Mini Musings II

The Hippocratics

My qualifying entry for the SciFi Smackdown 8: 500 words of soft SciFi with a little prompt in the first line. I hope you enjoy it.

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The Hippocratics

Bi: SP Parish

(C) 2014

"The shit always hits the fan just as I'm about to finish!" Theo rushed through the metal door, arms full of loose papers and legal pads clutched to his chest.

Marion heaved the door closed behind them, "You know I don't like when you talk like that," she said as she pulled the bar down. "You're not feeling ...antsy, are you?"

Theo slammed his papers down on the table. It was a small room, with no windows, no fancy lights.

With no way for them to get inside.

"Of COURSE I'm antsy! Irritable, moody! I'm not sleeping at night either!" Theo looked at her sideways, his ever-long hair falling in his face. Marion had watched the stress of this mission etch their permanent place around those crystal green eyes throughout her time by his side. Had it really only been a decade? It felt like so much more.

Marion settled herself before serving her partner a dose of his own medicine, "Losing focus?" She asked, "Have you had any bouts of hyperactivity? Feeling impulsive? How are your social skills faring?"

Theo pushed his hair back and laughed as he sat down at the table, "Do you think I need a stimulant?"

"I think you need a break," Marion replied as she took the seat next to him. This was all too familiar. Them, right on the verge of something, only for the alarm to sound. Theo, in haste, grabbing the most important of his notes and rushing underground before the Hippacratics came.

The alarm only sounded when someone had had a sighting within a twenty mile radius. Despite this, they had taken to the bunker no less than four times in the past week, losing valuable information and progress each time. It made them wonder if it was always the Hippocratics.

"Do you think it's them?" Theo asked, giving voice to her very thoughts.

Marion shrugged, "No way to tell."

Theo hit the table. "I was so close, Marion. So close!" He thumbed through his papers on the table, "I don't even know if I wrote the last formula down. But it reduced the levels of dopamine in the stimulated cortex tissues. It..."

As Theo's words died out, Marion reached across the table. "You are not to blame for this."

He scoffed, "But how could they be so stupid?! Generations of excess psychotropic med use, gone unchecked. Did they ever imagine what we would have to do in order to clean up their mess?" Marion knew Theo wasn't looking for an answer. It was a conversation they had had many times. They sat in silence for a while, contemplating everything from their history to the daunting task set before them of undoing hundreds of years of dead people's sins. Finally, Theo looked down to his wrist, "Why hasn't the all clear been sounded?"

"Let me check." Marion rose from the table and walked towards the door. On tiptoes, she reached up, pulling back the slide at the top.

Smoke poured in.