Gehenna (Part Three)

I had returned to Level One. The hallway from the lobby turned to the right and led directly to a suite of four laboratories.



The laboratories were distinct rooms, separated by the intersection of two corridors.  Of the four rooms, two were partially flooded. One of these flooded laboratories was occupied.



Wading through the water, two figures slapped their hands and pressed their mouths against the reinforced glass.  Muffled groans seeped through the window. 

It was an opportunity to make close observations. 



The two figures were women. Height and weight roughly the same. They wore similar clothing. They ignored their sores and open wounds. These wounds resembled injuries received post-mortem. 

Each had traces of fine white foam in the mouth and nostrils. The pads of the fingers and palms of the hands were swollen and wrinkled. The skin was pale. Despite their animated nature, these two showed the signs of having recently drowned.



Why did they cluster together? Why did they not attack each other but would swarm when someone uninfected was near?



In an adjacent lab, I found evidence to support the notion that trauma to the cranium was the most effective means of stopping these wretched souls.



The door was open on a third room. 



Inside, I found more signs of violence, but no bodies.



The computer had also been purged.  An automated security measure perhaps, resetting to a predetermined configuration after a certain period of inactivity. Either that or someone had stopped long enough in the middle of the apocalypse to erase their research.

At the back of the room, was a second doorway leading to a maintenance corridor and stairs leading down several flights.




---

A small sign indicated this was Dining Hall B. Despite the name, the room was now being used for some kind of storage.  Large, square, metal containment units were spread out around the room. Tubes and hoses leading to and from the units lay across the floor.



Each unit had a small window of thick glass in the front near the controls. Try as I might, I could not determine the contents under containment.

I walked around the edge of the room, careful not to disturb anything.



---

‘The horror of that moment,’ the King went on,
‘I shall never, NEVER forget!’
‘You will, though,’ the Queen said,
‘if you don’t make a memorandum of it.’

- Lewis Carroll,
Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There

---

There was one desk, surrounded by multiple monitors, situated in the center of the room. It faced a long narrow corridor with glass walls. A bank of monitors was arranged on either side of the entrance to this passage.  The lights in the room glowed softly.



I had found a computer of obvious significance.

There were two other exits to the room. The first led to a short corridor and the dining room from which I had come. Behind the second door was a barely audible moaning.

No, we are not going to open that door.
 
I settled into the chair.



Collecting electronic evidence comes with its own challenges.  The data itself is very delicate.  It can be easily damaged or destroyed.

It is also what we call ‘latent evidence,’ which is to say that, like DNA or blood type, in its natural state it cannot be read.  Equipment and software is required to open and view digital data. Therefore, it must be gathered without knowledge of content.

Under normal circumstances, my team would be removing the hardware by following established procedures. However, given the present situation, I had to modify my collection technique.

Before touching anything, I photographed the workstation, including the model and serial numbers of the computer, the position of the mouse, and what was on each screen. The mouse was on the right suggesting the last person to use this workstation was right handed.



There were four disks and a flashdrive also to the right of the keyboard.

A second flashdrive with the corporation logo was connected to a port on the left.



I left everything in place and attached a device I had brought to clone the entire drive.  The sorting would come later.

While I waited, I took an inventory of the contents of the desk.  I catalogued each item, sealing them in protective envelopes.
 
Once the process was complete, I removed the flashdrive from the system and securely stowed it with the items I had gathered from the desk.  I collected my device and rose from my chair.

---

I proceeded to inspect the corridor ahead of me.



The walls were glass. Rows of fluorescent tubes ran the length of the corridor behind the walls. The floor was metal grill on two sides with a center strip made from a heavy glass. The function of such a design was not apparent.

At the far end of the corridor, a heavy security door stood open.

I was about one third of the way down the hall when the lights came on.

I froze.



Nothing further happened.

Slowly, I continued down the passage, alert for any change. The lights hummed. My boots sounded hard upon the metal deck.

I reached the door at the end of the hallway, and stepped through to the chamber beyond.

---

The door opened to a small square room.  A circular vault in the floor surmounted by a frame was situated in the center. 



I bent down and ran my fingers over the surface of the vault. It was approximately one meter in diameter. It was smooth and cool to the touch. It appeared to be heavily shielded.

I had no means to open this.



I sat back on my heels and assessed the situation.

We had made a miscalculation. We should have risked sending a full team. There was something here more valuable than encrypted files and tissue samples. I was certain of it.

Behind the vault, I found a hatch in the floor.  It opened easily.  It was some sort of utility access.

I stood debating my next move. I was probably done here. Do I return the way I came or do I press forward?

Blackness waited.



I turned on my torch and climbed into the hatch.