tenuefarfalla | Red Shift inbox

Hey Cho, it's Peter

from the lizard thing

quick question, do you know Kabal pretty well?

That seems like a subjective question. I’m sure the threshold for knowing someone well differs from person to person.

He’s my friend, though. Has something happened?

[ She does not flat out ask what Kabal has done, but a rather large part of her mind is dedicated to wondering just that. ]

[Oh don't worry, Peter's way too annoyed with this whole thing to sit here and beat around the bush.]

Friend, okay, that's good

he's rolling around in the damn fungus getting high as a kite and I can't talk him out of it

I really hate to drag you into this, but do you think you could try to talk some sense into him?

Oh goodness.

[ It's not the worst possible thing he could be doing, but it's not great. ]

I can finish what I'm doing in about five minutes. I need to re-catch some animals and get this blood on ice. Where is he? Are you still with him?

see

I wasn't with him, he posted this thing on the network

no idea where he is but I'll try to find him

[ Well, that certainly puts a slightly more urgent spin on things. ]

I'm leaving now.

[ Cho doesn't bother to collect the animals which are loose. none of them factor into the food chain of any others, and this is a far more pressing matter. She grabs a few things to stuff into her bag, and writes a quick note to leave on the door of her room. The note reads: Animals intentionally loose. Please please please do not open door. Everything is fine. Thank you. ]

I'll start on the ground floor, you start at the top, hopefully we'll stumble onto him before we meet in the middle. Call me if you find him first.

[Sorry to interrupt your critter adventures, Cho.]

Will do, heading out now.

You're a biologist, correct? How are you with infectious diseases?

That is correct.

My familiarity with infectious diseases is almost entirely theoretical, but it IS extremely broad in that theoretical sense.

Why?

Because, as you've no doubt noticed, we've got one spreading through the colony like wildfire. But my preliminary tests are saying it's the same pathogen that hit us last month, or at least another strain thereof. I want to know why it's back, and why it's so much worse this time. And - perhaps most critically - why some of us don't seem to be catching it at all. I'm reasonably sure we've all been exposed, at this point.

Can you help me?

Are we sure it's not just the same disease lingering in some people before being passed on? I'm not really sure what sort of incubation time we might be dealing with. Or maybe it's just making its second round, if it's managed to mutate enough already, like a cold? I thought it was running its course in a few days for everyone? Is that not the case any more?

[ Granted, she doesn't really see everyone on any given day. If you're gravely ill, you're probably not coming to breakfast or dinner, and she's holed up in her room or the lab for the bulk of most of her free time lately. ]

[ Qubit has the same problem, some days - he has a bad habit of skipping breakfast, or getting too absorbed in his work and missing dinner, and since he lives out of his lab, he doesn't often end up around the dorms. He's been trying to get better about it, but there's always so much he needs to do.

He's paid enough attention to know this is bad, but he isn't going to judge Cho too harshly for not doing the same. Besides, her immediate curiosity is encouraging. ]

Correct, it's not. This is lingering longer, and the respiratory symptoms are much worse this time around. We've got people coughing up blood, for instance.

The rest of your questions are the ones I need answered myself. Provided I can get you blood and sputum samples, and any equipment you're lacking - how soon do you think you could complete a profile of this thing?

[ Ben is still learning things about being social. Something he's found in this place is that, if he's feeling a bit lonely or bored but not really up to seeing someone in person and talking out loud for a whole conversation, he can just text. Texting is wonderful. Texting is life-changing.

So one afternoon he impulsively messages Cho: ]

Hey, Cho. How are the fish?

[ Well, how perfect is this timing? Cho is doing a feeding and a weight and density check on the fish in question right at this moment! ]

They're doing really well. Growing quickly. I think this might be a good genetic build for a stable farm-able species.

[ She attaches a picture of a tank of little fish, most of them around four inches long. They're dark in colour, with subtle golden striations along their bodies, and tiny little whisker like protrusions near their mouths. Even if one knows fish well, they will probably not be able to guess a specific species. For good reason. ]

A genetic build? So you, like, compiled their DNA out of a bunch of different species? They're bespoke?

[ God, if Ben understand the situation right... science really is the WILDEST. ]

Bespoke. I like that. I'm going to start using that.

Yes, I altered compiled DNA to modify their genes. I'm trying to combine the best parts of resilience, mass, and growth rate.

I had no idea.

I can free up about ten hours each day, I think. I'll bring you a containment carrier for any samples you already have, and I'll start with that. It would be best if I could also do physical examinations, and some lung capacity tests. Particularly on anyone who's been coughing up blood.

I don't feel comfortable committing to a time-frame before I have some idea of the complexity of the virus. Are you with the samples right now? I can come get them in thirty minutes.

And you can just pick that stuff out, genetically?

Like 'there's the gene to make this fish an absolute unit'.

That's crazy.

Yes and no. Which I know is a super frustrating answer to get, because it's not really an answer. Genes are complicated, but we've made a lot of progress toward full understanding. It's kind of like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces upside down. It would be easier if you could see the picture, but it's still possible. Just difficult.

Does absolute unit mean really big?

[ She is guessing from context. ]

Do people ever do that? With jigsaw puzzles? Like hardcore puzzlers do it blindfolded or upside-down?

[ Ben has little idea what normal people hobbies are, still. ]

Yeah it means huge. Like a really really fat cat or one of those dogs that's almost a horse. It's something Klaus says, don't ask me where he picked it up.

So these fish are part of the whole shit we need a sustainable food source project, right? Do you know any good fish dishes because if you're as good a scientist as I think you are, we're gonna be eating a lot of it soon enough.

I do puzzles that way sometimes. It makes it more challenging. Plus, when you're finished, you get a really nice surprise when you flip it over and see what you've made!

[ Absolute unit. She files that away. New slang term. Huzzah! ]

I know a ton of recipes. I eat a lot of fish, even when it's not a necessity of scarcity. They're a really great source of nutrition, healthy fats, minerals, all sorts of things that we're in danger of becoming deficient in. They're tasty, too. Fish is actually a big part of what my family does. The business has expanded over the years, the parent corporation branching out into sciences and technologies and a lot of manufacturing, but it started with fish. My mother used to make the most amazing seafood udon when I was younger and got sick. All from scratch. She didn't cook for the family, but she used to for me every now and then, when no one else was around. It was our special time.

[ Her cheeks are absolutely pink from the compliment, and she's not entirely sure how to address it. Ben has faith in her ability to give them a stable supply of fish. It means a lot. ]

You're one of the people!?

[ Puzzles in the Hargreeves household weren't the kind that you bought at a hobby store, with a nice photograph of some nature scene or a classical painting on them. They were complex and interactive and probably simulating lock-picking or getting out of being chained up, and they weren't for playing, they were for timed trials, with a clipboard and stopwatch and Reginald looking on, watching for any sign of laziness or incompetence.

So instead of all that. ]

I could never really get into puzzles.

[ The next part surprises him. He pays close attention, the same way he always does when Cho's family comes up. He knows there's probably a great deal under the surface of what she's saying. ]

I didn't know your family's business had to do with fish at all.

That sounds really nice, with your mom.

[ Ben knows that, in an environment of emotional deprivation, the littlest things could become so intensely important. It's not hard to put the pieces together that her mother cooking for her was a sign of familial affection that was rare and precious for Cho as a child. ]

Do you know the recipe? I've never tried udon before. We might have to swap out some things for substitutes, but...

I'm one of the people!

[ She's grinning now, as she moves through her work with an almost mechanical efficiency. This is nice, being able to chat while her hands are consumed with a task her mind does not need to be fully present for.

Cho's not sure if Ben has forgotten the little bit of chatting they did about her family when they first met, or if he's just being polite and wants to let her talk about herself. She could see either one. That first trip, the things she'd said without meaning to, the things she'd said fully meaning to and desperate to make him understand how certain she was, it would overwhelm anyone. Also, he's kind, and he seems to like it when she talks. Doesn't hurt that this is one of her favourite topics, in general. Anything to do with the ocean. ]

We own a fishing fleet, and a lot of land near the ocean. My childhood bedroom had a perfect view all the way down to the bay. There's nothing like really fresh fish. When this batch of fingerlings is big enough, I'll make you something delicious. Maybe not the udon. I do know how to make it, but it's a little involved, and it needs some things we don't have.

I could make a different kind. The noodles are easy enough. They just take time.

[ Ben had remembered the broad strokes of what she'd told him, if not the specifics - a lot of it had been overshadowed by his embarrassment over breaking down in front of someone who was a complete stranger at the time.

And he really does like it when she talks. One of the things he definitely hadn't forgotten was that Cho could talk quite a lot when she was passionate, which, as a naturally quieter person, he enjoys a great deal. He also remembers that she'd seemed self-conscious about that. As if she expected everyone else to want her to be silent.

Ben definitely doesn't want that.

But he would also rather stick to topics that might not be minefields, and he knows Cho's family is one of those for her, so he gently redirects: ]

So what other dishes do you like making with fish? Or what is your favorite to eat?

I don't know a lot of stuff about cooking, honestly. I'd never done it at all before I came here.

[ Which might make him sound like a douchey spoiled man-child, except, of course, Ben knows now that Cho will know why. He'd died when he was only sixteen and still living in his family home - a home where he was busy being a guinea pig and being sent off on missions to kill people with his powers, not learning to take care of himself and be a regular adult. After that, well. Ghosts don't do much cooking. ]

I really like smoked fish, but that might not taste good with this particular stock. Sometimes the simplest preparations are the best. Clean them, stuff them with herbs and vegetables, wrap them in foil and heat them through. The best thing about the taste of fresh fish is the taste of fresh fish. You don't want to overpower it.

Unless you don't like the taste of fish, of course.

Do you want to help me cook them, when they're ready? I could teach you. It's really pretty easy.

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text; UN: Spides

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text; @Qubit (probably backdated by like a week)

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text | @lazarus

text | @cho

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