And I have never seen a stableboy
whose master waits for him, or one who stays
awake reluctantly, so ply a horse

with currycomb, as they assailed themselves
with clawing nails--their itching had such force
and fury, and there was no other help.

And so their nails kept scraping off the scabs,
just as a knife scrapes the scales off a carp
or of another fish with scales more large.

--Dante Inferno

The people all panicky around me are that way because they do not understand. If I leave my lab to tell them, I risk missing the exact moment my experiment must take place. I can imagine them all, though. There's that woman alone with her young son, I do hope they're ok. There's that strange, lonely old guy that nobody really knows, and then there's that boring mousy little guy I barely even know. It's just not worth the risk to me. I'll stay here.