You are wasting time.””
Everyone looked at him.
He nodded toward the device.
“The Meridian system is active.””
Vale looked at the controls.
His face changed.
“No.””
“What?””
He moved closer.
“The activation sequence completed.””
Voss immediately understood.
“What happens now?””
Vale looked at me.
“It begins searching.””
“For what?””
His answer was quiet.
“For the original source.””
I frowned.
“The original source?””
Ward smiled.
“Yes.””
He looked at me.
“Now you are finally understanding.””
The device projected a map.
Not of Earth.
Not of the ocean.
Something else.
A signal.
A location.
Far below the Pacific.
The display showed coordinates.
Then one word:
*ORIGIN.*
I stared.
“What is that?””
Ward answered.
“The place your genetic template came from.””
Silence.
My mind struggled to process the sentence.
My genetic template.
Not my DNA.
Not my family.
A template.
Something that made me.
I looked at Vale.
“Tell me he’s lying.””
Vale looked away.
That was all the answer I needed.
A deep vibration moved through the ship.
The Resolute tilted slightly.
Above us, alarms screamed.
Someone shouted over the radio.
“Unknown contact approaching!””
Ward smiled.
“Too late.””
Kane’s voice became urgent.
“Hannah, you need to leave.””
I looked upward.
“You said everyone who knows the truth gets killed.””
“Yes.””
“And now?””
“Now they know you activated it.””
The chamber doors began closing.
Ward’s soldiers moved.
Voss raised her weapon.
Nobody fired.
Not yet.
Because everyone understood the same thing.
The moment someone pulled the trigger, everything changed.
Ward looked at me.
“You want answers.””
I said nothing.
“You want to know why you were created.””
A pause.
“Come with me.””
Voss immediately shook her head.
“No.””
Ward continued.
“And I will show you where you came from.””
The offer hung there.
A lifetime of questions.
One impossible answer.
Kane interrupted.
“Hannah.””
I looked toward the speaker.
His voice was different.
A warning.
Not a command.
“Do not go with him.””
Ward smiled.
“Of course he would say that.””
Kane continued.
“He is not taking you to the truth.””
The chamber shook harder.
“What is he taking me to?””
Silence.
Then Kane answered.
“The reason your father tried to destroy his own creation.””
I looked at Ward.
His expression finally hardened.
Because he knew Kane had said the one thing I could not ignore.
My father.
The man who created me.
The man who loved me.
The man who spent his final years trying to hide me.
Had wanted the project destroyed.
I stepped toward the center of the room.
The Meridian Device reacted instantly.
A new message appeared.
Not from my father.
Not from Ward.
From the system itself.
*PRIMARY SUBJECT HAS CHOSEN.*
Everyone froze.
I stared at the words.
“Chosen what?””
The machine answered.
*RETURN.*
The chamber floor opened.
A hidden elevator appeared beneath us.
Descending.
Deep into the ocean.
Toward the coordinates marked *ORIGIN*.
And as the elevator doors opened, I heard a voice from below.
A voice that should have been impossible.
A voice I recognized.
My own.
But older.
Broken.
Whispering through the darkness:
May you like
“Please…”
“Don’t let them make you like me.””
