Michael Crichton - Prey

"I can't imagine how this happened," Ricky was saying. "He was fast asleep when I checked on him…"

"When was that?" I said.

"Maybe half an hour ago."

"And the swarm? How'd it get there?"

"I can't imagine," Ricky said. "He must have carried it with him, from outside."

"How?" I said. "He went through all the airlocks."

"I know, but…"

"But what, Ricky? How's it possible?"

"Maybe… I don't know, maybe it was in his throat or something."

"In his throat?" I said. "You mean, just hanging out between his tonsils? These things kill you, you know."

"Yeah, I know. Of course I know." He shrugged. "Beats me."

I stared at Ricky, trying to understand his demeanor. He had just discovered that his lab was invaded by a lethal nanoswarm, and he didn't appear to be upset at all. He was taking it all very casually.

Mae came hurrying into the room. She took in the situation with a glance. "Did anyone check the video playback?"

"We can't," Ricky said. He pointed to the closet. "The controls are disabled-in there."

"So you don't know how he got in there?"

"No. But he evidently didn't want us calling out. At least… that's how it looks."

Mae said, "Why would Charley go in there?"

I shook my head. I had no idea.

Julia said, "It's airtight. Maybe he knew he was infected and wanted to seal himself off. I mean, he locked the door from the inside."

I said, "He did? How do you know that?"

Julia said, "Um… I just assumed… uh…" She peered through the glass. "And, uh, you can see the lock reflected in that chrome fitting… see that one there?" I didn't bother to look. But Mae did, and I heard her say, "Oh yes, Julia, you're right. Good observation. I missed that myself." It sounded very phony, but Julia didn't seem to react. So everybody was playacting, now. Everything was staged. And I didn't understand why. But as I watched Mae with Julia, I noticed that she was being extremely careful with my wife. Almost as if she was afraid of her, or at least afraid of offending her.

That was odd.

And a little alarming.

I said to Ricky, "Is there a way to unlock the door?"

"I think so. Vince probably has a skeleton key. But nobody's unlocking that door now, Jack. Not as long as that swarm is in there."

"So we can't call anywhere?" I said. "We're stuck here? Incommunicado?"

"Until tomorrow, yes. Helicopter will be back tomorrow morning, on its regular run." Ricky peered in through the glass at the destruction. "Jeez. Charley really did a job on those switching panels."

I said, "Why do you think he would do that?"

Ricky shook his head. "Charley was a little crazy, you know. I mean he was colorful. But all that farting and humming… he was a few fries short of a Happy Meal, Jack."

"I never thought so."

"Just my opinion," he said.

I stood beside Ricky and looked through the glass. The swarm was buzzing around Charley's head, and I was starting to see the milky coating form on his body. The usual pattern. I said, "What about pumping liquid nitrogen in there? Freezing the swarm?"

"We could probably do that," Ricky said, "but I'm afraid we'd damage the equipment."

"Can you turn the air handlers up enough to suck the particles out?"

"Handlers are going full-bore now."

"And you wouldn't want to use a fire extinguisher…"

He shook his head. "Extinguishers are Halon. Won't affect the particles."

"So we're effectively kept out of that room."

"Far as I can tell, yes."

"Cell phones?"

He shook his head. "Antennas route through that room. Every form of communication we have-cells, Internet, high-speed data trunks-everything goes through that room." Julia said, "Charley knew that room was airtight. I bet he went there to protect the rest of us. It was a selfless act. A courageous act."

She was developing her theory about Charley, fleshing it out, adding details. It was a little distracting, considering the main problem was still unanswered-how to unlock the door, and disable the swarm. I said, "Is there another window in that closet?"

"No."

"This window in the door is the only one?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then," I said, "let's black out the window, and turn the lights out in there. And wait a few hours, until the swarm loses power."

"Jeez, I don't know," Ricky said doubtfully.

"What do you mean, Ricky?" Julia said. "I think it's a great idea. It's certainly worth a try. Let's do it right now."

"Okay, fine," Ricky said, immediately deferring to her. "But you're going to have to wait six hours."

I said, "I thought it was three hours."

"It is, but I want extra hours before I open that door. If that swarm gets loose in here, we've all had it."

In the end, that was what we decided to do. We got black cloth and taped it over the window, and put black cardboard over that. We turned out the lights and taped the light switch in the off position. At the end of that time, exhaustion hit me again. I looked at my watch. It was one o'clock in the morning. I said, "I have to go to bed."

"We should all get some sleep," Julia said. "We can revisit this in the morning." We all headed off toward the residence module. Mae sidled up alongside me. "How are you feeling?" she said.

"Okay. My back's starting to hurt a little."

She nodded. "You better let me take a look at it."

"Why?"

"Just let me take a look, before you go to bed."

"Oh, Jack, darling," Julia cried. "You poor baby."

"What is it?"

I was sitting on the kitchen table with my shirt off. Julia and Mae were behind me, clucking.

"What is it?" I said again.

"There's some blistering," Mae said.

"Blistering?" Julia said. "His whole back is covered-"

"I think we have dressings," Mae said, interrupting her, reaching for the first-aid kit beneath the sink.

"Yes, I hope so." Julia smiled at me. "Jack, I can't tell you how sorry I am, that you had to go through this."

"This may sting a little," Mae said.

I knew that Mae wanted to talk to me alone, but there was no opportunity. Julia was not going to leave us alone for a minute. She had always been jealous of Mae, even years ago when I first hired Mae in my company, and now she was competing with her for my attention. I wasn't flattered.

The dressings were cool at first, as Mae applied them, but within moments they stung bitterly. I winced.

"I don't know what painkillers we have," Mae said. "You've got a good area of second-degree burns."

Julia rummaged frantically through the first-aid kit, tossing contents out right and left. Tubes and canisters clattered to the floor. "There's morphine," she said at last, holding up a bottle. She smiled at me brightly. "That should do it!"

"I don't want morphine," I said. What I really wanted to say was that I wanted her to go to bed. Julia was annoying me. Her frantic edge was getting on my nerves. And I wanted to talk to Mae alone.

"There's nothing else," Julia said, "except aspirin."

"Aspirin is fine."

"I'm worried it won't be-"

"Aspirin is fine."

"You don't have to bite my head off."

"I'm sorry. I don't feel well."

"Well, I'm only trying to help." Julia stepped back. "I mean, if you two want to be alone, you should just say so."

"No," I said, "we do not want to be alone."

"Well, I'm only trying to help." She turned back to the medicine kit. "Maybe there is something else…" Containers of tape and plastic bottles of antibiotics fell to the floor. "Julia," I said. "Please stop."

"What am I doing? What am I doing that is so awful?"

"Just stop."

"I'm only trying to help."

"I know that."

Behind me, Mae said, "Okay. All finished now. That should hold you until tomorrow." She yawned. "And now, if you don't mind, I'm going to bed."