With “dead zones”—areas so toxic no life can survive—littering the Earth and growing every day, it’s estimated there are only twenty years remaining before the planet becomes so toxic humanity will die out.

Reactions to the news range from denial to rage and everything in between, but can something still be done? If a new type of human—stronger, able to work in toxic environments—could be made, could they be the key to fixing the dead zones and saving the planet? Or will they simply be humanity’s last gasp?

Collects Synthetics Volume One #1–#4.