I was totally sucked in too. Even a 5-ton rated titanium cable wouldn't have restrained me. You had me going. The story reminded me of Michael Crichton's "The Andromeda Strain," where a team of epidemiologists in Ebola-prevention type suits investigates why everyone in a mid-Western died of an unspecified epidemic -- with the exception of a crying baby. Also brings Nevil Shute's classic book, "On the Beach" to mind -- where the radioactive cloud spreading across the planet after an all-out nuclear exchange descends toward Australia, the last habitable continent, and how the locals react to their fast-dwindling lifespan. In Shute's book, much like in your story, a team of Navy scientists goes to New York City to investigate why unusual communications signals keep emanating from one isolated office in a moribund city.

This is really good stuff and might be part of a welcome new genre of writing -- much like "The Martian," for example, where the reading public gets to learn science in an absorbing, almost detective-like way.

Stylistically, I liked many of descriptive phrases like 'long, lazy jets from the deluge guns' I also liked the use of technical jargon, since it gave me a sense of being a voyeur, which added authenticity. But I admit -- a few times I did get lost. An occasional peek into the hero's mental state would have been welcome as a change of pace. I also would have welcomed the story occasionally presenting the technical details in a way that encourages the reader to ask himself, 'How would I tackle this or that situation?' - much as "The Martian" did.

Very original, very absorbing ... and of course, scary!