“You have to do it!” The signal began to break up again, pops and crackles threatening to consume her final words. “You have to live! For Ford!”

The radio sputtered and died. He smacked it furiously, trying to get her back.

“SANDRA!”

Klaxons blared as a swirling cloud of discharged vapor came gusting around a bend at the far end of the corridor. Red lights flashed in alarm. The radioactive gases rushed toward Joe… and the boundary.

“You have to seal it!” Takashi shouted frantically over the intercom. “JOE!”

Joe thought of the unsuspecting city outside the plant. Ford would be at school now, maybe playing at recess… along with dozens of other kids. And thousands of other men, women, and children were going about their business, unaware of the hell that had been unleashed from the damaged reactor, the hell he was trapped in now.

I’m sorry, Sandy… I’m so, so sorry…

Screaming in rage, he drew back his arm and pounded his fist into the emergency control button. A transparent barrier, more than six inches thick, instantly slammed down like the blade of a guillotine, sealing off the contaminated corridor. The advancing red lights halted right on the other side of the barrier. The screaming sirens faded away, echoing into silence.

Dear God, Joe thought. What have I done?

* * *

Alone in the control room, Takashi sagged in relief, sinking into his seat as he watched the blinking red icons tail off at the checkpoint. A message flashed upon the screen:

“BARRIER SECURE.”

Takashi kept looking at the message, almost afraid to believe it was true. He felt like he’d aged twenty years in the last few minutes. They had come so close to a total catastrophe. If Joe had been just a few seconds slower…

“Radiation is contained,” he reported over the comm. He paused before asking the question he was afraid to ask. “Is… is Sandra with you? Joe?”

* * *

Joe couldn’t answer. He felt destroyed by what he had just done. The finality of shutting the barrier on his wife. The walkie-talkie slipped from his fingers, crashing unnoticed onto the floor. Unable to stand, he slid limply to the ground, his back against the thick plexiglass barrier. He buried his face in his hands.

“Joe?” Takashi continued to harangue him. “The barrier will only hold so long. We have to close the lead shield, too.”

Joe knew he was right, but he couldn’t cope with that right now. He needed a moment, just to try to come to grips with what he had lost, with what his life had just become. He and Sandra had been together since college, even gone into the same industry together. He had always assumed they would grow old together, watching Ford grow up…