[This reaction preceded the injection of foreign genes.]
Lex Luthor stood before the Genesis Chamber, his palm resting on the control console.
The readings on the screen were still climbing.
[Activity response: continuing to rise.] [Neural structure: unclassifiable.] [Recommendation: stop cultivation and initiate isolation.]
He dismissed the last prompt.
The technician outside the isolation door knocked on the glass.
"Mr. Luthor, the cooling circuit is still heating up. The military just sent a confirmation letter demanding that we suspend all unregistered biological experiments."
"When did they send it?"
"Eight minutes ago."
"Tell them the equipment is undergoing maintenance."
"They're demanding an on-site inspection."
"Then tell them we aren't accepting visitors during maintenance."
The technician did not move.
He looked at the constantly shifting curves on the control console, then glanced at the corpse inside the chamber.
"Sir, this is no longer equipment maintenance."
Luthor turned his head.
The technician lowered his eyes and pressed the communications button.
"I'll reply as you instructed."
The door closed again.
Luthor pulled up the underlying code left by the scout ship. Until then, the team had obtained only limited control access, and the system had ignored most commands. He no longer tried to impersonate Zod. Instead, he traced his way down through the preservation protocol that had just been triggered.
Every access level required fresh verification.
He had fooled the biometric scanner with a blood sample, passed the identity check with Zod's remains, and bypassed the old-era prohibition through "remains preservation."
Now the system was retrieving those sealed records.
[Cultivation chamber historical sequences: searching.] [Initial contact with remains: before military recovery.] [Second activity response: already present.]
Luthor studied the timestamp.
It dated to before the Kryptonian Spaceship crashed into Metropolis.
In other words, the second response had not