Chapter - 6

There was no connection for a long time, but then a long beep sounded. Roman, who was tense, relaxed.

"I'm listening, Roma," Konstantin Sergeyevich's voice was heard.

"Hello, Konstantin Sergeyevich," Roman chattered, greeted the professor. - "Can you speak?"

"If only to the point," replied Professor crumpled. - "What did you want?"

" I got some hitch at the place of arrival. There is no rehabilitation center here, only a sign," Roman squinted towards the doors where the doctor had left, gave a stern look to the big guy in the mask. - "No one is going to engage in development, there is no budget for research. Konstantin Semyonovich..." - beeps sounded in the receiver. The connection was broken.

Roma irritably dialed the manager's number, brought the speaker to his ear. Duty waited. There was no response. Repeat call. In vain. There is no connection. I probably should have called again, but Roma felt the look of a bully in a military uniform. The mask hid the warrior's face, his eyes gave out a grin.

"Dead number, forget about what you did before. Come on in, don't be shy, now you're here as your own. Let's get to know each other," he shrugged. - "We would have been well paid before, right? And now all you're thinking about is how to hide your ass more securely?"

The soldier burst out laughing and grunted contentedly. Roma smiled just in case, although he didn't hear anything funny. And they didn't actually get to know each other. The bully, like the doctor, did not deign to introduce himself.

"But they both say don't understand what," flashed in my head. – "What do you mean, "forget about what you did before?".

Roma shivered, looked at the door behind the bully. He could have left right now, right? The working conditions did not correspond to those stated in the travel letter.

"Or not?", - the back was covered with goosebumps. "Is there a bully in a military uniform standing here for a reason?"

It would not be possible to leave anyway – it was getting dark outside the window, curfew had come. Like it or not, you'll have to spend the night in the building of the center. Roma swallowed already, this thought seemed so unpleasant.

"And what kind of business would I have been well paid for earlier? The research is so funded from the budget, a grant has been signed ..." - lost between other thoughts.

Finding nothing better, Roman decided to look around. I started from the workplace. A standard office desk with no frills, a bunch of folders placed by it is unclear by whom and for what. A small laptop. Ashtray. It's not empty, but it's not empty either. This is what his workplace at the department looked like. Modestly, without frills and... without a laboratory.

He picked up the sheet with the formula of the strain of the NSM virus, which remained lying on the floor. He sat down on a chair, looked at the ornate formulas. Curious. With a rush, the formula on the sheet really resembled the formula of the strain of the NSM virus. But it was worth looking more closely, and the look found some errors. Antibodies that stop the virus? Was the Novel overreacting? Therefore, the man in the white coat reacted to what was happening with enviable composure and indifference. Did you make fun of Roman, who confused the formula and made a mistake in a fever? The scientist thought about it. If so, then the author of the formula chose an interesting approach, starting from the opposite. All the vaccines familiar to Roman were derived from antibodies of healthy people. Here everything was built from the opposite. The main links of the formula were derived from the virus strain.

The soldier cleared his throat, making a sound like the rumble of a working diesel engine. He pointed the scientist to the coffee machine in the corner of the office.

"You'll be surprised, but it's still working. They spoil us up there. They probably think that under strong coffee the head thinks better if the ass is not attached instead of the head," he giggled. "And anyway, it's not all that bad here."

About the ass instead of the head – is he talking about himself, I wonder? Get up, walk past the big guy in camouflage to the coffee machine... You won't want any coffee here. If later. Now my thoughts are focused on the formula. Have tests been carried out? Where are the results of outpatient studies? Have side effects been found out? Where is the conclusion in the end? Without tests, the formula was a set of empty characters. Only a madman could introduce the vaccine into circulation without knowing the algorithm of its action.

Roma thought about it, carefully put the sheet with the formula on the table. So they want to make a vaccine and put it into circulation. Very curious.

"With my hands. Well, well."

Making a vaccine is a complex, time-consuming process, and in the dilapidated building of the former kindergarten, there was hardly a modern laboratory that would meet the tasks set… However, a lot of people were already crowding at the entrance to the rehabilitation center today.

"Aren't they going to test a new vaccine on them?" he thought gloomily.

The desire to stay in this hole has rapidly approached zero. But what to do next? There was no point in talking to the soldier, Roman decided to wait for the doctor and resume the interrupted dialogue.