Chapter-17 Arctic, 79°58'39.25″S 81°57'32.21″W Pandora Research Laboratory

After traveling on commercial flights, Cecilia boarded a small plane specially equipped to land on icy surfaces. Her arctic coat was warm enough and she had all the necessary equipment. Her laptop had a direct link to Adli through satellite without the need to use common internet line.

She didn't know how long the journey was, all Cecilia knew that they had landed softly on solid ice somewhere in the Arctic.

As she stepped down from the last plane stairs, Cecilia let out a small scream. Not because of the cold wind that suddenly slapped her face, but seeing how impressive the facilities were in such a remote place.

Several giant igloo-shaped buildings stood apart, surrounded by high electric fences. There were two big and tall people standing at the gate to greet her.

Cecilia was ushered into the building in the middle. She was greeted by a tight warm hug from her favorite cousin. Cathy immediately took charge in showing Cecilia around.

She started by showing Cecilia's room, kitchen, fitness room, recreation room, and several others.

Cecilia asked where her station was, Cathy pointed toward the largest building with a tall antenna tower in front of it.

That night Cecilia was introduced to all researchers and scientists who were present at her welcoming dinner in the canteen. Cecilia paid special attention to the two people who were also present. Professor Sato and Doctor Akiko.

Cecilia slept very late after talked at length with Cathy. In her sleep, Cecilia dreamt of visiting several big cities that had completely deserted. Geez!

The next day with a face that still looked a little tired but with blazing eyes, Cecilia sat with Professor Sato in his small but warm room.

"Professor, I was sent by…" Cecilia's sentence was cut off by Sato's hand gesture. His hand held out a small, thin gadget like device. Sato gestured for Cecilia to start using it. It turned out that Professor Sato was holding the same gadget on his hand.

This is X-One. Use it when you want to communicate with us from anywhere in the world. You can also use it like any regular device.

All right, but why? Anything you would like to say, Professor?

No one can intercept communication over this device. It works on designated user only. What is does is it scans my whole body and temperature and use them as parameters. Look, if you take mine, it will shut itself down once it detects that it is 30 cm away from my body.

Cecilia reached for Sato's gadget and took it away from him. Sure enough, it went off immediately.

So professor, who uses this X-One?

"The four of us. As instructed by doctor Aslan. You are the leader of the MS-AB-30, Cecil. Make the most of your time here and do it as low key as possible. CIA and MI6 have their eyes here. And I suspect the giant pharmaceutical have planted their ears there too."

So you did not ask for them?

No. They were sent by Geneva.

Dokter Adli Aslan? You mean doctor Aslan?

No. The spiders around him.

Shit! Cecilia swore silently. It was only then she realized that those conspirators could reach even the most remote place.

But Cecilia felt a little relieved. Adli had informed them of this plan. Her main task was to collect as much material as possible from Cathy and Doctor Akiko and then return to the Congo Basin. She figured out how she would do it.

Cecilia played her role well. In her assignment letter signed by WHO Director General, her title was a virologist who assisted Professor Sato's team by giving advice. The letter also stated that she was given a week for observation before she could submit her recommendations.

Today Cecilia started her job. One of the things that made her heart sank was visiting Object X's quarantine site. She saw how Afrormosia bacteria being transmitted and the consequences that followed. She was about to see the host of Mollivirus sibericum directly.

Cecilia also needed to speak to Doctor Akiko since she was the direct eyewitness to the transmission and the effects of Mollivirus sibericum contagion.

Cecilia followed Professor Sato's steps into a building separated from the rest. It was surrounded by electric fences with many charred carcasses of polar rodents stuck in the fence. Cecilia shuddered.

The building was built to quarantine any specimen that they found and deemed dangerous for their research. It was the first time for them to use it.

In addition to the electric fence, the building's security was recently upgraded. There were four well-built security personnel equipped with light assault rifles manning the manually locked front door.

To enter the first room, anyone would need their retina and fingerprint scanned. The room was a lab.

To open the quarantine room, it required a retina scanner, finger printer, and weighter. A locking system with a steel door that could only be opened by someone listed in the computer system by scanning his body weight. The weighter was equipped with an infra-red trapper to read the body shape of the authorized person.

Cecilia was amazed with everything. A containment system with an advanced level of safety.

She continued to follow Professor Sato into the laboratory. She saw some people working in front of a high-end workstation. There were two separate rooms with 75 mm thick bulletproof glass partitions within the laboratory. Sato said that the analytical lab room was at the far end, next to the data analysis room.

Again, Cecilia hissed in amazement. In the data analysis room, she saw rows of tall servers humming and beeping

This is it! Cecilia trembled slightly as Professor Sato positioned himself on the weighter and infra-red trapper right in front of the armored glass door of the isolation room.

Professor Sato pointed to a small room that was also surrounded by bulletproof glass. Inside the small room, a woman's body laid on a specially heated bed with thin wires that connected to a life indicator monitor.

One more tool that made Cecilia shook her head was a robotic arm planted in the glass roof. With that arm, researcher did not need to be near or in contact with the objects. This lab is super advanced!

Cecilia was asked to look through the large computer screen to see Object X from 360-degree angle. Apparently small high-resolution cameras were placed all over the room. No space was overlooked.

Cecilia observed the monitor as she scanned the body parts of Object X. Nothing was out of ordinary. It was a normal human body. Except the carbon footprint information that indicated the woman's age was over a century, but she looked like in her 40s.

Except that thing! A small tattoo-like mark in the shape of an inverted pyramid on her wrist. She had seen it before, but could not remember when and where.