The longer Markus speaks with her, the more reminded he is of a science fiction novel. That is, of course, far from a judgment. Thirty years ago, he himself would have been considered the same. Whatever went into her construction, for her intricacies were far too perfect to be natural, it was beyond any technology he was familiar with and that in itself fascinated him. Still, that was a conversation for another place. Instead, he opted to focus on the immediate plight: the existence, or non-existence, of this contagion.

"There are a lot of things that are questionable about the illness. What it is and why no one seems to be sick are pretty high on my list."