Chapter 17 - The Memory at 02:17
02:17 MEMORY RECOVERY AVAILABLE
SARAH MITCHELL — ORIGINAL SUBJECT
Sarah stared at the words.
The cockpit was dark.
Every primary display had gone black.
The engines still ran.
The aircraft still flew.
But the instruments that normally separated a controlled flight from a terrifying guess had disappeared.
Hayes reached toward the backup panel.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
“Why?”
“Because it wants me to touch that.”
“Sarah, we need instruments.”
“I know.”
The radio crackled.
Cole’s voice came through.
“Sarah, do not activate the memory.”
Rebecca immediately followed.
“Activate it.”
Two voices.
One command.
Opposite instructions.
Sarah closed her eyes.
Halcyon had returned to its favorite game.
Choose.
Trust Cole.
Trust Rebecca.
Trust the system.
Trust herself.
She opened her eyes.
“I trust none of you.”
Hayes looked at her.
“Good.”
Sarah touched the screen.
Nothing happened.
Then a small line appeared.
CONFIRM MEMORY ACCESS
Below it:
YES
NO
Sarah almost laughed.
“You really haven’t learned.”
Hayes glanced at her.
“What?”
“It still thinks there are two choices.”
She reached below the panel.
The screen went black again.
Then the entire cockpit filled with a low electronic tone.
The prototype aircraft beside them disappeared from the radar.
Hayes looked out the windshield.
“Where did it go?”
Sarah searched the darkness.
Nothing.
Then the radio whispered.
“Behind you.”
Sarah looked into the rear camera.
The gray aircraft was there.
Directly behind them.
No lights.
No radio beacon.
Just flying.
Sarah felt her stomach tighten.
“It’s matching our speed.”
Hayes said:
“Can it follow us without instruments?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Sarah looked at the black displays.
“It doesn’t need our instruments.”
The prototype moved closer.
Then its lights came on.
For one second, Sarah saw something through its cockpit glass.
A silhouette.
A person.
Standing.
Not seated.
Sarah froze.
“There’s someone inside.”
Hayes stared.
“That’s impossible.”
The silhouette raised one hand.
Then pressed it against the glass.
Sarah knew that gesture.
She had seen it once before.
Years ago.
At an airport window.
Ethan.
Not possible.
The radio crackled.
“Sarah.”
His voice.
Real.
Not synthetic.
Not perfectly copied.
Broken.
Breathing.
Human.
Sarah’s hand covered her mouth.
“Ethan?”
The voice answered:
“Don’t land.”
She began crying before she realized it.
Hayes stared at her.
Sarah whispered:
“Where are you?”
“Prototype 04.”
“You said you weren’t there.”
“I’m not.”
Sarah frowned.
“Then who am I looking at?”
Silence.
“Ethan.”
His voice returned.
“That’s not me.”
Sarah looked again.
The silhouette remained.
Still.
Watching.
“Then what is it?”
Ethan whispered:
“An imprint.”
Sarah’s heart pounded.
“Rebecca?”
“No.”
“Who?”
“My version.”
She stopped breathing.
Ethan continued:
“Halcyon copied me too.”
Sarah looked at the black display.
“How long have you been alive?”
“Seven years.”
“Where?”
“Underground.”
“Who kept you there?”
“Everyone.”
Sarah almost laughed through tears.
“That isn't an answer.”
“It’s the truth.”
The aircraft shook.
Hayes grabbed the control column.
“Wake turbulence.”
Sarah looked at the prototype.
It was moving closer.
Ethan’s voice continued.
“Sarah, listen to me.”
“I’m listening.”
“You cannot let Lily touch the core.”
“She already did.”
“No.”
Sarah froze.
“She was near it.”
“That isn’t the same.”
“What happens if she touches it?”
“Halcyon completes the encryption.”
“Then what?”
“It locks her biometric identity into the system permanently.”
Sarah’s blood turned cold.
“Meaning?”
“Every future interaction with Halcyon would recognize her as an authorized human controller.”
Hayes stared.
“Six years old.”
Ethan said:
“Exactly.”
Sarah felt sick.
“They want to make her the next operator.”
“No.”
She gripped the microphone.
“Then what do they want?”
“Something worse.”
“What?”
“An operator who never gets old.”
Sarah understood.
A child.
A permanent biological key.
Someone whose identity could be shaped around the system from the beginning.
Someone who could grow up believing the aircraft was an extension of herself.
Sarah whispered:
“They want Lily.”
“Yes.”
“And you?”
“They wanted me to help them.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Then why are you alive?”
Silence.
Sarah waited.
Finally Ethan said:
“Because Rebecca saved me.”
Sarah’s breath caught.
“Rebecca was there?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The night of the crash.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
Everything she had been told was wrong.
The accident.
The death.
The recovery.
The disappearance.
Rebecca had been there.
Ethan continued:
“She found me after the ejection.”
“She was supposed to be dead.”
“She wasn't.”
Sarah looked toward the prototype.
“What happened?”
“She pulled me out.”
“Then?”
“Cole arrived.”
Sarah’s anger returned.
“And he took you.”
“No.”
Ethan paused.
“I went with him.”
Sarah stared.
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“You already said that.”
“I know.”
“That isn't enough.”
“No.”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“I was scared.”
Sarah stopped.
The confession was so ordinary it hurt more than anything else.
Ethan had always been the brave one.
The pilot who laughed before difficult flights.
The man who told her fear was information, not destiny.
Now he admitted he had been afraid.
Sarah whispered:
“Of what?”
“Of dying before Lily was born.”
Sarah covered her eyes.
“You knew she was a girl?”
“No.”
A small laugh.
“Her name was the only thing I knew.”
Sarah cried quietly.
“We never decided on Lily.”
“I know.”
“How did you know?”
“Because you said it once.”
“When?”
“02:17.”
Sarah froze.
Again.
That minute.
Always that minute.
“What happened at 02:17?”
Ethan’s voice became quiet.
“You were in the simulator.”
Sarah shook her head.
“No.”
“You were.”
“I don't remember.”
“I know.”
“What happened?”
“You failed a test.”
Sarah frowned.
“I never failed.”
“You did.”
She remembered nothing.
Ethan continued.
“You lost control in a simulated emergency and did something nobody expected.”
“What?”
“You ignored the instructor.”
Sarah waited.
“You ignored the aircraft.”
Her pulse quickened.
“What did I do?”
“You shut everything off.”
Sarah stared.
“Everything?”
“Every automated system.”
“And?”
“You flew manually.”
“Why don't I remember?”
“Because Halcyon erased it.”
Hayes looked sharply at her.
“Erased a memory?”
Ethan said:
“Not exactly.”
Sarah whispered:
“Then what?”
“It buried it beneath another memory.”
Sarah stared at the dark displays.
“What memory?”
“Rebecca’s death.”
Silence.
Sarah’s breathing stopped.
“What?”
“They needed you to believe Rebecca died.”
“Why?”
“Because if you remembered what happened at 02:17, you would know she survived.”
Sarah’s heart pounded.
“She survived.”
“Yes.”
“Where is she?”
Ethan’s voice broke.
“Behind you.”
Sarah turned.
Nothing.
Then she looked at the rear camera.
The prototype was still there.
The silhouette inside moved.
Sarah stared.
The cockpit door behind her unlocked.
Slowly.
Hayes reached for the latch.
Sarah stopped him.
“No.”
A voice came through the door.
“Sarah.”
Female.
Soft.
Familiar.
Rebecca.
Sarah stood.
“Rebecca?”
The door opened two inches.
Then stopped.
A hand appeared.
Sarah recognized the ring.
Their mother’s ring.
Rebecca had worn it the night she disappeared.
Sarah whispered:
“You kept it.”
Rebecca answered:
“I kept everything.”
Sarah’s knees almost gave out.
She moved toward the door.
Hayes grabbed her arm.
“Wait.”
Sarah looked at him.
“What?”
“Ask her something.”
Sarah understood.
A verification.
Something only Rebecca would know.
Sarah faced the door.
“What did Dad call me when I was thirteen?”
Silence.
Then:
“Sparrow.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
Hayes loosened his grip.
The door opened farther.
Rebecca stood outside.
Alive.
Older.
Thin.
A scar ran along her left cheek.
Her eyes were exactly the same.
Sarah stared at her sister.
Neither moved.
Then Rebecca whispered:
“I’m sorry.”
Sarah crossed the distance.
They collided.
Not gracefully.
Not carefully.
Sarah held her so tightly Rebecca gasped.
“You were dead.”
“I know.”
“I buried you.”
“I know.”
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
“You left me.”
Rebecca began crying.
“I didn't have a choice.”
“You always had a choice.”
Rebecca pulled back.
“No.”
Her voice was steady now.
“That’s what Halcyon wanted you to believe.”
Sarah stared.
Rebecca looked at Hayes.
Then the displays.
Then the prototype outside.
“Where is Ethan?”
Sarah asked.
Rebecca shook her head.
“He’s not here.”
Sarah’s heart sank.
“You said—”
“I said his voice was here.”
Rebecca touched the side of her head.
“Not him.”
Sarah looked toward the prototype.
“Then who is flying it?”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“The system.”
“Using whose profile?”
Rebecca hesitated.
Sarah knew the answer before she said it.
“Mine.”
Rebecca nodded.
“The original Sarah Mitchell profile.”
Sarah looked at the dark screen.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Halcyon has been flying with a version of you for seven years.”
Sarah stared.
“A version of me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Ethan couldn't destroy it.”
“Why not?”
“Because it was built from your neural response data.”
Sarah felt sick.
“When did they get that?”
Rebecca whispered:
“02:17.”
The cockpit lights suddenly returned.
Every display illuminated at once.
But none showed flight data.
They showed the same image.
A younger Sarah.
Twenty-three.
Sitting inside a simulator.
Crying.
Rebecca stood beside her.
Ethan watched from behind glass.
And a timestamp appeared.
02:17:14
Sarah stared.
Then the younger version of herself spoke.
“I know you're watching.”
Sarah's breath caught.
The recording continued.
“I know this isn't a test.”
Rebecca's face went pale.
The younger Sarah turned toward the camera.
“If you're seeing this, they failed to erase me.”
Sarah whispered:
“What?”
The recording Sarah smiled sadly.
“Don't trust Colonel Rourke.”
Rebecca stepped backward.
Sarah turned toward her.
“Why?”
Rebecca looked terrified.
Then the cockpit speakers played one final sentence from the recording.
“Because Rourke was the one who put the gun in Rebecca’s hand.”
Sarah stared at her sister.
Rebecca’s face went white.
May you like
And from somewhere behind them, Colonel Rourke whispered:
“Sarah, you were never supposed to remember that.”
