Connected Infection

25. Paradigm Shift - Chapter 16.1

16

GASP, Mongolia

Wednesday, July 19th 2028

09:21 (UTC+8)

'Well, judging by the available evidence, I would say it's more likely that the coffee has been spiked with a hallucinogen...'

'I'm not hallucinating!' Anna snapped, leaning on the desk in her office, lighting up a cigarette. 'I am not hallucinating.'

'You certainly seem under the influence of something,' Phil Teahnox told her. 'Your eyes are dilated...'

'That's fear!'

'...and you must admit your story is rather fantastical. And you know you can't smoke in here.'

'I swear, it's true, I'm telling you the truth,' Anna said. 'Where do you think everybody has gone?'

'I don't know. A meeting?'

'What? And leave the place completely unattended?'

'Listen, I found out that fukhyoo isn't really a Mongolian word. I suppose you think...'

'Will you listen to me?' Anna snapped. 'I'm telling you the truth. This isn't a joke or a trick of some sort – there is something seriously wrong here!'

'Suppose I choose to believe you. What do you expect me to do?'

Anna stared at him.

'No, seriously,' he said. 'What do you expect me to do about this?'

'Go to the toilets,' she said. 'Go in the men's and the women's. Look in the waste-bins. And hurry back.'

'I'm not going in the women's. I'm not falling for that.'

'Just go to the men's then! Please! And hurry! And don't answer any phones!'

Phil sighed. 'Fine,' he said. 'I suppose it will get me out of the office with the crazy woman in it.' He unlocked the door and went out. Anna locked it behind him and peered through the tiny window, watching the deserted control area, the security doors and fire exits.

After about twenty seconds she started to worry. After thirty she was pretty sure something had happened to Phil, and after forty she was convinced of it. After fifty she concluded that she was entirely on her own and started rooting around her office for something she could use as a weapon. She found a plastic 30cm ruler at around the minute-mark, and started to cry. Ten seconds later she shrieked as someone rattled the door.

It was Phil. Anna unlocked it, then thought better of it, and locked it again as he tried the handle.

'Anna,' he said. 'Let me in.'

'How do I know you're you?'

'What? Don't be ridiculous. How do I know you're you?'

Anna couldn't think of any way to answer that, so she unlocked the door. Phil came in, and locked it himself this time. Anna backed away from him.

'I saw the phones in the bins,' he said, and she noticed that his face had paled. 'And in the women's too. You swear you didn't put them there?'

'I swear, I swear,' Anna said.

'I saw... something... crushed on the floor, too. You swear this isn't a joke?'

'I swear.'

'So, let me get this straight,' he said, lowering himself onto the chair by the file-covered desk. 'There are things in the new phones that are taking over people's brains? And making them go to the main reactor to modify it in some way?'