riverview | 01. The microscopic section of this gland or organ is extremely beautiful.

[ The morgue and the coroner's office are in the basement of the Riverview Hospital, which would be depressing were it not for the fact that the coroner's office is placed so that it has a window. The basement also features a large storage room that has become a dumping ground for miscellaneous furniture and supplies. At times where Harry's been at loose ends and in need of something to do, he has reorganized that storage room ... and now he's found a new use for it.

The incursion of small pesky critters has a lot to do with it, as does the fact that his office is starting to overflow with items that he's collected around the quarantine in his time there. Soon the storage room starts slowly transforming into a distinctly 19th-century-flavoured laboratory, with tanks and cages for living creatures and jars for preserved specimens—not just of the pests, but also other interesting plants and insects. There's also an eyeball from one of the large predatory pterodactyl creatures, and feathers from the same are kept on his worktable.

It doesn't occur to him that it might be nice to mention this side project to the hospital administrators, but he doesn't exactly get a lot of visitors, so it's going to be a little while before anyone notices.

...well, once these messages go out, someone probably will. ]

To Captain Anali Apple and the Perimeter Guard
Greetings. I am Dr. Harry Goodsir, and I have the privilege to serve as Coroner to the Riverview Quarantine. I write in reference to the small Creatures that have been plaguing the city, and for which I understand you have offered a Bounty. As an Anatomist and Naturalist by training, I am very interested in these particular* Creatures, and would welcome the opportunity to acquire from the Guard any Specimens of these Pests*—living or dead—so that I may make a Study of them. Perhaps such a Study will yield results that are Relevant to the control of their Population and Range. Please advise how we may arrange Delivery.

Your obedient servant,
Dr. Harry Goodsir

Network text post | [Bad username or site: hds @ goodsir]
To my fellow Riverview citizens, greetings. I am Dr. Harry Goodsir, and I have the privilege to serve as Coroner to the Riverview Quarantine. I am also a Naturalist by training, and I have begun to collect Specimens of the local Flora and Fauna with the Intention of developing a systematic Catalogue of the life we encounter here in the Quarantine and without the walls. I should like to humbly request the Assistance of my fellow men and women in this Endeavour. I seek information about* Specimens for study, ~~as well as~~ any visual or written Reports of curious sightings that I may investigate further. You may write to me via the Network, or you may seek me in person in my Office at the Riverview Hospital.

Your obedient servant,
Dr. Harry Goodsir

[ Feel free to pop into his office with something awful in a cage or a jar. He'll (probably) be delighted. Post title is from the writings of the historical Harry D. S. Goodsir. ]

[ * These parts added after Nat sets him straight. ]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hello there, new best friend! ]

I should like very much to see your notes and your plant samples. I have not yet been beyond the fences, so I welcome any Information or Objects from there.

I hope that our presence is not throwing the environment here too far out of balance—that we may, perhaps, find a way for human and native animal life to live in harmony.

I doubt that would be the case. There are still empty rooms in the residence buildings, and sometimes the portal that brings people here will also be set to pull them back into their world.

If there is something,the balance of people is not necessarily why.

Are you talking about the weird invasion we've got going on by the fence?

[Because good lord what the hell is that?]

The Crabs, yes, and also the various smaller Creatures that have invaded the city.

You may be right. In any case, I do believe there is much to be learned about how we interact with our surroundings, and that we should seek solutions that do not inadvertently make matters worse.

I've heard that the sparkly moth-things can cause mood swings.

Don't discount the value of being able to run without tripping over your own feet.

Tell me, have you ever seen a Polar Bear? Have you ever been genuinely afraid for your life and still able to run without tripping over your own feet?

You're the coroner?

Sort of assumed coroners smelled worse. So. Congratulations on not reeking I guess.

How's our lizard?

You want to catch some of the lizards?

[Sorry, Harry. Steve just stumbles right in with a short summary.]

Indeed they can—and that makes their Capture and Containment a very tricky affair.

It is a curious defence mechanism, however. At some point, I hope to learn how it affects creatures that are not Human—that do not possess Moods or Emotions as we do.

[ There's a hesitation in which he considers whether he ought to explain that while he has not actually encountered a polar bear, he has found himself far too close to a gigantic spirit-bear monster that eats polar bears the way cats dine on rats and that can swipe off a man's head with a single blow.

Maybe leave that out for now. ]

I have, yes. Others of my Party did not survive the Encounter, but I escaped.

[ Harry has NO IDEA how to respond to that. The bit about smells, that is. ]

Well—I try to maintain Standards of Cleanliness, I suppose.

In any case, Phoebe is well. I would hardly call her Tame, but she appears to accept my Company so long as it is accompanied by Food.

[ Harry appreciates the directness, anyway. ]

Well, I have caught one—

[ In fact, at the edge of the frame, Steve might notice a largish glass tank in which one of those lizards is clinging to a branch and devouring a fish head. There's a couple of denuded fish skulls on the floor of the tank, too. ]

It is a female, and now I hope to catch a male.

What are you going to do with them?

[ Because he just has to ask. He isn't really against catching the wildlife, but he does want to make sure the lizards are humanely treated.

...He's also someone that punches animals that attack him, so that one is very subjective. Steve is mostly curious. ]

I have no intention of maltreating them—I merely wish to study their behaviour, their diets, and so forth.

[ Harry's not a fan of vivisection. And he does still feel a little bad about testing the expedition's food on the ship's monkey. ]

Well, there you go. You have real world experience Not Dying. Plenty of people can't claim that.

[ Also, the spirit bear would not phase her that much. A little, but not much. She could tell him about armoured alien space whales. Always a fun topic of conversation. ]

Would that the Experience had been more extensive for the rest of the Expedition.

[ He writes it, means to delete it, but hits Send instead. Like you do. ]

[ Happens to everybody. It's fine. Not usually about death and sad shit. More often than not it's inappropriate political comments or dick pics, but still. ]

That's the thing about great undertakings, isn't it? If survival were guaranteed, it wouldn't be a great undertaking. It would be commonplace. It would be easy.

[ Yes, she is assuming quite a bit here, but he's not exactly been stingy with the clues. ]

All right. Then I don't mind going to catch a few for you. I'm not sure how to pick out the guys from the girls, but I can bring them in and see what you think.

[ If Harry isn't careful he might end up with a colony. It's like telling a dog to fetch. ]

Very doable. I'll stop by this week, then. I'm curious of her.

I look forward to your Visit, then.

[ He tilts the camera toward the lizard in the cage. ]

As far as I can observe, the females have those particular stripes along the backs, and their bellies are paler and striated.

...and no more than two should suffice, incidentally.

[ He finds her response unexpectedly touching. ]

That is so. Though I have begun to wonder where Courage ends and Hubris begins, in affairs such as these. I rather think it is far too easy to fall into the latter.

[ Erebus and Terror were equipped with the finest cutting-edge technology of the 1840s, after all, and look where it got them. ]

At least you worry about it. That's something.

Look on the bright side. It's easier to fall into a hole, and you haven't done that yet.

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01. The microscopic section of this gland or organ is extremely beautiful.

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