“Listen,” Ranger Miriam said. “Boost Recovery puts mana into your body at a time when your personal System is desperately trying to get mana out of your body. Granted, giving the mana a shape and purpose helps a lot, but it can still lengthen your bout with the disease. It also has a risk of leading to a weakened physical immune system if you use it too much, even to the point of preventing you from gaining your natural immunity if you really overuse it. For the record, a Healer Skill called Weaken Disease does the same thing, except that Boost Recovery is only for you, and Weaken Disease can target other people. You shouldn’t use either of those Skills more than once a day on the same person – if you have reason to believe they can’t do without more than one Skill activation per day from that pair of Skills, then they need to be evaluated by a fully trained Healer who also has certification as a doctor or nurse practitioner.

  “Out here, mana pox is always going to be in the environment somewhere. If you handle this bout like a trooper, let your immune system do its thing and get that natural immunity, then your body will handle any future exposures much faster and better, and you’ll never have it this bad ever again. If you take Boost Recovery and overuse it? It stays dangerous to you. Ideally, no more than 10% of camp would take Boost Recovery, and it would only go to those with complicating conditions and people who are willing to use it responsibly (meaning once a day and no more), and they would then heal quickly and take care of everyone else while the majority get through it the old-fashioned way. If you survived helping your Medic unlock Local Anesthetic the hard way, this is nothing for you. Take one of the other three skills.”

  “Except Medic Falconer, who definitely has a complicating condition,” Agent Bea said.

  “Listen, we need one of each token in the room,” Danielle told the others. “I don’t care who picks what. I’ll convert them into whatever you actually want, just get me access to all four.”

  “But we have to use them right away,” Sadie objected.

  “I admit, I’m assuming we’re going to the Dome together as a room,” Danielle said.

  “My turn, I think,” Agent Bea said, pushing off from the back of the counter to stand properly next to Ranger Miriam. She faced Danielle, though, rather than addressing the room. “Medic Falconer, as you have just observed, many Sent feel strongly that Boost Recovery is so much the best option, that all others are redundant. I appreciate, deeply, that you do not. I also appreciate that you are quite ill right now, and that dizzy spell yesterday was probably not what we convinced ourselves it was.”

  “No, probably not,” Danielle said. “Tell Mike I’m sorry I exposed him.”

  Agent Bea gave a surprised laugh. “Hah! I’ll pass that along. However. I’m afraid I very much need you to make us some more tokens today. The blasted regulations require us to honor the choices of the Sent in regards to the offered tokens, and while we’re allowed to attempt persuasion, frankly, our people aren’t having much luck. We’re about to be entirely out of Boost Recovery tokens. Worse, we expected a sending this large to have at least 120 Healers and twice that many people with a single medic Skill, but for reasons doubtless related to age and lack of relevant experience, we’ve only identified some 45-ish healers so far, and we’re about 80% done. Local Antihistamine has seen a good number of takers, and that’s all to the good long-term, because it’s a Healing Skill, and may unlock the Class or even just the Skill Tree to more people. We’ve also gotten a few people volunteering for Detect Internal Temperature even with all the responsibility we’ve attached to that, and that can unlock the Medic Class and/or Skill Tree. The camp is going to be painfully short of Sterilize Object, however.”

  “That’s concerning,” Danielle said. “What you want me to make is just Boost Recovery, though?”

  Agent Bea nodded solemnly. “As much as you can make, and I mean that literally. I want you to tell Flo your mana numbers, total base production and production today as best you can determine, and then I want to feed you as much of Gretel’s fancy mana cheese as it’s safe to give you, because after that, if you haven’t covered the demand, I’m going to have to put in an emergency order with Karen.”

  “Uh, she means Skill Sharer Impera,” Ranger Miriam said nervously. “Don’t ever let anyone hear you talking about her that way, girls! That woman remembers slights.”

  “Good thing I took a nap,” Danielle said. “Um, I assume I’m getting paid? These must be 300s and all.”

  “Yes. We’ll also sell you a copy of each of the other Skills involved for your own, ah, collection; there’s no need to press your roommates to adjust their choices,” Agent Bea said. “I’d like to discuss other payment methods as well, like last time, but – ”

  “Mana,” Danielle interrupted. “All mana.”

  “Ah, well, let’s talk about that after – ” Agent Bea tried again.

  “You just told me that this camp was going to be critically short of certain important Skills,” Danielle said. “Pay in mana. I need to make tokens. And figure out how to distribute them discreetly.”

  “I trust you mean sell them discreetly,” Agent Bea said. “You really shouldn’t be giving tokens away, for so many reasons.”

  “Sell at cost, then, due to extreme need,” Danielle said. Agent Bea frowned and started to open her mouth, but Danielle spoke over her again. “People here can’t afford to be wasting mana on my profit, we’re still getting established here! Lives are still at stake every day! I’m swimming in mana because I’m working for you, I can afford to donate some critical Skills to people who will use them to the benefit of the community!”

  Agent Bea actually backed up a step in the face of Danielle’s outburst, then caught herself and leaned back against the counter in a more casual position and frowned thoughtfully. “How about this: Only make one cheap sale token for every one token you make for us. Sell them for 150 instead of 100, so we can honestly say you made a profit. Do that, and the Sending Authority will front for you – we’ll say, oh, that it’s a charity move by our nation’s junior-most Skill Sharer, who had been following the news from this Sending and wants to help the more mature and responsible members of town get better established to help those around them.”

  Danielle thought it over. “Will you be doing the actual sales, then?” she asked.

  “Technically, the catalog already says we’ll be selling select Skill Tokens as they become available via the main fair,” Agent Bea said. “The state’s next-most-junior Skill Sharer got her Returned Citizen status only five years ago, and she’s still coming to as many fairs as she can make; she’s very likely to come to the Fall Fair this year. We’ll be selling some options from her in conjunction with the catalog, for a discounted price – probably 200 for a tier 1 Skill. We’re still not expecting lots of takers, obviously, but with the care packages dumping mana on you all, it’s at least a realistic possibility.”

  “Huh. Why aren’t you using her for all these tokens?” Danielle asked.

  “Because she’s not Sent anymore, and doesn’t qualify for the rule about using Sent first,” Agent Bea said, spreading her hands in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. “Besides, she doesn’t have things like Combat Medic and Create Light source in her personal System, and she’s posted in the Unified States embassy in the Republic of Texas.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “Why would they put a Skill Sharer in an embassy in Texas?” Sadie asked.

  “Officially? She’s involved in a technology exchange program, learning new Skills to bring back to her home nation in a year or two. Unofficially? Our nation’s Sending system produces an average of one Skill sharer every eight years, averaged across all the states, making the Unified States the biggest source of Skill Sharers in the western hemisphere. We sell their services through embassies around the world; and since Firmitatem’s seniormost practitioners are hard to get along with, our junior practitioners are keen to volunteer for those posts,” Agent Bea said.

  “The nation’s next-most-junior Skill Sharer just got back inside last year – he was the sort who went outside to level because he got the Trait, and like many of those, it took him more than a decade. Fortunately, he loved his time Outside up in Alaska, and is well known to take an interest in the needs of Sendings and our Outside towns. He despises Karen as much as I do, and would almost certainly not mind being mistaken for the person who sold some much-needed Skills to this town at charity prices – I just can’t go around implying he broke the fair payment rule outright. Honestly, I’m almost surprised we haven’t actually heard from him; but of course, he knows new Sent don’t do the Summer Fair, and besides that he’s often, er, out of communication.”

  “I look forward to actually meeting him someday,” Danielle said. “For now, though, you’re asking me to moderate my generosity for political reasons, and in return, you offer to help protect my privacy by handling the token sales for me? Mostly at catalog time.”

  “Yes, though we’ll also make the Rangers aware that they can sell the epidemic recovery Skills in particular if people here recognize the need. Particularly Sterilize Object, I gather?” Agent Bea asked.

  “Any of the three that are needed more than they were taken,” Danielle confirmed.

  “All right, we’ll see them listed as available,” Agent Bea said. “We’ll have a talk about what other Skills are needed, and also about the mana crafter remuneration laws, once the crisis is over. I suppose we can talk about the rest of your payment then too; otherwise I’ll get people accusing me of taking advantage of you while you’re feverish.”

  “Is it illegal for me to give tokens as presents to family and friends?” Danielle asked. “I want to give an extra token to my party members – the hunting party, I mean. The fi- ten people that I’m closest with, out here. That has to be OK, right?”

  “It’s a gray area I’d rather not be involved with, honestly,” Agent Bea said.

  Danielle folded her arms stubbornly. “Tom doesn’t have any roommates. His original ones died, and your people told him no moving. Zephyr has roommates who fight with him and about him and try to force him to do stuff he doesn’t want to. Jordan’s roommates supposedly don’t hunt at all – I don’t know the details, but it sounds like they’ve given up or something. I can’t count on any of those three having other people take care of them, and Jordan has a mana Trait. The guys might need the extra help.

  “Even Cassy is in a room with three people who she barely knows, from a different hunting party, who have different values, and she has a mana Trait, too. Her roommates are at least people who try, and will probably not let her starve or anything, but still, I have reason for concern. We’re spread across four buildings, Heather can’t be going out alone while we’re all sick to check up on people all over camp – and we were probably all exposed together on Thursday, when we were out camping and Belle was there too. We’re all gonna be in the first wave.”

  “You used the well by the Constanza North Access Point, didn’t you,” Ranger Miriam said. “I don’t care what they say, you have to distill with that one unless you’re immune.”

  “Warning’s a bit late,” Akari said sourly.

  Agent Bea huffed in annoyance. “The Rangers have never proven the theory that the Sent-made well at the layer 1 north Access Point is contaminated. It passes all standard tests and inspections.”

  Ranger Miriam rolled her eyes in turn. “Which one of those tests for mana pox? Go look at the records; Constanza consistently has their mana pox epidemic early, usually right in the three-to-four week time frame when the first really determined people get 100 mana together. There’s statistical evidence from at least four sendings now, demonstrating a correlation between first contact with the well and first contact with mana pox.”

  “Anecdotal evidence that can’t be backed up by testing,” Agent Bea said testily. “It could just as easily be that pond halfway there. Besides, early contact with mana pox has a positive correlation with long-term survival, and we do have a proper test for the Speeds, which we used earlier this year! The Access Point well is not a vector for the Speeds, or any testable harmful bacterium. Let it go, already.”

  “Mana pox is a virus, not a bacterium!” Ranger Miriam objected.

  Agent Bea threw up her hands. “And who ever heard of a virus infecting a body of water? Viruses need hosts!”

  “That sounds wrong,” Danielle said. “Don’t some viruses do, um, spores or something?”

  “Tell you what. Let’s get moving, and you can discuss it with the Healers, who know better than either of us. Preferably after you get your mana-safety evaluation and start work on the additional tokens,” Agent Bea said. “Your roommates can join you in jumping to the ‘leave right now’ spot in the queue.”

  “Don’t forget your care package tokens,” Akari said, going for her footlocker.

  Heather and Sadie went for theirs too. “I did mine yesterday,” Danielle said. “I’m serious, Agent Bea, I’ll buy my extra three at full price, like the rules say; but I want you to – let’s compromise and say you sell me an additional token from this set at the 150 mana price we agreed upon for the town at large, as part of my payment, to be delivered to each of my hunting party members before they go to the dome. Can we do that, if straight gift-giving is really that difficult?”

  “Is that what it takes to get you moving, Miss Falconer?” Agent Bea asked, fixing Danielle with a disapproving stare.

  “That’s what it takes to get me to spend my last nine mana points on tokens for you, instead of tokens for them,” Danielle said. “If you’re giving out more than you expected of one thing, that means you have to have extras of the other stuff, right? I’m going to come for sure, but I’m also going to take care of my hunting party for sure. I’ve got – huh. It looks like I’ve got exactly – is my math right? Exactly 57 mana right now. You can have all 57 of that, and chip 150 times ten mana off of what you’re about to owe me, or you can have, uh, 48 of that. Also I might need to go check in with the rest of my people before we leave.”

  “Any of them that live in buildings one or three are very likely to be in line at the Dome already!” Agent Bea protested.

  “Then you better tell someone there to make sure they don’t get shipped home before you handle the delivery, or you’ll have to bring them back and it’ll be awkward,” Danielle said.

  “Danielle, be reasonable,” Akari said. “You don’t want the Sending Authority yelling their names, do you? Things at the Dome are probably chaos, with how fast they have to have put this together.”

  “I’m pretty sure they had plans waiting and ready to go, Akari. Besides, I can call on specific people with Now Hear This, surely the Now Hear This guy can do the same,” Danielle argued.

  Ranger Miriam snerked. “The Now Hear This guy – I can’t wait to tell him that one, hehee.”

  “Ranger, really,” Agent Bea said suppressively.

  Ranger Miriam pulled out her radio. “You gonna give up the nine tokens, or shall we call ‘the Now Hear This guy’ and request a message?”

  Agent Bea looked at Danielle, eyes lingering on the crossed arms, the set of her jaw, the… left elbow? Danielle glanced at her own left arm in confusion. What was the agent staring at?

  “Medic Falconer, are you sustaining Flash Shield right now?” Agent Bea asked.

  Oh. It was her staff. Danielle closed her eyes to feel/listen, and sure enough, the staff was humming with the balanced song/shape of two mana structures: the enhancement at one end, and Flash Shield mooching off the empty crystal at the other end for energy savings. “I guess it’s still up from the walk home,” she said. “I did still have the staff in the crook of my arm when I lay down.”

  “Yikes,” Ranger Miriam said, though she sounded as much impressed as dismayed. “Sleeping with an active hold Skill is some next-level paranoia.”

  Danielle shrugged. “I got some biggish rocks thrown at me yesterday, and I got attacked by someone in stealth who is probably that Wolf Pack guy that keeps trying to kill me. If I’m having trouble finding the right level of paranoia for that, I prefer to be leaning high, not low. What’s that got to do with negotiations about Skill tokens, though?”

  Agent Bea finally looked her in the eyes again. “Do you give me your word that you are doing this because you are honestly worried about your team enduring the disease, and for no other reason?”

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