Chapter 10 - Gamma
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because apparently my father had hidden one more person inside my own inheritance.
“If Gamma is not me, who?”
Evelyn looked toward Naomi.
Then Adrian.
“I will answer after Amelia understands why.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“You do not get to decide the order.”
She closed her eyes.
“Fair.”
Then:
“Gamma is your child.”
My hand moved to my stomach.
“That is impossible.”
“Avalon Gamma is a succession identity, not an existing biometric profile.”
“Then it is not active.”
“Correct.”
“System says pending succession.”
“Because Charles changed it after his diagnosis.”
My father removed me as Gamma.
Why?
Because he feared whoever married me could coerce my access.
Instead, he designed Gamma to activate only through the next direct descendant trust.
My child.
Not immediately at birth.
Through trustees until adulthood.
That meant no adult currently held Gamma.
Then how could Avalon perform Beta plus Gamma actions?
It could not.
Unless emergency continuity authority temporarily substituted for Gamma.
Richard’s plan.
The forged amendment.
He needed to become continuity controller before my child’s protected succession activated fully.
The baby was not merely reducing his spousal rights.
The baby was becoming Avalon’s legal successor.
That was why timing mattered so much.
“Did Richard know Gamma was the child?”
“Not until recently.”
“Who told him?”
“Simon.”
Evelyn’s face hardened.
Simon had maintained Avalon faithfully at first.
Then years passed.
Hayes infrastructure increasingly depended on derivative systems.
Simon became convinced Avalon needed an active adult controller.
He hated Charles’s decision to leave Gamma to an unborn future descendant.
Too much uncertainty.
He wanted Amelia restored as Gamma.
Evelyn refused because Charles’s signed succession architecture required descendant activation.
Simon began exploring legal overrides.
Richard discovered this.
They became reluctant allies.
Simon wanted adult operational continuity.
Richard wanted root access.
Each thought he could use the other.
Did Simon know Richard planned murder?
Evelyn shook her head.
“I do not believe so.”
Evidence supported tension between them.
Richard ignored Simon’s warnings.
Still, Simon helped create the pathway.
He maintained secret systems.
Advised on succession.
Allowed Richard into discussions.
Why tell Richard about Gamma?
“To pressure you into reopening Avalon voluntarily.”
That plan failed because Richard chose coercion.
Again, one person’s dangerous shortcut became another person’s weapon.
“What does Avalon contain about Meridian Defense?” I asked.
Evelyn looked tired.
“Proof that Richard stole architecture during Northstar diligence.”
“How much proof?”
“Enough.”
“Can he erase it?”
“With Beta and emergency Gamma substitution, he could alter active provenance indexes.”
“Indexes?”
“Not original deep archive.”
I stopped.
“So even if he succeeded, evidence would survive.”
“Charles designed redundancy.”
Richard was trying to commit murder to erase records he could not fully erase.
A criminal plan built on incomplete technical understanding.
That seemed almost insulting.
Evelyn smiled faintly.
“Richard understands ownership better than systems.”
Simon had said something similar.
Then Evelyn gave me a physical key.
Not Beta.
A black ceramic strip.
“What is this?”
“Archive witness key.”
“Level?”
“None.”
“What does it do?”
“Reads. Cannot change.”
My father created a read only route separate from root control.
Why had nobody told me?
Because secrecy.
Always secrecy.
I almost refused it on principle.
Then accepted because principle should not become stupidity.
The archive witness key could show Avalon history without activating Gamma.
No biometric succession.
No trustee authority.
No risk of control changes.
Federal investigators agreed to supervised read access.
We entered Avalon Ridge two days later.
I wore a hospital approved support band under loose clothing.
My obstetrician came because after the helicopter, nobody trusted stress.
The witness terminal opened.
Years of provenance records.
Northstar access.
Richard’s credentials.
Prototype code exports.
Meridian derivative hashes.
Payments.
Legal drafts.
Everything.
Then one category caught Naomi’s attention.
SUCCESSION TESTS.
There had been seven.
One eight years ago.
One after Dad died.
One after my marriage.
One after my pregnancy.
Each tested who would gain control under hypothetical scenarios.
Richard had run two without authorization.
Simon three.
My father two.
The last test occurred one month ago.
Scenario:
AMELIA DECEASED, FETAL DESCENDANT VIABLE.
Result:
SPOUSAL TRUSTEE DENIED ROOT CONTROL.
DESCENDANT PRESERVATION ACTIVE.
Richard knew.
The system itself told him killing me would not give him Avalon.
Why continue?
Another field.
OVERRIDE ATTEMPT.
Submitted by:
BETA.
Evelyn.
One month ago.
She had tried to alter the result.
I turned toward her.
“You told me you were protecting Gamma.”
May you like
Her face went white.
Continue to the next part: Evelyn secretly attempted to override the very descendant protection she claimed to be defending.
