Chapter 52: An Alliance of Foes, A Crisis Descends

In a sterile, subterranean laboratory bathed in the cold, blue light of holographic displays, a figure sat silhouetted against a screen showing Leif Showyer’s failed profile. The air was frigid, smelling of ozone and antiseptic. This was a command center for the Nest of Life, a place far removed from the world above, where life and death were reduced to data points and biological assets. “Leif Showyer was a miscalculation,” a synthesized voice echoed in the chamber, devoid of any human...