Free The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

hard, and a whiff of dry air cleared away some tiny beads of sweat that had collected inside her faceplate.
    Around the Institute, they say that you can’t predict who will panic inside a biological space suit. It happens now and then, mainly to inexperienced people. The moment the helmet closes over their faces, their eyes begin to glitter with fear, they sweat, turn purple, claw at the suit, try to tear it open to get some fresh air, lose their balance and fall down on the floor, and they can start screaming or moaning inside the suit, which makes them sound as if they are suffocating in a closet. There was one case in which a man in Level 4 suddenly began screaming, “Get me out of here!”—and he tore off his space suit’s helmet, taking great gasps of air from Level 4. (They dragged him into a chemical shower and kept him there for a while.)
    After he had helped Nancy Jaax put on her space suit, and had looked into her eyes for signs of panic, Tony Johnson put on his own suit, and when he was closed up and ready, he handed her a pack of dissection tools. He seemed calm and collected. They turned and faced the stainless-steel door together. The door led into an air lock and Level 4. The door was plastered with a biohazard symbol and warnings:
    CAUTION

    BIOHAZARD
    DO NOT ENTER
WITHOUT WEARING VENTILATED SUIT
    The international symbol for biohazard, which is pasted on doors at USAMRIID whenever they open through a major transition of zones, is a red trefoil that reminds me of a red trillium, or toadshade.
    The Level 4 air lock is a gray area, a place where two worlds meet, where the hot zone touches the normal world. The gray area is neither hot nor cold: A place that is neither provably sterile nor known to be infective. At USAMRIID , toad-shades bloom in the gray zones. Nancy took a breath and gathered her thoughts into stillness, using her martial-arts training to get her breathing under control. People performed all kinds of small rituals before they walked through that steel door. Some people crossed themselves. Others carried amulets or charms inside their space suits, even though it was technically against the rules to bring anything inside the suit except your body and the surgical scrubs. They hoped the amulets might help ward off the hot agent if there was a major break in their suit.
    She unplugged her air hose and unlatched thesteel door and entered an air lock, and Tony Johnson followed her. The air lock was made entirely of stainless steel, and it was lined with nozzles for spraying water and chemicals. This was the decon shower.
Decon
means “decontamination.” The door closed behind them. Nancy opened the far door of the air lock, and they crossed over to the hot side.

TOTAL IMMERSION
1983 SEPTEMBER 26, 1330 HOURS
    They were standing in a narrow cinder-block corridor. Various rooms opened on either side. The hot zone was a maze. From the walls dangled yellow air hoses. There was an alarm strobe light on the ceiling that would be triggered if the air system failed. The walls were painted with thick, gobby epoxy paint, and all the electrical outlets were plugged around the edges with a gooey material. This was to seal any cracks and holes, so that a hot agent could not escape by drifting through hollow electrical conduits. Nancy reached for an air hose and plugged it into her suit. She could not hear anything except the roar of air in her helmet. The air rumbled so loudly in their suits that they did not try to speak to each other.
    She opened a metal cabinet. Blue light streamed out of it, and she removed a pair of yellow rubber boots. They reminded her of barn boots. She slid the soft feet of her space suit into the boots and glanced at Johnson and caught his eye. Ready for action, boss.
    They unplugged their air hoses and proceeded down the hallway and entered the monkey room. It contained two banks of cages, positioned facing each other along opposite walls of the room. Jaax and Johnson replugged