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The Word 9
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The Word 9 (Disk 2 of 2).adf
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09-StrangeStory.txt
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09-StrangeStory.txt
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1996-01-17
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4KB
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113 lines
|2-StoryTime
To explain, I was writing articles at Freak's place, when I ran out of
ideas (well, good ones anyway), so I asked Freak for a subject upon
which to base a short-story. He gave me - da da daaa - Life inside a
Ping-Pong ball. Easy ones first, eh?
|1-Life inside a Ping-Pong ball
"CNN NEWSFLASH: Scientists at Michigan State have unearthed a startling
discovery, today, when minute lifeforms of an unknown origin were
discovered inhabiting the inside of a ping-pong ball. Your On-the-Spot
reporter, Casey Myers..."
"...Thank you Andrea. Yes it was here, outside Michigan State
University, that Dr Samuel Garrett of the Faculty of Microbiology,
revealed his discovery of microscopic lifeforms, inhabiting the inner
surface of a ping-pong ball which mysteriously turned up in his
squash-holdall. These never-before-discovered creatures are so small,
they can only be viewed through an electron microscope. I am talking to
one of Dr Garrett's closest advisors and fellow-researchers, Suzanne
Walker, Miss Walker..."
This young lady next to the reporter shifted nervously as the camera was
brought to bear on her youthful features. The reporter glanced briefly
at his notes,
"...could you clarify just exactly what this discovery means for
America, and indeed humanity as a whole?"
A nervous smile, the young lady began,
"The discovery of new life inevitably has a great impact on everyone
involved, as for the impact upon society in general, I'm afraid I do not
feel qualified to..."
"Sorry to cut in on you there, Miss Walker, but we can now go live to our
roving camera actually inside the lab, looking through the
microscope where Dr Garrett first discovered the microscopic lifeforms.
The picture shifts uneasily to a laboratory inside the University, where
a balding, middle-aged man is shifting around in a long, lab-coat. The
camera pans across the room, locks on the viewer for the lab's electron
microscope and zooms in on the screen. The picture is fuzzy at first,
but as it clears, the inner surface of the ball becomes apparent.
The reproter's smug voice can be heard once more,
"Now, we can see the surface of the ball, if we could zoom in closer, we
may see that which has so excited the resident scientists at Michigan
State..."
Nothing happens.
"If we could just ZOOM IN!"
Still nothing.
"Where's Joe..?"
Sounds of muffled voices and a brief scuffle can be heard, then the view
begins to zoom in towards the inner surface of the ping-pong ball. What
appears to be a city comes into view.
"Holy... I don't... Ladies and Gentlemen, we can now see what appears
to be a city in the distance!"
As the city becomes more definate, the reporter's voice becomes
agitated, he mumbles unintelligably, then regains a modicum of
composure...
"The screen plainly shows a city, complete with 'skyscrapers' and a
positively labyrinthine transport network. As the view closes further,
a number of people, physically identical to normal humans, though
microscopic, can be seen, rushing about their business."
The reporter's monologue continues as the view moves around the streets,
sampling the microscopic life, as complex and intruiging as 'real-life'
and identical in everything but size.
Upon turning a corner, the view centres on a 'micro-man' with a camera,
pointing directly toward the viewer. Next to this is another, who
appears to be talking into a microphone.
At this point, the reporter's voice begins to stutter, he drops the
microphone, and his body is heard to slump to the floor. All the
viewers see, are the two 'micro-men' reporting their world's strangest
ever encounter with extra-terrestrial life.
|1-THE END!
OK, I know it was a bit of a pants story, but I didn't exactly have a
superlative start, now did I?
See you later, you saurian-type fellow
Like deserts miss the rain...
Aladdin Sane
(1974 - 199?)