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The receptionist--Miss Lassen--nodded, looking deeply relieved as Director Swenson turned I’ the front lobby behind She ht not have been able to keep us out, but at least eren’t going to be her probleed, and followed the director to the back of the lobby, around a corner, and into a nondescript hall that seemed to stretch on for the better part of a mile
Director Swenson walked past three identical doors before stopping at a fourth and pressing his thued fro open "Past this point, you’ll need blood tests as well as so the restrooently a off unescorted"
"I’ll keep that in ave her a speculative look, which sheoff the natives, said George
I bitas we followed Director Swenson through the door and into one of the long, featureless white hallways characteristic of CDC installations everywhere It’s like they’re afraid to spend ood chance of the place needing to be hosed doith bleach at any h we did walk past several large glass "s" looking in on empty patient roo I woke up in one of those rooms once, after the CDC teaone to the sterilized afterlife
Director Swenson stopped in front of a door that looked exactly like every other door in the place, except for the larger,unit built into the wall next to it "The cycle takes approxiainst the test pad "Once I go through, the door will close and the unit will reset Please don’t try to folloithout a clean test I’d really rather not send the entire facility into lockdown today"
"It’s cool," I said "We kno to do our jobs"
The light over the door turned green and the door swung open with a hydraulic hiss, saving Director Swenson the trouble of answering h the doorway before the door swung closed again
"Scale of one to ten, how stupid is this?" asked Becks, pressing her own pal panel
Ten, said George
"Oh, five, tops," I said, and shtly "Don’t worry about it We’re just here to ask the scientists some questions about science Scientists like that sort of shit"
"Right," said Becks dubiously as the light turned green and the door hissed open again She stepped through
"Hey, George," Ipanel "Check this out"
This is what I do know: A lie, however well-intended, can’t prepare you for reality or change the world The accident victim will die whether they’re promised recovery or not, but the parent told that their child is dying may have time to prepare, and ether even ainst a world too full of cruelties to be defeated with simple falsehoods If these truths ht have been, it seems like a pretty small price to pay
It seee of comfort for the chance that maybe the truth can do what people always say it can The truthWay of Things, the blog of Alaric Kwong, April 16, 2041
We had anotherwith the senator today We’re about to head out, and he wants to be sure that we all understand our roles in the caaht now, and frankly, neither do I Shaun is barely talking to anyone, including e of the attacks so far over and over again, looking for so for some clue to who is responsible for all of this
When I sent in the application for this position, I thought I was doing us a favor I thought I was giving us the opportunity to e the world by telling the truth I thought I was doing the right thing But noatch Shaun punching the walls, and I wake up as tired as I hen I went to bed, and I just wish that I could take it back I wish I could take it all back I’o ho to make it home alive
--Froia Mason, originally posted April 18, 2041
Thirteen
T he CDC conference roo to expect from them: white on white on white It was like they’d looked at the unifor World War II and said "Yeah, that’s e’re talking about" Maybe they bleached the place on such a regular basis that they didn’t want to deal with paying to have all the furnishings re-dyed Whatever the motivation, the colass-topped conference table and white faux-leather chairs was enough to rubby and unwashed CDC employees probably took a lot of showers, just to keep the like they were too dirty to be allowed to touch the furniture