'Where's Harlan's pistol?' Jonathan asked.
'I don't know,' Sheila snapped. 'Look for it, Jonathan.'
Sheila started for the sick bay.
'Where are you going?' Jonathan called out to Sheila. 'I've got to get Harlan and Cassy out of those containment rooms,' Sheila said.
'What do you want me to do, Beau?' Vince asked, breaking what had seemed to be a long silence.
'What do you think this place is?' Beau asked, pointing down the hatch at the gleaming, white, high-tech interior.
'I haven't the slightest idea,' Vince said.
Beau glanced back at the helicopter. The pilot was dutifully standing by. Beau returned his gaze down the hatch. His mind was in a turmoil and his emotions frayed.
'I want you and your co-worker to go down in this strange hole and find Cassy,' Beau said. He spoke slowly and deliberately as if he were making great effort to restrain himself from flying into a rage. 'When you find her, I want you to bring her to me. I must go back to the institute, but I will send the copter back for you.'
'As you wish,' Vince said warily. He was afraid of saying the wrong thing. The fragility of Beau's emotions was obvious.
Beau reached into his pocket and drew out a black disc. He handed it to Vince. 'Use it as you see fit,' he said. 'But do not harm Cassy!' Then he turned and strode back to the waiting aircraft.
20
7:10 P.M.
With fumbling hands Sheila unlocked the hatch into Harlan's containment room. By the time she had it open, Harlan was standing next to it. He was surprised and irritated.
'What the hell are you doing?' he questioned. 'You've contaminated yourself and the entire facility.'
'It can't be helped,' Sheila sputtered. 'They're here!'
'Who is here?' Harlan asked. His expression rapidly changed to concern.
'Beau and at least one other infected person,' Sheila bluffed out. 'They have the hatch open that we used to come in here. They must have followed Cassy. They'll be here any minute.'
'Damn!' Harlan exclaimed. He paused for a second to think, then stepped out through the air lock.
They immediately caught up with Cassy and Pitt as the two emerged from the neighboring containment room. Although Cassy appeared sleepy and confused, her color was better than it had been earlier.
'Where's Jonathan?' Harlan barked.
'Back in the lab,' Pitt said. 'He was searching for your Colt.'
With Harlan leading, the group rushed from the sick bay into the lab proper. They went from room to room. They found Jonathan in the final room, crouching by the door to the corridor. He was holding the pistol in both hands.
'We're getting out of here,' Harlan yelled to Jonathan. Harlan ducked into the incubator and emerged seconds later carrying an armload of tissue culture flasks containing the rhinovirus.
A loud sputtering noise was heard from the corridor. Everyone's eyes turned to the open doorway. A shower of sparks shot by as if someone were welding in the hallway. Simultaneously the pressure in the room precipitously dropped, forcing everyone to clear their ears. 'What happened?' Sheila demanded.
'They're cutting through the pressure door,' Harlan yelled. 'Come on! Hurry!' He motioned for everyone to retreat back toward the infirmary. But before anybody could move a black disc rounded the corner from the corridor and entered the lab. It was glowing bright red and surrounded by a hazy halo.
'It's a disc!' Sheila shouted. 'Stay away from it.'
'Yes!' Harlan bellowed. 'When it's active it's radioactive. It's spewing out alpha particles.'
The disc hovered near Jonathan, who ducked away and ran back toward the others. Harlan herded the group through the door into the next lab room. Stepping into the room himself, he slammed the heavy, two-inch-thick fire door.
'Hurry!' he commanded.
The group had gotten halfway across the second lab when the same sputtering noise they'd heard earlier reverberated around the room. There was another shower of sparks. Harlan turned to see the disc passing effortlessly through the door.
Everyone got into the third lab space and raced for the double doors into the infirmary. Harlan took the time to slam the second fire door before running after the others. Behind him he heard the sputtering again. Sparks bounced off the back of his head as he went into the infirmary. The doors swung closed behind him.
'Where to?' Sheila demanded.
'The X-ray room,' Harlan barked, pointing with a hand carrying one of the tissue culture flasks. 'The one that is still operational.'
Jonathan was the first to arrive. He pushed open the shielded door and held it for the others. They all crowded inside.
'This is a dead end!' Sheila shrieked. 'Why did you bring us in here?'
'Get over behind the shield,' Harlan ordered. Quickly he handed Sheila and Pitt the tissue culture flasks. Then he activated the machine that positioned the X-ray column. He aimed the positioning light directly at the door to the hall before rushing back and crowding behind the screen with the others.
Harlan's hands rapidly flipped switches and spun dials on the X-ray machine's control panel as sparking and sputtering commenced at the door. With the lead shielding it took the disc a few more seconds to burn through the X-ray room door than it had the fire doors. When it emerged inside the room, its red color had slightly paled.
Harlan flipped the switch that sent the high voltage built up in the machine to the X-ray source. There was an electronic buzzing noise and the overhead light dimmed. 'These are the hardest X-rays this machine is capable of producing,' he explained.
Bombarded with the X-rays, the disc's color instantly changed from pale red to luminous white. The pale halo intensified, expanded, and quickly engulfed the disc. The sound of an enormous furnace igniting was immediately cut off with a thump. At the same instant most of the X-ray machine, the X-ray table, an instrument tray, part of the door, and the light fixture were all pulled out of shape as if they had been sucked toward the point where the disc had been. Even the people had experienced this sudden imploding force and had instinctively braced themselves and grabbed onto whatever they could.
A pall of acrid smoke hung over the room.
Everyone was momentarily dazed.
'Is everyone okay?' Harlan asked.
'My watch exploded,' Sheila said.
'So did the wall clock,' Harlan said. He pointed up to the institutional clock on the wall. Its glass had been shattered, and its hands were nowhere to be seen.
'That was a miniature black hole,' Harlan said.
A loud thump out in the lab shocked everybody back to reality.
'Obviously they've gotten through the air lock,' Harlan said. 'Come on!' He took the gun away from Jonathan and gave him a tissue culture flask to carry instead. Cassy and Pitt picked up the rest of the flasks. Harlan led everyone from behind the distorted shield toward the door.
'Don't touch anything,' he warned. 'There still might be some radiation.'
It took all three men to get the twisted door open. Harlan leaned out. He could see down to the double doors leading to the lab. There was a small scorched hole in the right one. He looked the other way. It was clear.
'To the left,' he barked. 'Down through the door at the end and across into the living room. Got it?'
Everyone nodded.
'Go!' Harlan said. He kept his eye on the double doors until the last person had cleared the corridor. He was about to follow them when one of the double doors opened in the opposite direction.
Harlan fired one shot from the huge Peacemaker. The noise was deafening in the hallway. The bullet hit the closed double door and shattered its porthole-like window. The door that had been opened swung shut.
Harlan raced out into the hall and ran its length on legs that had suddenly gone rubbery. He staggered into
