When Spirits Beckon

When Spirits Beckon, Part 2, Chapter 16

3 February, 4.19pm

Shawna Preston was still breathing rapidly as she entered the women's locker room within the isolation area. Her ugly mood had not improved since Fred Adivet disappeared a couple of hours ago. If anything, it had only become worse. And the battery of experts who had been keeping tabs on him during the discussion was still clueless as to what had happened.

It also hadn't helped that Fred had disappeared in the presence of her immediate superior General Harmon Woodcock. It made everyone look like fools in what was supposed to be a secured military facility dedicated to the nation's defense; where no one could supposedly enter or leave without due authorization and clearance.

It was no joking matter, but the highly embarrassing fact remained. How had Fred vanished without a trace in spite of all the high-tech security measures? And where was he now?

There were still no answers to these seemingly simple questions and someone had to eventually take responsibility for the security blunder. And that someone was very likely to be Shawna herself.

Because it was her team who had been on watch. A special taskforce which had been specially assembled for this very assignment; made up of highly-trained and experienced professionals who were not likely to make any mistakes – they didn't get to where they were if they had a history of making any.

Perhaps, Shawna had wondered idly and then dismissed quickly, they just hadn't had enough time to properly analyze the phenomenon and were woefully unprepared with adequate preparations. After all, it had been only one day since the phenomenon had manifested itself. Some wit had dubbed it the "Orange Light Syndrome" and the acronym OLS had stuck.

It had begun with the six individuals from WYC sent over from the hospital in Cheyenne for a thorough medical analysis. Once the results of that investigation (or the lack of, she had to concede) became clear, General Woodcock had called her in late yesterday evening to head the special taskforce.

After analyzing all available data together with her team early this morning, she had decided that OLS was probably a freak one-off phenomenon. And so, it was classified as being a "Low" level threat to national security. Since any bioterrorism threat seemed to be nonexistent based on available observations of the subjects affected, she had authorized the WYC staff to be let go.

Subsequent events may have however given cause for her decision to be questioned should a formal inquiry be set into motion. Even so, she was forced to conclude that there was nothing else her team could have done based on the morning reports alone. Especially since her team had concluded that any chance of biological transmission was quite negligible and next to none.

With those test subjects gone, her team had been wrapping up their preliminary reports and were ready to classify the case as closed. The next move would be to focus on all the interesting possibilities which had been raised (that alone was likely to keep them busy for the next few months!) when the miraculous survival of Fred Adivet had been brought to her attention.

As Fred had been told earlier by the General, he had been brought in purely as a routine procedure to assess any potential terrorist threat he may have posed. But it hadn't stayed routine. For in addition to that stockbroker's unbelievable miracle, paramedics in the ambulance had found that they couldn't inject Fred with a sedative. Fortunately, the inhaled anesthetic had worked.

Shawna's team was alerted immediately and took over the case once Fred had been brought in by helicopter. He had then been subjected to all kinds of available tests, some still experimental, but no results could be obtained – simply because they just couldn't darn well conduct any tests. It was as if some sort of invisible defensive shield had wrapped itself around Fred's still unconscious body like a strange second layer of impenetrable skin.