galvarelli/meeting-with-old-imperial-hospital.txt

From what Adam had said, the Chancellor of Old Imperial Hospital seemed to be a yak of little patience, a pun Nikki hoped would never come up in conversation. # fix actual text later.
The Chancellor, Teri, introduced her companions, the yak a nursing superintendent named Amy and a pig named Rowena, a data analyst.

―I'm Nikki, Chief Executive of the Republic.
	Adam tells me you were very persistent in setting this meeting up.

―Yes, well it's critical that we get heard out.
	As I told Adam, Old Imperial is in crisis, Nikki.

―Start from the beginning.

―Well, we're not sure when it started.
	A little while ago we noticed a few patients coming in with insomnia, which is not too uncommon.
	Treatment worked, and that was that.
	But we started to get more and more cases, above the normal rate.

―I think the earliest we can see an abnormal bump in case rates might be somewhere between two and three weeks ago, as far as I can tell from our numbers, Rowena added in.
	But the base rate's already low, so it's hard to tell when our first cases were.

―Yes, especially with how innocuous it is, Amy added.
	Not everyone actually brings in their complaints, or they might use sleep aids that don't need the hospital.

Nikki nodded.

―Makes sense, it's not like we're strangers to a lack of sleep here in government.

Teri seemed slightly annoyed at the interruption.

―Yes, well the reason this is a crisis is the subsequent growth, she said.
	We've seen staff developing symptoms, so we believe it's communicable.

―Communicable insomnia and hallucinations? Nikki asked.
	Is that a thing?

―Some sort of parasite? Amy answered.
	It's not out of the realm of possibility.

―Whatever causes it, and we still don't know, we're seeing more and more patients, taking up beds without any clear long-term plan.
	We can't just send everyone home full of sedatives, but for the