The cargo hold aboard the Acheron smelled of antiseptic and brine, the steel walls lined with cryo tanks that hummed like sleeping beasts. Lena held her chin high while the twin—according to his nametag, Dr. Silas Calloway—examined the glowing veins of the baby, his clinical detachment sending chills over her skin. Behind her, two guards dragged Ryan's convulsing body onto the ship, his boots smearing iridescent blood across the floor. Sophie seemed to have disappeared in the commotion, but the barely audible static in Lena's earpiece showed that she was hacking into the ship's systems from some obscure venue.
Silas placed a stethoscope over the baby's chest. "Fascinating. The umbilical stem cells have already bonded with the Phase Two compounds." His thumb brushed against a faint barcode tattoo on her heel—*114-R*. "Do you know what the 'R' stands for, Ms. Carter?"
Lena forced her voice steady. "Refined. Like Daniel."
"Resonant." Silas straightened, his smile as thin as a scalpel. "Her cellular structure can carry the harmonic frequency; we won't need the lighthouses with her bone marrow." He pointed toward a glass-walled lab across from them, where technicians were preparing an extraction rig. "She'll be the antenna for a global recalibration."
Ryan groaned on the ground, his fingers twitching toward his boot, where his construction knife was still hidden. His words were slurred and barely audible: "Assembly... needs... Carter witness..."
Lena understood. James Bennett's plan required all three bloodlines to activate-Bennett, Calloway, and Carter. Silas had the Calloway sample and the Bennett heir but was dimly aware of Lena's role.
She began to let her voice shake. "You're going to kill her."
Silas sighed and adjusted his gloves. "Don't be dramatic. We only need the iliac crest. She'll walk with a limp, but-"
The ship's intercom crackled to life. Sophie's distorted but triumphant voice resonated in the hold. "Phase Two canister ruptured in Bay 4. All personnel, containment breach."
Alarms began to ring out, and the technicians dropped their tools in a mad scramble toward emergency seals, while thick azure mist streamed from the vents below.
Silas turned on Lena; at that instant, Ryan's knife found its mark in his thigh.