_*]:min-w-0 !gap-3.5" style="border:0px solid">Elena adjusted the molecur binding agent with precise movements, deliberately reducing its concentration by 0.03%—enough to compromise the stability of Keller's enhancement formu without triggering immediate suspicion. Seven days of boratory access had provided ample opportunity to implement her carefully calcuted sabotage.

  "The integration rate has improved," she reported to Keller, presenting the altered test results with convincing enthusiasm. "Cognitive retention at twenty-two percent in this trial batch."

  Keller examined the data with evident satisfaction. "A modest improvement, but promising." He pced a hand on her shoulder in what might have been a collegial gesture in another context. "Your adaptations show remarkable insight."

  Elena suppressed her revulsion, focusing instead on the consistent success of her deception. Each "improvement" she reported was in fact a carefully engineered failure, designed to colpse under extended testing while appearing initially promising.

  During the lunch rotation, she found herself seated beside one of the human b assistants—Thomas, a biochemist whose quiet resentment was evident beneath his compliant exterior.

  "Third sector lost another test subject yesterday," he murmured, his voice barely audible. "Archduke Devereux is pressuring for faster implementation before the territorial conference."

  Elena processed this new information without visible reaction. "Territorial conference?"

  Thomas gnced nervously at the security cameras. "The seven major archdukes are meeting to establish feeding boundaries. Keller believes his enhanced subjects will give him leverage to cim additional territories."

  This aligned with fragments of conversation she had overheard between security personnel—Keller's ambitions extended beyond scientific achievement to political domination.

  Later, as she processed blood samples in the secondary boratory, Dr. Mills—Keller's primary hematologist—approached with uncharacteristic directness.

  "He's preparing for your transformation," the woman said, checking that they were momentarily unobserved. "Three days from now, during the new moon."

  Elena's hands maintained their steady work despite this revetion. "Why tell me this?"

  "I've seen his notes," Mills replied, her voice tight with scientific disapproval. "Your unique blood chemistry—he believes transforming you will create a tempte for his elite guard. Blood from blood. The ultimate loyalty mechanism."

  "And you're helping him achieve this," Elena observed without judgment.

  Mills' expression flickered with complex emotion. "I'm a scientist, not a monster. There are limits."

  The interaction ended as another technician entered, but Elena filed away this potential ally for future consideration. Each scrap of information, each compromised formu, each misreported result built toward a systematic undermining of Keller's work.

  As she returned to her secured quarters that evening, Elena mentally reviewed her progress. The primary viral vector had been subtly corrupted. The stability coefficients had been miscalcuted in ways that would propagate through subsequent generations. And now she had potential leverage with Dr. Mills.

  Through the faint telepathic connection to Viktor—present but too attenuated for communication—she sensed determination and purpose. Whatever he was pnning, she would ensure Keller's program was vulnerable when the moment came.

  Science had always been her strength. Now it was her weapon.