Age of Mystics (Saga of Mystics Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

depletion that is causing the problem you experienced.”
    “Hey, Doc, I know what I felt. I couldn’t breathe out there.”
    She continued, “It seems counter-intuitive, but it isn’t the oxygen. It is the carbon dioxide. With all of those people out there panicking, they are forcing carbon-dioxide into a sealed space. They are poisoning themselves.”
    Rio popped in with a question, “Why are we okay?”
    Jordan answered, “The plants, right Doc? They eat Carbon-Dioxide.”
    Dr. Pare was quiet for a moment and Jordan wasn’t entirely sure whether she was sad or laughing at his stupidity. Eventually, she said, “Pretty much. They also consume more carbon dioxide when the lights are out, so they are eating up our refuse air at the moment.”
    Harris spoke up suddenly, “Wait a minute. There are hundreds of people in this facility, are you saying they have all died?”
    Jordan was just stunned as he thought about it, “On any given day, there are around thirty-two hundred people working in this facility. Unless this is some strange test, we are the only four who will still be alive in a very short period of time. People screamed in the darkness and all clamored to get to the main doors, which absolutely will not open in a power outage. That is not the way out.”
    He heard her sob quietly, or it may have been the doctor, but the fear in Rio’s voice when he spoke was as palpable as the tears from the others. “But, it has only been what, an hour or two?”
    Jordan had no good news to give, but he didn’t want to give false hope either. “With the doors closed and a full complement of workers, they will suck the air out…or I guess press the CO2 in, until they die. The panic levels I experienced on the way here make me think it was not a long time. There were people collapsed on the floor already by the time I got here. You know what they say on a plane, get your own oxygen before you help anyone else or you’ll both die. I thought there was plenty of time for the generators to kick in. But they didn’t. That is not supposed to be possible. I don’t understand it. But they didn’t come on. All of those people are gone.”
    “Oh, Jesus,” was all Rio could say in response.
    “We have these plants to thank for not being dead.” It was all he could think to say to give them hope, but the doctor dashed that hope in moments.
    “The bad news,” she started, “is that these plants won’t last without the generators either.”
    “What do you mean?” sobbed out Harris.
    The doctor’s voice was calm and Kane realized that it must have been Rio who was the other crier. “Without power, there are no sun lamps. Without sun lamps, these plants will continue to put out oxygen, and take in carbon-dioxide for maybe a day. Additionally, we have no food. The edible plants are in the outside garden right now. We rotate them to give certain opportunities for growth.”
    Jordan just hung his head, it seemed his escape into the lab was only a temporary reprieve from the angel of death. Even in his despair, though, his curiosity was peaked. “I have never heard of an outside garden, where is that?”
    “Up the stairs two floors and out the door right there.” Rio was the one who answered. The wheels began to spin in Jordan’s head and a plan formed.
    Jordan steeled himself, he knew he would have to motivate the others to his plan. It really was the only way they made it more than one day. “Okay, there may be a way out for us. There are reasons why power goes out here, it isn’t supposed to take all power, but that is actually a better scenario than the others. It probably isn’t a nuclear attack, because that wouldn’t affect the generators at all. In fact, this catastrophe may just be in the Mountain. If that is the case, or if anything is the case, other than nuclear attack, we are way better off outdoors. I think we should make a run for it.”
    There was a long pause, clearly the others were thinking about