08-04-2014, 05:41 PM
They were walking a dangerous path. One that made Torri gleam with interest. "I could talk about theories on the Sickness all night, and bore you to tears, I am sure,"
Torri's smirk was not exaggerating. "I do find it fascinating. And yes, you're right, disease implies an infectious agent. Imagine the days before virology, for instance. Scientists could not image a virus, yet there were highly infectious agents of subcellular size transmitted from person to person. It would have been difficult for science to conceive of something it was not aware existed. Many of the great minds today propose a similar situation: that we should consider what we have never considered before. So for now, disease is the most appropriate term assigned to the Sickness."
She liked that he thought with such angles. In her world, terminology mattered, and whether disease, defect or disorder was applicable, it was not in Torri's power to discern. But she was impressed that Drayson had questioned it. Then again, such was his exact job.
Torri was relieved when their first course arrived. Not so much because she was hungry, which she truly was starving, but because the topic might naturally cut from the Sickness. She couldn't talk much more about work without breaking security clearance, and some might find the subject morbid. She wasn't one of them, but she imagined it wasn't great dinner date conversation.
For a first course, she'd been tempted to order the beets, gherkin and sprats but she could only imagine the aroma of a commonly canned fish was not inviting for a date. Instead, she'd selected grilled goat cheese served on bread with beets and apple. The dark grill marks criss-crossing the cheese square looked divine. It took every lady-like behavior in her to not shove it in her mouth in one go.
So she smiled and folded her napkin in her lap while Drayson did the same.
"How is yours?"
Torri's smirk was not exaggerating. "I do find it fascinating. And yes, you're right, disease implies an infectious agent. Imagine the days before virology, for instance. Scientists could not image a virus, yet there were highly infectious agents of subcellular size transmitted from person to person. It would have been difficult for science to conceive of something it was not aware existed. Many of the great minds today propose a similar situation: that we should consider what we have never considered before. So for now, disease is the most appropriate term assigned to the Sickness."
She liked that he thought with such angles. In her world, terminology mattered, and whether disease, defect or disorder was applicable, it was not in Torri's power to discern. But she was impressed that Drayson had questioned it. Then again, such was his exact job.
Torri was relieved when their first course arrived. Not so much because she was hungry, which she truly was starving, but because the topic might naturally cut from the Sickness. She couldn't talk much more about work without breaking security clearance, and some might find the subject morbid. She wasn't one of them, but she imagined it wasn't great dinner date conversation.
For a first course, she'd been tempted to order the beets, gherkin and sprats but she could only imagine the aroma of a commonly canned fish was not inviting for a date. Instead, she'd selected grilled goat cheese served on bread with beets and apple. The dark grill marks criss-crossing the cheese square looked divine. It took every lady-like behavior in her to not shove it in her mouth in one go.
So she smiled and folded her napkin in her lap while Drayson did the same.
"How is yours?"