Silent Assassin(60)

At that moment, Morgan heard the heavy scraping of metal against metal, then a resounding bong. Morgan’s ears popped.

“What the hell was that?” asked Rogue.

They ran toward the source of the sound, and found the way to the elevator blocked by a heavy metal door that had apparently dropped down from the ceiling.

“What’s happening?” asked Shepard.

“The doors!” cried Spartan. “The blast doors! We’re shut in!”

Bishop ran to the blast door and examined it. “Diesel, can you blow this open?” he asked.

“A door like this?” said Diesel, looking at it and tapping on its surface. “It would take a hell of a lot more explosive than I have on me. Not a chance.”

“Shep, is there another way out?” asked Spartan.

“No,” he said. “You’re blocked from the stairs too. Just sit tight. Diesel, tap me into the mainframe so I can get those doors open.”

Diesel made for the mainframe room, while the rest of the team spread out along the corridor. As they saw Diesel disappear into the room, there began a low intermittent beep coming from unseen loudspeakers which sounded suspiciously like—

“Is that an alarm?” said Morgan.

“What is that, Shep?” asked Bishop.

“Hold on, hold on! I’m looking through the facility specs.... Let’s see, alarm, alarm—oh. Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh? What the hell do you mean, uh-oh?” said Morgan.

“You guys had better get a move on,” he said, with urgency in his voice. “Diesel, get me into the mainframe!”

Diesel moved forward, bringing his bag with him into the refrigerated room.

“What the hell do you mean, uh-oh?” yelled Morgan.

“Apparently there’s a security system to save the mainframe,” said Shepard. “To prevent any damage to it. If there’s sign of fire in the proximity, the facility locks the doors and—”

“And?”

“Pumps the room full of inert gas. Most probably argon, although I’m not exactly certain.”

“Oh, great,” said Rogue.

“Argon . . . is that poisonous?” asked Spartan.

“No, not exactly poisonous,” said Shepard. “It’s what’s known as a noble gas, which means it won’t react with anything at all. It won’t specifically cause any damage to your bodies. It’s just going to replace all the air in the room and make you suffocate. You should have an estimated . . . three minutes until the oxygen concentration reaches critical levels.”

Bishop, Morgan, Spartan, and Rogue looked at each other, alarmed.

“Keep your heads as high as you can,” said Shepard. “Argon’s heavier than air. It’s going to be concentrated closer to the floor. You can avoid the effects for longer if you’re not as close to the ground. By the same token, getting too low can be fatal.”

Morgan seemed to feel a difference in the air around his feet, although it might just as well have been all in his head.

“Diesel!” cried Spartan. “How about you get that mainframe thing done so that we don’t all die?”

“Working on it!” he said.

“Work faster!”

“Do you want to come in here and do this!” snapped Diesel.

“Anyone else getting a little lightheaded?” asked Rogue. Morgan couldn’t quite tell if it was the tension of the situation, but his arms suddenly felt heavy and his knees weak. His eyelids, too, seemed to want to close on their own.

“All right, I’m in, Diesel,” said Shepard. “Just hold on tight, you guys. I’ll get the argon filtered out in no time and get you proper air in there.”

“Not exactly going anywhere here,” said Morgan, his vision swimming. The others seemed to be losing their balance. To Morgan, it seemed like the whole world looked askew.

“Okay,” said Shepard. “Draining the room of argon now.” When he listened for it, Morgan heard the whir of several exhausts. “I’ve got air being pumped in. You should be able to breathe freely in thirty more seconds, just hold on.”

At that moment, Rogue dropped to his knees. Morgan looked around and saw that Spartan and Bishop were both slumped against the wall. He had to get Rogue up, and the others weren’t alert enough to help. He fought through the haze in his mind and stumbled over to Rogue. He grabbed hold under his armpits and pulled. It was as though Morgan’s arms were completely unresponsive. Everything was so heavy, if only he rested for a second . . .

He steeled himself against those thoughts. They were fatal at a moment like this. With all the strength he could muster, he pulled Rogue to his feet.