Chapter 17
By the time Kaelyn and her team returned to their mountain base, the sky had turned an ominous shade of red. The sun barely pierced the haze, casting long shadows over the snow-dusted compound. But inside, the energy was shifting—becoming something alive.
Heller’s data changed everything.
Kaelyn spread out the decrypted files across several monitors. Lines of code, project numbers, and subject names filled the screens. Each one represented a life Tamar had tried to erase.
“There are more of us,” Kaelyn said, her voice heavy with realization. “Dozens. Maybe hundreds. Hidden in deep sleep chambers, scattered across off-grid sites. Most were never activated.”
Sebastian frowned as he scanned a list of coordinates. “They kept them frozen… just in case.”
“In case what?” M-2 asked, folding her arms.
“In case the others failed,” Kaelyn replied. “We were their prototypes. They kept backups.”
Mara sat on the floor nearby, quietly reading a printout. “They played God… and then buried their mistakes.”
Kaelyn’s eyes narrowed. “We’re not mistakes. And we’re not staying buried.”
They spent days strategizing. Heller, now a quiet presence among them, provided intel Tamar didn’t think anyone still had—vault codes, project aliases, blind spots in surveillance.
The first lead was a facility deep beneath an abandoned metro station in the ruins of old Braxis City. Officially condemned. But the data said otherwise.
Kaelyn led the infiltration herself. She, M-2, and Sebastian took a team of five, including Elira and Mara, who insisted on coming again.
The city was a ghost of its former self—buildings cracked open like eggshells, vines overtaking concrete, roads sunken from years of neglect. It was beautiful in a broken sort of way.
They found the entrance hidden beneath the old ticket booth. After a short climb through rusted shafts and corroded ventilation tunnels, they reached a sealed vault door, humming faintly with power.
Sebastian plugged in Heller’s codes. “If this works, it’ll be a first.”
A low whirr. A hiss. The door creaked open slowly.
Inside, the air was sterile and cold. The lab looked untouched—sealed in time. Frost clung to the glass of several cryopods lined against the walls. Inside each, a sleeping figure. Male. Female. Young. Old. All like Kaelyn.
Mara moved closer to one of the pods and pressed her palm against it. “She looks like me…”
Kaelyn swallowed hard. “They built us from templates. Copied features, memories, talents. But what they couldn’t control was who we’d become.”
They checked the systems. Most pods were stable, some deteriorating. One had failed entirely. But five—five subjects—could be revived.
Elira stepped up. “I can help stabilize them. It’ll take time.”
Kaelyn nodded. “We’ll get them out one by one. Start with the strongest readings.”
As Elira got to work, Sebastian wandered to a sealed office at the back of the lab. Inside, he found something unexpected—folders. Real paper records. Notes scribbled by one of the lead scientists.
He brought them to Kaelyn. “These talk about something called ‘Project Anchor.’ Says it was Tamar’s contingency if their clones became uncontrollable.”
Kaelyn flipped through the notes. Her brow furrowed. “They built something… or someone… to destroy us if needed. Anchor wasn’t a weapon—it was a person.”
“Like us?” M-2 asked.
Kaelyn looked up. “Worse. Anchor was designed to override our thoughts. To control us. Or wipe us out if we refused.”
A chill ran through the room.
“We need to find them,” Kaelyn said. “Before Tamar activates Anchor. Before they erase us completely.”
As the team prepared to transport the rescued subjects back to base, Kaelyn stood alone for a moment, staring at the pod holding a girl who could’ve passed as her twin. Her fingers brushed the glass.
“We’re not just waking them up,” she whispered. “We’re waking up everything Tamar tried to bury.”
Outside, the city remained silent. But underground, a storm was rising.
Kaelyn was no longer just fighting for herself—or even the copies she had met. She was fighting for an entire hidden world.
And Tamar had no idea what was coming.