The Forbidden Zone Read Free Page A

my body adjusted to it, I could still feel a feverish sweat coating my back and forehead. More than anything, I longed to strip off my Foundation jumpsuit and take a long shower, but protocol was important to the Valerians, and I knew I had to endure whatever they had in store for me.
    "Forward." The head diplomat, as I considered her, barked out an order, and the drones, as I dubbed them in that moment, made their way into the Science Building, single-file. Their leader followed last, with a gaze that seemed to indicate that I should follow.
    I stepped inside, and one of the uniformly identical people I considered drones pressed a button. The doors sealed, and water sprayed us down, icy cold and shocking. I suppressed a cry of surprise and took back my secret wish for a shower, as my jumpsuit now hung to me like a cold, leaden weight. The water stopped, and I was about to ask how we were supposed to dry ourselves when hot air started to blow into the chamber. It was welcome, and my jumpsuit and those of the others seemed to dry quickly. As the hot air subsided and the doors opened, I realized this was their form of decontamination.
    "Clever," I observed. "We're usually not as..." I struggled for a Valerian equivalent to what I was thinking. "Stringent."
    "Proper decontamination procedures are vital for research," the leader explained. "Many bacteria live in our soil and air. While harmless, these extra variables can alter the results of experiments and render years of research useless."
    The scientists marched into the next room and I followed. I found the whiteness of each wall almost blinding. The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in a white, smooth material, yet my shoes seemed to grip the floor without slipping. I reached out and touched a wall. It felt like melamine resin, as if the entire place was one large wipe-clean cutting board.
    "It is easy to clean," the leader explained. I nodded. I had to respect their cleanliness. Whatever they were, Valerians were certainly not sloppy. I knew Earth could use some of their discipline. Many studies had been derailed at the Foundation because of contaminated samples. Efforts to add decontamination procedures had mostly been met with protest from scientists eager to preserve their freedom above their research. No such thing was likely to happen at the Science Building.
    I looked up and noticed that we were in a corridor, and that the other scientists had disappeared. Doors lined each side of the passage, and I assumed they had each checked into their labs. I didn't know why, but I missed the man who had smiled at me. I didn't want to be left alone with the head scientist, or, as I was quickly realizing, my babysitter. I was pretty certain right then that no government agent or official had come to greet me, just members of the science team. As I looked around me, I realized why. Small cameras were set into every wall, following our movements. They didn't have to greet me. They could see everything I was doing. I tried to ignore the presence of the cameras, even as I could sense their eyes on me, but it was hard, knowing that some people I had never met were keeping tabs on not only me, but all Valerians. I had heard of surveillance societies; Earth had some in its very own history books. But to experience one first-hand was unnerving, to say the least.
    The head scientist stepped forward and pressed a button on the wall. The plastic slid back to reveal windows on either side of the corridor. I could look in and see the scientists at work. I looked for the man who had smiled at me, and saw him in the room labeled "Soil Research". He was busy at work in a way I'd never seen. He only had to wave his hand over the sample for a zoomed-in, holographic version of the image to appear before him. He could highlight sections of it and turn them in mid-air. It made my old microscope at the Foundation seem like a fossil.
    "Impressive," I said. "How do you do that?"
    "We have three A.I.s