Wildfire by Robin Crumby

Author:Robin Crumby [Crumby, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-09-03T06:00:00+00:00

“There’s no answer,” said Gill, as she dialled the next number on the phone list attached to the wall. “Where is everyone?”

“Try Major Donnelly’s office. The colonel said he would be there.”

She hung up and dialled a different extension number. Someone answered on the first ring.

“Hello? Yes, it’s Gill Forrester.” She paused, listening to the request for identification. “Of course, it’s Delta-Sierra-Zulu seven-three-one. I was looking for Major Donnelly or Colonel Abrahams. Well, if you can let them know that I’m here in the staff bar with Zed Samuels. Yes, of course, let me just do a head count. There are seventeen of us here. Can you tell me what’s going on?”

She listened for a few seconds, nodding and exchanging concerned looks with Zed.

“Okay. Perhaps you can let us know as soon as they know more. We’re on extension 4378.” She replaced the receiver. “He said they’ve had sensor alarms sounding in multiple sectors.”

“What does that mean?”

“That there’s been some sort of breach event. Look up there,” she said, pointing to a grey electrical box near the door. “There are sensors in every underground section that go off if they detect any kind of airborne toxin. It’s only happened once before in all the time I’ve been here.”

“False alarm?”

“It’s possible. The laboratories are two floors below us. As soon as they detect a leak, all sections automatically seal to limit the spread of whatever set off the alarm. It didn’t sound like they knew where it originated from.”

“So it could be serious?”

“I doubt it. It’s unlikely to be coming from one of the P4 containment laboratories. Those are the ones that handle dangerous pathogens.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“All the P4 labs are completely secure. Each unit has negative pressure, meaning if there was ever a leak, air leaks in, not out. All the technicians work in pairs in positive pressure suits with their own filtered air supply. The units dealing with airborne pathogens have their own separate air supply. There’s no way it could have contaminated other areas.”

“So if it didn’t originate from the labs, where did it come from?”

“It’s too early to say. There’s a computer terminal in the office over there we can try. Let’s see what we can find out.”

Zed followed Gill through behind the bar to a room where three disused workstations sat, gathering dust. She powered up the nearest one and, after a short delay, keyed in her security details. She pulled up the system diagnostics and navigated through several submenus before she found what she was looking for. She sat down, and her fingers flew over the keyboard, entering command codes.

“As soon as the sensors detect a toxin, the computer starts analysing the sample to see if it can find a match against a pre-built database of biohazards. It’s fairly rudimentary, but it should give us a fast-cycle answer to what we’re dealing with so we can adjust our response. Doesn’t look like it’s finished its analysis yet.”

The vent above their head had fallen eerily silent.

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