Belinda paused the video, looking at her Mother. She looked different from the other pictures she had seen of her. In all of John's pictures, she had a robust and beautiful look of a woman in perfect health. The public pictures of Ekaterina Seimovich had always been of a vibrant socialite, smiling and enjoying life. Even as she grew older this didn't change.
But here, she looked different. Her eyes were dull and her face showed little emotion. Her hair was cut short and functional, uncombed. She wore no makeup, as she did in every other picture, even those taken at ho. Wrinkles and stress marks were deeply etched into her face and what little they could see of her showed signs of weight loss. Her arms were thin, cheeks sunken. Belinda was struck by how similar she looked to Milo in that way when he worked too hard. But while Milo might look gaunt, her Mother looked haunted.
"I'm leaving this ssage, and others, in the hopes that John follows my instructions and keeps you inford. But I also know there is a chance that doesn't happen. I've been disappointed by so many people in my life. I fear he may be swayed by others. Money and power can warp the best of people, and John is not a strong person. A good man, down deep, but not strong. I chose him because I have limited options and limited ti. He loves and loves you, but that may not be enough.
"If my words upset you, I apologize but feel no remorse. Between my condition and the drugs I use to treat it, I find I have moved past emotions. I have only two left: The love I have for you, and the anger I will always have for what your father did. He killed our family. His obsession caused his own death and will soon cause mine. I have hope that you will survive us and thrive, but if your death cos early, you have your father to thank for that."
"If John and your dical staff have followed my instructions, you are now 14 and 90% physically mature. Your ntal capacity should exceed 99.999 percent of the human population of unenhanced humans, only surpassed by Batch Four and Batch Five. The drug program you are on will maintain your intelligence at this level and prevent the rapid growth of new nerve tissue that afflicts . You will finish maturing physically at age 20. I estimate that your lifespan will exceed 200 years based on the current state of dicine."
"All of my research is in these files. I have gathered everything from everywhere to form this archive. Most of it, while interesting, has nothing to do with you, or I. You will now have complete access to it, as your schooling and intelligence have prepared you to understand it. The decision to carry on my work, or to destroy everything, is up to you. My ti for making decisions grows short."
"I believe that while painful, it is important for you to know the truth. The background data is in these archives. You can see the legacy of your Father and Grandfather. I wish I had known all of this before I t him, and not after what he did to ."
"Your Father killed , just as surely as if he had fired a gun into my head. His obsessions with improving human intelligence, specifically in his own children, led him to take actions that violated human decency and the vows he made to when we married."
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"He was not prepared for my pregnancy. He specifically believed that we would not have children until he was ready. The LARC implants by Alchemarx are 99.9% effective. Nature decided that you were the one in one thousand baby. I was happy with that. Your Father, less so. I rember his shock, and anger when I didn't want to abort the pregnancy. When he gave up and agreed with , I should have known better."
"Three days later I felt dizzy and woke up in a hospital bed. Complications from the pregnancy, stress, low iron, and many other half-truths were given to . My 'condition' was serious and I stayed in that bed to not lose you, hooked up to his machines until your birth.
You were born with small abnormalities to your spinal column, but otherwise perfect. It wasn't until later that I learned what he had done."
"Bluntly, I did not pass out and nothing was wrong with you, or I. Your Father drugged to begin limited gene therapy upon you and implant nanite repositories in my womb that would continue the microsurgeries and drug treatnts as you matured. All the procedures are in the data, and I don't wish to talk about them now. If you weren't quite what your Father wanted, you were close, and he planned to get closer with our next child. What he hadn't accounted for was the effect his treatnts would have on ."
"Over the next year, my intelligence increased by a factor of four. I slept little and beca easily bored. I'd never been a great student, but now I absorbed data and forgot nothing. Vigo didn't notice, being absorbed with your growing intelligence. Your Father was negligent with his passwords, never assuming soone smarter than him could guess them, and soon I learned the truth. My anger at what he'd done was curbed by knowing what he could do. He was beyond human decency and I didn't wish to beco a prisoner in my own ho. I hid my intelligence, and went back to being a pretty wife to a genius doctor."
"My intelligence continued to increase and research into my own condition continued. At so point, I realized that I had very few years left to live and would be unable to hide it any longer. Leaving you to be raised by Vigo was out of the question."
"So I killed your Father."
"It was simple to do and to bla it on an angry mob. I think it felt like justice at the ti, but it's hard to rember now. I have no regrets. I barely have any feelings at all, other than a burning desire that you survive."
"Knowing that my condition would continue to progress, with my intelligence increasing and my physical and emotional health decreasing, I took steps to ensure your protection. Money is too tempting, so I put everything into a trust fund that will be available to you at 18. I married John because he loved , would love you, and hopefully be strong enough to do the right things. I left Uncle Victor be, as a check against John. Hopefully, the two will balance each other's ambitions until you take control."
"I don't think I want to see my end. To live in a padded cell as a madwoman, huddled in the corner with too many thoughts. I'm not sure how I will end my life, but it will be soon."
"Rember: You are smarter than everyone else. Do not believe that they can control you."
"I love you. Goodbye."
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