Chapter 6 - THE CHILD HE NEVER KNEW
Natalie turned slowly toward Mara.
Her mother couldn't look at her.
Michael went pale.
Emma.
Her daughter.
The little girl sleeping in seat 8C.
Natalie whispered:
“What did he mean?”
Mara shook her head.
“Natalie…”
“What did he mean?”
Michael stepped forward.
“Don't do this here.”
“Answer me.”
Michael looked at her.
Then he closed his eyes.
“I am Emma's father.”
Natalie stared.
“You just said—”
“I mean biologically.”
The cockpit became silent.
Natalie's world shattered.
“You're her father.”
“Yes.”
“I know that.”
“No.”
Michael's voice cracked.
“I mean you weren't supposed to be able to have children.”
Natalie stopped breathing.
Mara spoke softly.
“After Nightfall, they told us you had suffered injuries that made pregnancy impossible.”
Natalie remembered the doctors.
The tests.
The years of unexplained medical appointments.
Then Emma was born.
A miracle.
At least, that's what Natalie had believed.
Michael continued.
“Your father used experimental treatment on you before Nightfall. He altered your reproductive system because he was studying whether the neural pattern could be passed to a child.”
Natalie looked toward the cabin.
Emma was asleep.
Her daughter had never known any of this.
“She was part of the experiment?”
Mara began crying.
“We didn't know.”
“You knew enough.”
Natalie's voice shook with rage.
The aircraft suddenly descended again.
Daniel shouted.
“We're losing control!”
Natalie turned toward the instruments.
The system had locked the manual controls.
She understood.
Her father wasn't trying to crash them.
He was trying to force her into using the override.
He needed her brain to authenticate the system.
But he had made one mistake.
He had underestimated a mother.
Natalie looked at Daniel.
“What's our distance from the airfield?”
“Eight minutes.”
“Can we land without the computer?”
“Not safely.”
“Can we divert?”
“No.”
Natalie nodded.
“Then we'll do something else.”
She grabbed the emergency microphone.
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Natalie Reed.”
The cabin quieted.
“I need everyone to remain seated.”
Her voice was calm.
“I'm going to ask you to trust me.”
In the back of the aircraft, Emma opened her eyes.
She looked toward the cockpit.
“Mom?”
A flight attendant crouched beside her.
“Your mom is helping the pilots.”
Emma looked at the dark ceiling.
Then she whispered something.
Something only her mother had taught her.
“If you're scared, count backward.”
Ten.
Nine.
Eight.
Natalie heard it through the open cockpit door.
Her daughter's voice.
Seven.
Six.
Five.
Natalie smiled.
She had taught Emma that trick during thunderstorms.
Now it reminded her why she had to survive.
She turned to Michael.
“You're going to help me.”
“How?”
“You know the system.”
“Yes.”
“Then tell me how to break it.”
Michael looked at her.
“If we break it, the aircraft will lose navigation.”
“Then I'll navigate.”
“Using what?”
Natalie pointed to the stars outside the windshield.
“Those.”
Michael stared.
“You're serious.”
“I flew at night over oceans before GPS existed.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Can you really do this?”
Natalie tightened her grip.
“I don't need the aircraft to know where we're going.”
She looked at the sky.
“I just need to know.”
Then the cockpit speakers crackled again.
Her father's voice returned.
“You're becoming exactly like me.”
Natalie answered:
“No.”
May you like
She looked toward her sleeping daughter.
“I'm becoming the person you never were.”
