Chapter 20 – The Last Choice of Grace Blackwood
60 MINUTES REMAINING
The message burned across every screen in the underground facility.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Because everyone understood what it meant.
The final stage of Project Orion had begun.
Grace stared at the black screen.
Her own face had appeared on it.
A version of herself that she had never known existed.
The original memory model.
The first Grace.
The one Edward had created before her.
Her hands began shaking.
"No..."
Daniel immediately moved toward her.
"Grace."
She stepped back.
Not because she didn't trust him.
Because she didn't know what to trust anymore.
"Which one of us is real?"
The question broke the silence.
Everyone looked at her.
She looked at Michael.
"Am I real?"
Then at Daniel.
"Are you real?"
Then at the empty screen.
"Or are we just memories someone placed into bodies?"
Nobody answered.
Because nobody knew.
Finally, Michael spoke.
"You are real."
Grace looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"Because Edward never understood the one thing he couldn't control."
"What?"
Michael looked at her.
"Choice."
He stepped closer.
"Every experiment failed because Edward believed memories created a person."
"But they don't."
Grace whispered:
"Then what does?"
Michael answered:
"What you choose after knowing the truth."
A heavy silence followed.
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
"We need to stop him."
Nathan nodded.
"Agreed."
He checked his weapon.
"But we need a plan."
Arthur looked at the screens.
"There is only one way."
Everyone turned.
"What?"
Arthur pointed toward the center of the facility.
"The core room."
Michael's expression changed.
"No."
Grace noticed.
"You know what is there."
Michael looked away.
"Yes."
"What?"
"The original Orion machine."
Daniel frowned.
"The machine that created us?"
Michael nodded.
"The machine that can rewrite us."
Grace felt cold.
"So Edward wants to use it."
Michael answered:
"He doesn't want to use it."
"He wants to become it."
Nobody understood.
Michael continued:
"The machine doesn't transfer memories anymore."
"It transfers consciousness."
Nathan looked shocked.
"You're saying..."
"Edward wants to upload himself into every connected subject."
Grace stared.
"Everyone?"
Michael nodded.
"Everyone connected to Project Orion."
Daniel understood.
"The Circle."
"The FBI."
"The Blackwood family."
"All of them."
Arthur whispered:
"He wouldn't just become immortal."
Michael looked at him.
"He would become everyone."
The room went silent.
Then a loud sound echoed.
A door opening.
Everyone turned.
A group of armed soldiers entered the facility.
But they weren't Circle members.
They wore no insignia.
Nathan immediately raised his weapon.
"Who are you?"
The leader removed his helmet.
Grace recognized him.
A former FBI agent.
One of the people who had supposedly died during the ambush.
Nathan stared.
"Agent Miller?"
The man smiled.
"Good memory."
Nathan's face hardened.
"You were dead."
Miller laughed.
"That's the problem with this family."
"We keep bringing people back."
He raised his weapon.
"Drop yours."
Daniel stepped forward.
"No."
Miller looked at him.
"Ah."
"The favorite child."
Daniel's expression changed.
"You know me?"
Miller smiled.
"I knew you before you knew yourself."
Suddenly...
Daniel grabbed his head.
Pain crossed his face.
Another memory.
Another voice.
Miller's voice.
A laboratory.
A child.
"Subject Four is ready."
Daniel collapsed to one knee.
Grace rushed to him.
"Daniel!"
Miller watched calmly.
"He remembers."
Grace looked at Miller with anger.
"What did you do to him?"
"Nothing."
Miller smiled.
"Edward did."
He looked around.
"Do you really think Edward built this alone?"
Michael raised his weapon.
"You're Circle."
Miller shook his head.
"No."
"We were created to contain him."
"Then why help him?"
Miller smiled.
"Because we finally realized something."
"What?"
"Edward was right."
The words chilled everyone.
"Humanity is broken."
"We can fix it."
Grace stepped forward.
"By taking away free will?"
Miller looked at her.
"Free will caused every war."
"Every betrayal."
"Every loss."
He smiled.
"Imagine a world where nobody can hurt anyone."
Grace stared at him.
"Because nobody is themselves anymore."
Miller shrugged.
"Exactly."
Nathan fired first.
The facility erupted into chaos.
Gunshots echoed.
Agents took cover.
Michael moved with terrifying speed.
Emily and Isabella fought side by side for the first time.
Two sisters who had spent their lives apart.
Finally standing together.
Daniel struggled to stand.
Grace grabbed his hand.
"Stay with me."
He looked at her.
"I remember."
Her heart stopped.
"What?"
His eyes filled with tears.
"I remember everything."
"Before."
"After."
"All of it."
Grace held her breath.
"And?"
Daniel looked at her.
"The first thing I remember..."
A pause.
"...is you."
Grace felt tears fall.
"Daniel..."
He smiled weakly.
"I chose you then."
"And I choose you now."
A massive explosion shook the room.
The central door opened.
Beyond it...
Was the Orion core.
A massive machine.
Thousands of lights.
Hundreds of memory drives.
At the center...
A glass chamber.
Inside stood Edward Blackwood.
Alive.
Waiting.
Everyone froze.
Edward smiled.
"Welcome."
"You finally arrived."
Grace stepped forward.
"You planned all of this."
"Yes."
"You destroyed our lives."
"No."
He shook his head.
"I revealed the truth."
Michael shouted:
"You murdered your own family!"
Edward looked at him.
"Families are temporary."
"Legacy is eternal."
Grace stared at the machine.
"You want to become us."
Edward smiled.
"No."
He looked directly at her.
"I want to become what comes after us."
The machine activated.
A deep vibration filled the chamber.
Screens appeared.
FINAL SUBJECTS CONNECTED
Grace.
Emily.
Isabella.
Michael.
Daniel.
Five names.
Five lives.
Edward opened his arms.
"After tonight..."
"There will be no more death."
"No more pain."
"No more loneliness."
Grace looked at the machine.
Then at her family.
Then at Daniel.
She understood.
Edward's greatest mistake.
He thought the answer was preserving memories.
But memories weren't what made them human.
It was the ability to change.
To choose.
To become someone new.
Grace stepped toward the control panel.
Edward smiled.
"You finally understand."
She looked at him.
"Yes."
"I do."
"That's why I know how to stop you."
Edward's expression changed.
"What are you doing?"
Grace placed her hand on the machine.
The system scanned her.
PRIMARY SUBJECT CONFIRMED
Then another message appeared.
ADMIN ACCESS GRANTED
Everyone froze.
Michael whispered:
"Grace..."
"What are you doing?"
She looked at them.
"Ending Project Orion."
Edward's face changed for the first time.
Fear.
"No."
Grace smiled sadly.
"You spent your entire life trying to control what people remember."
"But you forgot something."
"What?"
She looked at Daniel.
At Emily.
At Isabella.
At Michael.
"People aren't memories."
The machine began shutting down.
TRANSFER CANCELLED
Edward screamed:
"No!"
The facility shook violently.
The screens exploded.
The lights disappeared.
Then...
Silence.
When emergency lights returned...
Edward was gone.
The Orion core was destroyed.
Everyone stood in the ruins.
Breathing.
Alive.
But nobody knew what had truly happened.
Hours later...
The FBI recovered the facility.
The official report stated:
PROJECT ORION DESTROYED.
ALL SUBJECTS ACCOUNTED FOR.
But one question remained.
Where was Edward Blackwood?
Three months later...
Grace stood beside a quiet lake.
The world believed everything was over.
She believed it too.
Until she received a package.
No sender.
No address.
Inside was a small black envelope.
Her hands trembled as she opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
A photograph taken yesterday.
It showed Edward Blackwood.
Alive.
Standing beside a woman.
The woman looked exactly like Grace.
On the back of the photograph were seven words:
"You destroyed the machine, not the memory."
Grace slowly looked up.
Because across the lake...
Someone was watching her.
Someone with her face.
Someone with her eyes.
Someone who whispered:
May you like
"Hello, Grace."
THE END... OR THE BEGINNING?
