Shrugging again, Tamlynn started her story, "This happened... Gosh, it must be six or seven years ago. It was a few years before I met you, Michael. There was a particularly nasty plague out of the Wastelands that our normal immuno-vacs weren't handling."

There were noises from the listening RCF members. They all knew about it. Michael spoke first, "I caught that one, I was one of the few to recover on my own."

Rhin was shivering with a remembered fever and chill. Azami looked worriedly at her and explained, "Rhin caught it too. She nearly died. The vac came in barely in time to be effective."

Tam looked down at the table, silent for a moment, then she continued, "All reserve scientists were called out to help develop a cure for it. We were failing miserably. I was working both in the lab and spending a lot of time attempting re-creations in the VR. Neither were particularly effective. The problem was that the stupid virus just couldn't be isolated. It was remarkably good at hiding." She glanced up at the others and mentioned with a grin that scientists did, occasionally, anthropomorphize. "Well, I finally ended up deciding that what we needed above all else was a method of getting the stupid bugger into a computer. Of course. That's an obvious step. But our machines couldn't handle it.

"So I went onto the InterNet with a plea for help. I started mostly in the circles I knew and the word went out. Several people volunteered. Eventually there were a series of all types of geniuses working on the project. The group that seemed to be making the most progress, and one that I spent the most time with, was the one with Jacine in it."

"Figures." Rhin muttered.

Azami grinned at her, "Of course, otherwise this story, while interesting, would not be the one we asked for."

"I want to hear this." Michael said mildly.

The fruit juice glass made a ringing sound as Tamlynn put it back on the table and the other three jumped slightly. She shrugged, "Sorry. To continue, Jacine's group had come up with fairly workable plans for an Analysis Machine. Dump in the blood and samples of... relevant other stuff, and the machine would isolate and computerize all individual... things in it."

Michael coughed as an attention getter. He got it, and then asked, "What's with all the down talk?"

Blushing slightly, Tam replied, "Well, I'm trying to tell this in a quick fashion and I don't want to over-load you with scientific terms." She took another sip of her juice, "Besides, the last people I told this story to were the third grade summer school class."

The others looked at each other, "Ah ha."

"Anyway. The computer would generate VR images of anything unusual it found. It wouldn't generate images of things that matched known items, such as a white blood cell, but it would keep them in the memory in case the doctor did want to pull them up and examine them more closely. The team also designed a special VR booth that was much more detailed and involved than our current typical headsets. It allowed better responsive interaction with the VR environment."

"Wow." Azami shook her head in amazement, "That must have been some group. The brainstorming would have been something to see. Were they all well known?"

Tamlynn laughed. "Actually, hardly any. Jacine, of course, was the main mechanical end. She apparently is known in her circles, but not widely respected because of her age."

"That's silly." Rhin put in. "Either you can do the job or you can't. Age has not bloody much to do with it."

Shrugging, Tamlynn continued, "Dr. Peter Shoares took care of the medical advising end of things, since I was more directly involved with the virus and not the general concept. Dr. Hiroyuki Nakano provided the research end for previous VR/Medical interactions -- which was really the beginning usage of VR, but somehow in the intervening years VR has gotten more into entertainment and we lost a lot of the scientific usage. 'Advances' in bio-tech moved away from VR. Our electronic expert was--"

"23!" Azami broke in with a laugh and Rhin joined in. Tam favored it with a chuckle and Michael also grinned.

"No, not 23. Latisha Walker, as a matter of fact. Though I believe 23 studied under her at Hawkings; so he does sort-of get into the story."

The corners of Rhin's mouth were twitching, "That's good, I've gotten use to hearing his and Jacine's name in the same sentence when we're talking inventions."

Michael was amused, but determined not to say anything. He picked up his Saurian Brandy and sipped it.

Tamlynn eyed him curiously, interested in his reactions, but continued after a moment. "The person handling the Computer end of things was a woman called Ael t'Rllaillieu--

All the girls exclaimed in disgust and reached for their napkins as Michael's drink that he'd been sipping splattered all over the table. When they finished cleaning up -- and he'd gotten over choking -- they sat back and looked at him. Michael knew perfectly well what the look he was getting conveyed.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat a couple of times. "Did this person like to wear a kimono decorated with little birds?"

Tamlynn wasn't too surprised by his question. "Yes. And she wore her hair up in a very ancient Greek fashion. Who was it?"

"'Handling the Computer end of things' indeed." Michael started to chuckle, but there was a wondering note in his amusement.

"Michael!"

"Alright, alright. It was a good friend of ours. She doesn't usually come out. I wonder what prompted this?"

He sounded ready to disappear into his own thoughts, and the Trio pestered him more for specifics. However, for once Michael was very stubborn in not giving them. Eventually, they gave up on getting details anytime soon and Tamlynn went back to her story.

"Almost done now. That was the group. They came up with some very workable plans. Then Jacine, Latisha, and a couple of their friends who were good in the practicals, came over to my house and built the machines." For a moment, Tamlynn paused and shook her head in wonder, "From the start of their planning, to the actual completion of the machines, was only six days. I'm sure that none of them got any sleep at all during that time."

"I bet you didn't either." Rhin broke in. Michael was chuckling silently at Tam's last sentence, but this time everybody ignored him.

In response to Rhin's statement, Tamlynn grimaced, "Well, no, not much. Enough to function on.

"To continue: I tried out the Analyzer -- 'De-Bugger' as the group called it -- and it came a heck of a lot closer than anything else us scientists had come up with yet. We fiddled with it for a few more days, and eventually were able to come up with a vac that was viable and would work."

Gulping the last of her juice, Tamlynn was silent for a few moments thinking about the vaccine. The other three were also silent, each lost in their own memories of the plague.

"Well. That was how Jacine and I met. After that, we kept fairly close touch though comcalls and VRInterNet. Mostly just personal things we'd chat about, though we occasionally traded problems if they were relevant. We've visited back and fourth a few times, sometimes me to her place, usually her to mine." She looked over at the Twins, "Pure coincidence that you guys never ran into each other. And then, of course, there was that day in OR -- over Michael's body, as t'were." She grinned at him -- a decidedly cats-in-the-cream grin. "And I'm not repeating the conversation we had after you were finally out of danger and asleep!"

"Ummm." Michael was torn with indecision, "I'm not quite sure if I really want to!"

Azami and Rhin traded glances, then chorused, "We do!"

Almost knocking over the table in his haste, Michael stood up, "If you people will note the chron-readout, I think it's time for bed. It's a working night after all."

The girls almost quipped on his phrasing, but after trading glances and grins, they decided to leave it alone, and they also stood up to leave.