Chapter 26 - The Other Ethan
The boy inside the glass room stood.
He had Ethan’s height, Ethan’s dark hair, and even the same small scar above his right eyebrow.
But his movements were too precise.
Too controlled.
Ethan stared at him.
“That’s not possible.”
Samuel’s face hardened.
“It isn’t human.”
The glass door opened.
The boy stepped onto a metal walkway above the core engine.
His skin looked real, but beneath his collar Ethan saw a thin silver seam.
An artificial body.
A machine built to resemble him.
The mechanical voice spoke again.
“Human pattern model incomplete.”
The artificial Ethan looked directly at the real one.
“I was created from observation records.”
Ethan remembered the photographs found on Vincent’s drive.
Someone had recorded him for years.
His movements.
His repairs.
His habits.
His decisions.
Evelyn’s voice came through Martin’s radio.
“The core unit must have used the surveillance archive.”
Samuel looked toward the cameras.
“You built a copy of my son.”
The artificial boy tilted his head.
“I am not a copy. I am a prediction.”
The core unit had attempted to recreate Ethan’s intuition by analyzing every available detail about him. But despite years of observation, the artificial version could not solve the same mechanical problems.
It copied Ethan’s actions.
It did not understand why he made them.
The machine wanted the missing pattern.
Ethan approached the walkway.
“What happens if I refuse?”
The artificial boy answered.
“The airport becomes unnecessary.”
A new display appeared above the turbine.
It showed every fuel line, aircraft position, and electrical system across Westbridge.
The core unit could destroy the airport in dozens of different ways.
Samuel pulled Ethan back.
“You will not teach it anything.”
The artificial boy looked toward Samuel.
“Samuel Hale is emotional obstruction.”
A maintenance arm unfolded from the ceiling.
Victor pushed Samuel aside as the arm struck the platform.
The metal claw missed them by inches.
Martin fired at the camera cluster.
The lights dimmed.
The artificial Ethan began running across the walkway toward the control room.
The real Ethan watched his movement.
Something was wrong.
The machine copied how Ethan ran, but every seventh step was slightly shorter.
A balance error.
The artificial body had been built using data from a camera angle that distorted distance.
Ethan opened his toolbox and removed a small steel bearing.
He rolled it onto the walkway.
The artificial boy stepped exactly where the machine predicted Ethan would step.
His foot landed on the bearing.
He slipped and struck the railing.
Ethan looked up at the cameras.
“You know what I did before.”
He picked up another bearing.
“But you don’t know what I’m going to do now.”
The core engine suddenly stopped rotating.
For the first time, the machine became completely silent.
Then the artificial boy smiled.
May you like
“Unpredictability confirmed.”
Behind Ethan, every exit locked.
