Reached

well.
Rotate patient every two hours to prevent skin breakdown. Clean and seal affected areas to inhibit the spread of infection.
The instructions are the same as those for all the other patients. “Poor fellow,” he says. “Maybe it’s best he stays under for a while. He’s going to hurt before he heals.”
    “Should we quarantine the patients from this transfer in a separate part of the center?” I ask the head physic over the port.
    “Only if you’d prefer not to have them in your wing,” he says.
    “No,” I say. “We can quarantine later if necessary.”
    The virologist nods. “I’ll let you know as soon as we have the results from the samples,” he says. “It may be an hour or two.”
    “In the meantime, start them all on the cure,” the head physic tells me.
    “All right.”
    “Nice work drawing the blood,” the virologist says as he leaves the room. “You’d think you were still a medic.”
    “Thanks,” I say.
    “Carrow,” the head physic says, “you’re long past due for a break. Take one now while they’re running the sample.”
    “I’m fine,” I say.
    “You’ve already extended your shift once,” the head physic tells me from the port. “The nurses and medics can handle this.”

    I’ve started taking all my breaks in the courtyard. I even bring my food out there to eat. It’s a little patch of trees and flowers that are starting to die because no one has time to take care of them, but at least when I’m out there I know whether it’s day or night.
    Also, I figure if I stay in the same place most of the time, there’s more of a chance I’ll see Lei and we can talk about our work and what we’ve noticed.
    At first, I think I’m out of luck because she’s not in the courtyard. But then, right when I’m finishing my meal, the door opens and Lei comes out.
    “Carrow,” she says, sounding glad. She must have been looking for me, too, which feels good. She smiles and gestures to the people in the courtyard. “Everyone else has discovered this place.”
    She’s right. I can count at least fourteen other people sitting in the sun. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you,” I say. “Something interesting happened in our last transfer.”
    “What was it?” she asks.
    “A patient came in with a more acute form of the rash.”
    “What did it look like?”
    I tell her about the lesions and what the virologist said. I try to explain selective pressure to her but I do a bad job of it. Still, she catches on. “So it’s possible that the
cure
caused the mutation,” she says.
    “If it even is a mutation,” I say. “None of the other patients have a similar rash. Of course, it could be that they haven’t had time for it to manifest yet.”
    “I wish I could see them,” she says. At first I think she’s talking about the patients, but then I see that she’s gesturing in the direction where the mountains would be if the walls didn’t block them out. “I always wondered how people lived without mountains to tell them where they were. Now I guess I know.”
    “I never missed them,” I say. All we had in Oria was the Hill and I never really cared about that. I always liked the little places—the lawn at First School, the bright blue of the swimming pool. And I liked the maple trees in the Borough before they took them down. I want to build all those things again, but this time without the Society.
    “My other name is Xander,” I say to Lei suddenly, surprising us both. “I don’t think I ever told you that.”
    “Mine is Nea,” she says.
    “That’s good to know,” I say. And it is, even though we won’t break protocol and use each other’s first name while we’re working.
    “What I like best about him,” she says, her tone and the change of subject almost abrupt, “is that he is never afraid. Except when he fell in love with me. But even then, he didn’t back down.”
    It takes me longer than usual to think of the right thing to say, and before I can come up with anything, Lei speaks again.
    “So what do you like about her?” Lei asks. “
Your
Match?”
    “All of it,” I say. “Everything.” I hold my hands out to my sides. Once again, I’m at a loss for words. It’s an unfamiliar feeling and I’m not sure why it’s so hard for me to talk about Cassia.
    I think Lei’s going to get frustrated with me but she doesn’t. She nods. “I understand that, too,” she says.
    My time’s up and the break is over. “I’ve got to get