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The Story:
They just started falling from the sky. Millions of them. Some thought it was due to climate change we had caused. Others thought it signaled the end of the world.
Whatever the reason, Colby and I are two of the thousands of scientists tasked with explaining the phenomenon. With birds becoming scarce, the effects are rapidly changing the planet. We have to figure out how to keep them alive.
“Colby, come here and look at this.”
I’m looking into my microscope at a blood sample from our oldest specimen. She is a robin and one of the first to have fallen.
“Please, don’t tell me that’s A-0001, Lynn. We’ve been through this hundreds of times.”
Colby is of the opinion that the answers to our questions lie in the environment. I believe our answers are in the birds. The combination of our conflicting focuses keep our ideas original and fresh, so we decided to work together several months ago.
“Just look one more time.”
Colby huffs and walks over to my microscope. Setting his right eye on the eyepiece, he turns a black nob to tweak the focus.
“Well, that’s… different.”
He lifts up and stares at the microscope, biting the side of his thumb.
“You’re sure this is A-0001?”
“Yes, of course. Is it what I think it is?”
“Yes.”
“But how?”
Colby removes the slide and turns to face me.
“You’re brilliant, Lynn. I’ve known you were all along.”
“What?”
He looks at me and drops the slide to the floor. His foot crushes it as he steps towards me. I leap up from my chair.
“Hey! Colby, what…”
“I’m sorry, Lynn. But there’s too much at stake here.”
I’ve never known Colby to be aggressive in any way. But now, I’m afraid of him.
I turn to run, but he clasps my left arm. I use the momentum to grab the arm of my desk chair and sling it into him as I come around. He stumbles backwards and falls to the ground.
The next nearest object is my microscope, so I snatch it from the desk and heave it at his face as he struggles to get up. It hits him in the forehead, knocking him out.
If I can’t trust Colby, then who?
I take the vile of A-0001’s blood and run out the door.