I shake out sore muscles from laying in the bathtub for too long, wincing when I find the elbow that I fell on. The condensation on the mirror is thick. I wipe at it in one swift swoop. Beyond it, I see a face I barely recognize. Dim blue eyes rimmed in red. The color missing from my cheeks despite the heat in the bathroom. I turn, flipping off the bathroom light. There was nothing more I needed to see.

The clock above the table read 9:42. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't even stay awake. I felt haunted and there was no other way I could put it. Pressing the power button on my computer, the gentle hum of the machine was strangely soothing. Of all the things in my life that I couldn't control, this was the one space that was all mine.

My business card read "Carson Andrews- Private Cyber Security Analyst" though basically I built and monitored cyber security systems for companies. The best part of it being that I could completely run it from my home, wherever it may be, since the companies installed the programs onto their own servers.

But work wasn't what I was after for today; I didn't even have any help requests to service. Today I was on a different mission. I have spent years hiding my dad's research. It's about damn time to figure out why it kept haunting me. At the very least, it might answer some questions that I had thus far been successful at convincing myself were unimportant.

While the system booted up, I went to the front door. Walking exactly one, two, three strides into the apartment. To the one floorboard that was just the slightest bit loose. I lifted the rug I used to dampen the creak. I counted one, two, three, four, five boards in, to the right of the baseboard. Carefully, I pried the board up and took the hard drive out from the hallow below. Brushing off a few dust bunnies, I plugged it into my computer.

The feelings of hatred bubbled up in my conscious. My entire world came crashing down on me the day I took hold of this small black box. I hated that I was the one who had to carry this around. Running every few months, fundamentally changing my identity before I can be detected again. I hated that this was the very reason my parents are dead, why I lost Aideen. I hated the very existence of this little black box merely based upon principle.

A login box popped up on my screen. The password would be simple enough. I was meant to be able to open this; it was for me after all. I typed in the first thing that came to mind.

ALTAIR

And I was in. A video player popped onto my display. I could see my dad's face. He must have been sitting in our living room when he made this.

I sat, staring at the screen. Hesitantly, I clicked play, not sure if I wanted to see what my father had to say.

Emerson, if you are seeing this, I am sorry. I can only imagine what you have been going through. Knowing you, it is probably been a number, probably a large one, of years since I died. I must be dead, that is the only way you would have access to this. I wish you would have opened this sooner, but I suppose better late than never. I am going to assume that your mother also will tell you to be cautious of this, which will only make you less inclined to look through this hard drive.

To give you a time frame, you just turned 15; oh, my boy, what a wonderful young man you have become. I see you remember the name of our favorite star. Do you remember all the times we camped out in the backyard looking up at it in the summer sky? You must, you decided to go camping on the mountain tonight to look at it again. It will be the perfect night for it, I checked the star forecast. But, uh, I didn't make this video just to talk about stars. It's just that I fear we won't have many more opportunities.

Me and your mother made the decision long ago to keep you out of our work until you were ready to understand the full context. You see, I started this research project when your mother and I found out that we were pregnant to ensure your future; we tried for you for so long, I got it in my head to protect you. Though I fear that I might have created something that might do just the opposite.

My private research team was conscripted by the US government by the order of the President, to engineer the "perfect soldier". This should come as no surprise. We have been trying to improve human performance as a society for many years ago. So, anyways, the "perfect soldier" we were creating, and we were succeeding.

Recently, after the assassination of former president, James Finch, the project was meant to be passed over to the direction of new elect Mary Wallis, as it had been at the end of each four-year presidential term. And while the project passed to her control, we were sold to a non-government organization called Cerberus, the very group who is currently under investigation spearheading for the assassination of Finch, also this group primarily funded Wallis' campaign. Make of that what you will. The issue is, under our contract drafted upon the start of the project, should the project ever leave the hands of US government, all data is considered owned by the project not the project organizers. Meaning Cerberus has no legal ownership of the project, past or future. I don't think they were aware of this upon purchase.

Within this hard drive you will find the only copies of the tests, test subjects, and results of our findings; our entire project is held within this one small box. This is intentional. We never made any copies; we knew what we were doing, in the wrong hands, should be considered a matter of great national security.

Since the change in ownership late last year, my project team has been going missing and I have to fear the worst. I worry that while the information is all here physically, it is also in the minds of those who made the discoveries. And while our team is sworn to absolute secrecy under the penalty of high treason, one has to be alive to face treason charges. For this reason, I fear they are coming for me and then your mom next. Which is why, you as the son of the project leaders, are now the sole proprietor of the data. This is a burden I would never have asked you to bare. My own hope then is that your ignorance is your savior, that you got to carry around a small black for years not truly knowing why. Now that you have opened the door to what you will be running from, may you come out on the other side unscathed.

The video faded to black, replaced instead with hundreds of files all with various names, dates and codes I didn't understand.

I knew my parents were researchers, I knew their project was sold to a non-government agency and that's when they started going missing. He must have filmed this video the night I was camping with Aideen. The night before we left our small life in California leaving everything, including our identities behind.

I got up from my computer. I couldn't sit still anymore. I paced the floor, going over what I know in my head. A) my parents had likely succeeded engineered the perfect soldier. B) They were hunted down and killed for what they knew. C) They trusted me to keep it safe, which is why I have had six different identities in the past decade. D) Cerberus has been in control of the US government for the past decade. E) I was the only on in the entire country who knows the truth.

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Whoa! I have readers! Fueled by the recent uptick in votes (THANK YOU), I literally dropped my homework -lesson planning can wait, Wattpad cannot- to proof this and get it published. Your support means so much to me! More to come soon, the writing urge has started to itch and now I must scratch it!

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