Chapter 17 - Under the Dome
Emergency lights glowed red.
Nathan moved Sophie behind him.
Mara pulled her toward a side aisle.
Elena grabbed the archival box.
Rebecca’s voice came through the dome.
“Leave the box beneath the projector.”
Nathan looked toward the control booth.
“Where are you?”
“Close.”
Daniel tried the doors.
Electronic locks.
He pulled his phone out.
No signal.
Rebecca had activated the planetarium shielding system used during sensitive demonstrations.
Elena whispered, “Maintenance tunnel.”
Jonah had once shown her the old service route.
Nathan nodded.
“Mara, take Sophie.”
Sophie resisted.
“No.”
Nathan knelt.
“This is not a star puzzle anymore.”
Her face tightened.
“I’m not leaving Mom.”
Elena crouched beside her.
“You’re not leaving me. You’re helping me.”
Sophie cried.
Elena kissed her forehead.
“Go.”
Mara led her toward the service hatch.
Rebecca’s voice sharpened.
“Sophie stays.”
Nathan felt rage but kept moving slowly.
“You don’t control her anymore.”
Rebecca laughed.
“You all keep saying that as though court orders change history.”
Elena called out, “You never loved her.”
Silence.
Then Rebecca answered.
“I loved what she could become.”
Nathan looked at Elena.
Rebecca continued.
“Do you know what it was like watching the two of you waste Asterion? Scientists playing family while payroll nearly failed. Nathan refusing investors because of pride. Elena approving temporary invoices and then pretending she was morally superior when she became frightened.”
“You stole millions,” Nathan said.
“I built leverage.”
“You kidnapped Sophie.”
“I took my legal daughter.”
“The adoption was fraudulent.”
“Now it is.”
A figure appeared in the upper booth.
Rebecca.
She held a small remote device.
No gun.
That frightened Nathan more.
“What is that?”
“A wipe command.”
Elena stared.
“For Hart Ridge?”
“For every Northlight server still connected.”
Daniel said, “If you wipe them, obstruction becomes another federal charge.”
Rebecca smiled.
“Only if someone proves I did it.”
Nathan held up the archival box.
“We don’t need the servers.”
Rebecca’s eyes dropped to it.
For the first time, fear broke through.
“The ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Rebecca pressed a button.
Smoke began pouring from the projection-control room.
Fire suppression alarms activated.
She intended chaos.
Daniel moved toward the stairs.
Rebecca fled.
Nathan handed the box to Elena.
“Go with Sophie.”
“What about you?”
“I’m ending this.”
“No.”
Nathan stopped.
Elena looked directly at him.
“This is the mistake you always make. You decide danger is yours to face alone.”
Nathan looked toward the stairwell.
Then back.
She was right.
Again.
“Together,” he said.
They followed Daniel.
Rebecca ran through an elevated service corridor toward the roof access.
Daniel cornered her at the metal stairs.
She raised the remote.
“Back up.”
Nathan stopped several feet away.
Elena joined him.
Rebecca laughed when she saw her.
“This is what you wanted? Your family back?”
Elena said nothing.
“You think Nathan forgives you?”
“No.”
That answer surprised Rebecca.
Elena continued.
“I don’t forgive him completely either.”
Nathan looked at her.
“We are not standing here because everything is repaired.”
Rebecca’s face changed.
“We’re standing here because you no longer get to decide which truth each of us receives.”
Rebecca’s hand trembled around the remote.
Nathan said, “You can destroy servers. You can’t erase Pike, Gavin, Daniel, Mara, the bank records, the telescope logs, the adoption file, Sophie’s statement, or the ledger.”
Rebecca whispered, “You think Gavin’s testimony survives cross-examination?”
“Some of it won’t.”
“You think Elena walks away clean?”
“She won’t.”
Elena flinched but nodded.
“You think you keep Asterion?”
“Maybe I don’t.”
That finally defeated something in Rebecca’s expression.
Nathan continued.
“You built your entire life around the idea that everyone would protect what they were ashamed to lose.”
Rebecca stared.
“And?”
“We stopped.”
Sirens approached outside.
Daniel had reached a hardwired emergency switch.
Rebecca looked toward the roof door.
Then at the remote.
Then at the box.
For one second Nathan thought she might run.
Instead she threw the remote over the railing.
Daniel caught her wrist as she tried to follow it.
Police entered moments later.
Rebecca did not fight.
As officers handcuffed her, Sophie appeared at the bottom of the stairs with Mara.
Rebecca looked down.
“Sophie.”
The child stepped behind Mara.
Rebecca’s face twisted.
“I made you breakfast every morning.”
Sophie said nothing.
“I sat with you when you were sick.”
Sophie’s lip trembled.
Then she answered.
“You also told me Mom didn’t love me.”
Rebecca had no reply.
Sophie looked at the torn notebook in her hands.
“You wanted me to forget her.”
Then she looked directly at Rebecca.
“But you ripped the page that showed me how to find her.”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
May you like
Police led her away.
And for the first time since the planetarium message began, Nathan realized Rebecca’s worst act had created the one opening she could never close.
