Chapter 38 - The Flight from Seven Years Ago
Samuel allowed the aircraft to follow the old route while Ethan disconnected the hidden hydraulic control system.
Once the secondary box was removed, manual steering returned.
But the ghost route remained on the navigation display.
Victor studied it silently.
“I never flew this aircraft.”
Samuel looked at him.
“The record says you did.”
“Then the record is false.”
The artificial Ethan accessed the route memory.
“This flight profile contains biometric data.”
A fingerprint scan appeared.
Victor placed his hand beside it.
The ridge pattern matched.
Martin frowned.
“You may not remember because you were injured.”
Victor shook his head.
“I remember the explosion. I remember waking in the underground laboratory. I remember losing three months.”
Samuel’s expression changed.
“You never told me that.”
“I believed the memory loss came from the blast.”
Ethan examined the route file.
The aircraft had flown to the island and returned sixteen hours later. On the return journey, its weight had increased by ninety kilograms.
“What did it bring back?” he asked.
No cargo record existed.
No passenger was listed.
The artificial Ethan stared at Victor.
“Possibility identified.”
Victor understood before anyone spoke.
“You think I was not the person who returned.”
Samuel looked toward the burn scar on Victor’s face.
The twin brothers had exchanged identities before. Perhaps they had done it again.
Victor became defensive.
“I know who I am.”
“Do you?” Martin asked quietly.
Victor grabbed him by the jacket.
Samuel stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Ethan returned to the route data.
The aircraft’s return weight was too low for an adult passenger, but almost exact for a child and a sealed equipment case.
He opened the Core Archive.
A hidden folder activated when the route file was placed beside it.
Inside was a video recorded aboard Hangar Twelve’s aircraft.
The footage showed a man with Victor’s face entering the cargo bay on the island.
He carried a small child wrapped in a thermal blanket.
The child’s face was hidden.
Beside him stood Evelyn Mercer.
She handed him a black equipment case.
“The prediction model must never know where it came from,” she said.
The man looked toward the camera.
A broken watch hung from his wrist.
Then the child moved.
For one second, the blanket slipped.
Samuel froze the recording.
The child had a small scar above the right eyebrow.
The same scar Ethan carried.
The cabin became silent.
Ethan looked toward his father.
“What is this?”
Samuel did not answer.
The artificial Ethan watched the frozen image.
“Genetic similarity estimate: ninety-nine point nine percent.”
Victor stepped backward.
Samuel lowered his head.
May you like
Seven years of secrets finally collapsed into one unavoidable truth.
Ethan had been on the island before.
