The Gambit with Perfection (The Phantom of the Earth Book 2) by Raeden Zen

the launch silos in Area 55 in Boreas Territory and Mission Control in Peanowera Territory.
    “Don’t be frightened,” Damy continued, “as you see, the scientist activated the crushers with ultraviolet rays and carbon dioxide, then deactivated them with gamma radiation.”
    “Why can’t you program something to consume Reassortment,” Gwen said, “the way you’ve done with limestone and granite?”
    Damy pondered the comment. Brody had attempted that method because she had suggested it, long ago when they’d worked together. The procedure had failed, for Reassortment’s outer layers mutated and reformed as quickly as they were destroyed. That dynamic capability hadn’t changed as far as Damy understood. Reassortment had a nasty way of advancing as quickly as humanity’s technology.
    “The brightest minds in the RDD work tirelessly on Reassortment,” Damy said, “and anything a neophyte thinks of has been attempted, this I can assure you.”
    Gwen turned and walked closer to the glass where the scientist operated the crushers. Damy waved the group to another hallway, and the neophytes streamed around her. She waited for Gwen to catch up, then looked back at the group.
    No , Damy thought, wrong way, don’t go there, no, no, no, I can’t deal with this today.
    They were already glued to the glass. Damy clumped her hair in a fist.
    “Who’s that?” said one of the women. “Let me see!” said another, while a man bellowed, “Get off my back!”
    “This … is …” Damy began. “Excuse me, this is the Regenesis Chamber.”
    They scrambled for a view of the shadow of a man, his arms by his sides, eyes shut, head shaved, his body naked for all they knew.
    Gwen paced behind the neophytes, arms folded, eyes squinting. “Isn’t that Dr. Kole Shrader?”
    The neophytes turned. Damy scowled. “How do you know his name?”
    “We’ve all heard about the Legend ,” Gwen said, speaking now with a heavy Palaestran accent. “The man who was frozen near absolute zero is the man who may be immune to Reassortment.” She laughed with the other neophytes.
    Damy’s bronze skin turned a deep shade of red.
    “Isn’t this Captain Barão’s project?” Gwen added.
    And as fast as Damy’s face had flushed, it now lost all its color. While the commonwealth knew Brody’s team worked on Reassortment, no neophyte should have been privy to his Regenesis assignment. Damy’s mind churned. She took controlled breaths, paralyzed by thoughts of the scientists she and Brody had killed. She recited her mantra: The negativity is your enemy. The enemy is your negativity. Ignore the negativity and defeat your enemy. Wise counsel she had learned from her developer, the Lady Parthenia.
    Damy found her voice. “All right,” she said. She cleared her mind and peered at the holographic clock on her wrist. “Looks like we’re finished for today.”
    “What about Dr. Shrader?” Gwen said.
    “Before our tour of the Taos Facility tomorrow morning, I want you all to think about this.” Damy paused until she had their attention. “You’re about to join the most advanced research and development center the world has ever known. Your work will change the course of natural genomic evolution. Your work will lead to proper and significant conversions, which will ensure your survival in this department, and the world.”

ZPF Impulse Wave: Broden Barão
    Outer Boundary Village

    Peanowera, Underground East

    2,500 meters deep

    “We should abort the mission,” Verena said.
    She and Brody stood near the entrance to Peanowera’s great Rifkertynen Hall amid a row of marble archways. Mirrors, rather than Granville syntech, on either side created an appearance of infinite depth. Golden banners swayed in a cool breeze that wafted into the hall, air sweet with the smell of figs in Peanowera Territory, “the place of exploration.” The banners marked successful commonwealth missions of decades past: Team Hurven’s Mission to the Oceanic