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Sher about myself and worried about hi to keepabout Chave She wasn’t dead, was she? She couldn’t be dead She’d had soed to catch whatever had infected Beverly’s original owner--she was sick They wouldn’t kill her just for getting sick "We don’t leave our employees without health care, ever," hat Dr Banks had said to ether How did this align with that?

Then the elevator doors opened to reveal four people in white biohazard suits, and I stopped worrying about anyone but myself Their faces were covered by reflective plastic shields I couldn’t tell as inside There was nothing to indicate whether they were people I knew or total strangers One of the guards tried to take my arm and pullup untilwith you until you tellon," I said flatly "So you can just keep your damn hands to yourself"

"Ms Mitchell, we have been authorized to sedate you if you refuse to cooperate," said one of the biohazard suits The voice was filtered so heavily that it was neither male nor female: it was as sterile and mechanical as our environroup from the cafeteria walked by, escorted by its own quartet of biohazard suits Sherhtly battered, like he’d been through a war and not just a brief fight with a coworker He stopped when he sawthe whole procession to a halt "Sal! Are you hurt?"

"What’s going on, Sherht of the?"

"Chave was ill, pet," he said, a nervous expression washing away all his normal animation "She needsover to be sure we’re not showing sy symptoms before she flipped out!"

"That’s e’re afraid of," uards

I whipped around to face hiroup took that opportunity to getSherman and the others off down the hall "Mind yourself, and stick with the doctors, Sal!" called Sherone, carted off with the others, and I was alone aBut I trusted Sherestured for ue further I just went

I’d always known the laboratory floor was large--larger than the footprint of the h property to let theh for them to build sufficient individual isolation rooms to hold all the people who’d been reuards were in the process of escortingescorted into the roo locked up

One of the biohazard suits followed reen of a doctor’s waiting area There was a bench, covered in white paper, and the standard array of cabinets and counters lined two of the walls A set of folded blue scrubs was stacked on the bench, next to a pair of plain white slippers

"Please re," said the biohazard suit

"Or what?" I de naked wasn’t a proble with someone ouldn’t show me their face

"Or we are authorized to sedate you," said the biohazard suit

"What ‘we’?" I asked "There’s only one of you in here And who authorized you to sedatethat said you could sedate me"

"Ms Mitchell, please believeto harm you But if you force my hand, I will call my associates into this roo Now please"

I hesitated Chave worked for SymboGen I didn’t And when Chave wouldn’t cal Chave was probably dead Did I believe the biohazard suit when it said I’d be sedated if I didn’t cooperate? Yes, I did I glared at the suit’sthem on the floor I started to reach for the scrubs

"Stop where you are, Ms Mitchell" The biohazard suit’s air filter allowed no inflection in the voice, but the feeling of h in the way the words were bitten off "I will need to exaabout?"

"The risk of infection is high enough to require a visual examination Please lower your ar examined He will be happy to speak with you once you are both finished"

That stoppedtold Dr Banks--the owner of the company, the richest man in North America, and one of thestrip-searched and exaetting exaeneric little isolation roo the same treatment I was And that terrified me