Amy and Bernadette were getting down to work. Amy was mapping how the neurotoxin attacked the victim while Bernadette continued to grow new cultures of bacteria. This had been going on for days now. As was suspected, the bacteria's ability to produce neurotoxin ended rather quickly.

Amy was able to track the neurotoxin target. It was targeting the medulla and brain stem. "Bernadette, this is extremely distressing. If the neurotoxin was used as a weapon, the victims would lose all function of their involuntary muscles; breathing, heart and such".

"Oh my god Amy", Bernadette was clearly surprised. "If this was used as a weapon, it would mean that the deployment would need to be very quick. The bacteria do not maintain the ability to produce toxin very long. It would also mean that, because we initially found the bacteria without the neurotoxin at home, someone already attempted to use it".

Amy was now deep in thought. "Well, I guess the shipping route you were worried about is out. This would need to be much quicker, perhaps air craft or missile".

"Amy, the invasive flora would be the mechanism for propagation once it was initially delivered". Bernadette posed.

Amy continued, "That would mean this is a calculated scheme. Long thought out and planned for. Bernadette, we don't need to talk to the health department or the CDC, we need to talk to the White House".

Howard and Sheldon had miniaturized the drone, while Raj had worked on routing the commands through one of the spy satellites. "I'm ready to try the link, Howard. We have to see if the command string can be traced".

Howard looked over what Raj had done. "Good, we have it linked to the robotic arm". Sheldon commanded the arm to go up, go down, left and right. Raj monitored the control signal trying to pinpoint the origin of the commands through the tracking software at both the robotic arm and the command module.

Howard was intently working on the camera. There was not going to be any storage on the drone as the direct feed would be monitored real time. Even if the drone was captured, there would be no way of telling where the commands came from, what it was looking for and where the information was sent.

Captain Chu entered the lab. She was a young officer who had risen quickly through the ranks due to her knowledge in the electronic surveillance systems. The three scientists turned to acknowledge the captain as she addressed them.

Sheldon commented, "Howard, we seem to be ready to try out the drone as soon as you can mount the camera on the nice shelf we have here". Howard just glared at Sheldon and brought the camera over.

Captain Chu was interested in the software modifications Raj was working on and went over to see if there was anything she could do to help. Raj attempted to display the tracking path of the commands which showed nothing.

Howard was more concerned about the power batteries and the duration of the flight due to the small size of the drone. Captain Chu informed them that the flights could be relatively short in duration because the North had moved missile batteries close to their southern border in a display of force. These were similar missiles to the ones they were threatening to launch which could reach Guam and perhaps Hawaii. The plan was to set up the reconnaissance station in the economic zone in the Keasong Industrial Park. The industrial park was in North Korea. The flights could be closely monitored.

Leonard and Dennis had been shown to their lab where they would be working. All the supplies were there that General Sing had requested. Dennis was particularly apprehensive because he had escaped once and wanted to do so again. As he was a high flight risk, the security was stronger than it normally would have been.

Leonard wanted to know just how far he could trust Dennis, because he wanted out of this situation as quickly as possible and with a minimum of advancement to the offensive programs they were assigned to. Leonard felt a little like Tony Stark in Iron Man. Hostage, in a cave with his assistant who knew the locals. "Dennis, I don't mean to sound judgmental, but how crazy are these people to think we are going to help them"?

Dennis was hoping Leonard would be strong as well. "Leonard, General Sing is very old school. He will do anything to advance the State. His reputation is widely known. He is trying to make an impression on the new regime. There has been a clearing of the old guard and he doesn't want to be part of it. He will be expecting results. The primary focus will probably be the rocket fuel project. If they can do nothing else, they will want to launch one of their missiles at a longer distance than is widely expected. This will raise the attention of the State and in their eyes be more prominent in the region".

Leonard was disappointed in this prospect. It would have been easier to delay the laser guided aspects of their tasks as this would take getting more advanced equipment than they currently had on hand. "Well, we will have to do the best we can, do you have any idea how we can get out of here"?

Dennis was more hopeful with this question. "We are positioned well to the south with the missile batteries they have set up for a show of force. This means we have a shorter distance to get out. I also have some family still in the country that have hopefully been notified. There is a possibility they can help. Do you have any ideas on how we can delay the results until we can figure out how to get out"?

"Well", Leonard grinned, "Sheldon always did have questions on my ability to adjust the formulas with proper math. The calculations and mixing processes for the fuel are really pretty sensitive. Any little thing could set of the reaction too soon and blow up or too late and just fizzle".

Penny and the cast had rehearsed for the better part of a week. They were ready to give their first performance. There were going to be a few shows. One in Goyang, it was their sister city after all. Then there would be others in different cities in the area. Penny was starting to get excited about the play, however; recently, she had been a little queasy. She was sure there was something in the water or in the food.