Chapter 33 - THE FATHER INSIDE THE FATHERSebastian controlled Theodore only in fragments.
Theodore’s body fought him.
One moment, he begged Amelia to run.
The next, Sebastian ordered the security system to open the estate.
Nathaniel restrained him.
Helena connected Theodore to the vault’s neural monitor.
Two brain patterns appeared on the screen.
One belonged to Theodore.
The other matched Sebastian’s preserved recordings.
“We can separate them,” Helena said.
“How?” Amelia asked.
“By forcing Sebastian into a stronger compatible vessel.”
Everyone looked at Lucy.
“No,” Amelia said.
Helena agreed.
“There is another vessel.”
The young Theodore—Thomas—remained in suspension.
His body had been engineered from Theodore’s cells and would accept Sebastian more easily.
Thomas had never been conscious.
Transferring Sebastian into him might free Theodore.
But it would create a living Sebastian in a younger body.
Elias looked at the chamber.
“Then destroy the body during transfer.”
Helen’s vessel stepped between them.
“He is a child.”
“He is an empty vessel.”
Ada shook her head.
“You do not know that.”
She had heard Thomas speak during brief awakenings.
He dreamed.
He feared the dark.
He was not empty.
Theodore regained control for several seconds.
“Do not sacrifice him.”
Sebastian forced his way back.
“You always lacked resolve.”
Amelia leaned close to her father.
“You built a family around choices you made for us.”
Theodore’s eyes filled with shame.
“I know.”
“Then make one choice for yourself.”
He looked toward the neural cable connecting him to the system.
“Disconnect me.”
Helena warned that removing it during active transfer could kill him.
Theodore smiled faintly.
“Then Sebastian loses his vessel.”
Amelia could not do it.
Elias could.
He took the cable.
Theodore looked at the son he had never raised.
“I am sorry.”
Elias’s hand tightened.
“For which part?”
“All of it.”
Elias pulled.
Theodore’s body convulsed.
The neural monitor went black.
For seven seconds, no heartbeat registered.
Then one rhythm returned.
Theodore opened his eyes.
“Amelia?”
His voice was his own.
Sebastian’s neural pattern had disappeared.
A second alarm sounded.
Thomas’s chamber opened.
The young man inside sat up.
He looked toward Lucy.
Then he spoke with Sebastian’s voice.
“Correction accepted.”
Sebastian had transferred before the cable was removed.
Thomas stepped from the chamber.
The surrounding operatives ceased their assault.
They recognized their founder.
Sebastian looked at his restored hands.
Then at Theodore.
“You were always the temporary son.”
May you like
He turned toward Lucy.
“And she is the permanent future.”
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