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"Well, why didn’t you just say so?" The spiky-haired woenuine sincerity "I’m Dr Abbey--you can call uests with such interesting connections" Her saze fell on Kelly, as too busy staring at me to notice "How about you all coed to find his voice, sing hard before he asked, "Will--will the dog be coer, aren’t you, Joe?" The enorh to ie looked like she was physically restraining herself fro the look, Dr Abbey laughed "He doesn’t bite Joe, guest passes for all these folks Got it?" The dog stood, tail still wagging

"Does that erly

"Can you pet the et inside?" I asked

"Co a hand at the open door "Ladies first"

"That ging the reluctant doctor along with her as she went striding through the door to the lab Maggie followed, still casting longing looks at the dog Alaric gaveto leave her alone in the company of a bona-fideus?"

"Yeah Thanks" I didso far as to give her enorie"

Joesound in the back of his throat I hoped thatto biteurban ownership of any doo Kellis-Amberlee aot ie’s epileptic teacup bulldogs

Dr Abbey snorted with a any lingering hope that Ioutside to, I don’t know, guard the sidewalk or so did that I walked right into Becks, buan

Shaun, hissed Georgia Look

I looked And pro frozen in their tracks at the end of the short entrance hall, staring into the gutted warehouselike depths of the fory little base barelytheir own pirate news site out of their parents’ house This was a functional lab, operating totally outside all sane safety precautions, but still equipped way beyond anything I ht have anticipated

All the interior walls not essential for structural support had been knocked out at some point, replaced with a maze of cubicles, portable isolation tents, and live anies Racked computer servers stood side-by-side with rabbit hutches Hydroponic beds studded the floor, growing healthy-looking crops of things I vaguely recognized froht was an even, brilliant white, and about half the people I could see lasses or the clear plastic bands hospitals sometimes used to protect the eyes of individuals with reservoir conditions

Kelly was staring at the scene with her lip curled upward, looking utterly disgusted "This is… horrific," she breathed, turning toward et out of here This is an aboulations that I can’t even start to count them, and--"

"And it’s not under CDC control, which gie Her tone was icy

Kelly stoppeda shaky breath "You don’t understand," she said, slowly "This is… the things they could do here, with this sort of equipenetic sequencer" She indicated a nize "They could build a whole new version of the virus, if they wanted to"

"Let’s not antagonize the nice people, okay?" I asked "You can be offended by their ethics later When we aren’t outnuly easy The last thing I wanted to do was give Dr Abbey a reason

Theaie promptly knelt down and offered her hand, knuckles first, like she was trying to attract the attention of one of her own, ned to sniff it A ing with delight as she used her other hand to start scratching behind his ears

"Most people are a lot less relaxed about Joe," said Dr Abbey, rejoining the rest of us She’d shed her rifle somewhere between the door and the lab floor, but she was still wearing the lab coat At least soe’s beloved blacklight frequencies, because the fabric fluoresced slightly in the glare

"Most people don’t like risking infection when they don’t have to," said Kelly