update from sparkleup

writing/post-self/qoheleth/Carter/002.md

@@ -3,25 +3,25 @@
 
 "Listen, Ramirez, I'm just not sure if you--"
 
-"No. Come on, Sanders, just hear me out." Carter sighed and settled her weight against the edge of her desk. Took a slow breath to buy herself some time, organize her thoughts. "I'm just saying that we ought to look into social connections between the patients, too. That way, maybe we can see if there's some factor that's tying these occurrences together. With that under our belt, we may be able to formulate a better theory of what's going on here, even neurologically."
+"No, come on. Sanders, just hear me out." Carter sighed and settled her weight against the edge of her desk. Took a slow breath to buy herself some time, organize her thoughts. "I'm just saying that we ought to look into social connections between the patients, too. That way, maybe we can see if there's some factor that's tying these occurrences together. With that under our belt, we may be able to formulate a better theory of what's going on here, even neurologically."
 
 Sanders looked up to the ceiling, visibly counting to ten, then shrugged. "It's just that you're talking about contagion here, Carter, like this is some sort of flu or computer virus. Not only do we have very little data to go on, but there's no indication that this is something passed from one person to another. We've had the rigs checked. Exos too. All of the data suggests random--"
 
-"Sanders," Carter said, voice stern. "I know how the project works. I know the data. There's a lot of questions still left in the air. I'm not suggesting that getting lost is contagious or anything. We dismissed the virus aspect ages ago. I'm merely suggesting that we might find shared factors within a social realm as well as the physiological."
+"Sanders," Carter said, voice stern. "I know how the project works. I know the data. There's a lot of questions still left in the air. I'm not suggesting that getting lost is contagious. We dismissed the virus aspect ages ago. I'm merely suggesting that we might find shared factors within a social realm as well as the physiological. Surprised we haven't, actually."
 
-Carter stood her ground. No sense paling under his glare. She was lead of the research team, she could tell Sanders to do whatever she wanted him to. Or, well, strongly suggest. Hell, there was no reason for her not to. She was plugged into all of the teams that he was not privy to. He may have been lead of neurochem, but Carter was above basically everyone except the UCL itself and whatever grantors were sponsoring the project.
+Carter stood her ground. No sense paling under his glare. She was lead of the research team, she could tell Sanders to do whatever she wanted him to. Or, well, strongly suggest. Hell, there was no reason for her not to. She was plugged into all of the teams that he was not privy to. He may be lead of neurochem, but Carter was above basically everyone except the UCL itself and whatever grantors were sponsoring the project.
 
-Eventually, he caved, shrugged, turned his back on Carter. He nodded towards his own team.
+After a few tense secionds, he caved, shrugged, turned his back on Carter. He nodded towards his own team.
 
 "Look, Sanders," Carter said, following after. "You're a fantastic doctor, and I respect that, I really do. I'm not trying to impugn that or anything, and I'm not pulling labor away from the neurochem team. I'm merely suggesting that we add a sociological aspect to our attack here."
 
 He held up his hands in surrender, then headed for the coffee station.
 
-Carter rolled her eyes and let him go. She turned back to the remaining team. "We've got a hunch on the social front. Or, I do, but I think it's worth following. There's a couple patients who are involved in the same subcultures, so maybe there's distinct ties between them. Loose ties, sure, not everyone knows everyone else, but they *are* there."
+Carter rolled her eyes and let him go. She turned back to the remaining team. "We've got a hunch on the social front. Or, I do, but I think it's worth following. There's a couple of patients who are involved in the same subcultures, so maybe there's distinct ties between them. Loose ties, sure, not everyone knows everyone else, but they *are* there."
 
 They nodded. Some looked unconvinced, but none hostile.
 
-"Let's time-box half a day to chase down these ties and see just where they lead. If they lead nowhere, fine. If we can find a way to tie them together, then we dig into all the ways that the web ramifies." She smiled in a way she hoped was disarming. "Worst case, half a day is spent tracing along the 'net, but best case, we find another research that lets us predict --- and then maybe interrupt --- future cases. Got it? Catch you at lunch."
+"Let's time-box half a day to chase down these ties and see just where they lead. If they lead nowhere, fine. If we can find a way to tie them together, then we dig into all the ways that the web ramifies." She smiled in a way she hoped was disarming. "Worst case, half a day is spent tracing along the 'net, but best case, we find another avenue of research that lets us predict --- and then maybe interrupt --- future cases. Got it? Catch you at lunch."
 
 Carter sighed. Speeches. Hell of a start to the day. She collapsed into her desk chair, closing her eyes to collect her thoughts.
 
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ At least she had a private corner in sim.
 
 She delved in rather than work on a tablet or screen. *One scream,* she promised herself. *Then I'll organize shit.*
 
-Once she left her private corner, Carter's chosen workspace, her 'desk', was totally black. Not the complete blackness of unseeing, but the vaguely luminescent darkness of *Eigengrau*, as if wherever she looked, she saw the faint light of non-seeing. It was black enough to be easy on the eyes almost by definition. At least, such as they were in the sim.
+Once she left her private corner, Carter's chosen workspace, her 'desk', was totally black. Not the complete blackness of unseeing, but the vaguely luminescent darkness of *Eigengrau*, as if wherever she looked, she saw the faint light of non-seeing. It was black enough to be easy on the eyes almost by definition. At least, as much as she had eyes in the sim.
 
 Black without being unnerving.
 
@@ -64,16 +64,16 @@ Two were positioned at the top of the list:
   ------------------
     Patient aca973d7
     M --- 2086-01-28
-   Lost: 2108-11-08
+   Lost: 2112-11-08
   ------------------
 
   ------------------
     Patient 0224ebe8
     X --- 2084-05-09
-   Lost: 2108-12-04
+   Lost: 2112-12-04
   ------------------
 
-Carter connected these two cards with fine thread. Hanging pendant from that, she switched to virtual keyboard and created a metadata card, more tag than card:
+Carter connected these two cards with fine thread. Hanging pendant from that, she switched to virtual keyboard and created a metadata label, more tag than card:
 
   ------------------
   Possible acquaintances
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ Sanders set his mug down with exaggerated care, but otherwise stayed silent.
 
 "Hardly universal, so let's triage. Can I get one from neuro, one from stats and history, and would one of the law team be willing to devote an hour a day to helping us out? Just to run stuff by as we come up with leads."
 
-*If you come up with leads,* was written on Sanders' face. She ignored it.
+_**If** you come up with leads,_ was written on Sanders' face. She ignored it.
 
 Prakash Das from the neurochem team raised his hand, and Avery from statistics and history volunteered. One of the lawyers, Sandra, gave a noncommittal shrug and promised some of her time, saying, "We're on shaky legal ground, I think, but we can probably keep it in check."