Chapter 15

"As I have been given a brief rundown by Doctor Bishop as to what it was they were working on down at DragonTech and I will explain it as I understand it. In an hour Doctor Bishop and his wife will arrive on Skybase and should be able to give us a better explanation."

"Colonel?" Scarlet rasped quietly. It was clear to everyone in the room that Scarlet was in a lot of pain even if he was too stubborn to admit it

"Paul we don't have to do this now, you need to rest..."

"No Colonel, I want to know what is going on...please." Scarlet practically begged

Colonel White cleared his throat before he began "Unfortunately I wasn't informed about the research that DragonTech was conducting on behalf of Spectrum until a little under an hour ago" White paused and rubbed his chin with his right hand while he contemplated how best to continue. "As I told you in your briefing before you left for the lab, they were working on ways to help Spectrum in our fight against the Mysteron's. Their research involved using Nanotechnology to destroy Mysteron duplicates.

"Nanotech!" Scarlet gasped "But how?"

"By using similar methods to those that we employ to detect Mysteron duplicates- using blood samples"

"So that was why there was a security breach at the lab. The Mysteron's were after the Nanotech?" Destiny asked

"That's what I believed at first, but then I remembered what Doctor Bishop told me during out first communication -that nothing had been taken..."

"So it was a setup" Blue interrupted angrily

"To lure us in?" Scarlet asked, his voice beginning to sound even more strained

"Paul you need to rest" Destiny soothed, resting her hand in his cheek before she gently stroked him on the side of his face; trying as best she could to calm him

"I'm afraid that's the conclusion we have reached as well Captain" the Colonel continued "They rigged the lab to explode, which in turn distributed the Nanotech..."

"Which infected you" Doctor Gold added regrettably

From what they could see of Scarlet's face because of how he was lying, he looked both shocked and confused "But surely my retro-metabolism should have fixed this; plus Adam seems to be okay...unless he wasn't affected" Scarlet was becoming agitated, the heart rate monitor began racing again.

"Captain you need to remain calm" Doctor Gold began preparing a sedative to use in case he needed to help calm Scarlet down

"Unfortunately Captain you were infected with the nanotech" White stated rather matter of factly, as his gaze shifted between Scarlet and Blue "You both were"

"How?" Blue asked bluntly, a slight tremble in his voice

"The way I understand it, the nanotech was designed to respond to Mysteron DNA and to ignore human DNA. Although you were infected Adam" White told him softly "The nanotech didn't activate because it detected human not Mysteron DNA..."

"But I wasn't so lucky. Was I?" Scarlet rasped

"I'm afraid Captain" Doctor Gold said taking over from the Colonel "That because of your unique 'circumstances' that the nanotech has become active" the Doctor paused unsure of how to continue. He recalled the time he had had to inform Scarlet about his condition; about him being 'virtually indestructible'. Now he had to tell him that the same condition that had saved his life so many times and had become an advantage was now about to become a curse. "Yet due to your retro-metabolism, the nanotechnology has been unable to complete its work –for lack of a better word"

"We do however, have the Biotechnologist who designed this technology on their way to Skybase to help us fix this" White commented, trying to sound more reassuring than he actually felt

"Colonel White" Lieutenant Green's voice sounded over the comm. White walked over to the comm. panel to respond "Go ahead Lieutenant?"

"Sir, I have heard from Captain Magenta, they will be arriving at Skybase in five minutes"

"Thank you Lieutenant. Once they have passed through security have them escorted to my office"

"S.I.G" Green said as she closed the communication

"I'm going to go and welcome our guests" White said returning to Scarlet's bedside. Looking down at Scarlet, White saw a grimace cross the younger man's face, it was clear that he was in pain. "Make sure he's comfortable Doctor" and with that he left

Doctor Gold looked at those left in the room and decided that it too was time for him to leave. "I have some more tests I need to run. Call me if you need anything" he mumbled as he exited the room.

"Nanotechnology" Scarlet sighed as he tried to shift slightly into a more comfortable position, but failed to find one. He sighed again and they could see him scrunch his eyes shut

"Paul?" Destiny whispered "Are you okay, do you want me to get Doctor Gold to come back?" At her words he slowly opened his eyes and did his best to shake his head in response to her question. The expression on his face hinted that that movement alone was painful.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him

"I don't know" he replied "Guess I just need some time to process this" he told her

"Yeah, I get that. But how are feeling? Are you in any pain?"

Slowly he tried to shake his head again and instantly regretted it as the movement pulled at the skin on his injured back. He tried his best not to wince but both Destiny and Blue saw it anyway.

"I'm just tired" he said in a quiet voice and his eyes closed again

Destiny looked up at Captain Blue who was stood on the opposite side of the bed to her, concern and regret written across her face "I have to go, I'm scheduled to be on duty in a few minutes"

Blue nodded is understanding "Don't worry I'll stay with him" he told her

"But Adam you should be resting too" Destiny argued

"I'll be fine" he reassured her

"I'll see you later Paul" she said as she gently placed a kiss on Scarlet's cheek and gave his hand a squeeze. She reluctantly headed towards the door to leave the room, but as she reached it, she stopped and turned back towards Scarlet's bed.

"Don't worry Destiny; I'll let you know if anything changes, okay"

"Thanks Adam" and with that Destiny left