Graveyard Shift

[Faith Augustin]

6th Cylus 719

"The thing is, Professor Carter," Faith said with a smile. "I understand that it seems a little odd, but I believe it is where we will truly begin." She looked at her mentor and smiled, well aware that she sounded a little bit ... odd. John Carter sat in the high-backed chair behind his desk and one eyebrow raised.

"At the graveyard?"

"No, Professor," Faith answered with a slight smile. "Not at the graveyard." He was well aware of that, Faith knew. "But at the morgue, yes. Currently, the point of an autopsy is to find out why someone died, what killed them. But we've both seen it. It tells a tale of their life, too." Professor Carter nodded. She wasn't wrong, it did. "This incidence of disease that I teach, it's made a difference, Professor. We know it has." He was not in any way disagreeing with her, Faith recognised that. Yet, still. He was her teacher and she wanted to make sure that she was doing this right.

"So, what I want to do is to perform autopsies on those people who we know what they died of, if we can. I want to build up a picture of what the Rot, what the fever does to the parts of the body which we don't look at in relation to it. Does having the fever damage the liver? I don't know, because no one has ever thought to look. What if those people who got The Rot all have.. I don't know, a growth on their spleen? Imagine if we could treat that by a much less dangerous surgical method. It's possible and, until we look at it we will never have the full picture." She was quite determined, there would be things to find.

"So, your licentiate in medicine is going to be studying dead bodies?"

Faith looked at him and this time her face showed that she knew he was tormenting her on purpose. "I need someone to act as my supervisor, Professor Carter. Will you help me? Will you be my supervisor?" Faith was somewhat surprised at the look on his face as his own reaction showed that he hadn't expected that. "What about Dr Tirall? Or Professor Jackes?" Carter asked. The names he listed were well-known, well-respected and famous names in the field. They would certainly bring in a lot of kudos. Faith shook her head. She didn't want kudos. "You will challenge me, question me, push me. You'll help me be a better doctor, and that's all I'm interested in."

John Carter looked at her and he smiled. "You're an excellent doctor, Faith. I hope you know that." Faith waved a hand dismissively. "I can be better. I can always be better. Also, I know where my weakness is. Where all of our weakness is. If we are going to make the Order of the Adunih what it should be, then I need to cover all bases. Innovation is key." He nodded his head and smiled.

"Of course, it would be my pleasure." Faith smiled in delight and nodded her head. "So," Professor Carter continued, "we'll start at the graveyard?"

Faith did not deign to reply.

[Faith Augustin]

6th Cylus 719

Faith was more than glad to be working with Professor Carter. In her mind, he was one of the best there were, as far as she was concerned. Yet, equally, she'd worked with him before and so, she knew that he had his ... unique ways of being. These included an excellent memory for what he was interested in - and an abysmal one for anything which did not pique his curiosity. Unfortunately, things like deadlines and so on were simply dull to him and so, Faith knew, she would have to organise him. But that was fine, this was her licentiate and, as such, she really wasn't of the opinion that she needed a lot. That was the first thing to discuss, really.

"My plan, Professor," she said, trying not to sound like she was asking if this was acceptable, but failing dismally, "is to meet with you once a season, maximum. The majority of this I should be able to achieve on my own, as I believe is expected at Licentiate? I've got a lecture to deliver later, and one next season, so if we can put those in the diary, that would be excellent." She smiled at him, fondly. "My aim would be to have gathered some initial data before Ashan, perhaps deciding more details, whether I'm going to look at specific diseases, races, that sort of thing?" She watched him thinking about it, saw him considering.

"Alright. talk me through it. Give me step by step, please."

Nodding her head, Faith stood up and began to pace. It helped her to think and she was comfortable enough with Professor Carter that she could do that. "Before I begin, I need a baseline. For that I need to know what the base measurements, weights, colour and so on, as much detail as I can on each of them. For each race. Once I have a baseline, I can carry out comparison studies - but that will need to be combined with detailed history, including habits, residences, all of the information that we collect on people as part of their medical records. That would be ideal." Faith stopped speaking, suddenly, and turned to look at Professor Carter. He, in turn, smiled.

"Were you, or were you not, just thinking that the best case scenario would be to be able to predict when someone in perfect health was going to get a disease, gather all the information you could on them, and then follow them through it?" His expression was mirthful.

"Not... exactly?" Faith replied, sheepishly. "I'd gone to twins, one of who died in a tragic accident, which left their organs intact, and the other got a disease." Faith looked horrified at herself, but Professor Carter shook his head.

"It's why it's so important, you know," he explained. "That we don't exist entirely in theory or practice alone. The theorists among us, those who do not ever go out and get themselves elbow deep in blood forget just how horrific what we do can be. Those who never theorise, they never push boundaries. We need balance in all things." Faith nodded her agreement.

"You think the collaboration with the Order is a good thing?" He'd been her teacher since she got here and even when Argus Hamilton-Smythe was doing his best to jeopardise what she did, Professor Carter had believed in her. It was important to Faith, in the way that Esme Dashiell was to Padraig - because this was her mentor.

"I think it will improve both and make a difference to lives everywhere. I think it's much more than a good thing, Faith." Faith couldn't hide her pleasure at his words and she nodded.


"So," Professor Carter asked with a smile. "Since we're not injecting people with diseases, how do you plan on doing this?"

[Faith Augustin]

Faith looked at him and smiled. "Unfortunately, we have a lot of options," she said softly. "People who die in accidents are relatively common. Also, I think in many ways we'll get quality out of quantity here." Professor Carter frowned slightly, tilting his head curiously. "Well," Faith said, "Let's say we have thirty human livers. We can see, at a glance, which one doesn't fit the bill in terms of being like the other livers. So, we are going to need to make it so that our description is as good as having thirty livers in front of us." Professor Carter watched her as she spoke, her mind obviously working overtime. "Do we have artists? We must do. We need to get them in here, drawing - copying shade and colouration and... scale drawings, technical diagrams of the organs. Correct, as much as possible, in all details. Segmented, sliced, the whole thing. That would surely be an excellent project for an art student?" He looked at her and a brief smile crossed his face.

"What makes you think of these things?" John Carter had known a lot of students, but what was different about Faith was that she was somewhat prone to suggesting things which seemed, on the surface, to be just plain strange but which, when you considered them, made absolute sense and excellent use of the resources around them. Faith, for her part, simply shrugged. "People who were born free tend to see the world as simply how it is. I've been very lucky," she was entirely serious. To her mind, at the very least, she was the luckiest of women. "I know that the impossible is more than achievable. I understand that at a fundamental level. Plus, I'm used to trying to make use of every resource available to me. They need things to draw, technical and specific things to learn their skills on. We need technical and specific drawings and diagrams. It makes sense, and it will benefit both groups. But not just the artists - the engineers, too - they need to create plans, technical drawings and so on." Professor Carter nodded ~ she was right and it would work.

He was quite pleased with that, but it seemed that Faith wasn't done yet. "Also. Get the chemists testsing each organ. Does the liver have a higher acidity than the spleen? Is there any kind of link between the cause of death when the intestine reacts more with a particular chemical than when it doesn't. We build the big picture. That way, we are gathering data from everywhere." All of it, Faith said, all of it that they could - that would be how they proceeded. Only when they had as much data as possible could they begin to notice tiny differences. And maybe, in those tiny differences, they would find the answer to a disease, or a pattern which allowed them to find a cure. "Temperatures, too - extremes of temperature, do they make a difference. Yes. We can do this. Thank you, Professor, that's so helpful. Thank you." Faith shook professor Carter's hand, absently, and turned and walked out.

Professor Carter shook his head with a slight smile. Graveyards, it seemed, were the last place they were going.

[Alistair]

Faith

Knowledges
N/A

Loot: N/A
Injuries: N/A
Renown: +10

Points 10

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