Silos of Man

Chapter 16 - Covert Confirmation Cadres

When we arrive at the lab in Section 30, it looks deserted.  A smattering of lights is visible throughout the building, but not one vehicle is in the parking area.  "When are they arriving?"  I ask.  "They're already here." Tom responds.  My silence confirms my confusion and she follows-up with, "They've been here for a few hours, because we had to be meticulously inconspicuous with our arrivals.  Two work here and one works at a different lab.  The other specializes in science communication and dissemination.  We're all bringing a little specific expertise to this endeavour."

We park on the far, dark side of the building near two huge dumpsters, and Tom hurries me inside through a door upon which is signage reading 'exit only'.  The door opens into a stairwell and Tom whispers, "I hope you have sensible shoes on 'cuz we're hiking twelve flights."  After a silent, quad-burning climb, we arrive at a door entering onto the twelfth floor and Tom throws it open it like it's our salvation.  I hadn't realized it during our brief climb because I was so preoccupied with how fast and efficiently this 60-something person was hiking the stairs, but I now see that she's scared.  I know she's very fit, but only adrenaline would explain the Olympic speed with which she got to the twelfth floor.  I struggled to keep up with her on our climb, being fit AND thirty years younger!

It's too dark to maneuver any way but straight.  I can barely make out anything past ten centimeters in front of me, and only know that I'm walking 'straight-ish' by catching the occasional glint of shiny hallway paint upon the walls.  We're moving fast which feels uncomfortable given the lack of visuals, but I maintain the pace because I'm more uncomfortable with the thought of losing Tom in the darkness, whom I can hear shuffling forward very quickly ahead of me.

I hear her come to a stop, and I have to halt abruptly in order to avoid bumping into her.  As I stop myself from stumbling, a door I hadn't noticed opens just enough to let a little light out, and us in.  There's a bit more light inside, but it's still difficult to make out more than shapes and outlines.  "This way", says a tall, thin, jittery silhouette who opens the door.  We move toward  another, bigger set of double doors where a sliver of light can be seen down the centre of the two.

Ms. Silhouette opens the left door with one hand, and then more or less shoves Tom and I across the threshold and into the lab, with the other.  I'm temporarily blinded by the brightness when behind us the door clangs shut, making me jump and spin around to look.  By the time I look back Tom is already in the embrace of one of the gang.  A motley crew of scientists in lab coats stare back at me as I take them all in.  The redhead whose silhouette let us in, is the only one without a lab coat, and hovers over a desk with recording equipment.

Tom speaks first, wasting no time with inefficient chatter.  "Dany Piper, these are the friends I was telling you about."  She points left to right as she essentially roll-calls them for me.  "This is Amal, Richyrd, Prima, and Fayez, and you already met Glenda."  She points over to Red, who actually shares a very warm smile as we're introduced – a wonderfully comforting one in fact, and I realize how deeply needed it is at that moment, given how overwhelmed I'm feeling.  Tom continues with just enough for me to get the fundamentals of who's doing what here this evening, "Amal and Prima work on Cure efforts together at this lab, Rich runs a viral epidemiology research group in Section 33, Fayez works with me at my lab, and Glenda is a science correspondent with The Global Report." 

Holy shit, that's Glenda Pennyworth!  She dissects all of the science information coming out of the Science Councils, and disseminates it beautifully for the consumption of the general public.  I've been reading her articles my whole life!  She wrote an amazingly kind report on my grade11 science fair win.  I can't believe she's here!  In the middle of my fangirl-ing Glenda pipes-up, "Okay people, let's get to work.  Dany, you have the sample?"  A collective deep breath is almost as perceivable as the sigh out that follows it, when I produce the sample from my satchel.

Amal politely takes it from my hand, and then she, Prima and Fayez get to work.  They ask me to supervise and assist given how it's my experiment.  I oblige, secretly relieved that I won't be sidelined tonight.  I follow them to the experiment, leaving Tom with Richyrd, the body whom she embraced upon our arrival.  I'll have to remember to ask her about it later.  I'd never ordinarily forget a detail like that, but in a few hours we'll have some very important, inevitably scary answers. I'm already feeling in a daze after this evening's activities, with more adrenaline to come, and I mustn't forget to ask- I definitely need the details on that embrace.