“Would the C02 affect Koda and the betas?”
“Potentially, but he healed so fast, it’s unlikely. The betas, of course, would survive anything that left the connection between their brain and spinal cord intact. At the most, it would knock them out for a few minutes.”
“Then why didn’t the C02 system affect them?”
“Huh?”
“Everyone down there died from the C02, but Koda didn’t and neither did the betas. Why?”
“Independent ventilation system. Sometimes we had to gas the betas to get Koda back to his cell.” Especially if Koda had been in distress. Even after days of hording him, convincing them to let him go was nearly impossible. If Koda were awake, he’d calm them himself. Other times he slept so deep, almost nothing could wake him. And when he did, the betas would often use him until he passed out again.
“And you’re sure the locking system would have to be reprogrammed for the doors to be opened without anyone in the room?”
“Yes. Top clearance personnel would key in the door code to the cells, and the gatekeepers would do a visual check before authorizing it to respond.” Reese propped his elbow on the table and wound up staring at the computer screen again. Thankfully the screen saver had activated.
Phillips’s cold stare went frigid. “Who clears the guards for level five access?”
“The same person who had the ability to change the key codes. Why?” It was the only thing Reese could think to say.
“And the beta who killed the Alpha.”
“Nash Kelli.”
“How did he get out of the facility without leaving bloody footprints?”
Reese crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “Right before I left, Nash did something none of the other betas had. He went beyond Phase two which are the physical changes into a complete quantum transformation that allowed him to do something similar to complementarity. That’s when separately analyzed particles can have contradicting and mutually exclusive properties. Again, like light, which can be a wave or particle but not at the same moment.”
“And for those of us without a science degree?” Harrington said.
Reese huffed. “Using quantum physics to explain what they can do is seriously inadequate but basically for two milliseconds he ceased to exist, and in that moment of time he could do one of two things. Move faster than anything we’ve ever measured or move through it.”
Harrington chuckled. “You make it sound like Nash walked through the walls.”
Reese shrugged.
“That’s not possible, Dr. Dante.”
“How many times do I have to tell you. The ichor isn’t possible.”
“Terrific.”
Phillips didn’t seem nearly as surprised as Harrington. She turned the computer toward her and typed. “There’s something else you need to see.” She angled it to Reese again. “This is the view outside the cargo bay.”
Tiny pinpoints of light from the dorms broke through the darkness. The closest city cast a wider halo close to the horizon.
The time stamp read 00:45.
Seconds ticked by. Two headlights winked in the distance, then disappeared before rounding the corner to the road leading up to the facility. Like someone passing on a main road because they’d made an incorrect turn.
Phillips nodded at the computer. “Go ahead and—”
“The time on the earlier one showing the three unknowns was 01:00.”
She nodded. “You’ll need to queue it up to twelve minutes after.”
Reese fast forwarded the video. He stopped thirty seconds sooner. The counter hit 01:12. The headlights reappeared in the distance, turning back the way they’d come, moving at a much higher speed. Reese stopped the video.
Phillips slid a topical map of the area over to Reese. “That road makes a clockwise turn in the direction of the lab before curving back around those hills.” She pointed.