Adrift

The chronometer says that those 100 steps took about one minute. And two months. Wait, what? WHAT?

The next 100 steps feel like they take two months. No shots; things start moving normal speed again. I can’t help but check my chronometer.

It is a long, long walk to the first corner. Every step feels like the one where the PPC powers back up and melts us all. It doesn’t. Whew.

I look at the vid lens and tell the station it either needs us – all of us – to help, or should shoot us. Then we start walking.

I don’t know what that scan might mean, but I know Deirdre isn’t Scourge. The Scourge. A scourge. Scourgey. Scourgeish. Whatever.

“Nominal” means that Deirdre meets all the Scourge-positive scan criteria… except for the pesky “is not Scourge” result at the end.

Sorry, but what the glittering hell does getting a ‘nominal match’ mean? A theoretical match? A match that cannot be replicated in reality?

Station says that “The Scourge” isn’t something you catch, but something you are. It scanned Deirdre and got a match. Well, a nominal match.

The station, still eavesdropping, corrects Deirdre: she isn’t Scourge-infected – it’s not a disease. By its scans, she IS Scourge. What?

Deirdre says that if the station was banning me or Jon because it thought we were Scourge-infected, I wouldn’t back down. Dammit.