I navigated the crowded university cafeteria, finding my classmates in one of the corners. I put my tray on the table and took the last remaining seat.
"Steph, what took you so long?" Emmy asked.
"I forgot my Student Card," I said.
"So you couldn't pay for lunch?"
"The girl next in line helped me out." I muttered a curse. "I cannot do
anything
. Campus security gave me a hard time before I got a temporary Card to enter the Campus."
"So what happened?"
"I went to visit Mom in town. I already phoned; she found it." I didn't tell them that --though I went to town- I actually spent a dirty weekend with Jake. Everything I carried had ended up on one big pile next to his bed. I had left in a hurry; I had spent the morning on much more interesting activities than double-checking whether I had collected all my stuff.
"Yeah," Lisa commented. "It's supposed to be efficient. One Student Card instead of zillion different ones. But if you lose it, you're screwed."
"It's not meant to be efficient. It's meant to
control
you." We all looked at Jinx. "Don't you see? First it was just meant to pay here at the cafeteria and to loan books at the library. But now suddenly every building is access-controlled.
They
know exactly where you are."
Jinx was the odd one out at Vesta College for Young Ladies; most of its students were like me: maturing ex-cheerleaders following a Liberal Arts program, aiming to be rich and successful. Jinx had always been a Goth girl with her black hair and studded leather jacket. Sometimes I worried about her: As a freshman she used to be witty, challenging the teachers with intelligent questions; but she'd become increasingly suspicious, bordering on the paranoid. Rambling conspiracy theories were replacing her earlier bright ideas.
Emmy voiced our mutual opinion: "Yeah, everything's a conspiracy, Jinx. Are you going to lecture again about Bilderberg? Or chemtrails."
Jinx looked hurt: "Have you ever taken the time to read what's really in those chemtrails?"
Lisa hurriedly changed the subject: "Say, Steph, if you've forgotten your Student card, then you haven't seen the mail, I guess?"
I shook my head: "Can't access my mail box either."
"There was a case of Dorm Fever in Tabico Hall. "
"So?"
"We're all offered free vaccination against Dorm Fever," Lisa said. "There's a vaccination walk-in this evening at the gym."
"Actually, we're all strongly urged to take the offer," Frida added. "The Campus M.D. said we must contain the outbreak."
"I'm not going to take it," Jinx interspersed. "Do you know what
they
put in those jabs? It's really a
shot in the dark
."
Suppressed laughter arose. Jinx became angry.
"You're laughing but you really don't know, do you? There's mercury in it, and antifreeze, aluminum, and genetically engineered viruses they can't detect -- or don't wanna tell you... Why's Vesta suddenly so anxious to give all 1,200 students an expensive vaccine?"
"I guess because it's more expensive for
them
if
they
are sued," I said.
Approval was muttered around the table, while Jinx gave me a resigned look.
***
Although I intended to get the shot, the queue deterred me. I decided that I could get the shot later; it was more important now to travel to Jake, so I could get my Student Card back --with the additional benefit of some steamy sex. So I warned Katie, my roommate, that she had another night for herself. She winked when she wished me lots of fun with my Mom, and I left for the station.
I returned early next morning, this time
with
my Student Card. I entered through the main gate and walked to the classroom. I feared I was late because it was unusually quiet. I checked the time; classes were about to start, the walkways and lawns should be bustling with activity.
The classroom was deserted. I waited for 15 minutes, then one of the janitors showed up:
"Hey, what are you doing here? All classes were cancelled for the day."
"Why? What happened?" I asked.
"I dunno exactly. People not feeling well."
I was suddenly very worried: "The Dorm Fever outbreak?"
The janitor shook her head. "The email I got said no, nothing to worry about."
The public terminals at the Library were all deserted. I used my Student card to log into the College network and check my email. The most recent mail was indeed a somewhat puzzling announcement:
Tonight many students called in sick, mainly reporting myalgia and tiredness. All complaints were diagnosed as an innocent reaction to yesterday's vaccination, in combination with stress due to concerns about the reported Dorm Fever case. As a result, all classes have been cancelled for the remainder of the week to give everyone the opportunity to fully recover.
I needed coffee and went down to the cafeteria. It was staffed by just one waitress, and most tables were empty. I saw Jinx sitting in one of the corners, as if she was hiding.
"Hi Jinx, may I join you?" I said.
As I sat down, she bowed towards me and whispered in my ear: "Steph, something is not right."
"I guess you had some point about the vaccine. We're the only ones sitting here."
"I knew the vaccine was dangerous. Did you know it was an experimental vaccine, developed here?"
"You mean here at Vesta College?"
"It's rumoured to be the pet project of our Director Robinson. I heard some bits and pieces before this all started."
"Okay," I said non-committally.
"And there's more," Jinx continued. "I went to Tabico Hall, where supposedly someone had contacted 'Dorm Fever'. On the ground floor, they believed it had happened on the first floor, but on the first floor they said it must've happened on the ground floor because no one there had turned in ill."
"And I guess you've got a nice conspiracy theory to explain it all?"
"Isn't it obvious? Isn't it a tiny bit of a coincidence that
they
are working on a vaccine against a certain bug, and that
coincidentally
an outbreak happens of the very bug they're working on? They wanted to test their homemade concoction, but they did not want to do all the paper work. So they took a shortcut."
"Sounds ridiculous," I said dismissively. But something kept nagging me.
