Kyper Files 022

It was Kyper who first raised the alarm. I glanced at him. His tail was in full bottlebrush mode and he was staring at the door in a hunched and sideways position like he was ready to attack. I frowned. We'd had days without any issues, now what was wrong.

An explosion rocked the facility.

“Warning, warning, incendiary retardant activated. Please be advised and stay back from Lab 01 until it can be cleared,” came AIDE over the intercom. I didn't just roll my eyes, I rolled my entire head back to lean against the back of the chair I was sitting in out of exasperation. I got up and headed for the lab. Kyper stayed in the apartment. Smart cat.

I got to the lab, smoke was still billowing out. People outside were coughing. It looked like the flames had been put out already by the dry powder that some companies thought worked better than water. Around here, they were probably right.

“Is everyone accounted for?” I asked. Several people stared at one another blankly as though a head count hadn't occurred to them.

“AIDE, how many people work in this lab?”

“At once or any given time?”

“Any given time.”

“The entire facility staff.”

“How many people is that?”

“Calculations are from the same time as the base knowledge of the labs, data says 56 people existed on base.”

“Has that number increased or decreased?”

“Increased.”

“Fine. I'm going to go look. Please remind me that after this we need to do a full audit of the facilities in the future.”

“Acknowledged Alexia Hale,” AIDE said. I took a deep breath and darted inside to look around.

The fire was officially out. I could hear groaning from the far corner of the lab. I headed back there as quickly as I could and moved the debris off the person laying on the floor.

It turned out to be two people, and one was Marvin.

“AIDE, please send a medic in here immediately.”

“Medic notified and dispatched.”

Marvin groaned and sat up, slowly as I checked the other man. Breathing, heartbeat, just unconscious, best not to move without a trained professional, I assessed.

“Aida please note that version ex dash thirtytwo was not ready for installation either,” Marvin groaned.

“Your note is recorded Doctor Marshen.”

“Back up a second. Did you test this modulator like I told you to before installation?”

“Doctor Marshen is injured Alexia Hale, you cannot interrogate him.”

“Try me,” I snapped.

“All of my research said it would work,” Marvin said defensively.

“Right, did your research also tell you that it would blow a hole in the lab that risked the life of one man, and possibly the entire facility if you'd damaged life support? Hm? Did it?”

“My calculations did not, no.”

“Of course not. This is why we test things in simulations, small scale, and explosion proof rooms, not on the very device that we depend on to transport supplies and other goods from Earth until we know for an absolute fact it's not going to explode,” I said angrily.

“I knew it wasn't going to explode. My research said it wouldn't,” Marvin said stubbornly as the medics ran inside the room. The unconscious man was placed on the stretcher.

“Yeah. Tell that to the LACK of wall behind you. I think you need to keep your modulators in your own lab until you learn how to test them without blowing us back to Earth the hard way. AIDE revoke access to lab 01 and the teleporter for Doctor Marvin Marshen until further notice.”

“Directive authorization access required.”

“Alexia Hale, security chief is your authorization.”

“Alexia Hale still not recognized as authorization override.”

“AIDE, would you like to see what happens to an apple when they go through the transporter,

 personally?”

“Override accepted.”