The green glow of the synthesizer console stared back at them. GENETIC ID CONFIRMATION REQUIRED. The machine, their masterpiece of biological engineering, was a gilded cage that held space for only one specific tenant. They could start the process, but without Selene's exact genetic identity, it would not proceed beyond laboratory curiosity. They could not mass-produce the cure.
"They didn't build it around us," Lyra stated, her voice level with disbelief. "They built it around her. Her genomic signature is the key. Without her, this whole thing is just… on paper."
"Which means getting her back isn't just a rescue mission," Finn summed up, the grim reality settling over them. "It's a strategic imperative. They have the only source of the cure."
Kael's claws slid out silently, shnick, di
