“What do you know about the death of the chickens?”

“I observed their irrational behavior and subsequently recorded their deaths at approximately 3:03 a.m. My sensors showed no abnormal levels in their habitat, nor did they pick up any threat from a predator. I can only come to the same conclusion as Dr. Rodriguez. Something from beyond the Biosphere agitated them, prompting their deaths.”

“What about the other animals?” Sophie asked. “If this was caused by something from the outside, why didn’t they react?”

“It depends on what happened beyond the Biosphere. As you know, all organisms adjust to their environment by altering physiological functions. They do so to cope with stresses influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors that are triggered by physical, chemical, and thermal sources located in or around the organism’s location. Unnatural stress may lead to illness, death or even extinction—”

“Jesus, get to the point,” said Timothy. “What caused the unnatural stress?”

“The tests I have run are all inconclusive. It could have been an earthquake, tsunami, or other phenomenon. In any case, we have no way of knowing without contacting the outside. I also have no way of knowing why the other animals were not affected.”

“So basically you can’t tell us shit?” Timothy laughed, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. “How much did you cost?”

Alexia ignored the question. “There is something else I have not informed you of yet.”

“And what’s that?” Sophie asked, mentally prepping herself for more bad news.

“The communication uplink is down,” Alexia replied, her voice undeviating from its typical calm and collected tone.

Holly’s face turned a ghostly white, blending with the walls of the chamber. “What do you mean?”

“The connection has been severed,” Alexia replied. “We are on our own.”

The smell of death overwhelmed Sophie.

“Emanuel, there has to be something you can do about that smell. This is one of the most advanced facilities ever built. Isn’t there a button you can push to fill this space with perfume?”

The biologist tossed a garbage bag of dead chickens on the ground. “If we won’t have it in space, then we don’t have it here. I doubt our ship will come equipped with air fresheners.”

Sophie smiled. “Another thing I neglected to add to the NTC contract.”

“How about ‘no dead livestock and no severed emergency communication line’?” Timothy laughed.

Emanuel scowled. “You’re really funny, man. Do you have a joke for everything?”

Timothy nodded and crossed his arms.

“Knock it off, you guys. You’re acting like egotistical teenagers. NTC picked us for this mission because we are all professionals, and damned good at our jobs. Things may be stressful right now, but we should be working together, not fighting,” Holly said.

“She’s right. We don’t know what’s going on outside the mountain, if anything. This is more than likely a test to see how we react to extreme conditions. And right now we’re failing,” Sophie replied.

“With all due respect, Dr. Winston, if this was a test, how did NTC kill these chickens?” Saafi asked, picking up another one of the dead birds in his gloved hand.