Sun has been kind today to bestow some of his rays on the groove of Himalayan Rhododendrons, which adorns the surrounding of many table and chairs. It was rare sight to behold the beauty of its flowers amidst the snow, as they have blossomed two months earlier than their peak season of March.

Today here in the garden cum café cum canteen of the facility where they reside, usually ignored due to the nature of residents in the facility, has been rewarded by their very first admirer in a long time. He was enjoying this precious gift of nature with his glistening grey eyes, sitting on the white metal chair, holding a cup of tea and a plate in his hands.

He took a sip from his cup, lost in train of thought which no one knows off. His colleague who was on the same table was also enjoying her coffee and some refreshment watched him silently from the sidelines. The table was white in color which was circular on the top, has an exquisite carving on the edges and singular pillar on which it was supported. Each table has only two chairs and was placed around the fountain.

The whole atmosphere was serene without any other sound rather than gargling for him, which was credited to the fountain. It was a posh setup for a cafeteria. The lady got up from her seat as she tried calling her partner but got no response as he was lost in the reverie. She tugged his white lab coat which showed his name as “Dr. Prabhat Akineni”, he has very little hair’s remaining on his head and they all are silver, complimented by his eyes. His hairs was disheveled, he has wrinkled face which justifies his age as mid-fifties. He was one of the most renowned physicists in the world.

He was startled as his concentration was disrupted by the sudden force on his coat which bought him to the reality; he dropped his cup and plate as suddenness of the event made him lose all the force in his hands.

He looked at the cause of these events, the lady who was now hid her face by lowering her head which was now covered by her long black hairs, she was anxious of the anger of the silver eyed doctor which she came to known as short tempered in their collaborating work in the past years.

He shook his hands and sighed, he knew his temperament has earned him a reputation of ‘Silver Devil’ mainly named this due to his eye and hair. He ranted “Don’t fetter about it Dr.Kelembeth” half focused on her and still half lost and questioned “What is todays date?”

 Dr. Kelembeth who was little started by the question replied “22nd of January” without much thought and stared at still lost doctor who nodded toward her and recalled “It has been two years since we have started this project in 2017”

Suddenly due to the mention of the time, she also started to play with her black hairs which now has hint of white and on her almond like face wrinkles were starting to form, telling her to be in late thirties. She also lamented on the time since they have locked themselves for this research project, a sigh skipped from her with a hope she commented “It’s going to end soon”

Akineni just nodded and started to walk over in the direction of their laboratory.

“It’s going to end soon, and we should succeed”

“Yes we have sacrificed to” Kelembeth second the resolve with her words.

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They walked towards the lab crossing many checkpoints; each checkpoint has decontamination point in between, which quarantined each area perfectly.

They crossed around seven of these zones to finally reach their lab as it contains most hazardous chemicals.

They entered the room by pressing their cards against the security system which went on to check their eyes and handprints too. The lab has two work computers on both end of the room; the center of the room was occupied by different formulas placed on table and many different apparatuses. Opposite to the entrance was another entry room where hazmat suits were placed and decontamination zone. After which was the most dangerous place where the main element, highly unstable named ‘XE23’ was kept. It was the main focus of their research.

Dr. Kelembeth slowly walked to her workstation to the left, whereas her partner moved towards the decontamination zone.

He had the habit of checking on the internal lab to be sure of stability of atom. Standing in the shower which is getting rid of everything not needed, he continued his train of thoughts while scratching his beard with his right while the left supported it.

The process completed without a hitch and he proceeded toward his suit. He took 10 minutes as his calculation was progressing slowly in his head and nothing was important than it. He entered the lab in the same state of contemplation.

Still in the puzzlement of the problem, he noted, 5 min after entering the lab something was different. A feeling inside of him was telling that everything has gone wrong here but he can’t put finger on it, what it was.

He started to scan his surroundings with deadpan expressions and desperation; he started from checking beakers of different chemicals, checked different containers but found nothing. Intentionally or unintentionally he was avoiding the container that contains the real horror 'XE 23'. If something happened regarding it that spells one thing 'Disaster'.

Slowly he became little erratic and started to search like fanatic. He finally found what he was looking for and his face was the epitome of dread, lost in all color, he understood why he was so erratic. It was because his death has come, that was his thoughts when he finally checked what he was avoiding.

The containment unit of the most unstable element ‘XE23’ has been breached. While he was filled with fear he didn’t lose his calm as seeing his behavior Dr. Kelembeth also started to move in his direction, if anyone else opens the sealed gates of inner lab it will be an outbreak. It has to be avoided, that was his thoughts but as his body was a sack that has leak from which his strength was slowly started to seep out of his body.

He searched for the emergency button with his utmost priority to seal this area. He didn’t want to be blamed for a possible catastrophe, as this thought was the only one that remained in his head as he  gained some faculty and power to react .Looking at his hand, he saw protective suit that he was wearing which relaxed him a little. The Hazmat suit gave him a sense of security to regain his lost strength.

Noticing the emergency button near the entrance of inner lab he rushed towards it while wobbling and pressed the button frantically. Finally the strength that he has gained due to rush of adrenaline to prevent tragedy left him and he collapsed; the alarm sounded all over the facility and dread and fear spread like wildfire among the members who was now locked in their respective locations.

Dr. Kelembeth who was about to enter the decontamination zone slumped in front of the gate. She was also lost for the moment as she was not prepared for tragedy, when they were discussing the success just few moments earlier. She was in horror of the outcome if the any chemical from inner lab were to be exposed to the environment as they were categorized Biohazard. 

She knew one thing for the moment that the tragedy had ensued and she was in the middle or the very reason of it.