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Chapter 4

Evelyn was woken up by the ring of her phone. She hastily got out of her bed thinking that she was late for work, but a glance at her clock corrected her. It was 2 hours earlier than she usually got up for work, though it was her colleague Dan who was calling. 

"Eve! You have to get to the lab! They have put the whole compound under quarantine! There are people from all sorts of government agencies here!"

"Quarantine? You don't think it has something to do with out mushroom friend, do you?" - Evelyn asked, as she got up and started dressing.

"I don't know, they are not telling me anything. They said a member of the UHSE council is on his way here and it would be best if you were here when he arrives. They have put up some sort of tent behind the building, I tried to get a look at what's in there, but they didn't let me. You should come here as fast as you can!" - Dan said.

"Wow, alright, I'm on my way. Let's just hope it's not too bad. If something got out of containment, we're probably losing our jobs..." - She answered - "I'm leaving right now, I'll be there in 20 minutes."

Without showering or breakfast, she left and got into the next Magrail to the lab. When she arrived, there was a mob of people in the way between her and the entrance to the lab, but before she could start making her way though them, Dan tapped her on the shoulder from the side. 

"Hey! Wow, the last time I saw so many people around here was... actually, I have never seen this many people here." - Eve corrected herself. 

"Yeah, and it feels like half of them are officials. Come, the guy who told me to call you wants to talk to us." - Dan said and they started making their way through all the people towards the entrance to the lab. 

"There he is." - Dan pointed at him and exchanged a quick, worried look with Evelyn before they approached him.

"Hello, I am Commander Bradford from Sabre Security. I have been tasked with leading the security team for this quarantine. I assume you are the scientists who worked in this lab?" - He said firmly.

"What do you mean, worked? We still work here!" - Dan announced.

"Well, technically, yes. But we cannot let you inside the quarantined area, and in light of the research you conducted in there, especially last week, I think you are lucky that you're not included in the quarantine. Someone very high up has made that decision, if it were up to me, you two would probably be under quarantine too." - Bradford said.

"Alright, so what's this all about? Did something get out? What caused this quarantine?" - Evelyn asked.

"I will explain everything to you, but not with all these people around. I have a small temporary office over there." - He said pointing at a small container at the edge of the quarantined area. They entered and he gestured the two to sit down, and did so himself.

"So... Those mushroom samples of yours. I understand they infected you two somehow?" - He asked.

"Yes, but we found a cure very quickly! We're not infected anymore." - Evelyn said.

"Yes, I know. But about this infection. I have read your reports, but I want to hear it from you. The mushroom itself is infected with something, right? It's not the mushroom itself that's the problem, but it's harboring this infection, which then spreads through the mushroom. Do I understand this correctly?"

"That is correct." - Dan said.

"Good. So there might be a way to cure the infection from the mushroom too?" - He asked expectantly.