Sadie declared the rabbit stew done and started passing it out in mugs right before Danielle’s watch chimed. Danielle sent out the noon Now Hear This and set down her mug by her bed while she got her Fever-Ace and refilled her partly empty canteen.

  Everyone debated what to do after lunch while eating. Danielle admitted that she probably needed to nap, but suggested tomato picking, and promised to help cut and dry tomatoes to earn her share if the three of them (and maybe Cassy) were up for that. She casually mentioned drying purple tomatoes, and discovered that she hadn’t gotten around to telling her roommates that purple tomatoes could be preserved with mana intact through careful drying.

  “Are you sure that wasn’t part of the hallucinations?” Heather asked. Danielle wanted to take offense at her tone, but really, she suspected it was frustration not skepticism.

  “I found out on Saturday, way before I started hallucinating. There just wasn’t time to talk much over the weekend,” Danielle said, spreading her hands helplessly. “It came up when I was asking them about safe limits for mana foods, and I know I told you the safe limits, I just forgot about that side comment. And then forgot I hadn’t told you yet. I’m sorry, it’s not like I’m trying to leave stuff out.”

  “You cut stuff tonight after you turn in your catalog preorder. By yourself, while we get personal project time,” Sadie said.

  “Heh, you have to admit that’s fair, Danielle – you’ve had nothing but personal project time this week,” Akari added.

  Danielle chuckled. “If being super sick counts as a personal project, sure. Or doing unskilled medical care for a bunch of people. I still need to do building seven later, I think. Tell you what, though, if you get back before the supper-time medication message, I’ll start on the tomatoes first, before the party meeting and the evening rounds. And yes, I’ll do all the cutting, since you guys are doing all the picking. Heather can use up her mana for the night helping with the drying, though, if she wants to.”

  “What if I don’t want to?” Heather asked with a frown.

  “Then I dry as much as I can after I get back from building seven,” Danielle said. “And I guess the rest stays fresh, at least overnight.”

  “Cutting the red ones is her share of the work, anything that uses mana is group mana management,” Sadie said.

  “Everyone has the final say on their own mana,” Danielle said. “If Heather doesn’t want to do tomato drying, she doesn’t have to. If she made a habit of refusing to dry tomatoes, there might be something to say about shares and stuff, but just for tonight? She’s had a long week, and if she doesn’t want to try for Improved Mana Generation, or she has other Skills she needs to practice more, it’s fine; we’re not desperate, and we don’t need to pressure her.”

  “Maybe I’ll use the rest of my mana on Find Edible Plants,” Heather suggested.

  “There you go. If you find anything else that needs drying, it can go into the priority list for stuff to dry, too. I mean, if you really use all your mana on finding it,” Danielle said. “We really could use more onions or something.”

  “You should send out a Now Hear This to the rest of the party before you go to sleep,” Akari said. “Let them know you’re planning a party meeting tonight.”

  “OK,” Danielle agreed. “Do we want to get together right after the medication alarm, maybe cook our dinners together?”

  “Maybe say we’ll cook dinners at the same time and eat together,” Heather said. “The guys are probably still eating soup, you know?”

  Danielle nodded and activated the Skill. “Now Hear This: A message from Danielle to all members of the SHAD Party. We are planning a party meeting for tonight, right after the 6pm medication time message. Please bring your supper to cook there and eat together. Unless I hear otherwise, we’ll be meeting at Tom’s room – message me via Zephyr if not, Tom. Skill ends.”

  Zephyr messaged her back a few minutes later, while the other three were getting their satchels packed and their weapons settled. “Now Hear This: A message from Zephyr to Danielle. Tom says he’s fine with hosting the meeting, and asks can you bring your pot for people who want to make “that stew with pemmican and hardtack.” No need to message back, though, see you at six. Leave me be, they’ll bring it or they won’t! They’re probably doing rounds – ”

  Danielle chuckled. “Zephyr said Tom’s fine with hosting the meeting, but we should bring an extra pot,” she said aloud.

  “What’s so funny about that?” Sadie asked.

  “Nothing, he just forgot to end the Skill and I caught a bit of what he said next. I’m laughing just because of the thing where it’s like he forgot to hang up a vid call,” Danielle admitted.

  “Ah. Listen, stay in and be safe while we’re gone, OK?” Akari said. “Please.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m going to sleep,” Danielle said. “I’m unreasonably tired right now, and I do have rounds to do in building seven tonight.”

  “All right then. Have a good nap,” Akari said.

  With that the other three headed out, discussing among themselves whether it was worth stopping by Cassy’s room to see if she was back yet. Danielle washed out her can and put it back in the crate, then filled one of the guys’ insulated canteens and put it in the cold box, refilling the cold bottle so she could do the rest when it was time to go. Then she lay down, but found herself restless in spite of also being tired. She finally got out her journal, and brought it up to date with the week, then copied it into her Planner as usual. Then she spent fifteen minutes tossing and turning, trying to nap again before she realized she hadn’t finished her water. She sat up to drink it, trying to figure out what else to do with her time. She wanted to work on Skills, but she didn’t want to spend mana. Instead, she checked on the value of the Rangers’ open account, and realized she was pretty close to using it up with her bolt-hole room supply kits, so she added some enhanceable crystals and a few other odds and ends and made it all add up neatly to the value of the account.

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  She finished the update to her order and the contents of her canteen, and lay down again. “I’m going to sleep this time,” she told herself sternly, and started singing herself an old lullaby, mostly to drive away distracting thoughts (like should she be out there picking tomatoes after all? And was there going to be a town council meeting tomorrow in spite of the epidemic? And what should they really tell the guys tonight – surely not everything, already?) and force her brain to slow down.

  She knew she had fallen asleep when she was awakened by a knock on the door. She sat up in bed, confused and disoriented at first, but the knock repeated. She approached the door and activated Hostility Sense; nothing. Mana Sense told her there were songs – enhancements, she corrected herself – on the other side of the door in two groupings. They moved back even as she considered, making more space between themselves and the door. She cracked the door open, and saw Rangers Flo and Michael standing back near the retaining wall.

  “Hello, Rangers. Thanks for moving back,” Danielle said.

  “You’re welcome. We’re not used to this paranoia culture yet, but we’re starting to catch on,” Ranger Michael said.

  “Hah. Yeah, if you didn’t already know everyone checks Hostility Sense or something before they open up – ” Danielle said, trailing off with a shake of her head.

  “We’ve been all over camp today, making sure everyone’s recovering as well as we think,” Ranger Flo said, “so like Michael said, we’re catching on. Speaking of which, you are conveniently the last room in camp, and it’s nearly five, so if you’d be so kind as to allow us in to check on you and your roommates, we’re hoping to actually be on time for supper!”

  Danielle laughed. “You can come in, but I’m the only one home,” she said, stepping back. The two Rangers followed her in anyway, and leaned against the back side of the counter while Danielle sat on the edge of her bed again. “So, really just a med-check?” Danielle asked curiously. “Am I still coming to the tent after supper?”

  “We’re hoping that won’t be necessary,” Ranger Flo said. “But not just a med-check for you, of course.”

  Ranger Michael laughed. “Of course, she says. It could have been, you know!”

  “It was never very likely,” Ranger Flo said dryly. “But if you’ll be so kind as to lower that mana defense of yours, Danielle, we can get that done first.”

  Danielle nodded and tugged at Mana Deflector. “While she’s doing that, Ranger Michael, can you tell me what else is going on?”

  “Well, for starters, having surveyed the population of the camp as thoroughly as the residents will allow, we are pleased to present you with a much shorter list of people who should continue to receive Now Hear This messages every six hours until the 6pm message on Sunday. Anyone who is not on this list should get their last medication-time message at 6pm today,” Ranger Michael said, and set down a piece of paper on her pillow.

  Danielle looked over at it. “Pretty short list, considering,” she said.

  “It’s about thirty people,” Ranger Michael said. “You can target Now Hear This on the list, though. It has a document title at the top, which you can use to make the transmitted heading read smoothly.”

  “OK, so it goes as a message from me to people on Document Title Here, right? I can do that,” Danielle said.

  Ranger Michael nodded. “You might add a few people if you have better luck than we did with building seven – don’t go back without your bodyguards, though, someone there was really setting off my danger sense at one point.”

  “There was someone capable of harming a level 10 Ranger in there?” Danielle asked incredulously.

  “Well, that’s doubtful – especially since I’m level 12,” Ranger Michael said. “There was someone seriously considering an attempt, though. The fact that I would’ve flattened him if he actually tried something and I responded with anything like my full capabilities doesn’t matter to the specific danger sense I use, though. It tells me if something’s coming, and how hostile it is; it doesn’t tell me how likely it is to succeed in its intent.”

  “Ask him to tell you about the squirrel,” Ranger Flo said absent-mindedly, busy looking at Danielle’s System, judging by the feel of her active Skill.

  “Squirrel?” Danielle said, raising an eyebrow at Ranger Michael.

  He sighed. “It set off my danger sense hard. Thing was determined to have me for breakfast, apparently. The vet did an autopsy, and found it rabid. I had to get a booster to my standing vaccination, and it made my arm ache for two days, which officially made it the worst damage the thing managed to do to me – it tried really hard to bite me, I just didn’t let it get that close.”

  “He would’ve made any Inside baseball player jealous,” Ranger Flo said. “It took ten minutes to find the carcass!”

  “Yes, hilarious, if only in hindsight. The point, however, is that there was someone very hostile at building seven today, and I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a rabid squirrel this time.” Ranger Michael sighed. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get a lot of people willing to let us in for med-checks in that building; I think those political parties that were talking so much nonsense on election day still have a lot of adherents there. From what we heard from the few people that did let us in, there are also some people making it worse by going around the building trying to trick people into opening doors to them.”

  “So assuming my friends are up to it, I should still do floor one, is what you’re saying,” Danielle said.

  “Yes, please. If you can do it safely,” Ranger Michael said.

  “This message is not endorsed by the Ranger Corps or the Sending Authority,” Ranger Flo added.

  Danielle chuckled. “Agent Bea kind of wants to wrap me in stealth and armor and maybe even bubble wrap, doesn’t she?”

  Both Healers laughed at that mental image, but then Ranger Flo said, “OK, but seriously, you’re a very important person, and the state wants you back alive. Michael could actually get in trouble if the wrong people got the idea he was encouraging you to be reckless. Also, please don’t be reckless.”

  “I won’t go without my bodyguards, I promise,” Danielle said. “Akari’s even a classed Bodyguard.”

  “Hmm. Did she get that from helping you deal with that wolf-org boy?” Ranger Flo asked.

  Danielle shrugged. “I think she got it from training to protect Heather. I unlocked it too.”

  “You were training to protect each other, specifically?” Ranger Flo asked, pausing her examination in surprise.

  “Yeah, we designated a certain tree as the healer, and took turns attacking and defending it. I made Akari real mad when I smacked the next tree over and told her I’d killed the patient instead, but she learned from it, and then we practiced some more.” Danielle yawned, and paused to cover her mouth. “Um, sorry, you kind of woke me up from a nap. Anyway! So that’s the final word on the medication time messages. I put together an order for supplies mostly for my safety bolt-hole rooms; can I give that to you guys? If I got my math right, it’ll be enough to close that open account I let you have from Saturday’s tokens-on-a-bet thing.”

  “Oh! That would be perfect, and yes, you can give it to me,” Ranger Flo said. “Wait – after I finish your med-check.”

  “All right,” Danielle said, settling back on the edge of the bed. “Is that everything for now, then? The list of people who still need timing messages, and the catalog pre-order?”

  “Well, not quite,” Ranger Michael said. “While we were canvassing the town, we also delivered those tokens you made yesterday, and made everyone else aware that they’re available. So we have a few more orders for you, and we’d like to deliver them this evening after supper, if you can oblige us.”

  “How’s your mana at the moment?” Ranger Flo asked.

  Danielle laughed. “You’re the one rummaging through my System like a spy in a filing cabinet,” she said. “Don’t you already know?”

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