CHAPTER 9 – The Secret Project Called ECHO
Emma couldn't breathe.
The genetics laboratory repeated the result three separate times.
Each answer was identical.
The unborn babies shared half of their DNA with Emma...
And the other half...
Also belonged to Emma.
"There has to be contamination," Daniel argued.
Dr. Harrison shook his head.
"We tested blood, tissue, and amniotic fluid separately."
"The results never changed."
Claire sat motionless.
Her eyes slowly filled with horror.
"I know what this is..."
Richard Carter closed his eyes.
"You finally remember."
Claire looked at Emma.
"When I was pregnant with you, they weren't studying pregnancies."
Emma whispered,
"What were they studying?"
Richard answered.
"They were studying evolution."
Daniel slammed his fist onto the table.
"Stop speaking in riddles!"
Richard sighed.
"My grandfather started a classified program during the 1950s."
He opened another vault hidden beneath the cabinet.
Inside were government documents stamped:
PROJECT ECHO
TOP SECRET.
AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Emma picked up the first report.
It described decades of genetic experiments.
Not on animals.
Not on soldiers.
On unborn children.
Scientists believed a tiny section of human DNA remained dormant...
A section capable of storing the memories of every previous generation.
Their goal was simple.
Create a child who could remember every ancestor who had ever lived.
Generation after generation...
The experiments failed.
Mothers died.
Children disappeared.
Entire families vanished.
Until...
Claire Carter.
Richard looked at Emma.
"You weren't an accident."
"You were the first successful survivor."
Emma backed away.
"No..."
"You carried the dormant sequence."
"And now your babies have activated it."
Dr. Harrison slowly opened the final report.
Across the front page were terrifying words.
SUBJECT E-01
Emma frowned.
"Who's E-01?"
Richard looked directly into her eyes.
"You are."
Silence filled the underground ward.
Claire burst into tears.
"I tried to save you."
Richard continued speaking as though he felt nothing.
"You weren't born naturally."
Emma whispered,
"...What?"
"You were engineered."
Daniel's face turned pale.
Richard continued.
"Everything in your life was planned."
"Your school."
"Your marriage."
"Your pregnancy."
Emma slowly turned toward Daniel.
"What does he mean?"
Daniel couldn't answer.
Richard smiled.
"Because Daniel already knows."
Emma's world shattered.
"You..."
Daniel lowered his head.
"I'm sorry..."
"I met you because they introduced us."
Emma stepped backward.
"You lied to me?"
"No."
"I fell in love with you."
"That part was real."
"But..."
His voice cracked.
"I was assigned to protect you."
Emma slapped him across the face.
The sound echoed through the empty ward.
"You've been watching me all these years?"
Daniel nodded.
"I was never supposed to tell you."
Emma collapsed into a chair, sobbing.
Everything...
Every memory...
Every happy moment...
Now felt like a lie.
Then the hospital alarms suddenly began screaming.
BIOLOGICAL EVENT DETECTED.
Dr. Harrison looked at the monitor.
His face drained of color.
"The babies..."
Emma looked down.
May you like
Her stomach...
Was glowing.
