The Nutrient Solution in the Genesis Chamber first released a bubble.
A tiny one.
It brushed past the bridge of Zod's nose and broke through the pale yellow surface.
Elias watched the bubble rise to the top of the chamber. His fingertip had just touched the pause button when alarms suddenly sounded throughout the thirtieth underground level.
Red lights came on simultaneously.
Piercing buzzers reverberated along the metal walls.
[Abnormal temperature.] [Abnormal circulation pressure.] [Test subject tissue proliferation rate: beyond measurement range.]
The Nutrient Solution began to boil.
It was not the rolling boil caused by heating.
The liquid seemed to be pushed apart from within, forming a massive vortex around Zod's corpse.
The metal restraints bent one by one, giving off piercing groans.
Lex Luthor stood at the Control Console without retreating.
"Shut down the cultivation program," Elias said.
"The program is already shut down."
"Then cut the power."
"If we cut it, the chamber will lose its cooling."
"It's already out of control!"
Elias rushed to the Control Console and reached to pull out the master control key.
Lex Luthor seized his wrist.
"Do you want to destroy it?"
"I want it to stop."
"It isn't a piece of equipment."
Lex Luthor's fingers tightened.
"You just said there might be a consciousness inside."
"That's exactly why we have to stop!"
"A life with a complete neural structure, locked in a chamber by you for decades, and the first things it sees when it wakes up are the military and lab technicians." Lex Luthor stared at him. "Whose scrutiny do you think it will accept?"
Elias looked at him.
"You're going to let it out?"
Lex Luthor did not answer.
A muffled thud suddenly came from inside the chamber.
It sounded as though someone had punched the