On Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:25:26 GMT, throopw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Wayne Throop)
wrote:
>: Wildepad <noreplies>
>: Great! I think he needs to get out of the hospital relatively fast,
>: but I wasn't sure that would be a natural reaction.
>
>Well... after doing what you described, ie, looking at lots of charts
>to see if there's any hints, and maybe looking for working notes somebody
>has made about what's going on.
I don't see that as taking more than 5-10 minutes at most -- the
charts are kept at the nurses station, and after looking at a couple,
you could just flip one open and tell at a glance if there's something
worth reading.
>: I think the web is going to be a problem.
>
>Why is it a problem? You want your protagonist to remain puzzled longer,
>presumably, but I'm sure the web will provide plenty of conflicting
>speculation, so that any one won't be obviously correct. Seems he'd
still
>be puzzled. He'll just find out a bit more about the scope, and maybe
>a bit about the onset. But the only thing that (it seems to me) would
>change is that he might decide to try to stay awake a long time... but
>he might reasonably think that just by the evidence in the hospital.
>Clearly, lots of people can't be roused once they are asleep; there's
>no particular reason to think you are immune (since you were taken to
>the hospital). I think "stay awake at least until I learn more" would
>be a priority, web or no web.
>
>So... why is it a problem?
I think the natural course would be to first check a major news outlet
like CNN or Fox because that would let you know how widespread the
problem is. Once you read what's there, you check another one to see
if it has more timely or in-depth information, and then you go to
another one, etc..
Then you start checking blogs, newsgroups, or whatever you think might
give you up-to-the-minute info or let you know who else is awake.
Forty-five minutes later, you look up and find someone else who was in
the room with you is standing there waiting for their turn on the
machine.
I see this as a story of personal turmoil, and for that he has to be
alone for as long as possible.
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