“That son of a bitch,” Chris growls. “I’ll kill him!”

“Maybe there’s another way.” Adam leans forward, setting his mug on the table. “My older self said we could get something to blackmail Aether with, some sort of evidence. Do you know anything about that?”

Lynne tilts her head, considering. “There might be something you could use in the old files we kept from the project. They’re all locked away in Adam’s lab in the Aether building.”

Adam exchanges a look with me. “My future self was right. We do need to break into Aether Corporation.”

Lynne glances back and forth between us, her brow furrowed. “Break in?”

“Hold up,” Chris says. “If Future-Adam knew we’d need evidence, why not just get it himself?”

“Adam isn’t allowed in his lab anymore,” she says. “I’m surprised they let him in the building at all.”

“How could he not be allowed in his own lab?” I ask.

“Adam’s on…well, they call it a ‘personal leave’ but he’s actually been suspended. The board of directors are calling him unstable, but really it’s because of genicote.” At our blank expressions, she continues. “Genicote, the cure for cancer? Adam created the cure many years ago, but he needed funding and distribution and factories that could make it in bulk. He came to me for help, and I convinced Aether to start a pharmaceutical division for him with me as the director. We both knew there were risks working with Aether, but I thought if I helped him, I could protect him from them. And for many years I did.”

“What do you mean, protect him?” Trent asks.

“There’s a…problem with the cure. When used by people with cancer, it’s a miracle drug. With just a few treatments they’re completely cured for life. But if used by someone who doesn’t have cancer, it causes massive mutations that quickly result in death.”

Adam’s jaw drops, his face horrified. “And I could never get rid of this problem?”

“No. You said it wasn’t possible, due to the way the cure works to manipulate DNA. Naturally, the drug had to be tightly controlled to make sure it was never in the wrong hands. That’s one reason it took so long for genicote to be approved and distributed—the risks were too high.” She stares out the window at the crashing waves, lost in the memories.