(Untitled)

[simon_doctor]

Kaylee's out for the evening, having stayed just long enough to say hello to Jordie when he arrived. (She's going to Milliways, Simon knows; she'll be back late.)

They're on their own for dinner.

Comments

[walk_ins]

Jordie looks at him, and shakes his head.

"You got ditched," he says. Flat. "And I have no idea how you begin to be able to forgive that."

[walk_ins]

His face is stark white.

"Stripped?"

It's not fear.

[simon_doctor]

The jerk of his head is probably intended to be a nod.

[walk_ins]

All you can do with something like that is ask -- demand -- why. Jordie does.

[simon_doctor]

Simon takes a deep, steadying breath.

"This," he says carefully, "is the part that's difficult to believe. I would have dismissed it as impossible if I hadn't seen evidence of it myself."

[walk_ins]

"Any more difficult to believe than your father cutting you two loose to preserve his own skin?" Sharp. "Simon, you have no reason to lie, and I've been waiting years for this story. You saw evidence. And you're far more skeptical than I've ever been."

[simon_doctor]

A flicker of smile. "All right. I just want you to keep in mind that I know how this sounds."

Beat.

"The surgery was intended to heighten River's natural intuitive perception into full psychic ability. Evidence suggests that it worked."

[walk_ins]

"Assuming you can do it -- and I have no reason to think you can't -- "

He's shaking his head slowly. "That's a lot of technology not available to the common citizen. It would have to be. And -- why? For what purpose? Because I don't think -- if you stripped the amygdala, that heightens the fear response, but it doesn't necessarily follow that any senses will be heightened as well, and even if they were -- that would -- and stop me if I'm getting this wrong, it's been years -- any abnormal reaction couldn't get processed in any useful way. Chances are, I mean. Unless -- you did say it was repeated?"

(His voice hardens at the last. Significantly.)

[simon_doctor]

He nods heavily. "It was repeated."

Long pause.

"And not just on River."

[walk_ins]

"No."

Very quiet. It's agreement.

"And all those other people wouldn't listen. So. River's the only one who got out? And the rest of them -- what? Are they still there?"

[simon_doctor]

Pause.

"Not anymore. And ... this is the part that can't ever be made public. For a lot of reasons."

Simon reaches for his drink and takes a swallow to clear his throat.

"You remember the Saranac Event."

[walk_ins]

"With the power outages and the riots?" Jordie's nodding.

Simon will make the connection; it's beyond Jordie what it could possibly be.

[simon_doctor]

"The facility where they were keeping the kids was an orbital space station," he says. "During the Event it underwent catastrophic system failure. The official line is that there weren't any survivors."

[walk_ins]

"And the unofficial line?"

[simon_doctor]

Another drink.

"We got there first."

He looks Jordie directly in the face again. "We had help. And some of it I can't tell you anything more about. But we found the place, and we got the rest of the kids out. And we burned it down behind us."

The note in his voice is almost too grim to be called satisfaction.

Almost.

[walk_ins]

Jordie is quiet for a moment.

Then, thoughtful:

"Simon."

"You're saying you used the Saranac Event for cover."