I Speak With Sertorius of the Physicians

Sertorius agreed to meet me in the Teiban District last evening at a tavern. He was clear that the meeting would be brief and that I was not to monopolize his time. He is a Physician and what I would call 'traditional' High Caste. That is to say, Sertorius is a bit of an elitist. He affected a put upon mien at the notion I would suggest a meeting at all. Of course, Low Caste or not, I am a Magistrate of the People. I have used quite a bit of discretion in exercising the power of that office and I would not have forced the Physician to meet me if he absolutely refused regardless. He did me a courtesy and I was grateful for it. Aside from being an elitist, he is a brilliant researcher, as much Scribe in that sense as Physician. That, of course, is not an analogy one would make aloud in the presence of either a Scribe or a Physician, any more than one would compare Builders to Warriors. Still, I think it is apt. He is a studious fellow. He spends far more time in the laboratory and libraries than he does mending broken arms or vaccinating people's chattel or children. When he was brusque with me, I did not hold it against him. I asked him about the people in vicinity of Sixth Street in the Anbar, around what was then called The Kal-da Cafe; people quite paralyzed, thought to be dead, but later reporting they were immobilized but completely aware of their surroundings.

"That is what you have called me out for? Yes. We are aware of it. Analysis revealed traces of a naturally occuring Frobocain analog, a general anesthetic, and a localized stimulant of sorts," he explained as if this were something I would comprehend the first time I heard it. He leaned a bit closer.

"Frobocain is a paralytic muscle relaxant. In addition it is responsible for initiating a reversible loss of consciousness in patients or, in these cases, victims," he told me further. He seemed rather intent on letting the information go no farther than between the two of us. "One such victim, not in the area of Sixth Street, but in the vicinity of the Great Square, was in possession of...candies," he said, seemingly disgusted at the notion.

It turned out after analysis that those candies revealed the same traces of Frobocain and the stimulant, possibly the sugared candies themselves, as the blood of several victims. The stimulant, he explained, was in a small enough dose to keep the victim roused, but not to overide the paralytic effects of the relaxant. He went on further to explain that the stimulant might not have been necessary at all, as anesthetizing patients is a science, the work of those of his Caste, and amateurs could very well paralyze individuals as expected, but not render them unconscious which, he assured me, during certain procedures, could be somewhat unpleasant.

He spoke as if all of this was obvious and it was quite unnecessary to have summoned him, but I assured him the information was valuable to me. And it was.