"Can the safety systems be turned off?"

"Yes. But I don't know how."

"Who does?"

"Only Ricky."

I shook my head. "That won't do us any good. Are you sure you can't figure out-"

"There's a code," she said. "Ricky's the only one who knows it."

"Oh."

"Anyway, Jack, it'd be too dangerous to turn off the safeties. Parts of that system operate at high temperature, and high voltages. And there's a lot of ketones and methane produced in the arms. It's continuously monitored and drawn off to keep the levels below a certain concentration. But if it isn't drawn off, and you start high voltage sparking…" She paused, shrugged.

"What're you saying? It could explode?"

"No, Jack. I'm saying it will explode. In a matter of minutes after the safeties are shut off. Six, maybe eight minutes at most. And you wouldn't want to be there when that happens. So you can't use the system to produce a lot of virus. Safeties on or safeties off, it just won't work." Silence.

Frustration.

I looked around the room. I looked at the steel tank, curving upward over my head. I looked at the rack of test tubes at Mae's feet. I looked in the corner, where I saw a mop, a bucket, and a one-gallon plastic bottle of water. And I looked at Mae, frightened, still on the verge of tears, but somehow holding it together.

And I had a plan.

"Okay. Do it anyway. Release the virus into the system."

"What's the point of that?"

"Just do it."

"Jack," she said. "Why are we doing this? I'm afraid they know that we know. We can't fool them. They're too clever. If we try to do this, they'll be onto us in a minute."

"Yes," I said. "They probably will."

"And it won't work, anyway. The system won't make viruses. So why, Jack? What good will it do?"

Mae had been a good friend through all this, and now I had a plan and I wasn't going to tell her. I hated to do it this way, but I had to make a distraction for the others. I had to fool them. And she had to help me do it-which meant she had to believe in a different plan. I said, "Mae, we have to distract them, to fool them. I want you to release the virus into the assembly line. Let them focus on that. Let them worry about that. Meanwhile, I'll take some virus up to the maintenance area beneath the roof, and dump it into the sprinkler reservoir."

"And then set the sprinklers off?"

"Yes."

She nodded. "And they'll be soaked in virus. Everybody in this facility. Drenched."

"Right."

She said, "It just might work, Jack."

"I can't think of anything better," I said. "Now open one of those valves, and let's draw off some test tubes of virus. And I want you to put some virus into that gallon jug over there." She hesitated. "The valve is on the other side of the tank. The security camera will see us."

"That's okay," I said. "It can't be helped now. You just have to buy me a little time."

"And how do I do that?"

I told her. She made a face. "You're kidding! They'll never do that!"

"Of course not. I just need a little time." …

We went around the tank. She filled the test tubes. The liquid that came out was a thick brown slop. It smelled fecal. It looked fecal. Mae said to me, "Are you sure about this?"

"Got to do it," I said. "There's no choice."

"You first."

I picked up the test tube, took a breath, and swallowed it whole. It was disgusting. My stomach heaved. I thought I would vomit, but I didn't. I took another breath, swallowed some water from the gallon jug, and looked at Mae.

"Awful, huh?" she said.

"Awful."

She picked up a test tube, held her nose, and swallowed. I waited through her coughing fit. She managed not to vomit. I gave her the gallon jug, she drank, and poured the rest out onto the floor. Then she filled it with brown slop.

The last thing she did was twist the handle of a big flow valve. "There," she said. "It's going into the system now."

"Okay," I said. I took two test tubes and stuck them in my shirt pocket. I took the gallon jug. It said ARROWHEAD PURE WATER on the label. "See you later." And I hurried off. As I went down the hallway, I figured there was one chance in a hundred that I would succeed. Maybe only one chance in a thousand.

But I had a chance.

Later on, I watched the entire scene on the security camera, so I knew what happened to Mae. She walked into the kitchen, carrying her rack of brown test tubes. The others were all there, eating. Julia gave her a frosty look. Vince ignored her. Ricky said, "What've you got there, Mae?"

"Phage," she said.

"What for?"

Now Julia looked over. Mae said, "It's from the fermentation tank."

"Ew, no wonder it stinks."

"Jack just drank one. He made me drink one."

Ricky snorted. "What'd you do that for? Jeez, I'm surprised you didn't puke."

"I almost did. Jack wants all of you to drink one, too."

Bobby laughed. "Yeah? What for?"

"To make sure none of you is infected."

Ricky frowned. "Infected? What do you mean, infected?"

"Jack says that Charley was harboring the swarm inside his body, so maybe the rest of us are, too. Or some of us. So you drink this virus, and it'll kill the bacteria inside you, and kill the swarm."

Bobby said, "Are you serious? Drink that crap? No way, Mae!"

She turned to Vince.

"Smells like shit to me," Vince said. "Let someone else try it first."

Mae said, "Ricky? You want to be the first?"

Ricky shook his head. "I'm not drinking that. Why should I?"

"Well, for one thing, you'd be assured you weren't infected. And for another, we would be assured, too."

"What do you mean, it's a test?"

Mae shrugged. "That's what Jack thinks."

Julia frowned. She turned to Mae. "Where is Jack now?" she said. "I don't know. The last time I saw him was by the fermentation chambers. I don't know where he is now."

"Yes, you do," Julia said coldly. "You know exactly where he is."

"I don't. He didn't tell me."

"He did tell you. He tells you everything," Julia said. "In fact, you and he planned this little interlude, didn't you? You couldn't seriously expect us to drink that stuff. Where is Jack, Mae?"

"I told you, I don't know."

Julia said to Bobby, "Check the monitors. Find him." She came around the table. "Now then, Mae." Her voice was calm, but full of menace. "I want you to answer me. And I want you to tell me the truth."

Mae backed away from her. Ricky and Vince were closing in on either side of her. Mae backed against the wall.

Julia advanced slowly. "Tell me now, Mae," she said. "It will be much better for you if you cooperate."

From the other side of the room, Bobby said, "I found him. He's going through the fab room. He's carrying a jug of the crap, looks like."

"Tell me, Mae," Julia said, leaning close to Mae. She was so close their lips were almost touching. Mae squeezed her eyes and her lips tightly shut. Her body was beginning to shake with fear. Julia caressed her hair. "Don't be afraid. There's nothing to be afraid of. Just tell me what he is doing with that jug," Julia said.

Mae began to sob hysterically. "I knew it wouldn't work. I told him you would find out."

"Of course we would," Julia said quietly. "Of course we would find out. Just tell now."

"He took the jug of virus," Mae said, "and he's putting it in the water sprinklers."

"Is he?" Julia said. "That's really very clever of him. Thank you, sweetie." And she kissed Mae on the mouth. Mae squirmed, but her back was against the wall, and Julia held her head. When Julia finally stepped back, she said, "Try and stay calm. Just remember. It won't hurt you if you don't fight against it."

And she walked out of the room.