Subject: Recent History 101
Author:
Posted on: 2011-07-01 18:59:00 UTC

Jenni tried hard to restrain herself to a polite chuckle, but by "Dutch Elm Disease" she was laughing out loud. "Oh, that's just like him. That's very good," she managed to say.

In response to the prompt, she shifted herself, mirroring him. "No, that goes way back, and I can't say it's much of a problem. If you'd known him before Bleeprin . . . " she shook her head. "Another time. Anyway, about 2008. You'll have to ask more people than me to get a really good idea of what went on, but I'll tell you what happened to me:

"I'd literally just come back from an assignment with Nume and Ilraen. It was a Pern crossover, and I was called in as a canon expert. The mission itself is another story, but the important part is that I recruited Derik from that fic, and the poor man lost his dragon and was a complete wreck. I wasn't in great shape either," she added offhandedly for the sake of truth. "So I stumbled in to FicPsych half-carrying him, and nobody was there at the door. I found out they were preparing for a test of some never-before-heard-of lockdown system, and the Kudzu ordered me off to rest." She was still irked at the memory. Leaving somebody in the state the former rider had been in, even in the care of trusted colleagues, rubbed her the wrong way. "By the time I woke up, we were in lockdown, and fat lot of good it did. Plenty of people think it was just a ruse for something else, but whatever it was, it didn't keep the infected Sues out."

She paused for a drink to wet her throat. "So that was the start of the Macrovirus Epidemic. We went from a bullshit lockdown to a very real quarantine, nobody in or out of the department—including the Kudzu, who'd gone somewhere with the other Flowers. We'd already packed off the agents, thank goodness, but we were stuck with a bunch of canons who gradually became more in-character and aware of what was happening as it dragged on. I spent most of my time with them and Derik, but there was fighting at the front doors. Those things got huge, hence macrovirus. We didn't even see the worst of it, but we lost Bogglish and Pablum, and nearly Parwill and Immie, too." Another pause, this one solemn.

"About a month, this dragged on. Plenty of people were stuck in their response centers, but the ones who were in the field for the lockdown were luckier. This is where DoSAT helped out—they'd duplicated TARDISes, and picked up the folk in the field. Those agents were able to get around. And that's how the DIA picked me up for a job." She glanced down at the floor a moment, considering, then looked up again. "This is the part where I mention I have certain extrasensory abilities and hope you don't run screaming. As a rule I don't use them unless I have to."

Reply Return to messages