#kansetsu

It was causing quite a stir lately and he knew that they were lucky, indeed, to have acquired a large enough portion for testing. It was rumored that it had the ability to raise animate objects from the dead but he had dismissed the latter claim as being so much tommyrot initially; he would keep a skeptical scientific distance from it until he’d had a chance to put it through a battery of tests first. Perhaps it would be substantiated, perhaps it wouldn’t but he was looking forward to find out. He put the box on the desk beside the electron microscope carefully, picking up a pair of latex gloves and put them on before he picked up a small knife, slicing through the thick tape that covered the top. Normally, he would have raised an irritated eyebrow at the amount used but not today; this was too important to leave to chance and he appreciated the care that went into making sure it arrived hermetically sealed. He worked quickly after he peeled back the tape and opened the top, reaching in and cradling the space rock carefully in his hands. He bit his lower lip as he brought it out, placing it in the sterilized petri dish that he had ready for it. He reached for the mortar and pestle set that was on the shelf opposite, placing it on the table beside the petri dish. He picked up a delicately wrought steel chisel and small hammer; he placed the sharp end on the fragment and gave the square head a sharp, quick blow and was pleased to see that the piece broke off cleanly down the middle. He put down the chisel and hammer before picking up the pestle, putting the fragment into it. He crushed the fragment into millions of tiny particles, placed it inside a test tube and placed it in the machine before closing the lid. He quickly pressed some buttons and was rewarded with the click and whir that said the machine was now in the process of breaking down even further the sample in the test tube and would print the results presently.

He tapped an impatient rhythm as he waited, his eyes darting about the room. He knew that this part of the process took time-he had at least an hour until it would be complete-but this was too important to leave to chance and, he had to admit, his scientific curiosity was getting the better of him. He’d heard so many rumors about the meteor and he couldn’t help but wonder how much of what he’d been hearing was actually true. Some of the stories had been pretty wild: animate objects, be there animal or human, were somehow resurrected within three minutes of death if they were in the immediate area, or in a fifty foot radius out from it, of the meteor. He’d scoffed initially; to his well ordered logical mind, there was no place for wild innuendo but hard, scientific fact; despite this, he had to admit that he was intrigued and was eager to test it out in the lab. He was so lost in thought that he didn’t realize that an hour had passed until he heard the incessant beeping of the machine and then the loud “clunk” and whirring sound as it started printing out the results. He watched the rows of numbers and charts with great interest as it passed by his eyes and he stopped, shock registering on his face. There must be some mistake, was his first thought as he looked at the printed results. This… this… can’t be true! was the second as he immediately pressed a button to restart the process for a second time. He waited again in impatient silence for the machine to finish and was perplexed to see that the results were the same. Excitedly, he had it go through a third time and was overjoyed to see that the results came up the same as they had twice before. Incredible! His hands trembled in excitement as his eyes scanned the results, comparing them to the other two. There was no mistake; all three were exactly the same. Therefore, this meant that… “Sean!” The tow-headed lab assistant looked up, startled from his chart. He’d been so immersed in his work that he’d shut out all the hubbub in the background behind him. “Yes, Dr. Hartnell?” “Has that package from Commander Sith arrived yet?” He nodded. “It arrived an hour ago.” He made a face. “I don’t know why on earth you’d want to receive it.” “Never mind.” He pivoted smartly on his heel and marched over to Sean’s desk, grabbing the hermetically sealed box, walking quickly to the dissection lab in the back of the lab, well away from the other offices and labs for both safety, and health, reasons. He barked at someone to glove up and bring the dish with the fragment and hurriedly opened the box, taking the carcass of a recently deceased rat out of it. He turned to see another assistant hurrying in carrying the dish. “Give it to me!” he snapped, his voice quivering with excitement as he waited impatiently for the assistant to comply, looking at the waves that emanated from the fragment to engulf the rat’s body.

Incredible! This is incredible! If this goes according to my hypothesis, then the rat should come back to life within three minutes. Both Dr. Hartnell and the assistant waited with bated breath for the next three minutes. Their impatience was rewarded when they both saw the rat’s whiskers begin to twitch, its limbs jerking wildly before they settled down, the eyes opening slowly and looking about the room curiously. A minute more and the rat stumbled to its feet, shook its head and squeaked, its head tilting to the right. “Incredible, Sir!” he heard the female assistant breath, her voice imbued with wonder. “The rat… it’s… it’s…” “Alive,” he finished for her, his voice thick with satisfaction. “The rat is alive; beyond all scientific explanation, beyond all logical reason life has been restored within three minutes in the presence of this rock.” He smiled triumphantly. “I suppose that there is some truth to the rumors then. I never would have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes!” He turned to her. “There are more specimens in the box; let’s go through and test them all and, if the results are the same, call Commander Sith immediately. He’ll definitely want to know about this!” The assistant nodded as she hurried to obey and they both watched as, time after time, each of the fifteen rats carcasses regained life within three minutes of exposure to the Temsik meteor fragment and began to frisk about, apparently none the worse for wear. Each of the rats were examined minutely and each one was the same: hale, whole and healthy with no apparent after effects coming from having been deceased. No brain damage of any kind, no ill after effects that he could see that one would reasonably expect of someone who had been dead but had managed to be brought back to life were present.

“Call Commander Sith!” The excitement in Dr. Hartnell’s voice was palpable as the assistant raced to the next room. “Immediately!” XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 3 P.M. “Amazing!” Commander Sith looked up from the screen, his gaze being drawn over to the petri dish where the remains of the fragment that had come from the Temsik meteor. This particular piece of space rock had caused quite a stir, he knew, mostly due to its inherent properties of being able to resurrect the dead.

It had happened twice-that he was aware of-and this was uppermost in Commander Sith’s mind as he stood beside Dr. Hartnell, leaning in closer to the blue-skinned scientist as he looked steadily at him.

Dr. Hartnell’s slate-grey eyes narrowed. “I don’t know how it manages to give life to dead things; all I know is that it does.” Commander Sith looked with interest at the oddly glowing sliver of rock but he knew that there was something… special… about it although they weren’t exactly sure what that really was or even how it managed to spread its life-giving powers over a wide area. Yomiel, he thought to himself as he watched the sliver glow with a soft blue light, it all began with him. Where will it end, I wonder? And how can we use it to our advantage? I must think on this awhile, and the implications it has for our nation as a whole. He watched with interest as he noticed the swirling colors deep within its blue heart: blues of varying shades, soft purples and yellows with a tinge of orange pulsed deep within the fragment’s heart with a life all of its own and he couldn’t help but wonder what, exactly, this was made up of… and what gave it its amazingly brilliant life. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I wonder where that ethereal glow comes from? He supposed it had picked it up somewhere in its intergalactic journey and would wait on Dr. Hartnell to find out the specifics. He couldn’t restrain a shiver of excitement. What we find out here… it could mean everything for our nation in terms of our global standing and for our people in general.

He also knew that Dr. Hartnell was very thorough in his research and this is why he trusted him implicitly above all the other scientists that worked in his lab. In fact, he noted with a savage pleasure, many of his colleagues had sometimes complained about that thorough slowness as being detrimental to their nation’s interests but he, himself valued the man, and his methods highly. Who else had come up with as many of their recent breakthroughs than he when he’d led the teams that discovered them? Let the dogs bark, he thought as he watched him in expectant, impatient silence. I know the value of this man and I know better than to get in his way. He smiled grimly. He’s made many new breakthroughs in the past three years so I am more than content to let him do what he pleases as he pleases since the wait is certainly worth it and I know that I can trust his conclusions implicitly. He couldn’t help but feel meanly glad that so much of the opposition to this particular brand of research was from his enemies in the other party. I also know that the Supreme Commander is very pleased with both the man and his work so that’s also to his good since no one would really argue with him on these matters knowing that Dr. Hartnell has his full support and backing. A sudden sharp intake of breath made Commander Sith jerk his head toward the scientist who was standing there, a look of shock plain on his face.

“What is it?” he asked, his heart beginning to hammer in his chest. “I-I’m not… certain, exactly,” Dr, Hartnell replied, his expression poleaxed and uncertain. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Come over here and take a look for yourself…” Commander Sith pushed himself away from the wall and, in four quick strides, was over at his side, looking into the electron microscope himself. His eyes opened wide at what he saw: a small, writhing wisp of what looked like white smoke, shot through with various colors of the rainbow, giving off pulses of multi-colored hues. He peered closer and could have sworn that the wisp of smoke had something that looked like… eyes… peering back curiously at him through the lens.

Commander Sith gasped as he stepped back quickly, wondering just what it was that he had been looking at… and what it meant. He looked queryingly at Dr. Hartnell who shook his head wordlessly, shrugging his shoulders in response to his unasked question. “Your guess is as good as mine, Sir, in this respect,” he said quietly but with an irrepressible air of excitement. “I have no idea what we’re looking at here or how it came to be in this meteor in the first place.” Commander Sith’s bushy eyebrow raised. “Any hypotheses?” “I’ve … never seen something like this before and I have no idea how, scientifically speaking, where or even why or how it came to be in this hunk of space debris. I do know that the usual properties are present: traces of radiation with minerals that are only found in space along with frozen ice crystals.” He spread out his hands. “However, I tested the fragment three times and each time the results were exactly the same.” Commander Sith leaned in closer. “What is it, exactly, from what you can see, Doctor?” Dr. Hartnell was silent for a few moments. “It seems to be something… living. Perhaps the best way I can describe it would be to say that its very like… the spark of life.” He shrugged as he looked back at the petri dish at the glowing fragment. “As in at the time of the Big Bang, at the very creation of the universe. Perhaps it may have been a part of a young sun that broke apart and was absorbed in the creation of our sun or perhaps it’s the remnant of some long extinct collapsed star that had something left over once it went super nova; that might be a plausible explanation for the swirling colors within it and its life-giving properties.” Silence hung between the two men for some time until Commander Sith broke it first. “What happened with the rats I sent you for experimenting? What happened when they were exposed to the fragment?” “Every single one of them was resurrected with three minutes after being exposed to the meteor fragment. How that happened, I have no idea  and I can say only that I saw it plainly with my own eyes: they were undeniably deceased but regained life within three minutes of exposure to the Temsik meteor fragment.” “Any long term effects?” “None that I can see at this point, Sir. They look, and appear, to have been raised from the dead in some fashion that I can’t explain by the Temsik meteor.” His face took on a speculative look. “I can’t help but wonder if that meteor holds the key to life, and death, itself. It certainly appears that way.” Commander Sith’s eyes opened wide with the implications although excitement was plain in his voice. “You surely can’t mean-?” He nodded. “I am, Sir.” He turned toward him. “Think of it! We could resurrect the dead with no ill affects and its all due to this piece of space rock!” Commander Sith’s heart swelled as he looked at the excited scientist. He was certainly right in one respect: the implications were enormous and bode only well for their foreign nation as a whole. To quite literally, hold the power of life and death in your hands… “Continue your research, Dr. Hartnell,” Commander Sith ordered, his voice trembling with excitement, “and let me know how things progress. We must make absolutely certain that the resurrection process has no long term ill effects and then…” Dr. Hartnell nodded. “Then we would have quite a lever in world affairs to the ultimate benefit of our nation.” He smiled. “How wonderful it would be and how happy that would make the Supreme Commander, as well.” Commander Sith smiled but didn’t reply as he made his way out of the lab. For now, it was enough that his suspicions had been confirmed and walked with a jaunty air as he made his way to his quarters. He knew that the Supreme Commander would, indeed, be pleased with his report.