The Quaranteam Universe is the creation of CorruptingPower, used with permission.
An enormous thanks to the entire Quaranteam Writers Room. I have a conversation here talking about a lot of things, and I freely admit that it comes squarely from reading all of the stories we have been telling.
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Chapter 14: Religion
9 September 2020
It was raining when the black van pulled up under the covered section in front of the hotel. When it pulled away, it left four people in its wake, each with a backpack on and a large piece of luggage beside them. All had on long sleeved shirts and pants that covered their legs to their shoes. And masks, of course. Adam took a deep breath through the interference and told the others "come on, standing out here isn't going to do anything but get us wet. Let's at least get to the room before the existential crisis hits, yeah?"
The four of them stepped in through the front doors, through the hastily-installed air barrier that triggered when the automatic sliding doors opened. The lobby of the hotel was empty, save only for one person at the desk. She was probably a fairly pretty woman under everything. She was garbed much like they were, though, with clothing that covered her entire body along with a breath mask, besides standing behind a clear plastic barrier. "Welcome to our hotel, we hope to make you feel at home. Name and card you made the reservation under?"
"Adam Jeffries, standard spelling. I didn't make the reservation, but I'm told it is fully paid off."
"One moment, sir." The woman began typing on her computer.
"AJ," Shannon said into the sudden silence, "How long are we supposed to be here?"
"The letter we got said renovations will be done in a few days. Another two weeks at most." Adam didn't much like this fact. He wanted to be home, not in a hotel, but right now there wasn't exactly a home to go to. The others agreed, though nobody quite said it out loud. The atmosphere in the hospital room had been a bit strained for the last 48 hours, as their anticipated release suddenly got redirected here instead of the apartment. "Theoretically, that's when we go back."
"Thank you for your patience, Mr. Jeffries." The woman at the front desk delicately interjected. "I just had to verify you. Yes, your stay is paid for, up to two weeks though early exit is fine if you need to. You will be in rooms 222 and 224, take the elevator to the second floor, turn right, and they're at the end of the hall. Our complimentary continental breakfast is not running, but each room has a kitchenette, utensils, and refrigerator. May I have your card for incidentals? The reservation does not cover that."
Adam handed over a card, praying it would not need to be charged since his own savings were not exactly the most extensive anymore. Before long, the four of them were walking up to their rooms. Inside was... nice. Not extravagant by any means, but it wasn't exactly a roach motel. The rooms weren't all that big, but there were two of them and they were connected by an internal door. The first thing to happen was that door getting unlocked from both sides. Each room had the promised kitchenette and a queen-sized bed. They each had a television, too, which Shannon wasted no time repurposing to computer displays. In all, easy enough to settle into. It wasn't home, but it would do.
It was Adam who noticed the note left on one of the beds. An envelope on the pillow was addressed simply to Team Jeffries. He opened it and unfolded the letter, glancing at it quickly. "Shannon, Callie, Esther, come here. Looks like our mysterious benefactors have some additional thoughts for us."
"Adam,
This is for your eyes and the eyes of your team only. We have stocked the refrigerators in your rooms with some staples and paid for the rooms, but that is the extent of the assistance you will be getting while the contractors are working on renovations. There is one other family read into Oracle in this hotel, the ones across from you in rooms 221 and 223. Do not under any circumstances discuss your contract or the vaccinations with anyone else. We will contact you when it is time to move back.
-DHHS"
Callie stared incredulously. "That's a new one. Still, at least they're helping. Thought that they usually try to pay per diem for that kind of thing, but if things are chaotic behind the scenes then it makes a strange kind of sense."
Esther shook her head. "Shannon, mind helping me take stock of what we have? We might need to go get some groceries if whomever was buying things didn't get it right."
"As long as you can tell me an animal you want me to represent you with." Shannon was already starting to walk over to the fridge in this room, pausing to pull out her notebook and a pencil.
"Shannon, I am not a part of your fandom. You know this." Esther's voice was long-suffering.
"You might not be, but most of my viewers are. Unless you want me to accidentally dox you whenever I start chatting about the family, I need something to call you."
Esther cracked open the fridge to look inside. "I don't see you doing this to Callie. And ugh, why did they waste room in a refrigerator putting a bag of dry rice in here?"
Callie raised her voice a bit to be heard. "She draws me as a donkey."
Esther looked around at the redhead. "And you agreed to this?"
"Nope, but I refused input and got assigned one. Trust me when I say, take the chance you're being given."
Shannon looked wounded. "Callie, you're the most stubborn person I know along with working hard! Donkeys are perfect for that."
"And I'm sure that's the reason you were grinning like you did when you informed me." Callie's tone indicated some doubts as to this.
Esther closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, seeming to try to banish an incipient headache through force of will alone. "If I must. Perhaps a tiger or a crane."
Adam chuckled at the exchange. Whatever else might be going on, at least the three were getting along with each other. Given how strong their personalities could be, if he had to do a lot of mediating he wouldn't have time for anything else. Instead, while their chatter and food inventory continued, he plugged in and powered on his laptop. It had been three days or so since he had done so, his mind simply had not been on it in the flurry of preparation and discharge paperwork. And, it should be noted, having sex with both Shannon and Callie that morning before they were shepherded out to the van.
It took a few minutes to clear out junk emails, even with his increasing use of spam blockers at Shannon's insistence. The general makeup of them had not been changing, though he supposed some algorithm somewhere had decided to start sending him advertisements for feminine hygiene products. Almost like he was living with three women now. That just meant more addresses to block, Adam knew enough to know that if he tried to order things of that nature he had approximately zero percent chance of getting it right. Getting that wrong could spell disaster.
There was one email he eventually found that caught his attention. Athena. His one remaining student. Suddenly, he was no longer listening to the banter. He was clicking on the unread email with shaky hands, praying to any higher power who would listen that she was okay. It was with immense relief that it began with "Professor Jeffries."
Athena was alive. She was miserable, hurting in mind and soul, but alive. Terrified to go out of her room, stuck eating only the most tightly controlled foods that her mother could get her. Packages UV disinfected. Masked up to go to the bathroom five steps down her own hallway. Every friend she had was dead, and even her church's remote worship services were getting sparse. Yet she was still there. And she had news.
Athena had leapt headfirst into her studies as hard as she could to help her stay away from the shadowy corners of her own brain. In that Sisephean effort, she had found a network of instructors. Teachers in situations like his own who were doing everything they could to continue the work of bringing knowledge to the next generation. They were looking for more, anyone who could connect to those they could reach. It wasn't going to be perfect, the funding was spotty, but it was a heck of a lot better than nothing.
Adam somehow got the words together to send an email back, letting her know he was still alive, still there for her. Even though he couldn't come over to give her a hug himself, he'd at least be able to send one virtually along with her lessons. It was a hard email to send, but a good kind of hard. The kind of difficulty that showed that life could keep going. He'd at least succeeded with one of his kids. One student. If he could keep doing that, his career had to have been worth it. He did his best to hold it together afterwards, to help the others as they put their things away for the time being.
Shannon wasn't fooled for a second. When they were cuddled together in bed that night, Callie and Esther in the other room, she helped him get the tears out. They flowed and took some of the pain with them, leaving the resolve. Shannon dried them, she gave him the time and the understanding he needed to get himself right. To get ready to face the challenges the next day might bring. The tears and the sobs eventually stilled, and the two of them drifted off to sleep.
The next morning was Saturday. A morning to relax. The four ate breakfast together, laughing at the sheer strangeness of their situation, but then the three ladies went to get themselves set up for their own tasks. Shannon was behind in her art queue and needed to make sure her audiences knew she was alive. Callie had due dates coming up on her legal work and a lot of lost time. Esther's own work backing up the remote medical line was interspersed by measurements and readings on the others. Even Adam had a couple of messages to send off to get in contact with the tutoring network.
By the time lunch rolled around, though? Adam was at loose ends. The others were still busy, grabbing snacks as they went, but he was feeling restless. He was not a fall risk anymore, so he could simply stand up, dress up, mask up, and step outside of the hotel room to stretch his legs. It was good to be with the women of his team. His family, as it were. Thing is, he hadn't been away from them for any real amount of time in a long while. Felt like an eternity. For once, he could actually do that. When the door closed behind him, the strangeness of the feeling struck him more than anything. Rather than turn left to go down the hall, he faced right. The window at the hall's end wasn't exactly showing the finest scenery, but he had a moment to savor it. To savor the gray skies and city streets. To let the chaos in his soul settle.
"Adam? Adam Jeffries?"
Adam looked over his shoulder at the man now approaching, the door to the room across the hall closing behind him. He was dressed oddly semi-formally in church clothes, sporting a mask of his own. The rest of him explained it, though. The dark hair on his head was long, notably at the sideburns, and he wore a small skullcap. A
kippah
. His eyes were bright and the smile lines at their corners deep, and four threads hung from under his jacket.
"Jordan, right? You live on the first floor of our building?"
"Good, it looks like I got the right guy." Jordan's voice had more than a hint of Yiddish accent to it, he had moved here from New York for reasons of his own a couple of years before. "
Gut Shabbas
. Just checking, the government people said I was allowed to talk to you, right?"
Adam nodded. "That's what the letter to me said, too. Building got sold, and now they're renovating. Heck of a thing."
"The construction crew said we'd have more than one kitchen once we get back. It'll be good to actually keep my milk and meat fully separate for once. My wife says she likes it as long as I keep doing dishes."
Both men chuckled a bit. Then Adam thought for a moment. "How
