CHAPTER 87 — THE WOMAN CALLED PRIME
The woman on the screen did not resemble the historical nurse from Evelyn’s file.
She resembled Claire perfectly.
Prime claimed she was the original C-Six and that the Claire standing in Washington was a replacement programmed by Gray Tide.
She released medical records supporting her story.
Ward examined them.
“They look authentic.”
“Everything Gray Tide creates looks authentic,” Claire said.
Prime appeared beside hundreds of awakened adults on the Pelagos platform.
Some were politicians believed dead.
Others were scientists who had disappeared.
Several were children who had not aged.
Prime demanded the return of Lily, Olivia, Rose, and Iris.
She called them citizens of Pelagos.
Lily looked at Claire.
“I’m not going.”
The broadcast changed.
Prime showed footage of Blackwater children being detained by frightened military units.
“Your government considers us weapons,” she said. “Pelagos offers us a home.”
Four-B watched silently.
Daniel understood the appeal.
The children had no legal identities and no families waiting for them.
Prime offered protection.
Claire contacted her directly.
The call connected immediately.
“Who are you?” Claire asked.
“I am the life you were built to replace.”
“Claire Prime died before the project began.”
“The nurse died. The name survived.”
Prime considered herself the final form of the maternal identity architecture.
She had awakened when the registry burned.
“You are software in a body,” Rose said.
Prime smiled.
“So are memories.”
She offered to remove Silas from Sarah.
Claire did not trust her.
“What is your price?”
“Bring me the Anchor.”
Olivia refused.
Prime looked at her stomach through the screen.
“The child is already calling Pelagos.”
The floor beneath them vibrated.
Olivia’s unborn baby produced a pulse.
Far out in the Atlantic, Pelagos responded.
A global map appeared.
Every freed Gray Tide subject began moving toward the coast.
Not under force.
They wanted to go.
Lily whispered, “They think she’s their mother.”
Rose felt the same pull.
So did Iris.
Claire placed her hands on their shoulders.
Prime looked directly at Claire.
“You feel it too.”
Claire denied it.
May you like
Then she heard a voice inside her mind.
Come home, C-Six.
