POV RUBY
The clinic was buried three levels beneath the chaotic, spice-scented labyrinth of the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. Above us, thousands of tourists bartered for silks and gold, oblivious to the fact that beneath their feet, the future ofhuman evolution was being cut open on a galvanized steeltable.
The air in the room smelled of burning ozone, antiseptic, and the damp salt of the Bosphorus. Dr. Aris Vovos, a manwhose skin looked like crumpled parchment and whosehands were more chrome than flesh, leaned over Nevan’sprone body. Nevan was strapped to the table with carbon-fiber restraints—not to keep him in, but to keep the roomsafe if the serum triggered a violent seizure.
"The serum is a sentient parasite, Architect," Vovosrasped, his cybernetic eye whirring as it scanned Nevan’sne
