Synth

“TO said that they’d take care of Constance if anything happened.” Mark said as Goretta silently bandaged his arm, “So… I think you can tell them what’s going on.”

“What do you mean?” TO said, their ears flattening out, “I can see what’s going on; she removed some of the infection, and you’re getting more antibiotics, so-”

“Sometimes that doesn’t work.” Goretta said in her clipped, professional tone. “The antibiotics we’re administering are only holding the infection at bay, not getting rid of it.” she frowned at the bandages on Mark’s arm. “Removing the necrotic skin was essential, of course, and I perhaps removed more than necessary as a precaution-”

“So that means the antibiotics will have a better chance of working, right?”

“Right.” She said, “But every procedure I do brings a chance for more infections, and requires more antibiotics. If there’s a secondary infection on top of the existing one-”

Mark sighed and leaned back, “You’re dragging it out.” he said, “The point is that the infection isn’t going away, and I know there’s limited supplies-”

“We have enough!” Goretta said, “Honestly, we’ve been stockpiling long enough-”

“We have limited supplies, and you’re using them on me without knowing if they’ll work.” He said, his eyes downcast, “Look, I appreciate what you’re doing, what you’re trying to do… but I also know there’s a long trip ahead. If someone gets sick and they need antibiotics, and you’re out because of me-”

She sighed and looked to TO, “Talk some sense into him.” She said, “I convinced him to take a dosage after this procedure, but he says he’ll refuse any treatments afterwards if it doesn’t!”

TO could only blink in utter confusion. Refusing a procedure? Could he do that? Sure, they had to convince Kei to accept the procedure from Goretta, but that was different. From Kei’s point of view, refusing a non-essential medical procedure from presumed enemies was the only smart decision. TO was also used to synths being denied medical procedures based on their perceived lack of usefulness, however the idea of being offered a life-saving medical treatment by a friendly party and saying no was unthinkable to TO!

“Look, if this doesn’t work, the next step is losing my arm and hoping that antibiotics, which haven’t worked so far, suddenly and magically work. Meanwhile... What if Constance gets sick on the ship and needs antibiotics, but can’t get them because we’ve run out? I couldn’t live with myself.” He looked at Goretta, “And don’t tell me she won’t get sick. We’re going to be crammed into a ship which was designed to carry two people, right?”

TO hadn’t considered that, but now that he mentioned the issue, it seemed obvious that disease might be a problem on the ship. It wasn’t something they as synths had to worry about as they were vaccinated against most things and lived in an enclosed environment until they left the training center. Two synths who had trained together could catch nothing from one another. However, a chaotic array of different civilians who hadn’t been living in the healthiest or cleanest of environments and who could not acquire proper medical care… Well, that was problematic.

“Constance is young and healthy.” Goretta said, “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“Maybe. But what about someone else's kid? Or someone else’s parents who might be fine with a single dose of antibiotics?”

“That’s all hypothetical. You’re sick here and now-”

“Look, I know you’ll lose people on the ship.” Mark said. “I came here with my parents when I was very young, and they both died from illness on an overcrowded space ship. That was a ship designed to carry fifty passengers.” He looked to TO, “How many people are boarding your ship?”

TO’s ears dropped. Originally, they figured they could comfortably get forty people on the ship; fifty if they really pushed things. Of course, the list of people they needed to get off Arkane had risen steadily, alterations had been made to the ship’s systems to handle that load, privacy had been disregarded and living quarters were made from areas that had no right being a living quarter.

“S-seventy two.” TO said. The idea of keeping the holding cell as a private room seemed utterly foolish to TO considering this new revelation. Already, their mind was racing through numbers, trying to get percentages from the data they had in their head. While their knowledge base was impressive, it was limited in this aspect.

“I read when I was older that the death rate on migration spacecraft from the relocation efforts back in the day was about forty percent.” Mark said, “That was because they crowded the ships back so much. Do you really think nobody’s going to get sick on your ship? That nobody will die?”

“Of course people are going to get sick.” Goretta said. She looked up at TO, “And we have planned for that; me, DH, and Snout.”

“And you didn’t tell me?” TO said as their ears pinned back.

“Well, we weren’t hiding it from you either!” She said, “There’s nothing that can be done about that, except for us to plan! You were in the indebted center when we got most of our medical supplies and made most of our plans! We expect it, we’re prepared for it-”

“And it’s not right for you to waste more antibiotics on me before we even leave the planet when we don’t even know if it’ll work.” Mark said, “My decision is final; I’d rather you use the medical supplies on people who might actually benefit from them.”

Goretta sighed again, “Talk some sense into him, TO.” She said.

TO couldn't, not just then. They were too busy going over numbers in their own head, as well as the list of everything they had to do. “Goretta, He said he’d take this dose of antibiotics.” They said, “Give that to him. A big dose. As big as you can.”

“It doesn’t really work like-”

“As effective as you can.” TO snapped. “Make sure it works so we don’t have to think about the next options.” They frowned, and headed for the part in the curtains, “I need to talk to DH, figure this out.”

“TO, I promise, it’s figured out. We’ve taken all the precautions we can.”

“Maybe there are more precautions I can take then.” They said as they strode through the curtains. Silence fell within the sectioned off area for just a moment before TO returned, poking their head through the curtains and looking at Mark seriously.

“Also; Constance wants me to tell you that adults shouldn’t lie to children.”

======

DH was carefully packing up bottles of various medications when TO found them in the storage closet near the makeshift procedure room where Kei had had his surgery. They were carefully packing dozens of darkly colored glass tubes into a heavily padded crate. They jolted when TO slammed the door open, shaking with surprise.

“Don’t do that!” They said as they released a shuddering breath, “I nearly dropped-”

“What’s the estimated fatality rate for our trip?” TO asked before DH could finish what they were saying. DH’s ears dropped as they looked up at TO.

“Ah… That.”

“Yes!” TO said, “You hid that from me?”

DH flinched, “Not hiding it…” they said, “It just didn’t come up.”

“And you think it wouldn’t have come up? Or that it wasn’t important for me to know?”

DH sighed and put the last of the bottles away, “More like I find it horrible, and didn’t want to spend my precious time with you both giving you something more to stress over and making myself upset.” They looked up at TO, “There’s really nothing you could do. It would only have worried you more, and I know you’re already stressed and worried, so-”

TO’s anger immediately melted away. It wasn’t because of what DH had said, but more from the realization that they were doing the same thing to DH and Avery when it came to GiDi’s involvement in the whole chip issue.

“... What’s the percentage?” TO asked again, their ears relaxing forward a little, their voice softer.

“The current projection, or the original?”

“What’s the difference?”

DH sighed, sealed the crate, and submitted the number on the lid into their chip. “The original calculation is considering overcrowding, the strain on our purification systems on the ship, the existence of two doctors and one trainee, and the current health state of the passengers.”

“And what’s the original mortality rate?”

“... Twenty percent.”

TO stumbled backwards and sat down on a crate behind them. “Twenty? Fourteen or fifteen people. You’re telling us we’re expecting fourteen or fifteen people to die on our ship?”

“Well…” DH looked away, “We got that number down to 5%”

“That’s three or four people.” TO said, doing the numbers in their head quickly, “Which still isn’t good.” They sighed and leaned back, “How did you get it down?”

DH grabbed an empty crate from nearby and sat down across from TO. “Well, first, we found anyone with any kind of limited medical training, and prepared them to help us in basic ways. This limits the amount of work Goretta, Snout, and myself have to do.”

“Alright... What next?” TO asked.

“We’ve come up with a shower schedule.” DH said. “Mandatory daily hot showers for every adult, with time in between a certain number of showers to allow for water recycling and reheating. Any child that can’t shower on their own will have to get daily sponge baths.” they shrugged, “Though, that was going to be the only option for small children anyway, given how small our shower is.”

“What else?”

DH sighed, “A lot of small things, really.” They said, “We have two toilets on our ship; the main one, and the emergency chemical toilet in the emergency ship. Goretta could get her hands on four more chemical toilets, and they’re going to be set up in small tents, two in the weapons bay, two in the gymnasium. We have regular cleaning and disinfecting schedules for that, as well as regular cleaning schedules for the entire ship, as well as basic hand sanitizers, and the means to make more hand sanitizer. We’ve screened for any hint of sickness earlier and treated what we could. There’s already been some sickness in the last few days, not counting the whole spores issue we had this morning, so we’re hoping that the worst of it might have worked its way through the population before we take off.” They shook their head, “There were other ideas, but they weren’t viable in such tight quarters.”

“... And because of that, you’re thinking five percent. Three or four people.”

“I’m hoping nobody dies.” DH said. “But..I’m prepared if they do.”

Now that TO was calmer, they could see how much this was weighing on DH. their ears were so low and their voice was so quiet, TO just knew this had been bothering them. How had they not seen it before? “... You should have told me.” TO said.

“There’s nothing you could do.” DH said, “And… you’re already so busy, and you have so much going on. I didn’t think you needed to know right now. I figured I could just work through it myself, and then later on when things calmed down a bit for you…” They gave a low, humorless chuckle and shook their head, “Well… I guess that was stupid of me, wasn’t it?”

TO’s stomach twisted in knots, as they looked away. “No… it’s not.” They said, They closed their eyes, willing themself to change their mind on what they were about to do, hoping they could convince themself to stay to their original plan.

They couldn’t.

“... There’s actually something I have to tell you, DH.”