Memory of Morning by Susan Sizemore Read Free Book Online Page B

not looking forward to having a new one, although I suppose I should be proud of my contribution to the health of the nation. While it is not exactly a secret, the Cliffs' involvement with the Red Fever vaccine is not public knowledge, either. I wondered if Dr. Heron knew why he was drawing my blood.
    "Your paternal bloodline is one of the four families known to never have contracted the plague," he said. "And while a few members of your maternal bloodline have had the disease, no one has died or been left mentally incompetent from Red Fever."
    Which summed it all up nicely. The Owls didn't contribute to the production of the vaccine because, while they were lucky, they weren't as lucky as the Cliffs. It was judged that anyone with Cliff blood was fit to be bled.
    No one yet knew why the Cliffs and a few other families had been blessed with immunity to the devastation of the Red Fever that had struck the world three generations ago. I knew Tennit planned to start researching the matter along with trying to find a cure as soon as he was free from his stint as a doctor with the Marines. I wondered if two years of field work would make pure research seem boring to him. It did me.
    The nurse came in with the requested equipment. "Out," he said, when she would have hovered in the background to be helpful, or act as a chaperone. I didn't ask for her to stay, so she went, quite miffed by me and the doctor - the other doctor's - modernist behavior. I wondered if society had somehow backslid a bit during my time on board the Moonrunner.
    "New data indicates an increase of one percent in vaccine efficacy," Heron said.
    Since the vaccine works about sixty-five percent of the time, I was delighted to hear of any increase in the defense against the disease.
    "The percentage would be higher if there weren't still idiots and religious fanatics refusing the inoculation." When I didn't say anything, he asked, "Don't you agree, Dr. Cliff?"
    I chose my words carefully, while his expression grew darker. "Of course I think people should want to take the vaccine. I literally give my life to help create it. But I also agree with free will and self-determination."
    "Most people have no use for free will. Refusing the vaccine merely helps keep the plague going."
    I glanced at a clock on the mantel. "If you want a debate, please stick me first and we can argue while I'm bleeding out."
    He did, and we did, and that was my first encounter with the difficult Dr. Heron.
     
    After he'd packed up and left I accepted some fruit juice from the nurse and, to my embarrassment, took a short nap. I might have preferred the procedure taking place in a clean room, but the sofa was certainly comfortable.
    Once I was certain I wasn't going to faint from dizziness or my arm fall off from the ache, I left this section of the Home, but not the large medical facility. I remembered the location of the administration building from when I was billeted on the base before deployment. I'd be staying on the base now if my family hadn't whisked me away to the luxury of Mrs. Lilac's.
    I spoke to two different yeomen, filled out a request, was interviewed by a naval staff doctor, and eventually sent over to the War Casualties Home, where I had worked before, and volunteered my services now. I didn't know how long we would be in Seyemouth, but there was no reason not to practice my needed profession while we were in town. Besides, the Casualties Home houses the copies of the complete journals turned in by every ship's surgeon, doctor, or medical assistant at the end of each voyage. I wanted access to study this treasure trove while awaiting my own certificate examination. I made my way to the library as soon as I was assigned a work schedule, rounds to begin the next day.
    The first thing I saw, before even glancing at the walls of shelves I hungered to explore, was the difficult Dr. Heron sitting at a table beneath a skylight. He looked engrossed. I didn't want him to notice me.