PROLOGUE
*Day 212 17:00 hours*
Dr Phelps finished interviewing Subject One and signalled to the guard that he could be returned to his cell.
Jim Nine Pines, the security man, led the shackled man, named Temple, from the treatment room and to one of the large elevators. Their destination was Secure Sublevel Ten, the furthest from daylight.
He waved at Trent at Secure Five, who waved back.
Nine Pines chained his prisoner to the metal bar installed for the purpose and as the door closed he watched Dr Phelps head to another elevator.
He knew that the mature lady, the complex's chief psychologist, was heading upwards to attend a meeting of all senior staff.
He passed the time of the journey down wondering if the higher ups would be talking about what had got Tanner so excited. Still, nothing to do with him, he supposed.
The door opened soundlessly and Pearce, the guard posted on SS10 nodded to the bulky Native American.
Temple and his shadow proceeded down the well-lit corridor passed unoccupied cells and observation rooms.
Currently the whole base only had two inmates in residence, the other named Marcus and Nine Pines was looking forward to the day when all of the twenty cells had residents again. It was just too quiet and boring.
+++++++++++++++
Dr Phelps exited her ride at Level 11/-1, the connecting floor between the ten Habitat Sublevels and the ten below.
The only feature on this level was the 'airlock' as Trekkie Lewis had nicknamed it.
On either side of the thick bombproof partition sat guards in their stations. Only if both guards opened the doors could one gain entry to the Habitat levels.
Dr Phelps didn't know either of the men's names because she didn't care to know. So long as they performed their jobs and kept her safe, that was what mattered.
It was only when she was half way through that she noticed the younger woman in the far post and smiled.
The serious looking redhead was Hannah Ryder, responsible for the facility's security. Dr Phelps liked her.
"Hello, Doctor. On your way up?" She called cheerfully.
Phelps nodded and Hannah fell in beside her.
The two women strode towards the Habitat elevators in companionable silence.
"Computer, Dr Ryder's current location?" Hannah asked the central computer.
Dr Phelps rolled her eyes, but it was only in jest. She knew that the base's medical doctor, and Hannah's husband, was habitually late for meetings.
"Dr Ryder is in your quarters."
"At least it's not sick bay." Hannah joked with Phelps.
"Any idea why Tanner summoned us? It had better be good or Schroeder will eat him alive."
Hannah shrugged and thought about Lewis Tanner. He was the youngest of the senior staff and the most nervous. It must have taken some courage to call for a meeting.
+++++++++++++
Dr Phelps and Hannah entered the conference room on HS1, and saw that everyone was present.
Hannah slipped into the seat Russell had saved for her. She risked giving his knee a squeeze.
"Thank you for coming. On table in front of you is a report." Lewis said, woodenly, bright red already. "It outlines what I've found with the new scanner that HQ sent last week.... an entirely new phenomena! It's neither chemical, energy or radiation but has characteristics of all three!"
Lewis looked as if he was going to start bouncing around the room.
"It's localised to Sixville?" Dr Ryder asked, puzzled. He scanned the charted data carefully.
Lewis nodded.
"Mr Tanner, I chose Sixville to base this facility because it is the epitome of 'ordinariness'. I find it hard to believe that you have stumbled across a feature missed by everyone else." Dr Ava Schroeder sneered down her nose at the young man.
"I didn't stumble..." Lewis mumbled, dreading the fact that things had turned against him.
"Mr Tanner, atmospherics are not your field of expertise. So tell me, why are you using this new equipment, which is not even intended for this purpose?"
Lewis opened and closed his mouth stupidly.
"Lewis, my team haven't had time to study the specs on the machine and check its calibrations yet. Maybe we should wait until then before we form any conclusions." Craig Lockhart, the chief technician, said, not unsympathetically.
"I think not. This base is subject to funding by Government sponsors and I have to account for every dime. I'm certainly not going to authorise expenditure of time and resources on a matter that falls outside of our scientific remit." Schroeder exclaimed forcefully.
Lewis turned to face each of his colleagues for back up.
"Could what you've found pose a hazard to the company personnel or the subjects?
Lewis smiled. Dr Ryder's question was a fair and responsible one.
"The levels I've found are fairly small but there's no telling what the threat of long-term exposure could be." He answered, wiggling his dark eyebrows to emphasize the point.
Dr Schroeder shook her head.
"There is no danger. Lewis is mistaken. Let's forget this meeting even took place." She said in her clipped Oxford educated British accent.
"Wait...!" Lewis cried, not wanting to be dismissed so easily.
"Dr Schroeder. We aren't qualified to assess Lewis' findings but the company has experts who are. There's no harm in passing this report to them, is there?" Dr Singh, the pharmacologist, interjected.
"Very well," Ava sighed. "Lewis, let me have all the data you have collected by tonight and I'll send it."
"Thank you." Lewis whispered.
"Any other matters to discuss, while we are here?"
"Well I was going to email everyone but since we're here... It's time for everyone to get his or her compulsory annual physicals. Can everyone pass that on to his or her staff?"
There was a murmur of assent before people began to file out of the room.
"Ella is cooking fajitas in the rec room if you guys want to join us?" Lockhart told the Ryders.
Russell looked at his wife for a decision.
"No. I have to prepare for the next prisoner transfer, but you can go." She told him.
"I'll head home too. Next time." Russell said amicably.
+++++++++++++++
Russell and his wife opened the door to their quarters.
B-dis, the company they worked for, had spared no expense. Their living space was well furnished and comfortable with a clean and simple design. Neutral rugs offset the pale wooden floors and muted lighting.
Hannah headed straight for her open plan office space.
"Aw, I thought you were kidding about having to work..." Russell protested.
"Russ, I have to get some documents to the Department of Justice by tomorrow. It's not like our 'guests' can just pop by..."
Russell shrugged and went to get changed, emerging a couple of minutes later to lounge on the sofa.
He watched as his wife typed, her curly hair falling across her face. He smiled as she bit her lip in concentration.
"This new guy, Ward, is a real bastard." Hannah called out, not turning to look at her husband.
Russell grunted his answer.
"When he wasn't being a respected lecturer he was raping girls in alleyways. They got him on twelve counts."
Russell got up and began to massage Hannah's shoulders; he knew what was coming.
"What we are doing here? Is it ethical, do you think?"
She'd asked the same thing several times before.
"Han. Dr Schroeder is a certified genius with doctorates in neurology, microbiology, psychology...we've got the Government's approval," Russell said, but she tightened slightly. "The convicts are relocated to our cushy cells where they don't have to face the prison population for a time. They're the winners here, really."
Hannah relaxed.
"And we get to understand the minds of these monsters...." She sighed.
"And maybe find ways of treating them." Russell finished her sentence.
"I know." She expelled a lungful of air. " I don't like it though."
Russell placed his arms round her shoulders and hugged her. He inhaled the sweet smell of her hair and temporarily lost himself.
"We're perfectly safe. You know we are: you designed all the security." He reassured her and Hannah reached up to stroke his handsome face.
++++++++++++++++++
FEVERISH
*Day 213 18: 09 Hours*
Dr Ryder faced the man in his sickbay. Despite the shackles and two guards his patient looked just like any urbane middle-aged, middle class white male.
Russell drew some blood calmly.
"Maggie, take this down to Dr Goode for me." He said as he turned to his nurse. "And then you can head home for the night."
Maggie nodded her pretty head and walked briskly from the room.
Russell noted, with amusement, how the guards watched the sway of her ass. Ward, the prisoner, licked his lips. Russell stopped smiling. He felt a little protective towards the young woman and, not for the first time, wondered if this was a suitable place for her.
"We're all done here, Mr Ward." He said, turning to clear his instruments. "These two men will get you settled in below."
"Thank you, Doctor. I'm looking forward to my stay." He said as he was led out of the room.
Russell began to write up his notes.
+++++++++++++++++
*Day 213 19: 00 Hours*
Russell was just finishing up and preparing to leave when Dr Schroeder, the facility's director, entered.
"Hello, Dr Schroeder." He called to her from his desk. He had been a little surprised that she had not been present for the intake. She usually supervised all of the prisoners' arrivals.
"Russell. I'm here for my physical." She said, appearing a bit unsteady on her feet.
Russell stood up and considered his superior. She looked intoxicated and he was wary.
"It's late, Ava. Perhaps you can find time tomorrow?"
She ignored him and lay down on a bed.
"Have you been out?" Russell probed.
"The natives of Sixville are a friendly bunch, Russ. Have you met any?"
Russell shook his head and fiddled with his cuffs. Russ knew her history and was relieved, at least, that she had been drinking in company.
