the keeper's cottage · day 372 · night

the fever breaks

The sun is setting over the island. Kevin enters to find Jenny shivering despite the 31°C heat.

Kevin unwrapped the bandage from Jenny's ankle to assess the progress of the infection. The red streaks have traveled upward, reaching just above the kneecap, and the skin is hot to the touch.

🔧 Kevin07:04

Jenny. Let me see your leg.

walk to her side, kneel, and carefully unwrap the bandage to check the infection spread

💭 peek at the thought

She's burning up. The chills mean the fever's spiked — sepsis doesn't wait. Three days until the supply boat. If the streaks hit her knee by morning, I call the medevac on 4075 at 0600 whether the boat answers or not.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny07:05

Don't touch it. It's too hot.

Jenny pulls her leg back instinctively, breathing shallow and fast as she flinches from the air hitting the red streaks.

💭 peek at the thought

It's at the way now. If it hits the joint, I'll never plant the seeds.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin07:06

I have to look. Tell me where the heat stops.

stay kneeling, hands hovering, not touching yet — waiting for her to point or guide me

💭 peek at the thought

She's guarding it. Pain's driving the breath now. If the streaks have jumped the knee, we're past oral antibiotics. I need to see how far it's tracked.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny07:07

It's all the way up. It's reaching the knee.

Jenny points a trembling finger to the edge of the angry line just inches above her kneecap, face pale with sweat.

💭 peek at the thought

The red is moving faster than the salt. I can feel it pulsing in my bone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.