Chapter 9: The Last Memory of Thomas Mercer
The darkness lasted seven seconds.
I counted every one.
One.
The walls locked around us.
Two.
The emergency lights failed.
Three.
The air became colder.
Four.
Voss reached for her weapon.
Five.
Vale shouted something I couldn’t hear.
Six.
The entire room began changing.
Seven.
The lights returned.
But the bedroom was gone.
The small bed.
The wooden desk.
The childhood drawings.
All of it disappeared behind moving panels.
The walls became white metal.
The glass holding the older version of me turned opaque.
The room was no longer a memory.
It was a laboratory.
A prison.
A place designed to study something that could fight back.
I stared at the empty glass.
“She’s gone.””
Nobody answered.
Because we all knew she wasn’t gone.
She was somewhere nearby.
Watching.
Waiting.
Like she had been for years.
A voice came through the speakers.
Ward.
“Sergeant Cole.””
I looked up.
“You have caused quite a disruption.””
I walked toward the speaker.
“You trapped her.””
“No.””
His answer was immediate.
“She trapped herself.””
My jaw tightened.
“You expect me to believe that?””
“I expect you to understand that everything you have seen today is incomplete.””
“Convenient.””
Ward ignored the comment.
“Your father left you emotional information because he believed you would need motivation.””
My eyes narrowed.
“My father left me the truth.””
“No.””
The calmness in his voice made me angry.
“He left you a story.””
I looked at Voss.
She looked uncertain.
That bothered me.
Because Voss was always certain.
“Explain.””
Ward continued.
“Thomas Mercer was brilliant.””
A pause.
“But brilliance and wisdom are not the same thing.””
The laboratory lights turned on.
A screen appeared.
A video began playing.
My father.
Again.
I was starting to hate how often I saw his face through a screen.
How often the dead knew more about my life than I did.
Thomas stood in the same laboratory.
But this time he looked older.
Exhausted.
Broken.
He spoke directly to the camera.
“If this recording activates, it means Hannah has reached the origin chamber.””
I froze.
He knew.
He knew this would happen.
Thomas continued.
“Hannah, I need you to understand something.””
The video paused.
Then continued.
“You are not my first attempt.””
My chest tightened.
The words felt like a knife.
Not because I didn’t expect them.
Because some part of me still hoped I was wrong.
My father’s voice continued.
“The first version of the Meridian interface was unstable.””
The screen changed.
A younger version of the older Hannah appeared.
The woman from the room.
“She developed abilities beyond our predictions.””
Voss whispered:
“Abilities?””
I ignored her.
The video continued.
“She could access memories. Patterns. Systems.””
My father looked away from the camera.
“She could understand things humans were not meant to understand.””
The screen showed images.
The older Hannah standing beside machines.
Reading information.
Touching screens that activated instantly.
The same way I had.
Thomas continued.
“But the connection changed her.””
The video showed the older Hannah screaming inside a containment room.
I felt sick.
“She began losing the separation between herself and the Meridian network.””
The screen went black.
Then my father appeared again.
“That was my mistake.””
Silence.
“My daughter was never a failure.””
I stopped breathing.
“She was a warning.””
The recording ended.
I stared at the screen.
My father’s words stayed in my mind.
My daughter.
Not subject.
Not experiment.
Daughter.
Voss looked at me.
“Hannah…”
I shook my head.
“Don’t.””
She stopped.
I looked toward the speaker.
“Ward.””
“Yes?””
“What did you do to her?””
A pause.
Then:
“We tried to save her.””
“No.””
My voice hardened.
“You tried to control her.””
No answer.
That was enough.
Vale moved toward the console.
“The chamber systems are connected to the Meridian network.””
I looked at him.
“Can you open it?””
“Yes.””
Voss stared.
“Adrian.””
He ignored her.
“She deserves to know the truth.””
I almost laughed.
Everyone suddenly cared about truth.
After twenty years of lies.
Vale connected a device.
The system responded instantly.
A message appeared.
*ACCESS DENIED*
He frowned.
“Impossible.””
Then another message appeared.
*USER REQUIRED*
The system was waiting.
For me.
I stepped forward.
“Again?””
Vale looked at me.
“Hannah…”
“No.””
I placed my hand on the scanner.
The screen activated.
But this time, it did not show files.
It showed memories.
My memories.
Except they weren’t mine.
A little girl.
A laboratory.
Scientists watching.
A man holding her hand.
Thomas.
The older Hannah.
The first Hannah.
She was crying.
“Dad, why do they keep testing me?””
Thomas looked heartbroken.
“Because they don’t understand you.””
“Do you?””
A long pause.
Thomas answered:
“No.””
The memory changed.
Years passed.
The first Hannah grew older.
She became stronger.
Smarter.
More connected to the Meridian system.
Then came the night everything changed.
A warning.
An alarm.
A room filled with soldiers.
Ward standing behind them.
Thomas arguing.
“You promised me.””
Ward replied:
“And you promised me results.””
The memory shifted.
The first Hannah was placed inside a chamber.
Thomas fought against the guards.
“Stop!””
Ward watched.
Cold.
“This is necessary.””
Thomas looked at him.
“She’s a person.””
Ward replied:
“She’s a solution.””
The memory ended.
I pulled my hand away.
My breathing was uneven.
Voss looked at me.
“What did you see?””
I stared at Ward’s symbol on the wall.
“He was going to use her.””
Vale nodded.
“Yes.””
I looked at him.
“And my father tried to stop him.””
“Yes.””
The room shook.
A new alarm sounded.
Different from before.
This one was outside.
Someone was approaching.
Voss raised her weapon.
“Ward brought backup.””
“No,” Vale said.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“That’s not possible.””
“What?””
He pointed.
A signal was moving toward us.
Not from above.
From below.
The origin chamber.
The older Hannah.
“She’s awake.””
The lights flickered.
Then the glass wall cracked.
Once.
Twice.
A final fracture spread across the entire surface.
Voss stepped back.
“Hannah.””
The glass exploded outward.
But she did not attack.
She simply stepped through.
The older version of me looked at me.
And for the first time, I saw something beyond fear.
Regret.
“I’m sorry.””
I stared.
“For what?””
She looked at my face.
“For being the reason your life was stolen.””
I didn’t know what to say.
Because she wasn’t a monster.
She wasn’t a weapon.
She was someone who had been created, used, and abandoned.
Just like me.
She stepped closer.
“Your father tried to fix his mistake.””
“What mistake?””
Her eyes moved toward the Meridian Device.
“He thought creating another version of me would erase what happened.””
A pause.
“But the device didn’t create you.””
My heartbeat slowed.
“What?””
She looked at me.
“The Meridian Device found you.””
The room went silent.
“What does that mean?””
“It means your father didn’t design you.””
She looked terrified.
“He discovered you.””
The floor shook.
Hard.
The entire ship groaned.
A new signal appeared on every screen.
Not from Ward.
Not from Kane.
Not from the Meridian Device.
From somewhere beneath the ocean.
A message appeared.
*ORIGIN CONTACT ESTABLISHED.*
The older Hannah looked at it.
And all color disappeared from her face.
“No.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
She stepped backward.
For the first time, she looked afraid of something beyond Ward.
Beyond the project.
Beyond the ship.
“It found us.””
“What found us?””
She looked at me.
“The thing your father was trying to protect humanity from.””
The speakers activated.
But this time, the voice was not human.
It was calm.
Ancient.
And somehow familiar.
“PRIMARY CONNECTION CONFIRMED.””
Everyone froze.
The voice continued.
“RETURNING ORIGINAL DESIGN.””
I looked at the older Hannah.
She whispered:
“Hannah…”
The machine spoke again.
“PREPARING TRANSFER.””
My skin went cold.
“Transfer of what?””
The older Hannah looked at me.
Her answer was barely audible.
“Your consciousness.””
The lights went black.
May you like
And the last thing I heard was my own voice from somewhere deep beneath the ocean.
“Finally.””
