Chapter 12 - The Engine My Father Built
"I'm going back," I said.
"Your mother is upstairs," Evelyn pleaded. "She needs the key."
"And the people downstairs need someone who knows where the engine is."
Cora gripped my shoulder. "I'll take Evelyn to the tower. We can talk about everything else after we're alive."
0C shook her head. "I'm coming with Clara. It's my body the engine wants to use. Maybe I can stop it."
"You don't owe us that," I said.
"I know. That's why it's my choice."
June went with us, carrying the case. Marcus led Cora and Evelyn upward, promising to find a working radio.
We descended into a chamber as wide as a train station. Thick cables ran from the tanks to a spinning blue ring. Jonah lay on the floor, coughing, one hand wrapped around a burned cable.
I knelt beside him. "Talk to me."
"Victoria bypassed the safety limit. The array can't make people young. It slows their bodies, then repairs them in cycles. But at this setting, it pulls energy and tissue support from every patient connected to it."
"Can you switch it off?"
"Not from here. The primary host lock controls the ring."
0C stepped into the light. Dozens of monitors turned toward her. Her face appeared on every screen alongside mine and Cora's.
The machine spoke: "UNASSIGNED DAUGHTER DETECTED. DESIGNATION 0C."
Jonah gripped my arm. "When I thought I could save Elena, I made a terrible choice. I built a machine Victoria could turn into a weapon."
"Then help us break it."
He pulled himself up. "The host room is two floors down. But the access system may ask one of you to stay behind."
The floor vibrated. A glass wall became transparent, revealing a woman in the next room.
Elena Mercer opened her eyes and mouthed one word.
May you like
"Clara."
Then a mechanical arm lowered toward her bed with an empty syringe.
