"Give it a try."
A glass filled with pale green liquid was pushed in front of a middle-aged man wearing old blue work clothes.
The man's complexion was dull, his lips were cracked, and cold sweat even beaded on his forehead. Everything about him radiated sickly ill health.
"Mr. Scott, cough, cough, I... I..." He stared at the strangely scented liquid in his glass, momentarily at a loss.
"What, don't you trust me?" Lorne narrowed his eyes slightly. "Do you think I'd hurt you?"
He had tasted the medicine himself and divined its safety with the Pendulum, so he could be absolutely certain it was harmless. Its actual therapeutic effects, however, still required further clinical testing.
The man before him was a "volunteer" he had personally visited and invited. He worked in the Assembly Workshop and had been caught in the rain a few days earlier. Since then, his low fever had refused to subside, leaving him ill for several days.
"No! No! Mr. Scott, I trust you!" The worker hurriedly waved his hands, terrified that his employer might misunderstand him.
As far as trust went, who else could he trust now besides the gentleman before him?
He had fallen seriously ill and could no longer work at the factory. In the past, he would already have been mercilessly fired, left to huddle at home and silently await death.
But this employer had not only kept him on, he had privately given him some money and told him to get plenty of rest. He had even personally promised that the worker could return to his job whenever he recovered.
After two days of rest, his condition had improved somewhat, but it was still far from good. He had considered going to a hospital, but he simply could not afford the