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

[bestsir]

[ 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. ]

Comments

video;

[bestsir]

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. ]

video;

[livingsymbol]

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. ]

video;

[bestsir]

[ 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.

video;

[livingsymbol]

Hm, all right. I can help with that.

[Fetch a couple lizards for study seems like a harmless good deed Steve can manage. And a nice way to get his exercise.]

video;

[bestsir]

Thank you very much—you can bring them to my office. I shall have a habitat prepared for them.

video;

[livingsymbol]

All right. I'll bring them in.

[By hand, no less, carrying them like herders carry lambs in for sheering. Maybe not what Harry had in mind, but Steve is trying to be helpful.]

Re: video;

[bestsir]

Thank you very much.

[ Harry was expecting cages, but he can work with hand-carried creatures. It’s just going to cause a little more of a ruckus and possibly end up with some things knocked over ]

[livingsymbol]

[ Steve works by the simplest solution sometimes, which isn't always the most sensible option. He thinks because he can handle things by hand that it works just fine. That doesn't necessarily make it the smartest method. He's lucky that Harry takes the whole hand-hauled lizards in stride. ]

You think you can find a way to keep them under control?

[bestsir]

Perhaps. Or at the very least, devise a means of driving them away, or protecting oneself from them.

[livingsymbol]

You mean besides force. [He's not joking. Look, he's a simple guy, okay?]

[bestsir]

That is the easiest way, of course—but perhaps some pheremones may be devised, either as a repellent or as a means of attracting them to some other place.