Seeing Colonel Talbot's pursed lips and faintly disgusted squint, Bruce Banner pulled his baseball cap further down over his face. He knew he wasn't a pleasant sight, having caught his peeled reflection in various mirrors, but didn't like being reminded of it.
"Gentlemen, we need to find a solution, and quickly. I cannot - absolutely cannot - allow this to spread."
"We're pretty sure it's non-contagious, General." Bruce made sure he was the first to answer back. There was always the chance that one of the others could have been beaten into submission by General Ross.
"And how can you be so sure, Doctor?"
Bruce laughed at that. Despite his pain, the horror of the suffering and death of his colleagues, one scientific fact had remained constant - those without scientific training will demand absolute and total certainty.
"We can't be absolutely certain of anything." Banner tried not to sound too much like a university lecturer. But he was aware he sometimes sounded that way, when explaining things to those without his expertise. "But we can notice patterns in how this outbreak is behaving, and compare it to previous cases, even if only in a superficial manner." He paused, looking round to make sure everyone was still with him. "It appears certain, for instance, that the... infection, for want of a better term... was spread by radiation. And only those within a certain range were affected. Radiation, generally speaking, is not contagious. A person with radiation burns does not cause radiation burns in others simply by being near them."
"But this testosterone poisoning - it's not a normal side-effect of radiation. Is there any precedent?"
Doctor Sterns laughed at the General's question. Whereas Banner had endeavoured to make sure the military men followed, Sterns' laughter was contemptuous. They were the only non-military personnel amongst the six in Ross' office, and they had not been made to feel welcome.
"Is there something amusing, Doctor?"
"No sir." Sterns disciplined himself, standing up straight in a slightly slovenly imitation of a soldier standing to attention. It wasn't quite sarcastic, but it was clear to all he didn't care about getting it right. "It's just that the idea of testosterone poisoning... it's a gross oversimplification of what's happening to the patients." There was a slight irreverence to his tone – he clearly felt no fear of the General. He wanted to get back to his rounds, rather than be here. "We've used the term only as working shorthand - we're not totally sure which chemicals it is that are spiking."
The pattern had repeated itself a number of times – some of those with radiation burns had become stronger. There had been cases of skin discoloration, and of restraints being broken. Broken by patients who should have had no chance of breaking through, but somehow, in rage-induced strength, had managed it.
Already, two days after the explosion, the base's supply of morphine was running low.
"Forgive me, but I don't quite understand why Doctor Sterns is here."
Colonel Talbot spoke in a voice every bit as neat and clipped as his short moustache. He was, in pretence at least, directing the question to General Ross. Talbot was a man who, Bruce suspected, would prefer every organisation be run by military dictatorship.
"Sam's a smart doctor; I've been running questions by him whenever I've needed a medical viewpoint for our problems." Bruce paused; making sure Talbot was listening, and raised his voice further. "We're treating this partially as a matter of radioactivity, partially as an unprecedented medical outbreak. I'd say that we could do with a medical viewpoint on that problem, don't you agree Talbot?"
Talbot bit his lip, trying to think of a way to force Bruce to back down. He was the archetypal off the production line soldier - disciplined, uptight, angered by the slovenliness of any non-military mind. He looked to Ross for support, but was met only by a broadly amused smile, the smile of a leader wise enough to know solutions come from many angles, that no one method of inquiry was flawless. Ross' smile, as close to laughter as he was likely to come, told Talbot that it would be wise to back down.
Though he and the General had their differences, Bruce liked Thaddeus Ross. He was tough, but he kept things working, and kept his men in line. Besides, any man who raised Betty to be the wonder she was couldn't be all bad.
"If we have no further ideas, we'll leave discussions there for today," Ross announced. "Doctor Sterns, the supplies your department requested should arrive at nightfall."
Sterns nodded the acknowledgment, but, passing Banner, stopped to speak under his breath.
"If we'd been given twice the supplies projections said we needed, we wouldn't have to cut things so close."
Sterns had made the complaint to Bruce before - given that they were right on the cutting edge of science, it was nearly impossible to tell what could happen, making their projections unreliable at best - as events had proven.
Bruce smiled, a smile he kept to himself, remaining seated until the room had been emptied.
"Was there something else you wanted Doctor?" asked General Ross, when he turned, his eyes on the report he'd just picked up from his desk.
"Yes, there is." The General still referred to him by his title when they were in work situations, despite the fact that he was more or less a member of the family. "I'm pretty sure that patients are being murdered."
That got Ross' attention. He lowered the hand holding the report, and his lower lip dropped slightly, visible beneath his walrus moustache. He placed the report on the table, and walked around the room, closing the door.
"Do you realise the implications of what you're saying, Bruce?" He stood over the doctor, his normal booming voice lowered to a relative whisper. Doctor Banner had his reply worked out hours before the question was asked.
"Sterns and I have looked over the medical charts of the three patients who've passed away so far. Shortly before death, there's always a spike of chemical elements that seems unnatural in comparison to what has gone before. I'm not sure if it's a doctor or a soldier, but I'm convinced someone is killing the sick."
"What motive would anyone have?"
The general, normally one to give commands without the vaguest hint of uncertainty, seemed to be pleading with him. Banner couldn't compromise.
"Base security? The risk of the infection spreading, or growing? We've seen the infected become stronger than they should be, and their skin turn slightly green. It's not impossible someone would be worried."
General Ross stepped back, his face widening in shock, even horror, that such an accusation could be made.
"No."
"No?"
"No. I won't have you spreading these kinds of rumours any further, Doctor. This is a tough time, and it would be bad for base morale." The normal strength and certainty had returned to Ross' voice.
"But General, what if there is someone? Shouldn't this at least be investigated?"
"It's paranoia, Doctor. I'll hear no more of it."
"But what-"
"No more of it."