The ceiling lights in the core lab of Facility Prime pulsed with a dim, clinical blue. Dozens of control panels blinked silently, their monitors filled with graphs, simulations, genome sequences, and global air current models. Maps of continents hovered on a giant transparent screen, with swirling animated clouds tracing projected wind movements — each tagged with red points: Deployment Zones.
Doctor Naehr stood at the very center of it all, hands folded behind his back, eyes narrowed at the floating model of the Earth. His long silver hair gleamed like steel under the sterile light, and his black irises—unnaturally still—fixed on a continent like a hawk about to strike.
"Have you finished calculating atmospheric dispersal ratios?" he asked, his voice calm. Too calm.
A subordinate—Dr. Mara Helst, younger and visibly tense—looked up from her console. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and tried to steady her breathing before speaking.
