Fifth Floor, Administration Office

[TheKingInYellow]

The ability to communicate is a great relief. Aidan leans up against a wall and manages to loosen up just a bit.

"Well, we could certainly stand to have better insulation here. Windows are broken everywhere here, I'm scared to even open doors. ... You know... You can't drink the water, right? It's contaminated. They made an announcement about it, the water's poisoned, or something."

[Laraqua]

"That's just great," says Sergeant Hawkins. His accent identifies him as being from the same area as Lister from Red Dwarf - Liverpool. "Y'know, I was really looking forward to a nice, long drink. We thought as much, though. Damn... Don't suppose you could nip down to the local store and buy us about 50 cases of water? Trolley it down or somethin'?"

[TheKingInYellow]

"Ha! Gladly, I'll be right down there. Maybe you can trade me for a flashlight and gasmask... Maybe a pistol." He laughs, feeling relaxed having someone to share the severe situation with.
"They say the ash is dangerous, too... Rusts metal, causes blackouts, disorientation and all that. Nasty stuff, I suppose. They're telling us to wear surgical masks, here. Any helpful advise you can offer from your end?"

[Laraqua]

"The ash is harmless," says Sergeant Hawkins. "I think it's a kind of by-product of the attack - a side effect of it, if you will. To tell you the truth, I think it's people. The main threat is that it hides things in it... Though it might hide you, too, if you're careful. It'd block scent pretty strongly and cover up basic vibrations. Only way the things could track you would be if you carried a light or perhaps the noise of your movement. Just a theory, anyhow. Not sure what else to say, but there's certainly more than one type of thing out there. What works against one might not work against the other."

[TheKingInYellow]

"Yeah..." He trails off, thinking about the nurse back in the other room. "So then... What's the plan... Are they evacuating the city? Are they bringing in reserves?"

[Laraqua]

"Evacuate the city to where?" asks Sergeant Hawkins. "I've got no way to contact the outside world. The internet is dead. The telephone sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Beyond that is the radio and we've managed to contact some people in the country but that's about it. It's an old radio, y'understand. Probably doesn't have much range anyhow. As far as I know, this is England now. Heck, could be the world now."

[TheKingInYellow]

"But... The chemical spill... It was in the city, right?"

Aidan is getting nervous again. Surviving this doesn't seem like an appealing prospect if there's nowhere to go. Certainly, it couldn't be everywhere, right?

"So then... We just have to survive?"

[Laraqua]

"Seems as much. No idea about other countries, you understand me."

[TheKingInYellow]

"Yes, I do... Listen, I have a child in my charge and I need to find him... You have my number, please call if you find out anything or things change. I'll call you if I find out anything."

"Good luck."

[Laraqua]

"Yeah, and that to you too. If you ever get back here, bring us a Snickers from the vending machine, would ya?"

[TheKingInYellow]

"Heh, if I get the chance I'll bring you the whole machine. Take care of yourself."

Aidan hangs up the phone and notes the remaining battery power. He feels better about the situation, but in reality isn't any better off.

"Back to checking rooms."

He tries the Staff Room door.

[Laraqua]

The radiator hums warmly in its place near the comfortable blue couch and he realises just how cold it is in all of the other rooms. Thee chairs sit around a round table - upon which sit the remnants of a game of poker. Ash swirls about the room - not a lot, but enough to be noticeable.

[TheKingInYellow]

"The ash is harmless." He reminds himself, certainly glad to be in a warm room. "Looks like someone got caught in the middle of a good hand, too."

Not seeing anything particularly useful on the poker table, he surveys the rest of the room hoping to find something that he may put to use. Hopefully someone kept a flashlight at their desk or maybe even a duffel bag to carry things around with him. He recalls that he left his briefcase in Dr. Dullard's office, but none of its contents were important enough to go back for.

[Laraqua]

The room is mostly empty, other than a large handbag brimming with feminine objects, including a mobile phone that lights up when the buttons are pressed (all do, I know, just emphasising it), condoms and feminine sanitary napkins.

[TheKingInYellow]

Aidan spends a minute cycling through the contacts on the cellphone before realizing that it's silly to be looking for information. He replaces the phone and steps back out into the hallway.

"This seems to be getting me nowhere, but I can't get out of here without ... something."

He ponders the situation for a moment and something occurs to him. He removes the scrap of paper from his pocket that he found behind the bookcase in the administrative office.

IV III IX II
--> <-- -->

He pauses for a moment, realizing that the clues couldn't be much more obvious. With a practically giddy laugh, he returns to Dr. Dullard's office to try to unlock the wall safe.

"How do those work normally? Right to clear... So... Left to four, right to three, left to nine and right to two?... Here's hoping."

[Laraqua]

The safe door opens to reveal an ornate golden filligree pair of smaller doors within the filligree facing as though the safe held a shrine. The smaller doors were lined with miniature bells. Within the filligree, Aidan can see two shelves. One contains an ordinary-looking book, an older leatherbound book and a sheath of letters. The other contains a series of bell-lined bangles - silver bells on golden bangles, a filligree Ankh with a spiral in the hole and an ornately carved spike that curves inwards.

[TheKingInYellow]

Aidan blinks at this discovery. He would have expected to find Dr. Dullard inside the safe more than he would've expected this. He seems to have been a pretty odd character.

With some hesitation, he takes the ordinary-looking book out of the safe and examines the title.

[Laraqua]

It appears to be a kind of business diary judging by the plain black-and-red cover. Flicking through it, he finds a series of addresses and phone numbers at the start of the book, followed by the usual business diary lay out.

OOC: Tell me if you look at it more thoroughly.

[TheKingInYellow]

(I do believe I will)

Curious about what makes this worth hiding in this altar, Aidan starts to browse through the book, looking for interesting entries, names or other material.

[Laraqua]

There are several entries each day on prayer meetings in SDR. There is a weekly note on Sunday about the Chapel - often with information on teaching new members how to enhance and enlarge the underground Chapel. It appears that members of his prayer group were amateur builders and electricians as well as doctors, nurses and other hospital staff. Scribbled in the borders are also passages in a bizarre part-English part-something-else language that seemed to be some form of prayer.

There is mention of hiring a private detective to examine goings-on at the Cinemaplex - there are also a number of mentions of people spotting a woman or man with binoculars in the upper windows of the Cinemaplex, or of Cinemaplex employees being found in places where they shouldn't be.