[If close contact is all that’s required to pass on the sickness, Liem should have contracted it long before now. Although he hasn’t been spending all of his available time corralling rogue Venerans, he’s still spent his fair share of time touching those he has taken the time to shepherd to safety—and he still feels just fine. But as he thinks about it, he wonders if he’s right to believe that he hasn’t fallen prey to the sickness yet. Perhaps it has already taken root in him in ways that haven’t yet become apparent. It’s a slightly unsettling thought.

For now, he’s more interested to follow this other train of thought. He takes them right at an intersection, toward a part of the city he’s slightly more familiar with.]

Did you have much success? [he asks curiously.] I haven’t found most of the locals very responsive once they’re at the point of hallucinations.