This is a Test

Ch. 5 - Part 1 - The Second Test

Cashe was checking on new parts in the metal printer when Lia hurried in, all smiles. On receiving his email, she had created a preliminary schedule where they could share the room without crossing paths. Her tablet held proposed times, as well as a breakdown of their perceived patterns of when each had used the Shop.

Cashe examined her work, finding a ten-minute window between their assigned hours, always to her detriment; an example being that she would leave at nine-fifty so he could enter at ten, where he would work until twelve, allowing her to re-enter at twelve-ten. This was unfair to her, so he adjusted the numbers to nine-fifty-eight and two minutes past ten, continuing at every buffer. After examining his proposal, she beamed, nodded, and scurried away. He was happy she was pleased. Barring an inadvertent hallway crossing or the mandatory meetings, they would never need to see, speak, or interact with one another again. To Cashe, this made her his best friend now, and possibly ever.

For the next hour, he continued collecting supports and panels, reviewing the data of the work performed, when all the screens flickered in a familiar way.

THIS IS A TEST

The air filtration system has detected a foreign contaminant of unknown origin. Colonists are required to retreat immediately to decontamination chambers.

Decontamination chambers were small closets in every room equipped with suits and a separate life support system. Each allowed standing room for four people where the door could be sealed, the area purified, and the habitants could change into medical protective gear. The outfit slipped on over regular clothes, but the getup provided no protection against a Martian atmosphere or solar radiation.

Cashe slipped off his shoes and donned a suit with boots and gloves sealed at the cuffs. Instead of a helmet, a clear plastic hood made the outfit airtight while allowing him to breathe and see. A port permitted an air tank to attach, and he did so. Once done, he extended his arms for inspection. A buzzing sound preceded the door re-opening and he was permitted to exit.

All doors in the facility were designed to blend in with the walls, but in case of a decompressive event, the vacuum of a breach would swing some shut. All had to be installed opposite to one another in sequence. If the first door opened in, the next one would open from the outside. This would ensure that wherever a containment breach occurred, there would be no more than two doorways before one sealed automatically.

Cashe shut the door and locked it, as per established procedure. Until the "contamination" was located, all would stay closed until someone needed to traverse through. Cashe sealed two more in the corridor as he headed to the Garden. The entry to the bedrooms was open, but his priority was to join the others. The issue might be solvable through manpower, so he would show he was a team player.

Cashe sealed the set of double doors between the Lounge and the Garden, as the hydroponics lab was the most critical resource. They could survive without the rest of the building, but the Garden produced food and air, plus contained a good amount of water. If that was lost, a real Mars mission would be finished.

Miranda and Dante were visible in the Lab, suited up as well. Cashe went to the tunnel where the robots worked oblivious to any peril. Cashe idled their programs and shut all doors on the way back. Exiting, he found Karina present, apparently having emerged from one of the Garden's decontamination chambers. She hooked one of the retractable coiled hoses to her suit while Dante sealed the Kitchen shut. Miranda retrieved air tanks from various spots about the room, plugged a hose to her own outfit before attaching another to the old tank to refill.

Having performed their training adequately, the next step as to ascertain the source of the leak. All tablets chirped, and Lia appeared on Cashe's screen. She spoke in Chinese, and the printed translation stated that once enough doors were shut, a diagnosis could be run to determine the contaminated locations so sanitation procedures could be implemented.

A slight dance ensued as Cashe and the others tried to navigate around one another, their air hoses becoming umbilical cords binding them to the building. Cashe retreated to the wall while Dante tried a slight limbo under Miranda's connection. Karina detached completely by reverting to a portable tank.

The habitat's schematics appeared on their screens. Based on Lia's projections, the foreign entity originated from the Garage, as it was the only point of entry. As much as Cashe would have liked to have blamed Roger, he understood that the test would have forced the problem onto them in any event.

The floorplan displayed everyone's locations, showing Lia in her bedroom and Roger in the Garage, both sealed inside, and everyone tested their areas for the unknown. Cashe swabbed surfaces in the tunnel, Miranda checked the Lab, Dante inspected the Kitchen, and Karina sought contaminants in the Garden. The hydroponics area was the last place any of them wanted to have to disinfect due to its size, but fortune favored them as after ninety minutes, only the Garage appeared off-limits, with Roger trapped inside.

While they sanitized, Lia developed solutions. She accessed one of the drones in the garage, while somehow explaining to Roger in ways he could understand safe collection procedures and how to load a sample onto the craft so it could fly off under her control to Miranda for analysis. Their solution seemed incompatible with logic, but the best answer was believed to be that of sending the drone through the air vents. Sensors installed through the ductwork would indicate if there was any contamination and Lia would be able to guide it safely through.

Through some intricate navigations, the drone flew through the complex to the larger group. Miranda examined the specimen and Dante created various mixtures of chemicals to try to kill it. Once a solution was found, he mixed precise amounts into large tanks to spray down the Garage.

Next was the problem of transferring the tanks to Roger. Cashe's engineering solution involved re-routing some of the existing piping devoted to oxygen and to allow the air hoses to spray the chemicals out. Once Roger had his own air hose attached to his suit, he used the other one to blast the hell out of everything in the Garage. His initial grumbling turned to laughter as he sprayed the entire place, but he reverted back to bitching when Anoptica's sensors told him he did not achieve one-hundred percent coverage in every spot, forcing him having to drench certain areas over and again. It ended with him having to wriggle underneath the Rover to coat the undercarriage. Two hours later, they received the all-clear and were able to remove their suits and re-open the doors.

Roger disappeared to his bedroom for, in his words, "a well-deserved nap," something Cashe couldn't argue. The geologist had performed the bulk of the physical labor on the test. Also, the chemicals sprayed in the lab would evaporate and wouldn't harm the tools inside, but the fumes made the area off-limits, so there really wasn't much that he could do anyways. Lia passed by the Garden doorway towards the Shop, so Cashe went to eat in the Kitchen. Through the glass, he observed Karina sitting before one of the hydroponics tanks, rubbing a tiny brush along some leaves with her free hand. Apparently, plants became dusty easily.

Word Count: 1255

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