Six months into the expanded research program, Dr. Okafor called an emergency research meeting at 7 AM. Elena arrived in the briefing room to find him staring at genetic sequencing displays, exhaustion evident but genuine excitement underlying his expression.
"We found something," Okafor said without preamble. "Not a solution yet, but something that might lead toward one."
Elena pulled up a chair. "Show me."
"The pathogen's adaptive mechanism isn't actually random or infinitely flexible," Okafor explained, highlighting specific genetic sequences. "It operates within biological constraints. The feedback system requires specific enzymatic pathways to function."
"Meaning what?" Elena asked, following his logic.
"Meaning if we could disrupt those enzymatic pathways, we could theoretically
