un: Dankovsky | video

[thantagonist]

[Daniil posts live from a café near the museum. He has no patience for typing responses, and his own visage should explain why. His nose has recently been broken and reset. He looks exhausted and irritated, but he has a duty.]

I need a couple people to come down to the café near that absurd museum with the sewn up fruit exhibits. Bring a stretcher, we have a patient who could use some more urgent treatment.

[From somewhere offscreen, a voice that is distinctly not Daniil’s states:] This Etrayan shot me in an attempt to get information I did not possess. I would appreciate his removal from my presence.

Now- That’s not true at all. That is not the reason you were stopped. [Daniil now regrets making a video, but what’s done is done. ]

Comments

[nightattending]

[ "European tourist" has nothing to do with Daniil and more to do with the way so many Americans assume people of color are foreigners but not white people, like European tourists. They have to open their mouths first, so their accents give them away.

The plan is sensible enough, so Jack feels no need to alter it. ]

Sounds good. I usually sleep in here or right nearby too. Oh, and I'm a night owl. I worked the night shift back home, so I catch what hours I can during the day and am the first one on things at night.

[ Three people aren't exactly enough for real shifts, but they may as well be aware of what each other can or prefers to do. ]

We have some blood, mostly mine. I try not to do more than two units a patient.

[ Jack shakes his head as Daniil discusses more and more beyond their control. Not that Jack's sure what anything thinks they're going to do about the Tower when they lose all their powers, and enforcers keep theirs. It's a death trap that keeps printing bodies. ]

Guess it's harder to plug a human body or brain into a server system, and that's what Castor has now. [ What's a new AI going to be like? At least he knows what to expect of Castor. ] Lets leave it to them. We don't have to be the hero personally every time.

And me? I'm fine. Tired, sure, but this situation's what I've got decades experience in.

[thantagonist]

I’ve had a week of it back home and I’m not too shy to say I hate it. Did I tell you this town didn’t have a hospital already? They had a theater, which we had to move all the seats for beds. They had me up on the stage doing examinations. There wasn’t bright enough light anywhere else. Which… [ As he considers the tent around them. ] It had real walls, at least.

A night owl, are you? I am, too. I prefer the peace and quiet, but I’ll do what I must.

[ His misophonia is probably too severe to survive a modern ER. He looks around, orienting himself. Right. He was meant to eat. He wanders off and comes back with something prepared by someone else at camp and a cup of coffee. He doesn’t even pay attention to it as he eats and starts to feel more like a person. ]

Right. I had heard about you, but I don’t think we were formally introduced. There’s always something more pressing, isn’t there? I’m Doctor Daniil Dankovsky, thanatologist. It’s been good, and a relief to meet you. [ He has a tired, breathy speaking voice, but a commanding air.]

[nightattending]

Epidemics and pandemics are... hard. [ It hasn't been that many years since his last one. He lost so many patients then too. Coworkers as well. That time before they understood the virus was hard, and it hasn't ever entirely gone away. They still deal with it. ] Not every rural town has a hospital, so that makes sense. You don't want to introduce a disease to an uninfected area and make things worse.

[ He pats the edge of the tent. ] This is the most permanent medical station I've had since the hospital got attacked.

[ There's always work to do here, so Jack works until Dankovsky gets back. ]

I knew your name was Dankovsky because I saw your post. This is a better introduction. I'm Doctor Jack Abbot. Unfortunately I don't think thanatology will get us out of this emergency.

[thantagonist]

No, perhaps not. But it will help, as it already has. I don’t get queasy around corpses, and I’ve already drawn useful conclusions from my work in the morgue. More coddled doctors would have broken down by now.

[ his eyes follow his hand to the tent itself. Now that was depressing. Weeks of this? Months? God.]

Still, I’m used to proving myself. I’m still an excellent diagnostician and I have recently trained others in phlebotomy, wound care, edpidemiology, and microbiology. I’m an experienced administrator at my institute, having served on the board. All in the pursuit to battle death, you see.

[ It’s a lot of gloating, but it’s true. And he does make himself useful. He makes it annoying to really resent him in the big picture. He also distinctly doesn’t look his age, which pads out the sort of respect that he’s greeted with. ]

…But no, you’re right. I think it’s up to those kids with the copy of the AI. All we have to do is survive. Speaking of… You know, Dr. Romano and I were talking. Maybe you’ve grown attached to your tent, but perhaps you’d be interested in staying alive long enough to come back to Etraya with us?

[nightattending]

Coddled doctors don't stay in the ER. [ So only people he sometimes works with on consults, and even then, anyone who regularly visits in the ER doesn't stay coddled for long. So it's not the brag it may be meant to be. It doesn't impress Jack at any rate. ]

What have you learned from your work in the morgue? [ He's honestly curious, and it provides the chance for Dankovsky to prove himself in fact, not only credentials or theory. The gloating means little to him. It's information to note the same way anything a patient says is. ]

Lets say these kids set up a new AI. What's next in Pollux? End of the war. Goodbye death tower. What else? If Etraya's the only way to stay alive, I'm not an idiot, but I don't know what I'm comparing here.

[thantagonist]

A lot, genuinely. What happens inside the tower is largely a mystery to us. Yet a dead body can only tell you the truth.

I’ve documented the injuries, frequency, the types of bullets, age of wounds, relative decomp- so we know how many people are in which groups. I checked blood and stomach contents to see if they were being fed or drugged.

This all serves largely as risk assessment and information gathering on the nature of what happens inside the Towers so our people can be prepared. After all, everyone who leaves is typically dead, so we cannot learn otherwise.

We had a serious blind spot in the information. I was able to build an accurate picture for those who are potentially willingly entering.

[ Daniil places his hands behind his back as he continues to speak comfortably at length. ]

This also tells us valuable information about the man we are up against, to form an accurate psychological profile as well as a motive. “Who is capable of such things?” we ask ourselves. Even what vague information I gathered from Castor points to this conclusion. It must be Scylla, or we’ve a second all-powerful psychopathy in our midsts.

[nightattending]

[ The question Dankovsky answers may be the one he knows more about, but it's also the one that lets him show off his skills. Both are matters where more information is better, so he listens to what answers he gets. Jack cannot help but shake his head a little at the implication people might—might—willingly go into the tower that kills so many people. However, it's also possible Dankovsky means it to help those that get kidnapped.

He lets the man talk and waits until he's done. ]

Have you communicated all this to the general public? I'm glad to know, but I'm not the one heading into the Tower.

[thantagonist]

I have. It’s more difficult without a typewriter, but I made three copies by hand and posted them. I do have very neat handwriting. Unusual for a doctor, I know.

[ He would put it on the network, but he’s not trying to have more conversations today. ]

[nightattending]

[ Jack stares at Dankovsky and waits a few seconds. The quality of his handwriting, even if it were demonstrated before him this moment, is not what he cares to comment on. ]

You know a better way to ensure everyone receives that information, and if people's safety is your top priority, you will take action to ensure everyone receives it.

[thantagonist]

… What if I have my assistants make a copy for everyone? Hand delivered?

[ He is not eager to get back on the network so soon. Please don’t make him do it. ]

[nightattending]

Hand deliveries will get people killed.

[ Jack crosses his arms. He understands not wanting to give everyone the opportunity to yell at him again after that post after he shot Castor. However, based on everything Dankovsky says he values and believes about the value of his own work, there's only one ethical choice. ]

You said your discoveries could make the difference between life and death. That means their lives or deaths are in your hands. What are you going to do?

[thantagonist]

I’m going to make a public post with all my findings.

[ And then ignore the comments unless they’re a truly genuine question. He does a poor job of hiding his displeasure, but Daniil is good at facing the music and taking the flack. If he must, he must. ]

[nightattending]

Good.

[ Jack gives Dankovsky a small nod. It will also give him the chance to assess what Dankovsky really learned from those autopsies without stepping out of the medical tent to read the version he posted by the supplies board. Jack tries not to monopolize that board, given people need things besides medical supplies to stay alive.

God, who knows how many people even pay attention to the paper Dankovsky posted next to the sign. That's another problem. It's just something easily ignored in those circumstances. ]

I know most Polluxians who've died would be glad that some good measure came from their deaths. That it wasn't all in vain.