Guts

We did a lot of medical stuff on Amanda today, taking blood and tissue samples from her afflicted arm, as well as similar samples from her healthy arm. She took it well, sitting patiently while people in white coats bustled around her and jabbed her with implements. I was in charge of a small meter that measured her blood pressure and heart rate, among other things.

Amanda told us a story about something that happened to her when she was on duty at the military base. She'd been assigned to guard the gate, which she hated, because nothing ever happened. She was speaking to the other guard and keeping an eye out front, when out of nowhere, the rotted carcass of a whale dropped onto the ground a hundred yards ahead of them. She was almost crying with laughter as she described the horrendous stench and the deeply unpleasant clean-up job that followed. She got to stand there and watch while every unassigned soldier on the base was sent to mop up whale guts.

The scientists taking the samples obviously enjoyed her story. It gives me hope for the state of things here. As long as they realise they're working on human beings, rather than empty bodies, I can't believe there'd be many ethical problems.