Turtledove
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Matt
Fictional Character
A Different Flesh
POD: C. 2.5-1.3 million years ago;
Relevant POD: c. 1492
Appearance(s): "Freedom"
Type of Appearance: Direct POV
Species: Sim
Date of Birth: 1974
Occupation: Test subject

Matt (b. 1974) was an adolescent sim who had been infected with HIV by the Terminus Disease Research Center. By studying Matt and other sims, doctors at the DRC were able to develop an HIV inhibitor (HIVI) in 1988.

A few weeks after that announcement, sim justice advocates Ken Dixon and Melody Porter took Matt from the DRC. They then tried to keep him hidden for a month. However, as Matt was HIV-positive, they could not take him to a reserve without causing an epidemic. Matt could not understand that the inhibitor was not a cure, and that he carried the disease in his blood, and so found this "freedom" quite stifling. Finally, the two activists had not brought enough of the inhibitor. Consequently, Matt began showing symptoms of full-blown AIDS. The two saw no choice but to return Matt to the DRC.

While Matt was initially something of a hero to the other sims for having seen the outside world, he had found his experiences quite boring.

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