Title: Wrong Place, Wrong time
Author: Spikesgirl58
Rating: G
Prompt January 2013 – Trapped in a level 4 biohazard lab at the CDC without Hazmat suits.
Hilary Daniels was a woman who enjoyed challenges. She enjoyed making a difference and she enjoyed helping others. She kept reminding herself of that as she drove to the lab. Her assistant had called and left a frantically garbled message. Hilary ran it over again and again in her head. She had to have heard wrong or Gwen misspoke.
It seemed as if the fifteen-minute drive took an hour, but she finally arrived at the lab. There were police cars and fire trucks outside the front door. People milled about and as a van from the local TV station pulled up, Hilary's concern and mild annoyance exploded into sheer terror.
She barely permitted the car to stop before throwing it into park and climbing out. At the last second, she remembered to grab her ID. Without that, not even the president of the US could gain access to the main entrance to her lab. Things were very tight at the CDC and for very good reason. They were the keepers of the world's health and safety.
She went through the necessary procedure of showering off and suiting up. Nothing could make her skip that step. Only when she was safely in her haz mat suit, did she venture into the confines of the lab
All the way there, Gwen's message raced through her mind. There was a crowd overflowing from the lab into the corridor and Hilary had to push her way in.
"Do you mind?" someone snapped. In the suits, they were all fairly anonymous, but Hilary recognized the voice.
"I mind very much, Robert. It's my lab," Hilary snapped back at her coworker. He glared and stepped aside. At the sound of her voice, a young woman spun around and clapped her hands together. It was hard to believe that this was one of the most brilliant brains in disease control. Even within her suit, Gwen's anxiety came off her in waves.
"Oh, Doctor, thank the heavens, you've come!"
"After your message, I wasn't likely to ignore it. Now what did you mean, there's people inside the containment room?" Even though safety precautions kept all of them safe, they still took the added step of keeping the pathogens in a sealed room of their very own. You needed authorization, a card, and a note from God to get in.
Gwen pointed at the couple, a blonde haired woman in a silky blue dress and a ferociously somber man in a gray three-piece suit, who were moving through the room, obviously looking for something. They pushed Petri dishes and test tubes aside in a careless manner. Hilary felt her throat going tight as placed her hands against the inch thick glass and stared. "How could they be in there to begin with? Where are their haz mat suits?"
ALL IRREGULARITIES WILL BE HANDLED BY THE FORCES CONTROLLING EACH DIMENSION; TRANSURANIC HEAVY METAL MAY NOT BY USED WHERE THERE IS LIFE. MEDIUM ATOMIC WEIGHTS ARE AVAILABLE: GOLD, LEAD, COPPER, JET, DIAMOND, RADIUM, SAPPHIRE, SILVER AND STEEL. SAPPHIRE AND STEEL HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED.
Sapphire, we are starting to attract quite the crowd outside. Steel glanced over at the people pressed up against the glass. They were all wearing the same sort of brilliant yellow suit.
Just a moment more, Steel. Sapphire was pushing aside objects. It has to be here.
I still think it's a cruel joke.
Are you willing to let it go as such?
Steel looked from her to the people watching them and then shook his head. No. Of course not.
The loudspeaker crackled to life above his head, drawing his attention.
"Attention, you in the lab, what are you doing?"
"Ah, starting off with a less-than-brilliant question. These humans, it is amazing they've gotten to this level of development."
"Excuse me?"
It's a two-way system, Steel.
Thank you, Sapphire. Even thought, Steel's tone was dry.
The speaker was a middle-aged woman with salt-and-pepper hair tightly curled against her head, a pair of black-rimmed glasses and sagging shoulders that looks as if they bore the weight of the world. She slapped the glass to get their attention.
"What are you doing in my containment lab?"
"Is that where we are?"
"You are in a Level 4 Biohazard lab."
"Oh." Steel glanced over at Sapphire. "Sapphire, I think you miscalculated."
"I'm not the one who miscalculated. You are being exposed to a dozen diseases that are all deadly."
"That might be a sticking point," Sapphire murmured, picking up a Petri dish and looking at the red dots speckling the surface.
Sapphire, are you willing to concede that you made a mistake?
The blonde-haired woman sighed with irritation. "It is possible, yes," she snapped.
"Then perhaps we need to regress and egress."
"I hate it when you assume that pompous attitude."
That's not what you said last night.
I was being led.
Of course you were. Now, Sapphire, if you please?
Hilary Daniels glanced from her sauté pan to the ringing phone. With a sigh, she took it off the burner and wiped her hands on her sweat pants.
"Daniels." A wave of dizziness washed over her and she gasped. Grabbing the counter, she steadied herself. She took several deep breaths and tried again. "Hello?"
"Um, Doctor."
"Yes, Gwen?"
"Um… this is going to sound very strange. I have no idea why I called you."
A vision flashed in Hilary's head of a blonde haired woman in a silky blue dress and a ferociously somber man in a gray three-piece suit and she shook her head slowly. "Is everything all right there?"
"Yes, Doctor. No trouble at all. Good night."
"Good night, Gwen. Have a good shift."
Got it! Sapphire held up a small thin plastic tube. "I can't believe I could have miscalculated so gravely."
"You have been distracted as of late." Steel pulled his suit jacket back on in preparation to leave. He glanced over at his partner, who was staring at the tube in her hand and not moving. "Sapphire?"
"I don't believe it. It's impossible."
The past month seemed to be one impossible situation after the next. "What's wrong now? She held up the tube for him to see and Steel let out a moan. "You're pregnant? Again?"