My mother, Dr. Josephine Shaw.
I lowered my arm and went a step further by releasing his shirt from my grasp. Putting some space between us, I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for some type of explanation-the kind only Dr. Shaw could provide.
Dr. Shaw patted my back then fixed my bow tie before she turned her attention to the fraud wearing my face. “Who made you?”
Any trace of smugness vanished as he narrowed his eyes at my mother. “That’s a personal question.”
Dr. Shaw lifted an eyebrow. “Do you know who I am?”
The ‘not Dax’ smirked. “Of course, I do.”
“Then you know I did not have a hand in creating you. So I’ll ask again, who made you?” My mother’s tone was serious. It’s the voice she used when one of us was not complying to her satisfaction.
Reaper made her use that voice a lot.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t have to tell you anything.”
I strode over and shoved him. “Then tell me. Because the way I see it, you are nothing more than an imposter! Some other model type that you or someone else must have dressed up to look like me! For what purpose I do not know. But there is no way you are what you say you are!”
He tilted his head to the side. “Are you sure about that?” He stepped closer. “Look into my eyes, really look at me, and tell me I’m not like you.” He took another step, his eyes flashing. “Do you know what it is like to be created simply to be a copy of the great and brilliantDax? She was so jealous of you. Jealous over the fact that her youngersisterhad created the best cyborg, and no matter how hard she tried, she could never replicate you.”
Dr. Shaw let out a pained gasp. “No, it can’t be. My sister went missing. She couldn’t have...” Her voice trailed off, hurt and shock on her face.
The ‘not Dax but now maybe could be Dax number two’ eyes softened then he shook his head. “Your parents lied to you. Your sister couldn’t contain her jealousy over the fact you were younger and more brilliant than she would ever be. They sent her away to get help. It only made her hate you more.” He stepped back from me, swallowing hard. “After you escaped from the Global Allegiance with Dax, they needed someone to carry on with your research. Guess who they found? They let her out and gave her a lab even though they knew she wasn’t stable. That didn’t matter to them. All they wanted was more cyborgs. Ones who wouldn’t demand to be free. Ones they could control.”
He pointed at himself. “The first thing she did was create me. She couldn’t beyouwithout aDax.But unlike the real Dax, she couldn’t map Dr. Shaw’s brain, so instead she gained a scan of Dax’s processors and copied it, uploading it into the frame of the first Science Model you made.”
“My brother?” I whispered, horror flooding my veins. I knew my mother had created a Science Model before me, but she had explained that she’d lost him. He was fully formed, but his processors failed before he had been freed from the vat.
The loss nearly crippled my mother. She had almost not wanted to try again but in the end, she spent days and weeks pouring over the creation process, determined not to repeat the mistake that cost her my brother.
On her next attempt, she got it right and she brought me into the world, loving me from day one. From the moment I had been free of the vat, I had remained by her side.
He had to be lying. My mother would have told me if she had kept my brother.Being the only Science Model and the only cyborg that had been allowed to stay with Dr. Shaw had made me an outcast to my own kind.
Things were good now. I belonged. My fellow cyborgs had accepted me. But if I had known that my brother’s frame was out there somewhere…I twisted around and saw the truth in my mother’s tear filled eyes.
She had kept my brother, and she had never told me.Betrayal ripped through me. My knees buckled, sending me to the floor.
“All this time…why? Why would you let me believe I was the only one?” My voice cracked as I struggled to breathe, my chest drawing tight. I hadn’t felt this way since…since they had taken Poe and lied to me.
I clutched my chest, clawing at my shirt as I panted, my circuits spinning.
“What’s wrong with him?” My brother…no, not my brother…I wasn’t sure anymore. The walls closed in, voices fading away as I swayed on my knees.
“Dax, hold on, I’ll get Poe.” My mother’s face swam in front of my eyes. She went to pull me towards her, but I twisted out of her grasp.
“Don’t t-t-touch m-m-me,” I stammered, my vocal systems not functioning properly.
Strong hands grabbed me, green eyes the same shade as mine boring into mine. “Breathe. In, out. Come on, breathe with me, Dax.”
I did as instructed, watching his mouth and mirroring his breaths. In, out. In, out, until the blackness threatening to consume me began to fade. My systems regulated, my processors stopping their frantic spinning.
My visual systems came back online, and I focused on his face. Exactly like mine, yet not. He wasn’t a fraud or an imposter. He was the brother I should have had beside me all these years.
But we knew nothing about each other. I don’t know why he hadn’t tried to find me. He didn’t know about Poe or about how I wished for this day to become a reality.
But what had he wished for? Had he hoped to never see my face? Had he raged at me for being the reason he had been brought cruelly into the world to serve some insane woman and appease her jealousy?