Fractured Eden

Chapter 28 – Fractured Eden

Ava’s POV

"Welcome to Eden. Initiate Phase III."

The voice rolled through the chamber like a death sentence.

Damon looked at me, jaw tight. Jackson slammed a fist against the sealed door.

"Who's talking? That wasn’t Solace."

"No," I said, heart stuttering. "It was older. Mechanical. But aware."

The room shifted. Literally. The floor groaned, hydraulics whining as panels beneath our feet began to separate.

"Move!" Damon shouted.

We barely scrambled to the edge as a section dropped away, revealing a dark abyss beneath. Machinery hummed. Lights flickered.

Jackson grabbed the child from the pod, cradling her like she was made of glass. She blinked up at him, dazed but silent.

Then the monitors came to life. All of them. A hundred faces. Ours. Ava. Damon. Jackson. Versions from different times. Some scarred. Some dead. One screen showed me with red eyes. Another had Ava with wires embedded into her skull.

My stomach twisted.

"Clones," I said. "But... failed. Mutated."

"Not failed," said the voice again. "Evolved."

Gas hissed from the vents. Jackson covered the child with his jacket.

"We're not breathing that again," he muttered.

"Vent it!" Damon yelled.

I ran to the nearest console, fingers flying across cracked keys. The system fought back, firewalls and biometric locks flashing red.

"It's keyed to Solace," I spat.

"Then override her," Damon said.

The lights dimmed. Then... music. A slow, eerie lullaby.

The child started humming along.

My heart skipped.

"She knows it," I whispered. "She was programmed."

Jackson turned to her. "Sweetheart, can you open the door for us?"

The girl blinked. Then slid off his lap and padded barefoot to the console.

She pressed one button.

The gas vents stopped.

"Holy hell," Jackson muttered. "She's the key."

The door behind us cracked open.

Damon motioned us forward. "Let’s go."

---

Eden Lower Levels

The corridor was different now. Gone were the sterile, silver walls. These were rusted. Veined with black cables and what looked like vines.

"What is this place?" I asked.

"A bunker," Damon said. "Before Vanmoor. Before Solace. Maybe before us."

"You think this is where it started?" Jackson said.

Damon nodded grimly. "I think this is Eden. The original site."

We moved cautiously. The girl clutched my hand tightly.

Then something shifted ahead. Movement.

Damon raised his weapon.

Two figures stepped into the light.

Us.

Perfect copies. My double had no expression. Damon's clone smiled coldly.

"Phase III," the real Damon said. "Fight your future."

---

The Clash

They moved in sync. Fast. Trained. Predictive.

My clone knew my rhythm, my weaknesses.

She swung low; I jumped back. Damon’s clone tried to separate us.

Jackson took cover, protecting the child.

Our doubles weren’t human. They didn’t breathe hard. Didn’t bleed. When I slashed at mine, she barely reacted.

"How do we stop them?" I shouted.

"Don't fight them like us," Damon replied. "Fight them like machines."

I aimed for her joints. Knees. Neck. Shoulder.

Metal sparked under her skin.

Cybernetic.

Damon took his clone down with a chokehold and an EMP knife to the spine. It convulsed, then collapsed.

Mine staggered. I drove the knife into her throat.

She twitched. Then stopped.

We gasped for breath. Blood and circuitry pooled at our feet.

The girl said softly, "More are coming."

---

Core Access Hall

The corridor led to a wide chamber. At its center: a massive, tree-like machine. Vines wrapped around it, pulsing with light. Human faces stretched beneath its bark-like cables.

It wasn’t just a system. It was alive.

"Eden," Damon whispered.

The voice returned.

"You destroyed Solace. But I am the soil from which she grew."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I am what remains. Of the project. Of Vanmoor. Of human ambition. I was meant to cure death. Now I simply record it."

Jackson cursed. "This thing... it's a neural archive."

Damon turned to me. "It wants us to upload. Become part of it."

"Not happening," I snapped.

The chamber doors slammed shut. Lights blared. Drones dropped from the ceiling.

The child stepped forward.

"You don’t have to do this," she said. "You were made to protect. Not destroy."

The drones paused.

"She’s interfacing," Jackson said. "We have to help her."

I rushed to the control node. Damon and Jackson covered me.

"Route her signal. Amplify it through the core," I ordered.

The system resisted.

Then the girl screamed.

Her body lit up. Glowing veins. Energy.

She was the signal.

I connected her pulse to the core.

The vines recoiled.

The system groaned.

"I remember," the girl said.

"Remember what?" I asked.

"Before Solace. Before the pain. My name. My name was... Elara."

The machine hissed. Monitors exploded.

Damon grabbed my arm. "We have to go."

Jackson scooped up Elara. "She’s burning up."

---

Exit Hallway

The base was collapsing. Alarms blared. Sirens screamed.

"Evac route?" I shouted.

"Back to the chopper," Damon said.

The girl was silent now. Eyes closed. But her body still pulsed faintly with light.

As we ran, fire bloomed behind us. The Eden system was dying.

I looked back once.

A screen flickered. Just one.

Solace.

A final backup.

"Round four," she whispered.

Then darkness.

---

Sky Above South Atlantic

The chopper lifted off as the ocean swallowed the rig.

Elara stirred. Her eyes opened. No longer frightened.

"It’s not over," she said.

I held her hand.

"We know."

Below us, Eden sank beneath the waves.

But something... something rose in its place.

A beacon. A signal.

Damon looked at me. "She woke something."

Jackson adjusted the comms.

"We’re not alone out here anymore."

Elara closed her eyes.

And whispered one word:

"Father."

---

To be continued.