Page 52 of Rupture

Rose came to a halt and flopped onto a stool, the metal legs juddering against the floor. “How did she do it?”

“Dr. Wyndham’s team utilized unusual bacteria to facilitate the process.”

Finn glanced at Ethan. Read the same emotions on his team leader’s face. Neither of them needed to hear the next words from Remy.

Finn already knew the answer. “The Ceto bacteria?”

“That is correct, Finn Jones.”

The air around Finn crystallized, time stretching like cold molasses. Ancient bacteria they barely understood, combined with self-evolving machines, all sealed away in this pressurized tomb. This wasn’t playing with fire—this was playing with something that could consume the world.

Rose scrutinized him. “Ceto? The one they dug up in Rosemary Mount off the coast of Scotland?”

“The same.” His jaw clenched painfully. “The most dangerous cyanobacteria on the planet combined with self-replicating intelligent nanotech. What could possibly gowrong?” His laugh came out hollow, bouncing off the sterile walls.

“Now you sound like Luca,” Rose said.

“I’m beginning to think Luca is the only one with a sensible grip on what’s going on.” Finn stalked a circuit around the lab. The weight of rock and water pressed down. God, he missed the sky. Fresh air. Sunshine. Anything but the suffocating walls and artificial light. “We keep telling him to stop being a fucking pessimist but—” He hung his head, searching for operational focus.

“Triton consider themselves above ethical consent. Seeking consent would slow if not stifle the process.” Finn could have sworn there was regret in Remy’s voice.

Ethan snorted. “Why does that not surprise me?”

“Is that what’s behind the fucking glass, Remy?” Finn approached the central column and its luminescent light once more. This was next-level fuckery and way beyond his pay grade.

“That is correct. This is their holding container. The nanobots are tagged with radioisotopes so they can be tracked digitally. That is the light you see in the column.”

Finn stared at the shifting luminescence, his throat constricting. The nanobots swarmed against the glass like intelligent mercury, forming and reforming patterns that seemed just on the edge of meaningful. Like watching thoughts form in liquid light. They were deliberate. Purposeful. Testing their boundaries?—

“This is light years beyond anything developed on the surface.” Rose drew level with him, the light playing across her delicate features. “I can’t begin to understand how they got so far, so fast.” She exhaled shakily. “At least now we know why the lab is hidden at the bottom of a lake, lost in the desert.”

She faced him, her expression grave. “This kind of research is highly regulated and with good reason. Until now, all nanobots have been manmade. As creators, humans have controlled their numbers. But self-replicating ones?” Her expression flipped to a frown. “Hypothetically, if self-replicating nanobots get out of control, they could replicate endlessly, consuming everything in their path. It could cascade into a runaway infection, converting everything in Earth’s environment to a ‘gray goo’.”

“What the fuck,” Finn breathed.

Her eyes glinted with hard won understanding. “This is what the OSC wants us to bring to the surface.Thisis why we’re here. Not the crew.This. A primary swarm of living, self-replicating nanobots. A self-sustaining community that can multiply as long as it’s fed organic material.”

Her fingers traced the length of her arm, as if imagining microscopic machines blasting through her veins.

Nausea swirled through Finn, his mind conjuring images of that hunger spreading across the world, consuming everything in its path. “What would they do with it?”

“I don’t want to guess. But having control of this? That’s absolute power.” Her voice was brittle with tension.

Weaponization.

A tremor raised goosebumps on his arms.Had the lives of the Io’s crew factored into Triton’s calculations? And what about Rose and his team? Were they expendable too? “How?”

“Um…off the top of my head? Nanobots could be programmed to target specific biological markers. In theory, they could be used to attack particular ethnic groups, or individuals with certain genetic traits. They could also be designed to disrupt critical infrastructure, breaking down materials at a molecular level.”

“But they can’t get out?” Finn dragged his gaze from the writhing coils of light. “It’s sealed?”

“The containment protocols were designed by Dr. Wyndham’s team. They account for all known variables.” Remy’s level voice should have reassured him, but it didn’t.

“Known variables,” Rose murmured, watching the nanobot’s movements. “But they’re evolving, aren’t they? Learning. Adapting. That’s the whole point.” She held her palm close to the glass. As she spoke, the particles responded, swirling in fantastic geometries, beautiful and terrifying in their precision. “How do you contain something that’s programmed to overcome obstacles?”

29

Rose stepped backfrom the containment unit, each pulse of light sending waves of vertigo through her. But beneath the dizziness and exhaustion lurked something worse.

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