Chapter 27 - NINE LAURASThe warehouse alarms screamed.
Nine women wearing Laura’s face stood in separate glass rooms.
Some appeared frightened.
One laughed continuously.
One stared blankly at the wall.
Another pressed both hands against the glass when she saw Harper.
Rebecca whispered, “Sisters.”
Victor used different memory fragments in each subject.
One remembered Laura as a wife.
One remembered her as Adrian’s sister.
One remembered only Harper.
One carried her investigative knowledge.
Another carried no emotional memories at all.
The real Laura’s identity had been divided into nine human archives.
Harper moved toward the woman pressing against the glass.
The label read:
07-H — MATERNAL RESPONSE
She mouthed Harper’s name.
Bennett touched Rebecca’s arm.
“Which one knew me?”
Rebecca looked at the labels.
“07-B.”
The wife-response vessel stood at the far end.
She saw Bennett and began crying.
He could not move toward her.
Every woman contained real memories.
None was fully Laura.
Adrian found the warehouse control center.
Laura had designed a release protocol requiring Harper’s voice.
Victor locked the access remotely.
His voice filled the warehouse.
“Choose one.”
Harper looked upward.
“What?”
“One Laura may leave. The others will be erased.”
Rebecca stared at the ceiling.
“He is repeating the twin study.”
One child chosen.
One abandoned.
Now nine women.
One chosen.
Eight destroyed.
Harper refused.
Victor activated a countdown.
Five minutes until the rooms filled with gas.
Nolan and Daniel attacked the control door.
Bennett searched for manual valves.
Harper approached the central microphone.
She remembered the ninth candle protocol released evidence to multiple investigators.
Laura had never trusted a single exit.
Harper spoke into the microphone.
“My mother taught me that butterflies do not remember the cocoon as home.”
Nothing happened.
Then all nine women looked toward her.
The maternal-response Laura repeated the sentence.
The wife-response Laura joined.
One by one, all nine voices spoke together.
The acoustic system recognized a complete Laura memory signature.
Every glass door opened.
The women stepped out.
Victor’s countdown stopped.
A new message appeared.
COMPLETE IDENTITY ASSEMBLY AVAILABLE
The system offered to merge all nine memory sets into one chosen body.
Rebecca looked at Harper.
“If you select a vessel, Laura may return.”
“Or nine people will disappear,” Harper said.
A tenth glass room illuminated.
Inside lay a woman in medical suspension.
No reconstruction.
No altered face.
The label read:
May you like
LAURA HALE — ORIGINAL
Her eyes opened.
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