"Chlorine? You mean that kills Nerve Runners?"
"I saw it with my own eyes."
"That simple? It's that simple?" Oakes thought of all the years they had lived in terror of these tiniest demons. "Chlorinated water?"
"Heavily chlorinated, undrinkable. But it dissolves the Runners. As a liquid or a gas, it penetrates all the fine places to get every one. The Redoubt stinks, but it's clean."
"You're sure?"
"I'm here." Lewis tapped his chest, took another swallow of wine. Oakes was reacting strangely. It was unsettling. Lewis put down the bottle of wine and thought about the report he had read on the shuttle coming shipside. Legato to the Scream Room! Were there no limits to what the old bastard might do? Lewis hoped not. That was how to control Oakes - through his excesses.
"You are, indeed, here," Oakes agreed. "How did you ge.... I mean, how did you discove.... ?"
"Those of us in the Facilities Room had all of the controls in front of us. We started dumping whatever we could find t...."
"But chlorine; how did you get chlorine?"
"We were trying salt brine. There was an electrical short, a wide-scale electrolytic reaction in the brine and we had chlorine. I was on the sensors at the time and saw the chlorine kill some Runners."
"You're sure?"
"I saw it with my own eyes. They just shriveled up and died."
Oakes began to see the picture. Colony had never put chlorine and Nerve Runners together. Most shipside caustics had little effect groundside anyway. Potable water was produced with filters and flash heat from laser ovens. That was the cheapest way. Fire worked on Nerve Runners. Colony had always used fire. Another thought occurred to him.
"The survivor.... ho....?"
"Only those locked into a sealed area before the infection spread were saved. We flushed everything else with chlorine gas and heavily chlorinated water."
Oakes imagined the gas killing people and Runners, the caustic water burning fles.... He shook his head to drive out such thoughts.
"You're absolutely sure the Redoubt is safe?"
Lewis stared up at him. The precious Redoubt! Nothing was more important.
"I'm going back dayside."
Belatedly, Oakes realized he should show more human concern. "But my dear fellow, you're wounded!"
"Nothing serious. But one of us will have to be at the Redoubt all of the time from now on."
"Why?"
"The clean-up was pretty bloody and that's causing trouble."
"What kind of trouble?"
"The surviving clones, even some of our peopl.... well, you can imagine how I had to clean up the place. There were necessary losses. Some of the surviving clones and a few of the more irrational among our people hav...." He shrugged. "Have what? Explain yourself."
"We've had to handle several petitions from clones and there were even a few of our people who sympathized. I have Murdoch down there standing in for me while I came up to report."
"Clones? Petitions? How are you handling them?"
"The same way I handled the food problem."
Oakes scowled. "An.... the sympathizers?"
Again, Lewis shrugged. "When we sterilized the area around the Redoubt, the other demons returned. They're a fast and efficient way to solve our problem."
Oakes touched the scar of the pellet at his neck. "But whe.... that is, why didn't you send someone up t.... ?"
"We stayed until we were sure we were clean."
"Ye.... yes, of course. I see. Brave fellows."
"And can you imagine what would happen if word of this leaks out?"
"You're quite right." Oakes thought about what Lewis had said. As usual, Lewis made the right decisions. Astringent but efficient.
"Now, what's this I hear about Legata?" Lewis asked.
Oakes was outraged. "You have no right to question m...."
"Oh, simmer down. You're going to send her to the Scream Room. I just want to know if we prepare to replace her."
"Replac.... Legata? I think not."
"Let me know in plenty of time if you need a replacement."
Oakes was still angry. "It strikes me, Lewis, that you've been very wasteful of lives."
"You know some other way I could've handled this?"
Oakes shook his head. "I meant no offense."
"I know. But this is why I don't report such things unless you ask or unless I have no choice."
Oakes did not like the tone Lewis took there, but another thought struck him. "One of us has to stay at the Redoubt all the time? What abou.... I mean, Colony?"
"You're going to have to wind things up here and come groundside to manage Colony. It's our only answer. You can use Legata for shipside liaison, provided she's still useful after the Scream Room."
Oakes thought about this. Go groundside among all of those vicious demons? The periodic demonstration-of-power trips were bad enoug.... but live there full time?
"That's why I asked about Legata," Lewis said.
Mollified, Oakes ventured a more important question: "Ho.... ar.... conditions at Colony?"