The chamber glowed with an unnatural white—so sterile, so still, it almost made the girl inside appear sacred.
Alina couldn't move. Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the glass cell, the girl suspended inside. Eyes closed. Heart visibly beating beneath translucent skin.
"She's real," Elara said softly, almost reverently. "Not a doll. Not a clone. A genetically stabilized match… to Lily."
Leonard stepped forward, gun still trained on Elara. "You're lying."
"I never lie," Elara replied smoothly. "I manipulate data. Rearrange truths. But lie? No. That's your department, Mr. Knight."
Alina finally found her voice. "That's not possible. The Sanctum samples were destroyed. You never had a viable strand after the failure at Facility 9."
"I didn't," Elara agreed. "Until you had a child."
Alina's stomach turned. "You used Lily's DNA."
Elara stepped aside, revealing a terminal behind her. On the screen, spiraling strings of code unraveled like a serpent shedding its skin.
"I built her from the shadow of Lily's genome—using recombinant sequencing. The perfect host. No flaws. No deterioration." Her voice turned hushed, hungry. "Do you understand what this means?"
"It means you're playing god again," Leonard spat.
"No," Elara corrected gently. "It means we don't have to lose Lily."
Alina's body trembled—not from fear, but rage. "You think making a backup child—another Lily—is love?"
Elara tilted her head. "She's not a backup. She's evolution. The next version."
"That's not your decision," Alina said, voice steel.
"She's mine as much as she is yours," Elara replied.
Leonard moved closer to the chamber. The girl inside stirred slightly. Not conscious—but responding.
"Is she aware?" he asked.
"She dreams," Elara said. "Her brain is fully active. Memory implantation began last week. She knows your names, your faces. In a few more days, she'll believe she is Lily."
Alina's heart shattered in slow, jagged pieces.
"You sick, twisted—"
Before she could finish, the station shuddered.
Alarms flared red.
Elara didn't move. "Ah. Right on time."
"What did you do?" Rafe barked, sprinting toward the door.
"I invited someone else," Elara said calmly. "You didn't think I'd throw this reunion party without the investors, did you?"
On cue, the hallway screens flashed.
LOG IN: AURAX GLOBAL.
VOICE IDENTIFIED: LI JUNWEI.
Leonard's expression darkened. "That's impossible. Junwei was detained in Singapore."
"He made bail," Elara said. "Or rather, his employers bought him out. I promised them a new product."
Alina raised her gun. "You're selling her?!"
"Not Lily," Elara said, lips curling into a smirk. "This one. She's not a child. She's a prototype."
The walls trembled again as security overrides activated across the station.
They were no longer alone.
Elsewhere in the facility, armed men in black tactical gear stormed the corridors. Li Junwei led them, wearing an unmarked coat and polished boots, flanked by Aurax mercenaries.
"She better be worth the price tag," he muttered.
The station echoed with metallic groans as they approached the core chamber.
Back inside, Rafe was pulling wires from the terminal, trying to shut down Elara's system.
"We need to evacuate," he snapped.
"No!" Alina shouted. "We can't leave her here. That girl—whatever she is—doesn't deserve to be dissected."
Leonard stepped beside her. "We don't even know if she can survive outside."
"I'll take that chance," Alina said.
But Elara stood in their way. "You can't remove her without killing her."
Alina blinked. "What?"
"She's not just stabilized. She's symbiotic. Her systems are regulated by the station's artificial environment. Remove her, and she goes into shock."
"Then stabilize her!" Leonard growled.
"I could. But why would I?"
Alina stared at her. "Because if you don't, I swear to god—"
Elara lifted a hand. "No need for theatrics."
Then, slowly, she pressed a second button.
The chamber began to decompress.
The girl inside stirred more violently, eyelids twitching, fingers fluttering like leaves in a storm.
"She's waking," Elara whispered. "She'll open her eyes… and call you Mother."
Alina felt a new kind of horror crawl up her spine.
Outside the core, gunfire echoed. The Aurax team was inside now, advancing fast.
Rafe threw a smoke canister into the hallway. "We're out of time!"
Leonard grabbed Elara by the collar. "Undo it. Now!"
Elara laughed. "You still think this is about you? I've already won. My data's uploading to seven dark-net servers as we speak. Even if you destroy this place, the formula lives on."
"You think we care about that?" Rafe said, throwing Elara against the console. "This isn't about science. It's about that girl."
Alina moved to the chamber, watching as the girl's eyes fluttered open.
Violet.
Exactly like Lily's.
"Mommy…" she whispered.
Alina froze.
The voice. The tone.
It wasn't an illusion.
Leonard was beside her now. "We have to move. Now!"
With no time to stabilize the girl, Alina did the unthinkable—she grabbed the emergency release and ripped it open.
The chamber hissed.
Steam burst.
The girl fell forward—and Alina caught her in her arms.
Thin. Warm. Real.
"Alina, move!" Rafe shouted, hurling a flash charge behind them.
They ran, the girl cradled in Alina's arms.
Elara remained behind, watching.
Smiling.
Thirty minutes later – Secondary extraction point
The snow was thicker now. The landing pad barely visible beneath the white.
Their backup pilot—an old contact of Rafe's—had landed a stealth rotorcraft just long enough for them to climb aboard.
Alina cradled the girl in a thermal blanket. Her breathing was shallow, but she was alive.
Leonard sat across from her, stunned.
"She's… she's perfect."
Alina looked down at the girl again.
Was she a copy?
A soul?
Or something in between?
Back inside the facility, Junwei entered the core chamber—only to find it empty.
The chamber cracked open.
The prototype: gone.
Elara sat on the edge of the console.
"You're late," she said.
Junwei didn't hesitate. He raised his gun.
"Where is she?"
Elara's smile was blood and ice. "On her way to meet her sister."