Chapter 14 - Five Years Later, I Returned to the Laboratory Where Everyone Had Laughed at Me—And Ethan Asked Me to Turn Prometheus Back OnFive years passed.
I was fifteen.
CrossTech had changed completely.
Prometheus had been rebuilt.
Not as a weapon.
Not as a secret.
As a clean-energy research system.
Ethan invited me to the laboratory.
“Ready?”
I smiled.
“I've been ready for five years.”
Mom stood beside Dad.
Marcus was there too.
The room was full of engineers.
This time, nobody laughed.
Ethan looked at me.
“Start it.”
I pressed the button.
The engine came alive.
Thirty seconds.
Sixty.
Ninety.
One hundred.
Two hundred.
It kept running.
No whistle.
No pulse.
No click.
Just a steady hum.
The room erupted in applause.
I looked at Dad.
He smiled.
I looked at Mom.
She was crying.
Ethan stepped forward.
“You know what I learned?”
“What?”
“Never underestimate the person holding the mop.”
I laughed.
“Or the girl holding the stuffed bear.”
May you like
He smiled.
“Especially her.”
