Chapter Twenty-Five

Aiden

I’m going to die in the same room where I first came into existence. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.

I’m seated in the chair some guards chained me to. It took four of them to keep my arms and legs from swinging out when I tried resisting. The metal clasps are ice-cold against my skin, the chains digging into my wrists. Carter put me here like a prisoner on death row awaiting lethal injection.

As I wait for the inevitable, I look around the room. It’s not quite the same as it was the first time I saw it, although it’s just as pristine as it was then. Every surface shines. But now the room has an added disinfected smell, as if someone bathed it in buckets of bleach. I can’t identify the machines standing against the walls or the ones sitting on the countertops. Same goes for the machine beeping quietly next to me. After staring at the same spot on the wall for a couple minutes, I shut my eyes, trying to block everything out. But memories bombard my mind anyway until I have no choice but to relive them.

The light hurt my eyes. I just wanted to keep them shut. But my desire to view my surroundings outweighed my desire to close them again. I blinked and blinked and finally was able to focus. Four walls, a ceiling and floor. A room. Shapes littered the space, and I could even name some of them. A table, two chairs, a shelf, and a door.

Then I saw him.

Grayish-brown hair on top of a long face. Flat eyebrows drawn together over dark eyes. He stared at me from behind two lenses, so I looked down at my hands, moved my fingers about, turning one palm face up. I used my other hand to trace the lines drawn there until the movement tickled my skin.

“Aiden.”

I glanced up at the man, and he took one step. Then another. He was so close now, and his eyes shone bright and…and happy. Something trickled down his cheeks. A tear. He was crying. Why?

“That’s my name,” I said.

He nodded. “And I’m Dr. Niels.”

I stood to find I was almost as tall as him. He still stared at me, and I didn’t understand why.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Think about what?”

He smiled—I liked that better than the crying. “Anything. Everything.”

“Where do you want me to start?”

He laughed. “Your choice.”

I scanned the room and blinked. “What’s going on? Where am I?”

“You were in an accident. You…nearly died. Thankfully, you’re okay now.”

My gaze fell on him again. “I know four different languages. I understand quantum physics, and I can play the piano with my eyes closed.” I paused. “But I can’t remember anything. Not yesterday or a month ago or years ago. Why? What does all of that mean?”

Dr. Niels walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder. “All that matters now is that you’re alive.”

The heavy metal door groans, releasing me from my memory, and the sound of footsteps drifts to my ears. Opening my eyes, I watch Dr. Niels enter the room first. Seeing him makes the back of my eyes burn and a heaviness settles deep in my chest. He said he’d give up everything for me. He cares about me more than anything else, and Carter is going to force him to kill me. Carter trails behind him, hands on his hips. Once inside the room, the door shuts behind them and Carter walks closer to me before turning to face Dr. Niels.

“You can’t expect me to do this,” Dr. Niels whispers. His eyes never leave my face, and I’m sick with so many emotions. Regret. Anguish. Shame.

“Yes. I do. And you’ll do as you’re ordered.”

Dr. Niels flinches. Shakes his head. “What kind of human being does that make you, ordering me to kill someone?”

Carter’s expression remains steadfast. “You’re comparing the life of a human with the life of a robot—a machine?”

“You’ve said it yourself, he thinks and feels like us. He experiences pain.” Dr. Niels pauses. “What does a human have that he does not?”

“Niels, we aren’t here to argue about the definition of a ‘human.’ You’re going to correct the mistake you made, and no one leaves this room until it’s done.”

Tense silence pulses through the small space like a living, breathing organism. My back presses hard against the metal of the chair when Dr. Niels treads forward and kneels on one knee next to me. He reaches for the machine at my side, pulling a long tube with a needle-like structure on the end.

“What is that?” I can’t help asking as he brings the tube toward my arm.

“It’s like an IV.” He swallows. Refuses to look at me. “The solution that will disperse is like a sedative. It’ll work its way through your body, shutting down your functions.”

Just like putting a dog down. I’m sure Carter appreciates this.

“How long will it take?” Carter asks, hovering a few feet away.

“A few minutes, most likely. Maybe less.”

“No.” My voice cracks and rattles around like I’m breathing nails.

Dr. Niels raises his head, face rippling in pain. He places one hand over mine, comforting me. Attempting to, anyway.

I nod and try to pull on a smile, wanting to tell him he shouldn’t feel guilty. This isn’t his fault, and I’d never blame him. Never. There are so many things I wish to tell him, and so many more things I never had the chance to tell Elena.

Too much left to say and no more time.

“Aiden,” Dr. Niels whispers so only I can hear him. “I said before that I care for you. You’re all I have left in the world. You are…you’re—”

“I know.” All the metal in my body melts into pure, liquid agony. His words aren’t necessary, so maybe that means mine aren’t, either.

His mouth shifts, so small, the movement barely there. It hardly qualifies as a smile. I blink down at my arm where the green tube runs from my wrist over to the death machine beside me. He’s already done it. Now, I only have to wait for consciousness to fade, like a sinking ship into the darkest night sea.

“Satisfied?” Dr. Niels says in a near snarl, standing.

“Not yet.” Carter moves closer, craning his neck, scrutinizing me as though this is a biology class and I’m today’s class lesson.

My gaze bounces between their faces, trying to read their expressions. Dr. Niels’s gaze darts around the room. He shifts, rubbing his hands together even though it’s not cold. Carter crosses his arms and leans casually to one side. My hands twitch with the urge to knock the smugness off his face. The desire should have bothered me—but it doesn’t.

I swallow thickly before speaking. “Think you could look less happy that you’re watching me die?”

“Happy? What about this makes you assume I’m happy?”

I choke on a laugh. “You can’t lie. Not about that. Not to me.”

Carter steeples his fingers together. “What, now you’re a human lie detector?”

Close enough. “Admit it.”

“You think I’m happy that years of research and hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone to waste? You think I enjoy any of this?”

I look away from him, unwilling to give this monster the benefit of seeing me in pain. How did someone so horrible create someone so beautiful and caring like Elena? Maybe he has another side to him, one that’s capable of compassion, like Elena claims, but this side definitely trumps all.

Shutting my eyes to the sick sensation washing over me, I pray for a quick ending. A noise from somewhere outside the room has my eyes opening wide, and I lean forward. The sudden movement makes the world twist and blur. The black-and-silver steel of the room spirals together, and I squint, trying to regain my focus.

The door opens, and even through the growing fog, I still find Elena’s eyes in a heartbeat. A rush of simultaneous warmth and frost races through me, stunning my senses into confusion.

“Aiden!”

At the same moment, Carter says, “Elena? What the hell are you doing here?”

Elena crosses the room faster than I thought possible, and she’s by my side in a flash, kneeling in front of me. I will my sight not to fail so I can see her without the dizzying haze clouding my vision, so she can be the last thing I see before I die.

“Dr. Burns,” Carter says, his voice booming and echoing in my head. “You’re out of line. Are you that desperate to lose your career, your license? You can’t be in here. And get my daughter the hell out of here.”

Elena says my name again. She says it slowly, hauntingly, like a prayer.

She places her hand against my chest, and I wish the restraints weren’t holding my hands captive so I could touch her, hold her. I want to wipe the fresh tears from her cheeks. All the things I’d wanted to say before seem needless now that she’s here. “Thank you.” I tip my head until our foreheads touch.

Elena takes in a breath that’s more like a sob, and suddenly she’s gone, her warmth stolen from me. In another flash, she’s standing in front of Carter. “Dad. You can’t do this. Please. You can’t.”

“Elena. You don’t know what you’re talking about. This isn’t a boy.” He throws his arm out in my direction. “He’s a machine. He kidnapped you! Aside from anything else, he is dangerous. No matter what he said, what he did, he’s not human. What were you thinking, coming here?”

“No,” she says. “You’re wrong, Dad. You can’t kill him. I won’t let you. It’s murder. How can you not see that?”

“You won’t let me? You’re only a child. This is beyond your comprehension. You don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“Yes, she does.” Dr. Burns’ voice draws my attention, and her face blurs into her short, dark, tight curls. “There’s something you should know. Everything isn’t what it seems. Listen, Carter, please. You need to hear this.” There’s a pause. One moment of silence. “Tell him.” Who is she talking to? “This is your chance to make him understand.”

My limbs are heavy. So fucking heavy. Like someone stuffed me full of bricks. The feeling travels to my head, but I fight against it with every ounce of willpower I can manage.

“Tell me what?” Carter asks, his words terse.

There’s loaded silence for another moment, then two.

Dr. Niels’s voice is nearly a shout. “Aiden isn’t just your project for you to deem effective or defective. He’s not just a robot, or just a machine with the capability to think and feel and understand.”

“We’ve been through this song and dance before,” Carter says. “You’re not telling me anything new, and there’s nothing left for you to say.”

“Yes, there is. Aiden…is my son.”