Page 133 (1/1)

"And I’hed nervously There was a soft "thu down the runway, followed by the sound of cla to the wheels and s This was one plane that wouldn’t be flying anywhere until it was certified infection free Blue antibacterial foa our view of the airfield

"The foaallon," said Alaric "It takes approxiallons to sterilize a plane this size"

Becks gave his? What inspires you to learn thehed Shaun didn’t I turned to look toward the front of the plane, and waited

The blue foa altogether A steady strea away both the reh to think that hitching a ride on an EIS plane was a good idea

"Overkill much?" muttered Shaun I surreptitiously reached over and squeezed his knee

Alaric must have heard him, because he held up the security information booklet and said, "If they had any reason to believe we’d flown through or over an active outbreak, they’d be rinsing the whole plane doith for the plane was properly sealed, since otherwise, we’d probablyEIS Air,’ " said Dr Shoji, shrugging on a lab coat as he eone, replaced by khaki pants and a loudly patterned Hawaiian shirt covered with purple and yelloers I raised an eyebrow He shrugged "It’s ca director of the Kauai Institute of Virology--which is technically true, even if I’m not here on the business of the Institute--and this is what they expect I’d wear shorts if I thought I could get aith it, but the CDC dress code forbids exposed legs So about caustic chemicals" He waved a hand, clearly unconcerned

"Why are you up and et gassed because you had a cramp, thanks"

"Ah--sorry" Dr Shoji produced a small remote from his pocket and pressed a button

The "fasten seat belts" sign turned off, and the voice of the autopilot said, "We have finished external decontas An EIS representative will be waiting on the jet bridge to confirm your current medical condition and offer any assistance thatwith EIS Air We appreciate that you have overnment-owned health services, and would like you to know that the EIS has always been dedicated to the preservation of the public health, above and beyond all other goals"

"Wow Even the private planes have to say that shit," said Shaun

Alaric stood, snagging his laptop bag from the overhead compartment as he asked, "By ‘offer any assistance,’ do they es or bullets?"

"I don’t know" I stood, stretching, before retrievingto be sure ally allowed to carry a concealed weapon--my field license al to tell unless someone asked me "It probably depends on your test results"

"You are a ray of sunshine and I don’t knoe got by without you," said Becks

I nodded syht I’ ia or not, I was the one they had And it felt wonderful

"If you’re done squabbling with each other, please follow me," said Dr Shoji He walked back to the plane door, where he opened the control panel next to the lock and pressed a button There was a hiss as the hydraulics released, and the door slid open, revealing an airlock I closedinto an EIS facility An endless succession of white halls and people dressed in medical attire rose behind my eyes I pushed them aside It wasn’t like I had a choice If I wanted to develop fun new phobias, however justified, I was going to deal with theht on my shoulder "Hey," he said "It’s cool"

I opened lasses kept hi my eyes He kne scared I was if anyone did--I was still enough of the wonized--but that didn’t mean I needed to shove it in his face "Cool," I echoed, and followed hi to findfor us with blood tests in one hand and guns in the other, ready to shoot if our results were anything other than perfect It was a little odd that the EIS had aone of the safer, more convenient automated systems, but it was possible they hadn’t wanted to attract the attention ato keep the CDC fro the kind of sanization that still needs to process incoers by hand would help with that