As we joined them, I was very aware of the broken helmet still grasped in my hand and the fact that everyone else had theirs on.
“We ask you not to communicate any further until we are able to interview you. For the protection of yourselves and the population, you will have to be detained and checked for contaminates before we can consider you for re-introduction to the population." Professor Delo spoke in clipped tones and the Wardens moved forward to surround us.
"You will need to put on a new helmet for the journey," he said to me, handing one over with a look of disappointment on his face.
I obediently fastened the new helmet into place and surrendered my broken one to a grizzly looking Warden.
"I'm the only one who had my helmet off," I said, looking uncomfortably at the way Taylor and Artie had been surrounded by the Wardens too.
“We ask you not to communicate any further until we are able to interview you," Professor Delo repeated, his eyes hard. I nodded and he turned away to press some buttons on the control panel by the sealed door which led back into the city.
"Lift your arms please," he commanded and we all did as instructed.
A dark grey mist descended from vents in the ceiling. It crept down in twisting tendrils that snaked together. It kept coming, falling all around us and getting thicker and thicker until I could barely see my hand in front of my face.
The temperature dropped and it felt like the mist had found its way deep inside my bones, making me shiver. Then the temperature started to rise again until it became unbearably hot and the mist began to ascend, condensing as it went, and disappearing back through the vents.
The heat continued to soar and I could feel myself perspiring, though the air filtering through my helmet stayed cool and fresh. It felt like my skin was on fire and I twitched, trying to stop myself from screaming out.
As quickly as it had heated up, the temperature dropped back to normal.
“Decontamination complete," a smooth female voice announced over the speaker system.
“What the hell?” Taylor muttered.
“We ask you not to communicate any further until we are able to interview you." The ice in Professor Delo's voice was unmasked.
"Sorry," Taylor mumbled. The Warden standing behind him gave Taylor a harsh shove forwards as the door opened and we made our way out into the city.
Traversing the walkways when accompanied by a small platoon of Wardens was a very different experience. Instead of the shoving and jostling that I was used to, we were in our own lane with plenty of space between us and everyone else.
Of course we were subject to curious glances and some outright hostile glares but I tried my best to ignore those. When we needed to cross over and take the exit into the Warden Central Building, we were given a wide birth by the other travellers and made the transition easily.
We paused at the building entrance to get scanned in and I saw my name flash up next to the word detainee on the screen.
We approached the elevators at the end of a pristine corridor and the Warden to my left, a stumpy little man with a large, hooked nose, stepped forward to hit the call button. The doors slid open after a short pause and several people stared at us with an annoying amount of interest. They were all clutching tablets and wearing ID badges naming them as 'Warden Administration Clerks'.
“Official business. Out," snapped the biggest Warden at the front of our group. He was tall enough to dwarf everyone around him and had an enormous unibrow dominating his face.
I moved aside quickly as everyone within the elevator scurried to comply. A woman who lived in an apartment down the hal
l from mine, peered at me beadily and clucked her tongue as I was escorted past.
Unibrow tapped on the wall of the elevator twice and a screen appeared. He leaned forward to let the retinal scanner do its thing.
“Warden one-five-six-eight-seven, where would you like to go?" the smooth voice asked over the speakers.
"Interrogation," he replied in a gruff tone and the elevator plummeted down, and down, and down.
I didn't think I’d ever been as deep within the buildings as we were heading. I glanced at Taylor and he offered me his hand. I reached for him but a Warden placed his palm between ours before we could reach each other.
“No touching," she instructed firmly and I swallowed a lump in my throat.
The doors finally opened to reveal an undecorated, white hallway that stretched off into the distance. It was lit with harsh lighting that stung my eyes. There were white doors all along either side of it, numbered with odds on the left and evens on the right.
We were herded along the corridor by the Wardens until I thought I'd never see any colour but white again. Eventually, we came to a halt by a door numbered two hundred and six.
"In," hook nose ordered, putting a restraining hand on Taylor's shoulder to stop him from following me through the door.