Read Online The Atlantis World (The Origin Mystery, Book 3) by A.G. Riddle - Free Book Online

develop me to standard age. I was born as a human and lived a human life. I formed my own memories.” She smiled. “Some with you. And then the Atlantis Plague hit. I think the radiation retriggered the resurrection process, the evolutionary components. It’s trying to overwrite the memories I formed, but it’s failing. The resurrection process has a failsafe. If the brain is damaged or resurrection fails, the tube destroys the biological matter and recycles it. It starts over.”
    “You’re not in a tube.”
    “Correct. But the hard-wired processes are the same. My brain, specifically my temporal lobe, will shut down in a few days, and then my heart will stop. I will die.”
    “Won’t you resurrect?”
    “No. The tubes in this part of the ship are destroyed.”
    David’s mind flashed to a memory of four tubes cracking and crumbling to the floor in a pile of white dust.
    “It’s better this way. If I resurrected, I would be the same age, with the same memories and neurological condition. The outcome would be the same. I would die an endless number of times.”
    “Purgatory. Like the Atlanteans in Antarctica.”
    Kate nodded. “This will be better. I will die here and never resurrect. It will be very peaceful.”
    “The hell it will.”
    “There’s nothing I can do about it.”
    “So why all this?” David pointed to the glass vats.
    “I’ve been trying to access the lost memories, hoping they could correct my condition.”
    David stared at her. “And?”
    “They’re gone. Janus must have deleted them. I don’t see how—there are strict regulations around resurrection memory storage. The computer core may have been damaged during the attack. Some memories are corrupted. I had hoped I could find some clue about the enemy that destroyed the Atlantis world, the enemy that could one day come for Earth. It’s the best thing I can do with my time.”
    “Not true.”
    “What would you have me do?”
    “Leave.”
    “I can’t—”
    “I won’t watch you die here, in a lab, floating in a vat like some experimental rat. Leave with me—”
    “I can’t.”
    “You can. Look, I grew up on a small farm in North Carolina. I have about half a PhD in Medieval European History, and I’m a really good shot. That about sums me up. I’m in so far over my head here I can’t see the surface, but I will go wherever this road takes us—if we’re together. I’m in love with you. In fact, you’re the only thing I love in this whole world. We can leave here. I can take care of you. You can die like a human. We can enjoy the time you have left, live every day to the fullest.”
    “I don’t know…”
    “What’s to think about?”
    Kate walked away from him. “I’m not going to run away and wither and die. I want to fight. I’m going to press on. I’m going to do whatever I can to help people. That’s why I became a scientist. It’s what I dedicated my life to, and I won’t change in my final hour for a few days of comfort. This is how I want to spend my last hours.”
    “What about dying with dignity? About spending the time we have left together?”
    “I want that too.”
    “I can haul you out of here if it would make you feel better.”
    Kate smiled. “I’m not scared of you.”
    David couldn’t help but shake his head and grin. “I’d like to remind you that I’m a trained killer.”
    “I’m only afraid of untrained killers.”
    He laughed, almost against his will. “Unbelievable. Look, all I ask is that you consider it—leaving here. The Immari are defeated. The plague is cured. You’ve given enough. Sleep on it. Let’s talk in the morning, and I hope, leave together.”
    He walked to the doors.
    “Where are you going?”
    “I need some fresh air.”

    Paul had been watching the weather system out the plane’s window, wondering if it was a hurricane or just a bad storm. The rain came, first in sheets, then in a constant gale of water, pushing the plane down, bogging the engines and