“How are you going to do that?”
“Honestly, Doctor, I don't know.” Chesterton continued to stare at the fire wall. “That thing is sixteen feet tall and thirty-five feet long and is without question the meanest, most vicious thing to ever walk the face of God's green earth. It's got claws and teeth that are as hard as diamond. It's armored like a tank, and it's strong enough to rip the hull out of a battleship. So containing it ain't gonna be easy. But then again, it's never been easy. We'll just have to do it. Or die trying.” He turned back. “And if all else fails, Frank, we've always got the fail-safe.”
Frank's hand tightened on the computer chair.
Chesterton continued, “But no matter what happens, Doctor, we've got to contain that thing inside that cavern. And we've got to kill it inside that cavern.” He stared down. “And you can tell Adler that this experiment is officially over. As officially over as it's gonna get.”
His mind spinning, Frank whispered, “But I don't think that you can hold it, Chesterton. Not if Leviathan really wants to get out. That cavern was never designed to hold anything like this.” He trembled. “I don't think that anything can hold it. Or stop it.”
“Well, you're wrong about that, Frank. Because that fail-safe of yours can stop it. Dead in its tracks.” Chesterton turned again, studying the titanium fire wall. “But you've got a point. And ... maybe you did too good a job, son. Maybe even better than they wanted you to do.” He paused. “One thing is certain, though. That thing is going to sleep as long as you've got it in a nitrogen atmosphere. And nobody is going to be waking it up. Not for anything. And in the morning, I'm going to get on the horn to the Pentagon and obtain more men to mount a company-sized defensive perimeter that can—”
But Frank was no longer listening. Because with Chesterton's words, a horrible thought had settled over him, a black shroud of a thought that had blocked out everything else. And the scientist turned away, staring blindly at the wall as if he could even now see the black-scaled monster rising from the cavern floor, flames kindled in its mouth, hell-hating eyes glowing like coals. It was a revelation that came from Frank's back, unexpected and unseen, moving through him like a superheated soul to pass out the blackened wall.
Too good a job ...
“Oh, no,” he whispered.
Releasing some of his tension, Chesterton was still going. “—and in a few months, we'll have cemented the corridors so that it can never escape to kill everything that walks or crawls on the face of the—”
Frank broke him off, touching the headset with a trembling hand.
“GEO,” he said quickly, a gathering fear in his voice, “use analysis of Leviathan's numbered molecular DNA strands to calculate if it is numerically possible for polyploidal chromosomes to achieve the following mutation: Determine if Leviathan can replicate an immunity factor to a nitrogen-based atmosphere.”
Frank's quiet command brought a horrified Hoffman to his feet. Chesterton suddenly paled, pausing from his doomsday drum to stare, mouth tight and grim. In a moment the computer replied.
“Presuming accuracy of assumption that Leviathan has genetically self-promoted Hunter-killer Mode to evolution by mutation of polyploidal chromosomes, it is certain that Leviathan has achieved dual-strand polyploidal DNA of sixteen billion, two-”
“GEO, I don't want to hear the calculation. I just want the conclusion. Is it numerically possible for Leviathan's polyploidal DNA chromosomes to continue mutation until it achieves an immunity to nitrogen?”
A pause.
“If Leviathan's DNA has reached Hunter-killer Mode by self-mutation, it is numerically possible for Leviathan to replicate mutated polyploidal DNA to make a nitrogen-based atmosphere nonpoisonous.”
Frank closed his eyes. He had never expected this. It had been one of the unknowns. But now, in this single surreal moment, he knew that everything had changed. Would never be the same. He spoke distinctly into the headset. “GEO, I want you to extrapolate from this morning's attack and tell me how much longer, from this second, it would take Leviathan to attain an immunity to nitrogen.”
Hushed breathing could be heard in the room.
“Leviathan would require an additional ten hours, fifteen minutes and thirty-two seconds to replicate sufficient dual-strand DNA to achieve an immunity to nitrogen” came the calm reply.
Lab techs reacted, clutching. Frank's mind had accelerated to computer speed. He asked quickly, “Will Leviathan be able to generate flame in a nitrogen atmosphere?”
“No. Oxygen level must exceed twenty—”
“Terminate answer,” Frank interrupted, unable to wait for the computer's response. “Will Leviathan have full-strength use of all other weapons in a nitrogen-based atmosphere?”