No

"Okay everyvon, we have some results to share." Dr Onovich called out.

The group turned to face her, Ruby included. She began to sweat nervously as she imagined the yelling she would have to endure for removing so much of her safety gear.

"Two viruses haff been spilt by the accident," the Doctor continued "Von of them lowers inhibitions in host. The extent of this does not seem too bad; ve will not all become axe murders, yja?"

"Only some of us will." James joked. The group laughed nervously.

"If you see your colleagues acting unusually, or feel any strange urges." the Doctor added. "Then you tell somebody, okay? This might be difficult, however. The second virus affects situational awareness. James, this is your field I believe?"

"Yeah," he replied. "The virus in question is one of my pet projects. It might make you somehow less aware of strange behaviours around you. I'm afraid that we don't have the full notes on this one; I took some of them home to work on them, so the exact nature of it is unclear."

"I vill speak with the General on ze telephone and give him an update." Dr Onovich declared. "If after thirty more minutes nothing unusual occurs, then he'll be able to activate the release for us."

With the announcement over, the group returned to their various tasks.

"Strange behaviour?" thought Ruby as she returned to her work. "I'd better keep an eye out for that."

Doing that was more difficult than she imagined, however. Beneath her suit she could still feel beads of sweat dripping down her back. It would stop in a minute, she rationalised. It didn't. She began to tug at her collar. The lab's temperature was always closely controlled to feel nice and cool; so why, Ruby thought, do I suddenly feel stiflingly warm?

She opened the Velcro collar at her neck, and lowered the zip of her hazmat suit so that her cleavage was on display. She took a deep breath. It cooled her a little, but not much. She began to write something down, and the shoulder of the lab suit drooped. She angrily pulled it back into place, but it refused to stay. It was not really designed to be worn in such a casual way; it was either an all-on or an all-off garment.

Ruby decided for the all-off option.

With a sound somewhere between the crumple of paper and the rustle of a bin bag, Ruby pulled the suit off her shoulders and lowered it down past her waist. She pushed it down her legs and stepped out through the elasticated leg holes. Muttering swear words under her breath, she **** the outfit into an untidy ball and threw it on top of her boots.

Her outfit now consisted entirely of the lab-issue underwear. Neither garment was particularly flattering. Both the bra and the panties were made of an opaque white plastic material held in place with elastic; Ruby always thought of them as grocery bag outfits. The top half provided no real support to her D-cup breasts; they were designed to comfort the wearer and make them feel another layer of clothing between them and the lab suits, but nothing more. The panties served the same purpose, though the pair that Ruby was wearing was rather low at the back and (though she did not know this) revealed a lot of her butt crack.

She hadn't rationalised this like the rest of her clothing. She stood there for a moment or two feeling satisfied, and then the sudden embarrassment of what she'd just done suddenly weighed down on her. She was standing in the middle of the lab in her underwear! She'd literally just stripped herself in front of her work colleagues just for the sake of her own comfort! She hurriedly covered her bra with one arm while the other lowered to cover the crotch of her panties.

It was at this moment that James walked towards her to return to his desk.

Panicking, she said "Uh, James, listen. I can explain..."

He didn't acknowledge her. He didn't even look at her. He just walked to his desk and began working again. She stood there, frozen, unsure how to proceed. Was he... was he really pissed with her? Was he so angry with her lack of safety that he was blanking her?

She turned to look at the rest of the room, fully expecting a dozen pairs of eyes to be glued to her. They weren't. As the other virologists walked around the room on their various little tasks Ruby must have entered their line of vision... but nobody said anything.

"James?" she asked. "I think maybe there's something unusual I need to report."

There was no answer.

"James? Can you hear me? Hellooo?" She raised her voice. "Hey guys... I'm in my underwear here. Can you guys see this?"

Nobody - not even Dr Onovich, the only other woman in the room - responded.