Sublevel Four

Dr. Elias Verhoeven had not seen the sun in eleven days, and he had stopped noticing. Down on Sublevel Four of the Halcyon Institute, the only light that mattered was the pale blue glow of the incubation chamber and the thin green line of a heartbeat on the monitor.

Eight years. Two hundred and six trials. He kept every name in his head. Marcus, whose heart simply stopped. Ines, whose muscles tore themselves from the bone. Some volunteers had come for the money. Others had come for the promise: a human being with no ceiling. Strength, speed, intellect, perception, every one at its maximum, all at once.