Danielle tried to lead the way to the stairs, but Akari got in front of her. Gideon and Jordan came behind again, bracketing her. “Let’s start right here, in the middle of the building, and go around so we end at the stairs rather than a corner,” Akari said.

  Danielle chuckled. “Yes, all right. Maybe check the first few rooms for hostility, and for any room with more than one hostile, we just won’t knock.”

  “I can do that. Jordan, come ahead with me?” Akari proposed.

  Jordan nodded and walked with Akari as she investigated the first four rooms. They’d come up the stairs facing the road and turned right, so it was the high-numbers end of the odd-numbers side of the building. “A couple of hostiles, but only one per room,” Akari reported reluctantly.

  Danielle nodded. “OK. We knock, I offer to wash cups and canteens and take temperatures if they’re interested in that. We don’t push if they say no. I’ll move as quick as I can in light of whatever response I get.”

  “And you never let go of your staff!” Akari said emphatically.

  “Heh, I’m getting good at that,” Danielle agreed with a nod, and knocked on the first door.

  The residents of 7115 answered the door, but didn’t let them in. They called Danielle “sheeple” and said she was stupid for listening to the Rangers about the disease, and they didn’t need any help. Danielle managed to get a good enough view past the boy in front to see that all three of the others were awake and standing, so she listened as patiently as she could to a few minutes of ranting, then finally interrupted mid-sentence to say, “Look, if you don’t want any assistance, I’m not here to push you. Have a good evening.”

  She left the boy standing with his mouth open and moved down the balcony to the next inhabited room, skipping 7117 since that was a number reserved for a clinic room. The boys in 7115 shouted down the walkway, “They don’t want any either!”

  “They’re System-recognized adults, just like you,” Danielle called back. “If they don’t want anything, they can tell me themselves. If they’re polite, I’ll move on even faster than I did with you!”

  The boys in 7115 slammed their door on her. A moment later, the door to 7119 was cracked open just enough to let someone see Danielle, standing back almost against the railing across the walkway, with her ‘bodyguards’ flanking her. “Who are you all? What do you want?” the boy at the door asked (not that she could see him, but it was all boys in building seven).

  “We’re with the Sent healers. We heard no one had ever checked up on anyone on this floor, so we’re doing kind of a belated check, making sure nobody’s dying. We’re willing to do a few dishes or heat up some soup if you’re all exhausted and would value the help; I can also check people’s temperatures if that’s a thing you want to know. If not, we’ll move on, we’re offering, not insisting,” Danielle explained.

  “What would you do if someone was dying?” the boy asked.

  “Well, if someone is actually dying, they’d need help from the Rangers,” Danielle said. “If they’d rather die than accept that help, there’s not much I can do except remind them and you that you can die of plain dehydration just as much as of mana pox – most of the people that had to go to the Ranger clinic so far have been dehydrated.”

  “What if they need help, but the Rangers don’t care?” the boy said bitterly.

  “They care,” Danielle said. “They just didn’t have enough people to handle a thousand false alarms. If someone with the Skills to confirm a genuine severe case calls it in, they come. I’ve personally assisted in five cases like that so far.”

  “Their tent’s gone,” the boy said.

  “Their radio dispatcher’s still on duty,” Danielle countered. “Do you have someone I should check on?”

  The boy stared at her for a few minutes, then his eyes flicked to her companions again. “Just you, come in,” he said.

  “Akari, any hostiles in this room?” Danielle asked.

  “Yes, there is one,” Akari said. “How about, just you and Gideon, and Jordan and I guard the door?”

  “I could live with that; what do you say?” Danielle asked the boy at the door.

  He sighed. “It’s stupid Conan,” he said. “He’s been nothing but trouble since we got out here. It’s like he went crazy.”

  “Hey! I’m not crazy, you’re crazy!” a voice protested from inside.

  “Are you going to stop the Healer from doing her thing?” the boy at the door demanded.

  “Pft, no, but I’m going to laugh my tail off when she tries to call and the Rangers leave her high and dry,” the second boy said.

  “All right, you and one of the guys, then,” the boy at the door said, and finally stepped back to let them in.

  “Thank you,” Danielle said, following him in past the bathroom and kitchen. “Conan, please stick to your bed so nobody has to get paranoid on you, OK?”

  “Whatever,” the boy said. He was conveniently seated on his bed already, slouching against the wall. A second boy was positioned likewise on the bed next to him. The patient was obviously the one on the bed nearest the entrance, though; shallow breathing, apparently asleep with a nearly full can of soup on the floor next to him.

  Danielle sighed. “I almost don’t need the Skill for this, but the Rangers will need to know I used it,” she said. “Activate Skill: Medic’s Diagnostics.” She also activated Numeric MedVet Thermometer, but silently. The number came up as 101.9o F. She did the checks that Medic’s Diagnostics usually prompted her for without waiting, and sure enough, the boy was unresponsive with signs of dehydration.

  Danielle got out her radio and went to the door of the room. “Medic Falconer to Layer 1 mana pox response coordinator, please respond,” she radioed.

  “Layer 1 mana pox response – you just got in before they turned me loose,” the radio said with barely a pause. “What’s going on?”

  “I found another patient for the clinic,” Danielle said. “Unresponsive, evidence suggests he’s not eating much, Medic’s Diagnostics tells me dehydration is in play. Fever’s just barely under the 102 limit, but considering everyone else is supposedly done with fever entirely, and the whole dehydration thing, it seemed like a case I should call in all the same.”

  There was a pause. “Medic Falconer?” the dispatcher finally asked. “You’re one of the Sent Healers?”

  “I’m one of the Sent, yes. Classed Field Medic, technically, not Healer,” Danielle said.

  “Oh, I see. Wait, are you the one with the digital version of Detect Internal Temperature?” the dispatcher asked.

  “Yes? Is that relevant?” Danielle asked.

  “If you’re seeing a number I’d like to know what it is, but I’m calling someone to – wait one, Medic Falconer.” There was a long pause again. “Layer 1 manapox dispatch returns, come back Medic Falconer?” he finally said.

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  “Medic Falconer, I’m still here, over,” Danielle replied.

  “Your record for accurate diagnostics is recognized, and someone is on the way. Give us that temperature number and your location, please, (over)” the dispatcher said.

  “Temperature 101.9, location room 7119,” Danielle told him. “Watch out for 7115, they tried to send me off without checking in here. Uh, over.”

  “Dispatch hears temperature 101 dot 9 Fahrenheit, location building seven room 7119, warning minor for hostile neighbors,” the dispatcher said. “Keep your radio on until our Healer arrives, please. Over and out for now.”

  “Medic Falconer hears keep radio active and wait for higher-level Healer. Over and out,” Danielle confirmed.

  She lowered the Radio and turned back to the room, looking past Gideon (who was lurking in the hallway between her and the residents of the room) to see the other boys clustered at the entrance to the kitchen, watching her with wide eyes.

  “They’re actually coming??” the hostile boy asked incredulously.

  “Is he gonna be all right?” the boy who had answered the door asked, before Danielle could get a word in edgewise.

  “Yes, they’re coming, and I don’t know if he’ll be all right, I’m told it depends on how long he’s been like this. You can ask the Ranger Healer for more information,” Danielle said.

  “I – I’m not sure I’m comfortable with, um, letting the Rangers just take him away,” the third boy said nervously.

  “I’m sorry,” Danielle said. “I don’t know how to treat severe dehydration by myself. Let’s ask the Ranger what the plan is, so you’ll know how long he’s supposed to be gone and what’s meant to happen while he’s there.”

  “I don’t know,” the boy said, fidgeting nervously with a canteen.

  “Don’t worry,” the hostile boy said (Conan, Danielle reminded herself). “They’ll make an excuse not to treat him anyway.”

  Danielle took a deep, steadying breath and willed herself to patience. A few minutes later, Improved Hearing picked up the sound of two heavier pairs of feet taking the stairs at speed, and Ranger Michael appeared in the doorway that Akari was holding open.

  “Medic Falconer,” he greeted her with a nod. “I see you’ve found us a patient yet again.”

  “It’s the same story as the last few,” Danielle said. “Dehydration, won’t wake up, fever kind of high. His roommates are nervous, and would like to know the, uh, treatment plan.”

  “Let me have a look,” Ranger Michael said, shooing her inside. She led him to the patient, and stepped aside into the kitchen.

  “All right, I’m activating my tier 4 diagnostic now,” he said, and Danielle nodded.

  “It’s funny how much that one feels like a scanner of some kind,” she said.

  “You can feel it?” the nervous boy asked.

  Danielle nodded. “I have Mana Sense as a Trait; I can get a sense of active Skills or even enhancements. It’s hard to describe, though – it’s a little like feeling and a little like hearing.”

  “So you know for sure what he’s doing, though?” the boy pressed.

  “Oh – yeah, he’s definitely using a Skill that tells him stuff about the patient’s body,” Danielle said. “I’ve seen them use it before. My diagnostic is a lore Skill; his is a direct information gathering Skill.”

  “Which you know from your Mana Sense, or because he told you that’s what it does?” Conan asked skeptically.

  “From mana sense,” Danielle said. “Oh, he just switched to the one that checks for System stuff instead of physical stuff.”

  “Problems,” Ranger Michael said.

  “What’s wrong?” Danielle asked.

  “Well, he definitely needs IV fluids and his blood sugar is low, but he might also be on the edge of the serious mana spiral we were worried about with you,” Ranger Michael said. “Your other patients are all awake and improving at the same clinic we checked you out in on Sunday, but this guy might need to go to the mana reduction specialist at – stink in a box!”

  The room went silent as Ranger Michael interrupted himself. The silence stretched for long seconds as he rapidly navigated his interface, actually using his hands in a style that was considered childish, but Danielle could feel rapid-fire Skills flying in response to those flickering finger gestures.

  “What’s he doing baby-poke for?” Conan asked, almost in a whining tone.

  “Let him concentrate, he’s using a lot of Skills really fast,” Danielle said.

  “ “He’s” running out of mana after a long day,” Ranger Michael said grimly. “Medic Falconer, I don’t suppose by some miracle – and I don’t use that word lightly with you – would you happen to have Skill: Mana Shield in your Interface?”

  “I, uh. I got that one as a pox Skill,” Danielle said.

  “Activate it right now please,” Ranger Michael said, his voice tense.

  Danielle immediately activated the Skill, but found it asking her questions. “Need a target,” she said.

  “The patient!” Ranger Michael exclaimed, as if that should’ve been obvious. “Bidirectional. Wait, can you do bidirectional?”

  Danielle tried again. “Nope. I need to choose ‘shield in’ or ‘shield out.’ I just got this skill, Healer, I don’t know what I’m doing. Detailed instructions, please.”

  “Stink, stink, stink. We need both. Uh, priority – “ Ranger Michael paused to think.

  Danielle chose Shield In and let the Skill activate, then tried activating it again, still targeting the patient, and this time set it to Shield Out.

  “I think we need to prioritize Shield In,” Ranger Michael said.

  “I think I have it doing both now,” Danielle said. “I just activated it a second time. It doesn’t feel like they’re interfering. The duration might not be everything you’d like it to be, though.”

  “Oh! Good thinking – time to run. CLEAR A PATH!” Ranger Michael scooped up the patient like an infant, careful to support the neck. Danielle just caught a glimpse of the visiting Healer stepping back in startlement as Ranger Michael literally ran out the door and down the stairs.

  There was a moment of shocked stillness, then everyone in the room suddenly ran for the balcony railing. There was a minor traffic jam in the entryway before they all got themselves outside. Danielle looked down and to the left, following the sound of Ranger Michael’s footsteps, heavy yet impossibly quick. To her amazement, he was actually running out of town, still carrying the patient in his arms.

  “What level of Speed Improvement was that??” she blurted.

  “I dunno, but I hope I manage to get it when I’m as high level as him,” the visiting Healer said.

  “What’s he doing?!” the nervous boy asked, his grip on the railing white-knuckled. “He just ran away with him – what happened to those ambulance truck things we saw yesterday?”

  “Believe it or not, he might actually get the patient to the specialist faster by running than by calling a stretcher truck,” the visiting Healer said. “Man, level tens are amazing.”

  “Level 12,” Danielle corrected absently. “Wait, aren’t you level 10?”

  “Nah, not yet,” the Healer admitted. “I’m what they call a ‘voluntary sent’ – don’t let the name fool you, it’s not the same. We’re allowed to join the Rangers or the SA or even move to the City of Return and do stuff there. We get jobs instead of, you know,” he gestured to the Rooms, “all this. I’m level 8.”

  “How long until you Return, do you expect?” Danielle asked.

  The Healer snorted. “Considering how much hunting I don’t do? Three years, easy. Maybe even four, if I spend a lot of mana on Class stuff. I’m not in a hurry, to be honest – like I said, the rules for my kind of Sent are pretty different from the ones for your kind of Sent. I still get some of the downsides, but I get all of the upsides too, and the higher level you get, the more those upsides come into play, so now that I’m level 8 I’m thinking about those a lot, and how soon I really want to give them up.”

  “You’re crazy,” the nervous boy said with feeling. “I’d give up practically anything to get Inside right now.”

  The Healer gave him a considering look. “If you went Inside right now, you really would be giving up everything, you know. I get it, you’re living in a micro-apartment, you have to do the hunter-gatherer thing, it stinks. Stick it out for five years or so, though, and there’s a lot of silver lining to this cloud, even the way they’re making you do it.”

  “Let me guess,” Danielle said, “the rules for our kind of Sent are, you’re not allowed to tell us the details.”

  “Weeell, no, I’m not supposed to tell you about some of the details, but some of the other stuff is pretty obvious in a way. I mean, if you wait to go back in until you’re level 10, you’ll be level 10. You’ll either be fast enough to outrun a truck, or strong enough to lift one – I don’t think I’ve ever met a level 10 Returned who didn’t have one or the other. You’ll be able to summon stuff out of the mana. You’ll be able to use Skills so powerful you can hardly imagine it, now. Your everyday mana generation will have a currency value equivalent to my dad’s paycheck three times over, and it doesn’t even take any time; you just pour money out your Interface while you work, while you play, while you sleep.” The Healer got a faraway look in his eyes.

  “I was a terrible student, and my teachers all said I’d never amount to anything,” he confessed. “I didn’t have the head for med school, that’s for sure. I’ll still never be a brain surgeon, but I just wanted to be able to heal up people when they got beat up like I always did, and you know what? I can do that, now. I’m going to Return rich, Skilled, and valuable to any community, and all my teachers can choke on it.”

  There was a moment of silence as everyone took that in. Then Conan asked, “So, uh. What are you doing here, now? Do the rest of us have to have that med check after all, now that someone from our room got taken in and stuff?”

  “What? Oh, no. I mean, if you want it, I can, or the Medic here can, but you don’t have to,” the Healer said. “I think I better go tell dispatch and our driver what’s going on, actually. Excuse me.” So saying, he jogged down the stairs and back toward a truck parked near building three, where someone in a Ranger uniform was leaning out the window of the cab to stare down the road after Ranger Michael.

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