A mass announcement was proclaimed through everyone's blue eye and every holo-board. The white letters and automated voice said, "This is wide spread emergency, please head to the nearest Tele-pod station immediately. This is not a drill."
Naturally, people panicked. They collected their most valuable belongings and did just as the announcement told them. Dr. Baiocchi could not remember the last time a mass message was sent like this, not even tests, he concluded that this must be taken seriously and went straight for the New New York Telepod station.
Zebbi, who does not wear a blue eye was informed of the announcement by her body guard. She decided to pack up her luggage train, and set up shop, singing and selling posters of herself in the crowded station while everyone waited for further instructions.
George, who also does not wear a blue eye for fear of the government reading his paranoid mind heard of the emergency through his system of numerous holo-boards that he had set up in the basement. George felt it necessary to go and report back to his 3 loyal blog followers.
The station was packed, and the anxiety was tangible. Searching through the news channels brought nothing but the usual dribble, and did not speak of the mass announcement, though many underground channels did, each of them having their own idea as to what was going on. The intercom system switched on and told people to cram as many people into the Tele-pods, that they were to be evacuated.
A few minutes later, as Dr. Baiochhi was trying to decide what to do, the overhead sprinkler system went off. Normally a whiteish chemical is released, which puts out the fire, makes a mess but leaves everything else unharmed. (Can you believe they used to use water in these things?! Everything got destroyed!) However what came out of the valves was in fact an extremely fine green powder.
George pulled out a gas mask and a tarp from his trench coat and ducked underneath. Dr. Baiochhi and Zebbi found their way underneath as well. People that had breathed in the substance started coughing, and a dozen or so collapsed to the floor. The group grabbed who they could and escaped to an exit.
In the emergency stairwell, where the air was clean and circulated with the outside, they had time to think. Bianca, a 20 something attractive female clutching a black cat and a large suitcase and Johnny, an ordinary looking 12 year old as well as Zebbi both had inhaled quite a bit of that green powder and were bent over coughing. Dr. Baiochhi administered some stimulants which calmed down their coughing fits. Bianca seemed to recovered fully, but Zebbi and the boy noticed that their fingers were tingling.
Dr. Baiochhi went through his expansive knowledge of chemicals and knew of three green powders that were likely suspects. Though none of them fit exactly, the closest being an old style anesthetic, but he was pretty sure that it's paralyzing effects started from the spine and core of the body before moving to the extremities, and that it hadn't been manufactured for at least 50 years.
The group along with about 20 others who decided to use the emergency stairwell found themselves outside along next to the station's massive parking lot. Two people were bent over a young man who lay motionless on the pavement. "He had the North River Fevers. but I didn't expect him to go so soon." Dr. Baiochhi knew the North River Fevers was a terminal illness that has no cure, but if well treated, victims can live into their late 30s. The Chemist secretly drew a blood sample of the deceased and moved on.
Not 3 minutes after they had left the building, large military trucks entered the parking lot. Unaware of the military's intentions, Dr. Baiochhi, Zebbi, Bianca and Johnny tried to sneak their way out of the area while George hid in a nook in a wall to watch. The group was spotted quickly, though the soldiers only told them to clear the area which they were doing anyway.
Zebbi used her fame and womanly ways to try to get information out of one of the truck drivers and distract him enough her her to steal his RoboLabor Unit that had parts Dr. Baiochhi wanted. The tingling in Zebbi and Johnny's fingers started to spread, and by the time the ambulance came, it had spread all the way up Johnny's arm.
Johnny and several others were taken to the hospital. Zebbi refused to go.
The group, along with Mr. Sniffles (Bianca's cat) collected blood samples and took them back to Dr. Baiochhi's lab where they made some interesting discoveries. The substance that came from the fire extinguishers was an extremely complex organic molecule whose atomic weight fluctuated so much that it was impossible to get an accurate reading. Samples from dead subjects contained a similar molecule with a weight of 3,028, the people that seemed unaffected still had the substance in their blood but with a weight of 3,024. And those that were tingling like Zebbi had molecules that varied in weight and were much lighter than the others (Zebbi was at 1,016)
Dr. Baiochhi tested the green powder on 100 lab rats with different genetic codes. None of them died, and one rat acted oddly until the water container poured water all over the cage without anything touching it. The Doctor terminated all the rats and uploaded all the data he had collected.
Before they could preform any more tests, a huge earthquake shook the ground, and dislodged several items from their shelves, and a minute later, another larger earthquake followed. The Laboratory building creaked and groaned from the pressure, and they decided to get out. Buildings fell around them, and then they saw it. A shiny floating box about 8 feet tall was hovering around the huge terraforming machine. Johnny left his hiding spot and claimed to call it with his mind, the cube rotated and then floated over to Johnny and the others.
No comments:
Post a Comment