I don't. As I said, there are some who either can't take it, or it doesn't work as well on, unfortunately. And you -- well, we don't know until it's too late. And the global infrastructure means we can't get it to everyone. Like you landing on other planets that view you suspect.
No way. Control? I trust the government even less, but as long as they have a capacity to save lives, they need to do it. It doesn't happen on its own.
Dehumanizing.... [Hmmmmmmm.]
[Has he lost touch with his humanity? If he did, it was before his death, and not purely because he became a vampire.]
[There's a moment where he flickers back through his memories as a vampire, for all he insists Le Comte is an anethema, an otherworldly being who was never human, never mortal, and therefore incomprehensible to him and the other lesser vampires, has Arthur also fallen that much?]
Do you still want to get coffee?
[She's an arctic tern. Even able to pull icy winds to cloak herself in, exhilarating and fierce.]
It's numbers.
[The Doctor, and the playboy are both gone. They're part of his elementary math morality. Statistics. He loathes when the government sees soldiers as numbers, but only because they don't try to cheat to increase the odds to their favor, and forget the realities that little things can still save lives.]
Percentages. You're rightly concerned about individuals' rights and freedom. But as a soldier, you know some risk is demanded, and the pay out is greater. [The gambler's addiction that makes him only play games he knows he can win.] The risk from vaccines is nearly nonexistent. But I know the elementary math of typhoid. Between 1 in 5 or 1 in 4 people who catch it, die. Gruesomely. More soldiers die from it than all the wars combined. I tell people this math, but they don't accept it. I write it eloquently, but they argue Doctoring is a profession of who-you-know and I'm just friends with all other Doctors so we stick together. That denial doesn't stop a bullet from hitting them, or even always convince them to make sure the food and water are clean enough. And if you tell them that they can take other precautions, not eating contaminated meat or water, they emotionally latch onto that as if there's a way out that doesn't involve a simple shot in the arm. The old gambler's fallacy. The idea that luck is a thing people are born with, or can get because they're special.
You can't control humanity, only yourself. You know what wondrous things humans are capable of. Scientists, explorers, artists, the best of humanity. [How much of the horror had she seen on the other ship, not a star-travel ship?] Earth isn't as advanced as your Tirva. It's admirable not to want us to go that direction, I don't want us to either. But if you don't know humans are the worst monsters on all of Earth, maybe you should read my books, darkest parts and all.
[Both hands up.] I'm not telling you to give up hope. Never. [Ugh. That hits him deep inside. The days he thought at least hope was a fighting chance. A better than 0% chance. Was it even? Did it ever do anything? Or is it just him latching onto hope so he didn't break even more than he had? Even now, he can't say. It wasn't enough. THAT much, he knows damn well.]
But the worst cases are the ones where someone is immune themselves, or just has a mild case, and because it's mild for them, they spread it to hundreds of others because they work with food and won't stay away from that job. They're infectious, and can't understand it, because it isn't hurting them much, and they just don't get it. I'd rather deal with Napoleon any day of the week. I'll take ten Napoleons rather than just one -- [Typhoid Mary.]
[They could have eradicated the diseases if only...]
[He's finally shut up. And the haunted hollow darkness gets pushed back as he can't quite smile, but is back to his glib persona.] Thanks for the escort, solider. [He forgot he was using her rank. Ghosts haunting him and all.] The offer still stands, if you want it.
[Coffee, books, Arthur trying to take his head out of the past and square it with the present here and now. No promises on that last one, but he'll try. He'll try anything. Even magic and fairies. Anything as long as it's not nothing.]
no subject
No way. Control? I trust the government even less, but as long as they have a capacity to save lives, they need to do it. It doesn't happen on its own.
Dehumanizing.... [Hmmmmmmm.]
[Has he lost touch with his humanity? If he did, it was before his death, and not purely because he became a vampire.]
[There's a moment where he flickers back through his memories as a vampire, for all he insists Le Comte is an anethema, an otherworldly being who was never human, never mortal, and therefore incomprehensible to him and the other lesser vampires, has Arthur also fallen that much?]
Do you still want to get coffee?
[She's an arctic tern. Even able to pull icy winds to cloak herself in, exhilarating and fierce.]
It's numbers.
[The Doctor, and the playboy are both gone. They're part of his elementary math morality. Statistics. He loathes when the government sees soldiers as numbers, but only because they don't try to cheat to increase the odds to their favor, and forget the realities that little things can still save lives.]
Percentages. You're rightly concerned about individuals' rights and freedom. But as a soldier, you know some risk is demanded, and the pay out is greater. [The gambler's addiction that makes him only play games he knows he can win.] The risk from vaccines is nearly nonexistent. But I know the elementary math of typhoid. Between 1 in 5 or 1 in 4 people who catch it, die. Gruesomely. More soldiers die from it than all the wars combined. I tell people this math, but they don't accept it. I write it eloquently, but they argue Doctoring is a profession of who-you-know and I'm just friends with all other Doctors so we stick together. That denial doesn't stop a bullet from hitting them, or even always convince them to make sure the food and water are clean enough. And if you tell them that they can take other precautions, not eating contaminated meat or water, they emotionally latch onto that as if there's a way out that doesn't involve a simple shot in the arm. The old gambler's fallacy. The idea that luck is a thing people are born with, or can get because they're special.
You can't control humanity, only yourself. You know what wondrous things humans are capable of. Scientists, explorers, artists, the best of humanity. [How much of the horror had she seen on the other ship, not a star-travel ship?] Earth isn't as advanced as your Tirva. It's admirable not to want us to go that direction, I don't want us to either. But if you don't know humans are the worst monsters on all of Earth, maybe you should read my books, darkest parts and all.
[Both hands up.] I'm not telling you to give up hope. Never. [Ugh. That hits him deep inside. The days he thought at least hope was a fighting chance. A better than 0% chance. Was it even? Did it ever do anything? Or is it just him latching onto hope so he didn't break even more than he had? Even now, he can't say. It wasn't enough. THAT much, he knows damn well.]
But the worst cases are the ones where someone is immune themselves, or just has a mild case, and because it's mild for them, they spread it to hundreds of others because they work with food and won't stay away from that job. They're infectious, and can't understand it, because it isn't hurting them much, and they just don't get it. I'd rather deal with Napoleon any day of the week. I'll take ten Napoleons rather than just one -- [Typhoid Mary.]
[They could have eradicated the diseases if only...]
[He's finally shut up. And the haunted hollow darkness gets pushed back as he can't quite smile, but is back to his glib persona.] Thanks for the escort, solider. [He forgot he was using her rank. Ghosts haunting him and all.] The offer still stands, if you want it.
[Coffee, books, Arthur trying to take his head out of the past and square it with the present here and now. No promises on that last one, but he'll try. He'll try anything. Even magic and fairies. Anything as long as it's not nothing.]