Chapter 29
Three Daniels
The three men in the bleachers looked identical to Daniel.
One wore a county uniform. One wore a hospital gown. One wore a dark suit with a brass resort badge.
Daniel stared at them as if the sight had removed the floor.
“Which one is me?” he asked.
The copy answered, “The one who remembers asking.”
“I never asked.”
The man in the hospital gown stepped down from the bleachers. “You asked us to keep Rowan alive.”
The suited man followed. “You asked us to make the records clean.”
The uniformed man smiled. “You asked us to make you innocent.”
Daniel raised his weapon, but he did not know which target to choose.
Claire moved between him and the three men.
“The program cannot create a person from nothing,” she said.
The copy looked at her. “No. It creates a person from what everyone else agrees to forget.”
Lucy walked toward the bleachers. “Noah.”
The hospital-gown Daniel turned his head.
Lucy took another step. “You know who I am.”
“I know who you were.”
“Then say my name.”
The man opened his mouth.
No sound came out.
Lucy slapped him.
The gym lights burst white.
Every screen displayed the same word: WITNESS.
Claire understood the trap. The system did not need them to identify the real person. It needed them to choose a version, then record the choice as consent.
She grabbed the clipboard from the copy.
The page contained one blank line.
I confirm that the following person is the original:
Claire wrote a name.
The system accepted it before anyone could read.
The gym doors opened.
Outside stood Owen Bell.
He looked at Claire's handwriting and smiled.
“You chose Mara,” he said.