“DNA molecules,” Mildred said. “That cinches it. This was definitely some kind of genetics lab.”
Thinking about the loathsome, bioengineered blasphemies he had seen in the Anthill, Ryan slapped the notebook shut. He forced it back into the drawer and slammed it closed.
Voice thick with disgust, he asked, “Was there nothing too foul for your predark whitecoats to fuck around with?”
“Unfortunately,” Mildred answered sadly, “no.”
They returned to the kitchen and made a quick meal out of the contents of one of the sealed packages. It was a sort of gruelly oatmeal soup sweetened with brown sugar.
“I wish I knew if this was breakfast or dinner,” J.B. commented.
Doc scowled as he spooned a bit of the food into his mouth. “What difference does it make, John Barrymore? Breakfast, brunch or lunch, these viands would still be unsatisfactory, even to the most undiscriminating of palates.”
Jak pushed his bowl away. “Crap don’t know if wants to be ate or drunk.”
“I like it,” Dean said simply.
Mildred ate only a few bites before saying, “I want to check out the laboratory facility.”
J.B. swung his head toward her. “No!” He spoke with uncharacteristic vehemence. “There’s no telling what kind of germs are in there, Millie.”
“And there’s no telling what kind of medical stores are in there,” Mildred replied. “How many times have we—and others—suffered because of a lack of proper medicines? I won’t pass up this chance.”
J.B. opened his mouth to respond, but Ryan interjected sternly. “Enough.”
All of them were weary to the point of exhaustion, their nerves frayed and frazzled. Both Dean and Doc were swallowing yawns. Krysty’s head was bowed. She had yet to fully regain her strength from the toll exacted on her by calling upon Gaia.
“Let’s get some rest,” Ryan continued. “We’ll talk about it in the morning.”
“Whenever that be,” Jak said wryly. “Take first watch.”
Ryan shook his head. “I don’t think that’s necessary. This place is secure.”
Mildred remained seated as the others rose and filed from the room. J.B. paused in the doorway. “Coming to bed, Millie?”
“I caught a nap on the boat, remember. I’ll stay up for a while.”
J.B. angled an eyebrow at her, and she chuckled. “Don’t worry. I won’t go into the lab area. I do want to check over the files in the office, though.”
Nodding brusquely, J.B. went out into the hall. Mildred sat for a few moments, washing the taste of her meal out of her mouth with a cup of water. She walked out into the corridor.
Although bioengineering wasn’t her field, her background in cryogenics had intersected with it from time to time. Some startling advances had been made before the nukecaust, but as far as she knew, the experiments had been devoted to increasing crop yields, curing birth defects and the like. A great hue and cry had been raised, once, when a life-form had been cloned. However, she had slowly realized that genetic research and biotechnology had played a large part in the mysterious Totality Concept.
In the years before the nukecaust, she had heard many whispers about secret scientific researches conducted by the government, though most of them had been relegated to the status of paranoid rumors, spawned by crackpots fearing a New World Order.
Now, after encountering surviving pockets of pre-dark genetic experiments—the Genesis Project, Ladrow Buford’s cloning farm, Mark Tomwun’s mutated dolphins, the Dwellers, not to mention what she had seen in the Anthill—Mildred had developed a provisional hypothesis. She hadn’t discussed it with her friends, since they would no doubt find her theories irrelevant to the simple issue of survival. As far as they were concerned, the minds behind the Totality Concept were long dead, consumed by the same nuclear hell that had vaporized most of humanity. There was no way to learn the truth, and even if they somehow managed to, the truth wouldn’t do them much good a hundred or so years after the fact.
Though Mildred shared her friends’ priority for survival, she silently agreed that retroreasoning was irrelevant. But one theory she didn’t voice—dared not voice—was the fear that the Totality Concept itself was linked to the nukecaust in a mysterious manner. She applied the iceberg principle, believing the redoubts and the scientific wonders they contained were merely the small, visible tips of a vast, terrifying mass hidden beneath the wreckage of the world.