Complete mayhem ensued. Guards went down mid-step; their nervous systems were fried from exposure to Phase Two. Lena plucked her daughter from the exam table just as Ryan hoisted himself upright, his pupils dilated with neural static.
"Sophie... rigged the... lighthouse network," he coughed. "The sequence is... ready." He crammed a blood-soaked USB into Lena's palm: the last nail in Project Assembly's coffin.
The floorboards under them creaked on the deck of the Acheron. She could see the distant lighthouse flaring red through the porthole, its beam cutting across a storm. One by one, across the harbor, the beacons lit up in perfect synchronization.
Sophie spoke in her ear: "It links up to each and every node city. But Lena-it's going to fry the brainstem of every Phase Two recipient. Even Ryan."
The baby's tiny fist curled around Lena's finger, her bioluminescent veins pulsing with the rhythm of the lighthouse beams.
Silas laughed, tortured by the pain of his leg wound. "Choose, Ms. Carter. Save the world, or save the man you love?"
Ryan found her hand; he was already going cold. "Do it," he said.
Lena raised the USB to the control panel.