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“Nice suit,” Tim said. “Not many suits in lab work. I don’t suppose you can do anything down here that’s actually helpful?”

“You never know,” Clarence said. “Sometimes shooting people is a useful skill.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Oh, great, an action hero. That will come in handy among all the dead bodies. Come on in. Let me give you the tour. After you, m’lady.”

She stepped into the airlock, faced an interior door. Clarence and Tim followed. Margaret glanced around, saw drains in the floor and the familiar nozzles and vents — the airlock doubled as a decontamination chamber.

“The lab complex has a slightly negative internal pressure,” Tim said as he shut the exterior door and cycled the airlock. “Anything punches a hole in the wall, outside air comes in, any cooties we might have don’t go out. Plus when you need that extra-clean feeling, this baby gives you a little chlorine, a little sodium, a little oxygen … all the things a growing boy needs.”

Clarence’s nose wrinkled in a look of confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Bleach,” Margaret said. “The nozzles spray bleach.”

Clarence looked annoyed. Maybe he felt dumb for not getting Tim’s reference. Clarence hated to feel dumb.

The internal door opened. After so much battles.h.i.+p gray, Margaret was surprised to see white walls and floors. Framed prints added color, as did potted plants.

“This is the living section,” Tim said. “All the comforts of home while floating on an inland sea.”

The place looked like the lobby of a small, posh hotel: couches, chairs, a table with a chess set ready for play, a huge, flat-panel monitor up on the wall. Soft overhead lighting made things look, well, cozy. It didn’t feel like being on a military s.h.i.+p at all.

The decor seemed to bother Clarence. “Nice,” he said. “Good thing you don’t have to put up with the same conditions as the enlisted men who are taking care of you.”

Tim nodded, missing the dig. “Tell me about it, brother,” he said. “This place makes the time somewhat pa.s.sable.”

He walked to a picture mounted on a wall. It was an emergency escape diagram, a long, vertical rectangle broken into three squares. The top was labeled Living Quarters, the middle Lab s.p.a.ce, and the bottom one Receiving & Containment.

Margaret noticed that all escape routes led back to the airlock they’d just exited. Just one way in, and one way out.

Tim pointed to the top square.