21: Monday 8

I woke up to the sound of a phone call. After a few attempts at unlocking the cell, I managed to answer. "Hello?" I said, groggily.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" shouted the man on the other end. It was Gabe, the chief security advisor on the Project. "I tried calling all day yesterday!"

"I'm a heavy sleeper," I muttered. "What's going on?"

"The Project is screwed, that's what's going on! A foreign contaminant got into the sample, and it spread like crazy. We're showing a 72 percent corruption rate."


I was shocked into wakefulness by Gabe's report, and sprang out of bed. "What? There's no way--there wasn't even a hint of it when I left. Did you try the decontamination protocols?"

"Of course!" Gabe shouted. He was always excitable, but this was a new level of panic. "Mike and I ran a flash decon yesterday afternoon. Got rid of most of the contaminated elements, but destroyed a lot of the actual experiment in the process. We restored as much as we could, but then the corruption rate spiked!"

At first I'd thought Gabe was blowing things out of proportion, but now I started to worry. "I don't understand...how could this have happened?"

"I suggest you talk to the Chief Assistant...only you can't, because he buggered off last night and took half the staff with him. To be honest, sir, I think he's directly responsible."

"I'll thank you to keep your suspicions to yourself," I snapped back. While I had often argued with the chief assistant on how the Project should be run, I couldn't believe he'd stoop to outright sabotage. "Give it straight, Gabe. Is it really this bad?"

"It might be worse. We can't verify just yet, but there have been signs that the contaminant has been mutating. If it becomes airborne, it could affect the other experiments. We may have to scotch the whole thing."

"You will not," I said. "I'm headed to the lab right now. We can still salvage this thing--I am not about to throw away all that's been accomplished."

"We'll need a miracle," Gabe said. "And it pains me to say it, but I will destroy the Project if that miracle doesn't happen. I don't want to, but the integrity of the other experiments may be at stake."

I'd already decided to forgo a shower, and was frantically searching for a clean shirt and pants. "Don't do anything until I get there, all right? I'm practically out the door."

"Underst--" he answered, but I'd turned off the phone before he finished.  I finished dressing and sprinted to the car. My life's work was one the line, and every second counted.

Mondays. I hated them already, and this was only My second one.