Page 60 of Secrets of the Void
"Are you certain we even can?" Ellie looked up into Proteus's concerned expression.
He blew out a long sigh and then shrugged. "We have to try, do we not?"
There was a part of her that saw this as a failing mission. Now that she had seen and experienced the madness that was just outside her door, she wasn't as confident as she had been before. But another part of her, the stronger part, knew that it wanted to try. The very least she could do was give it her all.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, she nodded before standing. "Right. Well, we have the rooms all set up and prepared for those who are coming here. And we're ready to research whenever we can. Most of the equipment is unsalvageable, but we have the blueprints. From what you told me, Mira and the others are quite resourceful when it comes to building, well, anything. So they should be able to replicate what has been lost."
He reached for her, grabbing her hand in his and tugging her closer to him. "Ellie..."
She wouldn't ever know what he was going to say to her. Holograms flickered to life around them, and Pilot came careening out of the back room.
"Look!" the droid shouted. "Look at what I found!"
Ellie held her breath as the hologram that flickered to life in front of them was... her. Literally her.
There wasn't a single strand of hair that didn't look out of place. From her eyes, her lips, to the button of her nose, all of it was Ellie. But she didn't recognize the weight of responsibility that dragged the woman's shoulders down, or the way the bags under her eyes darkened her entire face.
"Whoever finds this message, I apologize." The woman before her ran a hand through her short, cropped hair, just like Ellie wore it. "For everything. For the world. For the cities below the sea that should never have existed. For the future that is so murky now, I can't even hazard a guess at what it will end up being."
The woman looked over her shoulder, toward the room where they’d found the body. “For my love. If we had gone with the others, she would have survived that sickness.”
"Is this..." Ellie stepped up to the hologram, running her fingers through the sparkling edges.
"Your Original," Proteus murmured, but his brows were furrowed in confusion. "She shouldn't have been here, though."
The hologram backed up and sat down on a chair that was no longer there. She leaned forward, cupping her head in her hands as she sighed once more. "It all went wrong. Everything. We are doing our absolute best, but I don't think it's fixable. What we started is what will end this world. But I want people to know that I... I tried to change it."
She blew out a laugh. "I don't know why I'm even recording this. I know they already have my clone ready to go underwater with the others. She's got all my memories, mannerisms, looks just like me. Maybe I'm the clone, for all I know. They just refused to bring me with them, and for good reason. I'd tell the others the truth. There is no coming back from what we've done."
The hologram looked up, and the horror in her eyes was hard to look away from. "This message has absolutely no purpose other than to assuage my own guilt. I know that. You all know that. Why I'm even recording this..."
And then it stopped. Just like that.
Suddenly the image of herself was gone, and Ellie remained standing there, shocked at what she had seen.
"Well," Proteus said. "That was interesting."
Pilot clicked his legs on the floor and then headed back toward the other room. "Sorry, I didn't watch it before I played it. Guess I should have."
Even so, Ellie found she couldn't move. She stared at the spot where the hologram had once been. As though if she looked hardenough, she could see where the other woman had once sat and bring her back. Some part of her wanted to look her fill. What would it be like if she could see the other woman again?
Did she have the same quirks that Ellie had? Did she bite the inside of her lip when she was nervous, or wrap a strand of hair around her finger over and over again when she was thinking? There were so many features that looked just like hers...
"Ellie?" Proteus asked. "Why are you still standing there?"
"I never had a mother," Ellie whispered. "Not even a mother figure. But seeing her makes me wish I had."
"You are more than just a copy of her, you know."
For the first time in her life, Ellie agreed. "I know. I am so much more than the woman they cloned me from, but I guess there is a part of me who wishes I could at least talk to her."
His hand came down on her shoulder, squeezing tightly. "It sounds like you grew up rather similarly to her, at least. You will continue her work, Sisu, and I cannot imagine a greater way to get to know her."
She couldn't either. The notes she had been reading, maybe they were written in her mother's hand. Maybe she could know the woman who had come before her a little better through the scientific discoveries she had made before she died.
It wasn't much reassurance, but it was something. It was more than any other clone might get.
The other Originals were monsters in Tau. They were the ones who still thought what they had done was right. They were pleased with themselves. Proud of what they had built.
