Melting Clock: Quarantine

[cityship]

After Sam Henderson's announcement, the Contagion Containment and Treatment lab was going to get busy. Anyone suspected of being affected by the mysterious affliction would be brought here, and put into one of the large bubbles that would keep any potential contagious diseases in - and the patients themselves. Once in inside, they wouldn't be able to get out again until the Medical staff had cleared them.

And before they could do that, they needed to find out what was causing this - and why.

They had a lot of hard work ahead of them.

[[ooc: Just start your own sub threads under the main threads, guys! And if you're happy to have anyone tag in, put "Open" in the subject line. If you've already got plans for who you're threading with, put "Closed" instead.]]

Comments

[livestoannoy]

"And Amy's...what, the real fiance? Are there other people hanging around this box, or is just you, her, and the wonky third wheel?" Marco said, raising an eyebrow. "Right, so you just use it to go on picnics do you? You don't just go and decide, 'hey, why don't I go and make history happen how I would have liked it to happen?'"

Funny how Marco was the one asking all the questions in this interview. But he'd seen what happened when you tried to mess with time, and finding out that the Doctor had his own time traveling box hadn't exactly made Marco feel less suspicious about the guy.

[theboywhowaits]

"Amy's my fiance, yes. Jamie lives there as well. Though he's the only other one I know about." His lips twitched at the description. "I don't choose the detestation, nor, often enough, does the Doctor. The TARDIS has a life all her own. Sometimes we just go places, and have picnics or things like that. I don't think anyone has ever suggested assassinating Hitler or evacuating Pompeii."

He stayed relaxed, letting Marco direct the questions for a moment. Giving Marco the ability to have control might make him more willing to answer later, so it didn't bother him. He'd done this a time or two with abused teenagers coming in and not wanting to admit how they had been hurt.

[livestoannoy]

"You said he pilots it before," Marco pointed out. "Which means he must be able to control it. And I doubt you've never entertained the thought of changing something - not to mention there's a lot of people who'd look at something like that and see a weapon." Marco being one of those people.

It was a good thing Marco wasn't aware of the comparison Rory was making, because it definitely wasn't one he'd appreciate.

[theboywhowaits]

"He does, it just doesn't always listen. Aim for Rio and end up in 2020 in Wales. It's less linear and controllable than it really sounds, time travel. Often enough, you just end up trying to figure it out." He shrugged. "Could be, in the wrong hands, yeah. But I trust the Doctor. If anyone can handle that sort of power without letting it get out of hand, it's him."

Of course he wouldn't, but that was one of the reasons the tactic worked.

[livestoannoy]

"And you trusted that thing to actually get you home afterwards?" Marco said. "Are you insane?!"

[theboywhowaits]

"Well, I didn't really have a choice the first time. But yeah, by now, probably count as insane. At least by the definition most people would give you. Things start making sense that shouldn't, and normal things start looking rather strange." He tapped the data pad against his hand. "Speaking of odd things, did you run into anything on the planet that struck you as odd?"

[livestoannoy]

"Dude, what wasn't odd on that planet?" Marco pointed out. "I mean, the first thing we even see is an Iskoort with a mustache. That place was nuts, man."

[theboywhowaits]

"Point. But there's odd, and then there's odd." He was fairly certian that Marco would know what he was talking about. "People would normally be overwhelmed by the chaos, right?"

[livestoannoy]

"And how would you even know what's relevant?" Marco pointed out. "You're assuming that this thing was caused by something that noticeably 'odd', yet there's nothing that says whatever it was has to be like that. For all you know we might have just breathed in the wrong air."

[theboywhowaits]

"If you had, then more of the crew would be affected. If we can triangulate an area, we can most likely figure out the cause and then how to fix you. Therefore, things that stuck out as strange or unnerving help us form a profile of what we may be dealing with."

[livestoannoy]

"Dude, wouldn't it be easier if I just made a list of places I went to?" Marco said, rolling his eyes.

[theboywhowaits]

"Yes, actually, that would be helpful. Would you be willing to write it down? Places in common could help us a great deal." He ignored the eye roll, calm and direct and dealing with him as passively as possible.

[livestoannoy]

"Sure, as long as you give me something to actually write with," Marco said dryly. "Unless you want me to graffiti it all over the bubble wall?"

[theboywhowaits]

"I don't have a pad of paper." And he wasn't going to pass his terminal in. The last thing this teenager needed was access to the crew's medical files.

"But I do have a marker, we can start with that." He opened the tiny pass through, setting the marker inside and shutting the door on his side.

[livestoannoy]

Getting up, Marco moved towards the hatch and grabbed the marker. He stared back at Rory for a moment, eyes narrowed. "If anyone asks about this, it's totally your fault by the way."

And then he started to write on the bubble's wall.

A lot of the paces listed were things like video game shops, comic book stalls, electronics stores. Also some food stores - cause he sure wasn't going to live off of gloop if he didn't have to - and a couple of clothing shops. Also, oddly enough, a bookstore (even though Marco wasn't the type to ever walk into a bookstore). And a whole bunch of other, random places. One of which what a stall selling weird clocks.

It also just happened that all of it was written with completely atrocious spelling. And backwards, to Rory's eyes.

[theboywhowaits]

"If anyone asks, it's entirely my fault." He nodded, agreeing. Fairly certian that the living pod wouldn't be harmed by a bit of marker.

The backwards bit was a little bothersome, though it didn't take him long to figure it out and start inputting the information, neatly, precisely, and spell checked for his report. "Now, at the food stores, did you sample anything that you didn't bring back to the ship?"

[livestoannoy]

"No way are you testing any of our food. Do you know how hard it is just to hide that stuff from Ax?" Marco said. "And dude, there were like those food stalls all over the place. I probably went to at least three of them a day." After all that time stuck with Stacy's food, no way was Marco going to pass up the opportunity to get real food.

[theboywhowaits]

"Settle. We need to test anything that might have been contaminated. Would you rather eat slop for another month or deage out of existence?"

[livestoannoy]

"Deage out of existence," Marco said promptly.

[theboywhowaits]

"That's really not an option we're willing to explore, Marco." The words were dry, Rory's face skeptical.

[livestoannoy]

"Good, because telling you where we keep our food is also not an option we're going to explore," Marco said, challenging. "You want food? Get it from the others."

[theboywhowaits]

"If I were a betting man, which I am not, I would probably assume that your food is kept in the house. We need to test it, Marco, if it is contaminated, other people could get sick as well." He sighed, shaking his head.

[livestoannoy]

"Except also living in our house is an Andalite who'll eat anything and everything he can get his hands on. You'd heard Kang's little announcement, right?" Marco said, staring almost accusingly at Rory. "You know about morphing. Ax has got a whole range of morphs available to him, and he hasn't found it yet. What makes you think you could?"

[theboywhowaits]

"I heard it, yes. Or read it, as the case may be. It was relevant to your condition." He paused, thoughtful, then wrote a note on his pad. "I'll ask your mother about childhood ailments and for samples of any food in the house."

[livestoannoy]

At the mention of his mother, Marco recoiled. Up until that point he'd been doing alright at just shoving all of his confusion and conflicting emotions about her in a box and pretending that it didn't exist, except then the guy had to go mentioning her and opening up that box all over again.

"You stay the fuck away from her!" he hissed, not even sure if he was warning him away from his mother or from Visser One.