After destroying a million-dollar batch of lab-grown meat, synthetic biologist Jennifer Milligan loses her career—and the income keeping her mother in nursing care. Desperate, she uncovers evidence of a secret research lab where evolution itself is programmable.

At the Department of Research Applications, rogue scientists force life to adapt at terrifying speed, producing miracles as often as monstrosities. As Jennifer proves herself indispensable, she realizes her past work in stem-cell manipulation may be the key to the lab’s most dangerous breakthrough.

But when the DRA seizes on her idea and races toward human trials without proper testing, Jennifer faces a painful truth: no discovery is worth pushing humanity off a cliff. And there’s no such thing as walking away from The Department—not after you’ve seen the belly of the beast. With trials days away and the facility in perpetual lockdown, Jennifer must risk her life to stop the ever-evolving machine or accept her place as one of its keepers.

EVOLUTION BAY is a tense speculative thriller about ambition, secrecy, and what happens when innovation outruns morality.