Social BehaviorJon remarked to his associate " It's incredible, this stuff was found frozen over a mile deep in the San Trilobite cave (known for its fossils in Paleozoic rocks). It has been estimated the sample of frozen water is more than 500,000,000 million years old." 
"Len asked Jon who the spelunker was that brought the container of ice up from that depth? Jon wasn't sure, but admired any one with enough guts to go that deep in a cave. Len mused out loud, "It seems logical that the brass wants us to microscopically evaluate the contents of the water through all stages of magnification down to 1/25,000 of an inch and less." That's way below the amoeba and the paramecium and even beyond the dimensions of bacteria and viruses.After melting the ice a strange story unfolds into the unknown. This food chain begins with the paramecium, often called slipper animalcules. These protozoa are usually seen in excess microscopically through a magnification of one hundredth of an inch. Paramecium move in a spiral path and rotate on a long axis. It was discussed, prior to preparing a sample for their microscope, how smart these little bugger's are when bumping into a foreign obstacle. They back away at an angle and moved off in a different direction. Because of their slipper like shape—its front end is easily distinguishable from its rear end. Their feet (cilia) are tiny hairlike projections on the sides of their body that move like there will be no tomorrow. Their feet push bacteria, a favorite food, into their gullets.  Len remembered how he used to raise his own menagerie of the common species, Paramecium caudatum. In fact, by allowing the proper vegetable matter to stand and rot in warm water, some of the paramecia were large enough to see with a small magnifying lens. Len indicated to Ron to take the first peek at low magnification while he prepared a new sample at higher magnification. When he finished the second preparation he asked Ron how he was doing. There was no sound as Ron kept his eyes glued to the eye pieces. Ron's eyes looked glazed and distant as he turned and faced his partner. In a murmurous, whispered voice, he said there is life and hideous in shape. Len was incredulous after turning on the video screen to see what he meant. Environmental changes had created a super model paramecium twice in size and formidable in appearance. They had two piercing eyes and what looked like canine teeth. Overwhelmed both of the technicians rushed to the second microscope monitor to see what may have happened to the next specie of animal, the Amoeba. Increasing the magnification to 1/25,000 of an inch they could not believe their eyes as they witnessed the living creatures found in the same water. Amoeba devouring hellish looking smaller creatures. Amoeba had become regimented and formed small groups that attacked smaller but new species of paramecia and bacteria. There appeared to be a small microbial war in progress among the newly shaped spherical, rod, and spiral bacteria. Both men decided to increase the magnification to observe any other phenomena that might take place. As the exploration by magnification continued they witnessed more weird tiny creatures swimming through the water. During the last magnification they noticed a bubble like object resting on the bottom of what looked like rocky silt. As the magnification continued a shaped dome of transparency appeared. Beneath the dome was an honest to God landscape and city with discernable movement.  The magnification at this point was an unbelievable 1/1,000,000 of an inch in size. Ron and Len were visibly shaken and remained stunned for several minutes. Suddenly both had the same idea at the same time. They prepared100 new samples of the water in petri dishes and lined them up in a row. In hopes of finding another bubble, they microscopically checked each dish. If they did not find anything, the water was dumped. They reached dish number 101 and found nothing. Disappointingly, they dumped the last dish. Len mumbled that 100 new samples were prepared, and the original sample made it 101. Where is the original sample? By this time he was screaming at Ron, who was screaming back at him: "HOLEY MOLEY! Look what we did."
"We dumped a whole civilization into the sewer!"
Nothing more was said as they sat alone in stone dead silence.
© Don & Norma Duclon 2002-2006
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