"Please raise your left hand," said the voice.
Hall did. From above, a mechanical hand came down, with an electric eye fixed on either side of it. The mechanical hand examined Hall's.
"Place your hand on the board to the left. Do not move. You will feel a slight prick as the intravenous needle is inserted."
Hall looked over at the screen. It flashed a color image of his hand, with the veins showing in a pattern of green against a blue background. Obviously the machine worked by sensing heat. He was about to protest when he felt a brief sting.
He looked back. The needle was in.
"Now then, just lie quietly. Relax."
For fifteen seconds, the machinery whirred and clattered. Then the leads were withdrawn. The mechanical hands placed a neat Band-Aid over the intravenous puncture.
"This completes your physical parameters," the voice said.
"Can I get dressed now?"
"Please sit up with your right shoulder facing the television screen. You will receive pneumatic injections."
A gun with a thick cable came out of one wall, pressed up against the skin of his shoulder, and fired. There was a hissing sound and a brief pain.
"Now you may dress," said the voice. "Be advised that you may feel dizzy for a few hours. You have received booster immunizations and gamma G. If you feel dizzy, sit down. If you suffer systemic effects such as nausea, vomiting, or fever, report at once to Level Control. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
"The exit is to your right. Thank you for your cooperation. This recording is now ended."
***
Hall walked with Leavitt down a long red corridor. His arm ached from the injection.
"That machine," Hall said. "You'd better not let the AMA find out about it."
"We haven't," Leavitt said.
In fact, the electronic body analyzer had been developed by Sandeman Industries in 1965, under a general government contract to produce body monitors for astronauts in space. It was understood by the government at that time that such a device, though expensive at a cost of $87,000 each, would eventually replace the human physician as a diagnostic instrument. The difficulties, for both doctor and patient, of adjusting to this new machine were recognized by everyone. The government did not plan to release the EBA until 1971 and then only to certain large hospital facilities.
Walking along the corridor, Hall noticed that the walls were slightly curved.
"Where exactly are we?"
"On the perimeter of Level 1. To our left are all the laboratories. To the right is nothing but solid rock."
Several people were walking in the corridor. Everyone wore pink jumpsuits. They all seemed serious and busy.
"Where are the others on the team?" Hall said.
"Right here," Leavitt said. He opened a door marked CONFERENCE 7, and they entered a room with a large hardwood table. Stone was there, standing stiffly erect and alert, as if he had just taken a cold shower. Alongside him, Burton, the pathologist, somehow appeared sloppy and confused, and there was a kind of tired fright in his eyes.
They all exchanged greetings and sat down. Stone reached into his pocket and removed two keys. One was silver, the other red. The red one had a chain attached to it. He gave it to Hall.
"Put it around your neck, " he said.
Hall looked at it. "What's this?"
Leavitt said, "I'm afraid Mark is still unclear about the Odd Man."
"I thought that he would read it on the plane."
"His file was edited."
"I see." Stone turned to Hall. "You know nothing about the Odd Man?"
"Nothing," Hall said, frowning at the key.
"Nobody told you that a major factor in your selection to the team was your single status?"
"What does that have to do--"
"The fact of the matter is," Stone said, "that you are the Odd Man. You are the key to all this. Quite literally."
He took his own key and walked to a corner of the room. He pushed a hidden button and the wood paneling slid away to reveal a burnished metal console. He inserted his key into a lock and twisted it. A green light on the console flashed on; he stepped back. The paneling slid into place.
"At the lowest level of this laboratory is an automatic atomic self-destruct device," Stone said. "It is controlled from within the laboratory. I have just inserted my key and armed the mechanism. The device is ready for detonation. The key on this level cannot be removed; it is now locked in place. Your key, on the other hand, can be inserted and removed again. There is a three-minute delay between the time detonation locks in and the time the bomb goes off. That period is to provide you time to think, and perhaps call it all off."
Hall was still frowning. "But why me?"
"Because you are single. We have to have one unmarried man."
Stone opened a briefcase and withdrew a file. He gave it to Hall. "Read that."
It was a Wildfire file.
"Page 255," Stone said.
Hall turned to it.
Project: Wildfire
ALTERATIONS
1. Millipore(R) Filters, insertion into ventilatory system. Initial spec filters unilayer styrilene, with maximal efficiency of 97.4% trapping. Replaced in 1966 when Upjohn developed filters capable of trapping organisms of size up to one micron. Trapping at 90% efficiency per leaf, causing triple-layered membrance to give results of 99.9%. Infective ratio of .1% remainder too low to be harmful. Cost factor of four or five-layered membrance removing all but .001% considered prohibitive for added gain. Tolerance parameter of 1/1,000 considered sufficient. Installation completed 8/12/66.