Branches of Longevity Challenge: Sidestory: Knitrias‘ guilt

Knitrias Maryana had spent her time acting from the shadows since the reign of the Statute, although it’s not around anymore, she still hasn’t finished changing the world. Her supporters have increased over the years, but her most trusted allies and partners have been Bernard Williams and his wife Sabrina Williams. The backing she got from the minority group was essential as well, but not comparable to the dedication the Williams have shown throughout the years.

Knitrias remembers a talk she had with those two. They are both engineers and wanted to engineer their own child as proof of their love for eachother. Since she is a mother herself, she could understand that wish quite well, but she still tried to advise them against it, knowing how involved they were with her. It was already a big burden for her to know she had involved Kortis in her complicated and dangerous life, by changing her code and bringing him into this vastly changing world.
There was no need to involve another innocent life in this extremely risky and dangerous life they were leading. No matter how much she pleaded and tried to reason with Bernard and Sabrina, it just didn’t seem to reach them.

One day Knitrias hadn’t seen Sabrina and Bernard for a whole day, she felt uneasy. Usually they would both be right by her side for most of the day. It was highly unusual for them to stay away for so long, especially not seeing either of them at least once during the day. Could it be?.... NO! Why won’t they listen… Knitrias was in shock the moment she realized, why they had been absent all day. She rushed to the engineering lab as fast as she could, stumbling a few times on the way.

**“SABRINA! BERNARD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! DID YOU NOT LISTEN TO ME AT ALL?! CAN YOU IMAGINE THE LIFE THAT CHILD WILL LEAD?! HAVE YOU GONE MAD?!“, Knitrias throat started hurting from yelling as loud as her vocal cords allowed. Bernard turned around to adress Knitrias, while Sabrina continued with the engineering process, „You wouldn’t understand my dear friend, you have Kortis. You have already given in to desire, you even changed your code to have a biological child, that is something we are not capable of achieving. You never shared your knowledge with us, how to change our code like you did, now you lecture us, although we are just doing what we can to achieve our dream…. I understand she might have a hard life, but we will be there to support and protect her… You worry too much Knitrias.“, Sabrina added „I know you care for us hun, but we will be fine, this child will be strong, stronger than any of us! She will change the world, not just fulfill our dreams. Don’t forget, I might not be a mother, but I am a woman after all, I care for her, otherwise I would not be creating her. You know I would never harm anyone intentionally… I really appreciate your concern, but I already know what we will do, in case it ever gets too dangerous for her to stay with us.“

Knitrias was at a loss, there was no reasoning with them and the process was already at the late stage. There was no stopping them now. If only I had noticed sooner… Since it has already come to this, I will protect this child to the best of my ability, even if she one day won’t be able to stay with us anymore…

Sabrina and Bernard surprised Knitrias when they told her the name of the little girl and the reason why her name is Coryana. Knitrias was moved and suddenly she felt even more inclined to help take care of her.

Coryana developed very fast and started learning at a very early age, she even showed interest in her parents work, when she was only 1 1/2 years old. Knitrias saw the potential Sabrina had talked about when creating her. This child could surpass me by far, if lead in the right direction… But how long will this work? The government is still trying to find us and the minority group… They are getting closer to finding us, we have to change our location soon…

** Eight months later they had changed their location, but what they didn’t know, was that someone had set them up.**

Someone had tipped off the government on their new location before they even moved.
One night Knitrias woke up in fear, she heard footsteps, voices, things breaking. She jumped up out of bed and ran to Sabrina, Bernard and Coryana, but she had to watch out not to get caught by the intruders on her way. Once she reached their room, she took a look around before entering, “Sabrina, Bernard, Coryana, are you here? Are you okay?“, she whispered. “Yes, Knitrias, we are fine. What’s going on?“, Sabrina quietly asked.
“I assume someone gave away our location to set us up… Sabrina do you remember what we prepared for Coryana? I think now is the time, I will contact Rona to get her out of here… Sorry, I should have been more cautious….“, she looked at Coryana with sadness in her eyes. “It’s okay my friend, we knew this day could come… You did the best you could, you even helped us find a way out for Coryana.“, Bernard hugged Coryana while he was trying to reassure Knitrias.

Coryana was only 2 years old, she looked at her parents with utter confusion. The only thing she could understand was something about her leaving, but she didn’t know they were talking about her leaving without her parents and Knitrias. She felt uneasy, but stayed relatively calm for a 2 year old girl.

After a while Rona arrived, she went straight to Knitrias and the others, “If we want to be successful in getting her to the Guerra family, I need to take her now… They are currently raiding the new labs… We don’t have much time to safely use the escape route..“ Sabrina looked at Coryana and Bernard, her heart felt like it was breaking at the thought of giving Coryana away, although she knew she was only protecting her. “My sweet little Coryana, mommy loves you sooo much.“, she tightly hugged her daughter and gave her a kiss on her forehead, tears ran down her cheeks as she tried not to break down. Bernard hugged his wife and daughter, he gave his little girl a kiss on the head and held his wife’s hand. “I love you my little girl and I always will… Be a good girl, I know you’re strong… You will be okay…“, Bernard held his tears back.
The little girl did not understand, but she felt something was extremely wrong, she looked at her parents with panic in her eyes. Rona reached out her hand, “Come with me little one.“, Coryana pulled back into her parents arms. For some reason she had the feeling if she left with Rona, her parents would not be there.

“We are running out of time, I’m sorry Sabrina and Bernard, I can no longer try to convince her nicely, we won’t make it…“, Rona looked apologetic as she went over, grabbed Coryana and sealed her mouth with her hand. Before she left, she turned around and apologized once again, then she rushed out of the door. Coryana was devastated, she tried to scream and shout, but she couldn’t make a sound… Rona rushed down the escape route with the 2-year-old. They got out and drove off with the car, that was prepared specifically for this purpose. After driving for an hour, Rona dropped Coryana off at Sasha and Greg Guerra.

28 years later
Knitrias hears the news from the minority group that Coryana has escaped from the lab. She turns to Sabrina and Bernard, „Do you think she will be okay?“, Bernard saw how worried she was, „Don’t worry, I had everything arranged with the minority group, they assisted her in her escape. Besides, I am probably the reason she escaped, although I told her not to…“
„What do you mean you are the reason she escaped?“, Knitrias was puzzled. „Well, you might not have shared all of your knowledge with us, but we did figure out how to store recordings in the genetic code, I left Coryana 4 recordings. And in the end, shortly before she escaped, I tasked the minority group with hiding a data chip in the stuffed sheep, I assume after she heard all I had left her, she decided to escape. We always knew she was not meant for confinement in a lab…“, Sabrina nodded and added „You know, I told you she will not only fullfill our dreams, she will be the reason this world changes Knitrias ,there is no way she can achieve that at the lab. Just remember what we told you, when we named our little girl.“, she smiled softly.

Knitrias felt a chill down her spine, once she realized all the hardships Coryana had gone through and how much more, was yet to come… Had she really done her best to protect Coryana? Should she contact her? How could she aid her? Would Coryana even remember her? Will she hate me? She hasn’t seen her parents in 28 years and it’s because they are my closest partners… I’m sorry Coryana…, tears ran down Knitrias face. „What are you thinking about hun?“, Sabrina went over and hugged Knitrias. „It’s my fault she had to suffer so much and has more to endure….“, „No, it’s not, you advised us against it, if it’s anyones fault it’s ours. Don’t blame yourself. We chose to follow you, aid you and create Coryana. You have nothing to feel guilty about!“

„I swear, I will help her, she will become the reason this world changes and I will instruct her and teach her all I know. I heard of her achievements so far, her potential is boundless, we will make sure she succeeds. I will get in contact with the minority group, she will return to our side once again!“, Knitrias made up her mind.

To be continued in the main storyline! :D