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[Synik]

The doctor makes that 'hmmm' noise that physicians do when see what they would describe as 'an interesting case'. Doctor Harker dabs your neck with the cold gauze and then presses the device against your neck. The machine's tip is neutral in temperature and you feel a hot pulse against your skin. It is not too painful. You've had considerably worse. "Done," the Doctor adds and then he throws the gauze into a nearby fire where it burns quickly.

[Early Bird]

"Really?" Daisy was surprised. From the look of the device she had expected it to be extremely painful. "Why it didn't hurt a bit. Come Tom you have nothing at all to be afraid of, let the good doctor treat you now." Daisy turned back to the doctor, appeal in her eyes. "Then is there nothing to be done for those passengers?" she asked. "They must be scattered over the city by now, it would be impossible to find them all and it was all my fault". Daisy pressed her hands to her face "I.. I do not deserve to be treated" she wailed.

[Synik]

Tom remained nervous but did as you asked. The good doctor repeated the process and Tom sat down sullenly. After throwing the new piece of gauze into the fire, Harker stated: "It would be best if you rest easy for a time. The antidote is well tested - at least on a number of us - but one can never be sure that it will be without incident."

As if on cue, you feel a flush of warmth go through you. It is as if you are wearing too many fur coats on a hot day. The room - and reality - slips a little and you have to sit down. Tom merely closes his eyes and leans back against his chair. "Are you troubled?" the Doctor asks. His voice is drawn out, like a gramophone at the wrong speed.

[Early Bird]

"I.. I do not know... so.. so hot... everything is so strange" gasped Daisy as she sank into a seat, the room swaying about her. The doctor's voice, even her own sounded draggy and slow.. warped somehow. "Is..this..how..it..starts..Doctor?...Was..it..too..late?"

[Synik]

As if from a far off place, you hear the gentle ringing of a bell. The Doctor's face swims into view, he looks concerned but not afriad. Only a few of his words make it though to you. ".... be expected..... fighting the infection..... you .... Tom.... to a bed if required. Please.... not... alarmed. Quite normal." The light in the room dims and you fade away with it.

You come to lying flat on your back under clean sheets. The light from the window is pale - you guess it to be dawn or theirabouts. The room is airy and quiet. The only sounds - other than your own breathing - comes from beyond a material screen to your right. It sounds like a child: perhaps Tom is also in the room. Although your head feels heavy, the tempreature you experienced has gone; gone and replaced by a dull ache in your limbs as if you have been climbing a steep hill. Your throat is very dry and you spy a pitcher of water on a nearby table.

[Early Bird]

What was wrong with her? Daisy supposed the treatment was working but it currently felt as though she were fighting the infection physically. She ached so and her hair felt dirty and plastered to her head. She was sure she must not smell very good either, maybe there would be an opportunity to have a bath soon. On seeing the pitcher of water, Daisy's thirst intensified to a raging need, she had to have it, but did she have the strength to get to it much less lift it to her parched lips. Rolling over in the bed she lifted her aching arm and reached out a shaky hand for the pitcher.

[Synik]

Your vision lags behind your movements and you take a moment to try and gather your wits. WIth a push from the bed, you move with leaden limbs towards the table, pausing only once to regain your balance. With a shuffling gait, you make it to the other side of the room and rest against the cold wooden surface.

Raising the jug, your thirst is such that your manners leave you: you drink straight from the vessel itself like a common dock worker. Short spills falli down your neck to dampen the nightgown you wear. The welcome chill from the liquid jolts your thoughts: why are you behaving in this way? You lower the jug and try to wipe your mouth. Your hand comes away with an odd residue, it is like a dry grease; as if you have been rolled in a colourless flour.

[Early Bird]

Daisy paused to look at the residue on her hand, some effect of the treatment she supposed. She glanced down at the nightgown wondering briefly where it had come from and with some embarrassment, who had put her into it. However, her thirst regained sway of her attention and she lifted the pitcher again, slurping eagerly at the cool water with no regard for decorum or manners.

[Synik]

The jug sloshes as you lower it. It is considerably less full than a moment ago, but at least your thirst is quenched. With that animal drive sated, you pause to look around. Clearly, you are in some type of recovery room: it's an odd mix of guest room and hospital chamber. There is the bed, the dresser, a screen and then on the opposite wall, a small wooden panel with cut aways in it. Looking through the carved gaps, you can make out a collection of instruments and technology that leave you without clue. On the far wall, there is a bell pull - perhaps one that would summon a servant.

[Early Bird]

Having slaked her terrible thirst, Daisy felt a little more like herself. She looked around the room, including through the gaps in the panel although the instrument she saw meant nothing to her. Seeing the bell pull, Daisy gave it a tug hoping that someone would come and tell her what was happening. "Tom" she thought suddenly. She had given him a passing thought on waking, but where was he? She had heard what seemed to be a child breathing behind the screen. Taking up the water pitcher again, he might well have the same thirst she had, cautiously Daisy peeked round the screen to see if the boy was there.