***** Vol.5 Chap.3 An experiment with bacteria *****

After what seemed like fifteen minutes of traveling, the bubble shot out of a tunnel and there was a clearing in front of him. He could see that they were soaring over the air over some multicolor pools below. The pools were perfectly circular and reminded him of the paint pots in the Yellowstone National Park. Inquisitively he asked Elijah.

“Wait. Elijah, what are those?”

Elijah woke up. His fingers flew over the control and slowed the bubble. The bubble stopped immediately without any detected deceleration at all. One minute, the outside world was rushing past; the next minute, the outside scenery paused.

“What are these circular ponds?”

“This is a hobby of mine. I seeded each pond with two or three different species of bacteria. I was experimenting with the effects of different types of bacteria coexisting together. See the pond to the right?” Elijah pointed to a large pond to the right. “I love this particular pond because I have seeded this pond with many species of bacteria.”

Frank saw that there were many colors in the pond. He deduced that each bacteria colony must emit a special identifying color. What was so shocking to him was that the circle was evenly divided into even slices like a pie. Each slice was exactly the same size and dimension as the other slices.

“Every time I put a new bacteria colony there, the rest of the colonies will adjust themselves so that each colony would occupy the exact same dimension as the other colonies. Isn’t that a wonder?”

Frank examined the pond and particularly the edge of the slices. The edges are very sharp. It seemed that each colony knew exactly where their boundaries were. There were no interactions at all between one colony and the other.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Incredible.”

Frank looked around and saw another smaller pool. It was ugly. There were a few colonies in the pond, but one ugly colony had practically taken over the space of two other smaller colonies.

“What happened there?”

“A failed experiment. We have plenty of time later to get into the details. Shall we move on?”

“Yes.”

Somehow, Elijah’s experiment had a remarkable similarity to Mark’s cyber creature program. They started moving again. After a few more seconds, the bubble stopped.

Elijah said to Frank, “We arrived.”

Still with a puzzle look, Frank had no idea where they had arrived.

The sphere halted at a small landing. Frank watched him punch a code in the control panel.

“Are you opening the door?”

“Yes I am.”

Frank stepped up and watched. The soft material, where the opening was, began to change. It seemed that the change was at the atomic or molecular level. He was not sure.

First, the texture turned rough. Next the color changed becoming cloudy and less transparent. Then the material became soft and pliable. He poked at the material with his finger and was surprised that his fingers went through the material. From where he made the hole, the hole got larger and larger. Eventually, the hole became the whole opening.

“Incredible. This is incredible.”

Elijah simply smiled.

“Come, let us go.” He stood up and crossed the opening into the landing. Frank followed.

“Let’s go this way.” Elijah started walking and Frank followed. Fascinated by the technology, Frank turned back several times to look at the sphere. It was indeed a marvelous piece of engineering. Frank would love to spend some time studying this sphere. Elijah saw Frank’s fascination and smiled.

“Come, we have plenty of time to study the transport.”

“Coming.” With one last look, he bounced down the corridor.

They walked a little way and Frank noticed that the compound was made of the same material as the cubicle that he was in. Soon they arrived at the door and Elijah opened the door.

“Please come in. This is our conference room. Please make yourself at home. I must go and pick up another person.”

Without another word, Elijah turned and walked out of the room.

Still in awe with his mouth wide open, Frank did not know what to say. But before he had a chance to react, the door, he came through, had disappeared.

Resigned, he just had to wait.