Chapter 5 - My Mother's Warning
I held the envelope away from Jonah.
"Why would Mom tell me to run from you?"
"I don't know," he said. "But you should read it."
Inside was a photograph of Elena holding two newborn girls, both swaddled in yellow. A note was folded around it.
If someone makes another child from what we gave them, Jonah will try to save her. He will think he can fix everything. Do not let him open the old engine. It doesn't stop at one life.
I read the words twice.
"What engine?"
Jonah dropped into his chair. "The Atlas array. A machine that holds damaged cells in a slowed state while they repair. It kept me from aging normally because I spent most of these years asleep in its chambers. I was awake for less than six years in total."
"You chose that over your daughter?"
"Victoria locked the chambers after I tried to leave. I woke when she needed me. Then she put me back."
"You still helped her."
"Yes," he said. "I did."
He finally looked like a father and not a miracle: a man ashamed of a choice he could never undo.
Another alarm sounded. The lower lab door sealed, locking 0C on our side.
She glanced at the envelope. "They said if I reached you, you'd call me a mistake."
"I haven't," I said.
"Not yet."
She pointed to a hallway marked PHASE TWO. "The woman behind that door talks to me at night. I think she knows how to open the medical wing."
"Who is she?"
"I named her June. She says names belong to the person wearing them."
Something struck the outer hatch. Once, twice, three times.
May you like
Marcus's voice came through the door.
"Jonah! Open up. Victoria isn't just here for your daughter. She's trying to burn the buyer list. Check the flood-control room before she wipes it!"
