The Synthesis and the Animus (The Phantom of the Earth Book 3) by Raeden Zen Page A
Book: The Synthesis and the Animus (The Phantom of the Earth Book 3) by Raeden Zen
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Authors: Raeden Zen
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that passed since the conclave that had awarded Brody and his strike team their Marks of Masimovian, the day drew nearer to when Antosha Zereoue would return to the RDD. Assuming he hadn’t already returned. If the chancellor and the Navitan traders were to be believed, Antosha’s injury suffered during passage across the Infernus Sea wasn’t as bad as some feared or as fatal as Damy had hoped.
Antosha was the man who had killed so many of their colleagues in the name of scientific research.
He shamed us all, Damy thought, and Brody worst of all. Brody had loved him as he would a brother and hurt all the more when the true nature of Antosha’s crimes were revealed by Chief Justice Carmen. And now the chancellor allowed his return. To what end?
To be sure, Brody would have to work with him again, as Damy knew that the Regenesis and Reassortment projects were related. The goal of Regenesis was to awaken Dr. Kole Shrader, the last of Livelle Laboratory’s scientists who had worked on the original Reassortment Strain, and who still lived, in stasis. “He could be crucial to solving the Reassortment enigma,” Brody had told her many times over the decades. Of course, there should be more scientists; during an awakening gone wrong, she and Brody had killed all of them except for Dr. Shrader.
How did things go today with Gwendolyn?
She sent the message to Brody but didn’t receive a response. He might’ve been in the back end, conducting experiments. It wasn’t unusual for him not to respond to her, even this late.
Damy found herself thinking about Silkscape, and Vernon Lebrizzi. She smiled and sipped her tea. She requested connection to him. Are you there?
I’m here, Verne transmitted.
What’re you up to?
I’m on my balcony, enjoying the stars. Verne lived in the Second Ward, in Palaestra City.
Take me to the gorges, along the Hillenthara.
It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think?
Not tonight, silly. Sometime. After work?
Aren’t you close to your delivery date?
No, it’s not for many days, plenty of time to go sightseeing. A breeze chilled her, and she folded and rubbed her arms. Plenty of time to escape Project Silkscape, the Nicola Facility, and Phanes, for a few hours, she thought.
They talked about their project, even though they’d promised never to do so outside the Nicola Facility, and the twins, the stars, the gorges, and the Entertainment District in Phanes. Afterward, Damy sipped the rest of her tea, ambling back inside.
She tried to contact Brody again. Again, she received no response and left him a message through Marstone. Call me.
Inside her bedroom, the supreme scientist of the Nicola Facility let her golden nightgown slip off her body. She cuddled with her twins and feather pillows and closed her eyes, dreaming of prehistoric life.
ZPF Impulse Wave: Broden Barão
Research & Development Department (RDD)
Palaestra, Underground Northeast
2,500 meters deep
Brody stood alone in the research center, rubbing bloodshot eyes. He’d worked through countless formulas and pages of synbio research, hour upon hour, after he dismissed Gwendolyn Horvearth, after his last team member took her leave, after his insomnia returned full strength. He requested connection with Nero and Verena. Still no response. He hoped this unexplained disappearance was their way of repairing their relationship, and they’d return to the Ventureño Facility tomorrow ready to train their shadows. But they’d always chosen low-priority days to take off in the past. This wasn’t like them. He felt sick not knowing where they were.
He rubbed his face and focused on the Reassortment Strain moving toward him, doing that dance it did, encrypting its genome to avoid detection, and he wanted nothing more than to reach for it and bend it and shatter it with his own hands into dust. He powered down the workstation and caught his reflection in the hologram before him, watching his life disappear with it, the way
Antosha was the man who had killed so many of their colleagues in the name of scientific research.
He shamed us all, Damy thought, and Brody worst of all. Brody had loved him as he would a brother and hurt all the more when the true nature of Antosha’s crimes were revealed by Chief Justice Carmen. And now the chancellor allowed his return. To what end?
To be sure, Brody would have to work with him again, as Damy knew that the Regenesis and Reassortment projects were related. The goal of Regenesis was to awaken Dr. Kole Shrader, the last of Livelle Laboratory’s scientists who had worked on the original Reassortment Strain, and who still lived, in stasis. “He could be crucial to solving the Reassortment enigma,” Brody had told her many times over the decades. Of course, there should be more scientists; during an awakening gone wrong, she and Brody had killed all of them except for Dr. Shrader.
How did things go today with Gwendolyn?
She sent the message to Brody but didn’t receive a response. He might’ve been in the back end, conducting experiments. It wasn’t unusual for him not to respond to her, even this late.
Damy found herself thinking about Silkscape, and Vernon Lebrizzi. She smiled and sipped her tea. She requested connection to him. Are you there?
I’m here, Verne transmitted.
What’re you up to?
I’m on my balcony, enjoying the stars. Verne lived in the Second Ward, in Palaestra City.
Take me to the gorges, along the Hillenthara.
It’s a bit late for that, don’t you think?
Not tonight, silly. Sometime. After work?
Aren’t you close to your delivery date?
No, it’s not for many days, plenty of time to go sightseeing. A breeze chilled her, and she folded and rubbed her arms. Plenty of time to escape Project Silkscape, the Nicola Facility, and Phanes, for a few hours, she thought.
They talked about their project, even though they’d promised never to do so outside the Nicola Facility, and the twins, the stars, the gorges, and the Entertainment District in Phanes. Afterward, Damy sipped the rest of her tea, ambling back inside.
She tried to contact Brody again. Again, she received no response and left him a message through Marstone. Call me.
Inside her bedroom, the supreme scientist of the Nicola Facility let her golden nightgown slip off her body. She cuddled with her twins and feather pillows and closed her eyes, dreaming of prehistoric life.
ZPF Impulse Wave: Broden Barão
Research & Development Department (RDD)
Palaestra, Underground Northeast
2,500 meters deep
Brody stood alone in the research center, rubbing bloodshot eyes. He’d worked through countless formulas and pages of synbio research, hour upon hour, after he dismissed Gwendolyn Horvearth, after his last team member took her leave, after his insomnia returned full strength. He requested connection with Nero and Verena. Still no response. He hoped this unexplained disappearance was their way of repairing their relationship, and they’d return to the Ventureño Facility tomorrow ready to train their shadows. But they’d always chosen low-priority days to take off in the past. This wasn’t like them. He felt sick not knowing where they were.
He rubbed his face and focused on the Reassortment Strain moving toward him, doing that dance it did, encrypting its genome to avoid detection, and he wanted nothing more than to reach for it and bend it and shatter it with his own hands into dust. He powered down the workstation and caught his reflection in the hologram before him, watching his life disappear with it, the way
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