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Pulling back the curtain revealed the her the shower fro panel to one side I pressedthe needles bite into the base ofbetween red and green I clearedstandard decontamination protocols"
There was a pause as the shower’s coainst the house logs The light stopped flashing, settling on a steady green A chi, and a pleasant voice that sounded suspiciously like Maggie said, "Welcome, Shaun Please enter" The air lock hissed as the seal released and the door swung slowly open I shuddered as I stepped through The sound of hydraulics wasn’t going to sit easily withelse horrible happened to et about the events of the Portland CDC
The door swung closed behindwith a second, louder hiss Once the decontamination cycle started, there was no way to cut it short
"What sort of shoould you prefer?" The voice of the shower ca but the air lock door was tiled, the floor and ceiling in white, and the walls in a soothing shade of blue There were four showerheads, set at levels ranging fro level A recessed nook in the left-hand wall held shaels
"Hot, short, thorough," I said I hesitated before adding, "Please" It never pays to insult coh to form sentences Not when they’re in control of the locks, and especially not when they have the capacity to boil you in bleach
"Absolutely," said the shower "Please close your eyes" That was all the warning I got before the water turned on, cascading with a vengeance from all four showerheads I closed my eyes half a second too late and sputtered as I tried to wipe them dry At least this shower started ater Soht to bleach
The initial blast of water lasted for thirty seconds, letting et warmed up before the shower announced, still politely, "I will be co sterilization on the count of three Please prepare yourself"
"Got it," I said, and screwedover th bleach I did my best not to breathe toothe bleach intolike a bitch, just like it always does, but it was a good sting; it was the sting of getting all the way clean and staying alive for another day
The bleaching stuck to the absolute leger than the water Finally, the shower said, "Nor You have four minutes Please speak if you want to extend this time"
The bleach stopped i water I rinsed , "Four minutes is fine, thanks"
"You’re welcome, Shaun," said the shower
Creepy I hate it whenthee and I used to have shower races Who could get in and clean and out again in the shortest auys ent to school with insisted that their girlfriends and sisters took forever in the bathrooe always beat me She could scrub down in under three minutes if she was in a hurry and hadn’t been out in the field--bleaching added ti it e compared times It was the only way to keep the contest fair Of course, once a month or so, she’d take over the bathrooinal color, which inevitably resulted in her shouting for me to come in and help her dye her roots The sink on our old bathroom was stained a permanent shade of brown by the time ere sixteen, and we ruined sooony expression on o so quickly "Thank you for showering with me today, Shaun," said the shower, as the air lock door unsealed and hissed open "It’s been a pleasure serving you"
"Uh, thanks," I said, stepping out "Sarabbed tels from the pile by the sink I wrapped one aroundbriskly all the way aroundthe towel around my shoulders I needed to sleep The basket full of ht, and it was long past tiet to bed
I started for the door, and stopped in the process of reaching for the doorknob "Oh, crap" When we arrived, Maggie apologized for having only three guest rooms--one each for Alaric, Becks, and Kelly That lefton the front room couch, which was fine, when I had, y’know, clothes Nudity was definitely going to be an issue if I was intending to sleep there again, and since I hadn’t exactly taken ti, I didn’t have spare jeans
I was too da there, trying to figure out what to do, when soh; saved Clearly, Maggie had realized I was going to have a proble me a bathrobe, if not actual pants left behind by one of her Fictional houseguests "You have no idea how glad I a the bathroom door