Jess followed Mike out of the bridge, but Tony stayed an extra moment. “Ted, you’re the skipper now, and I don’t have a problem with that. But Jim was our friend, and it would help things around here if you tried to be a little more understanding about that.”
“You’re a good sailor, Tony. I appreciate your value as a crew member. Unlike those two-bit ichthyologists and worthless doctor, you actually understand a little bit about this vessel. I need you to stay focused on your job. You let me worry about dealing with the bacteria.”
“I’m not talking about the bacteria, I’m talking about Jim. And my colleagues are the tops in their fields. You’re not the only rock star down here. You might want to remember that.” Tony walked out of the bridge and didn’t see Ted’s “move along” hand gesture. Ted was quite comfortable running the ship with just the MC and himself. The rest of them were expendable.
He continued his notes and sketches in a small notebook:
Ian and Jim appear to communicate in some way. Not only do they vocalize like sea mammals, but their bodies seem to sway in their separate holding tanks together, like they are sharing the same current. I think about the colonies of polyps living in the shallow reefs and wonder about that connection. Colonies of tiny animals, viewed by outsiders to be one organism, when in fact they are thousands of tiny separate creatures. The microscopic colonies of bacteria are now sharing some sort of intelligence and using their hosts in ways which will require long-term observation.
At some point, I will put them both into one holding tank. It will be very cramped, but I believe they will become “one thing” like coral is “one thing.” Their separate entities no longer matter. They are simply holding tanks for the large populations of bacteria.
We must learn how the host can harness the bacterium and remain the primary organism. The next project will be killing the Deinococcus radiodurans and then injecting the dead bacteria into another host to attempt a vaccine. If the host can then produce antibodies to the dead bacterium, perhaps he can be reinfected with live bacterium that will not attack at the cellular level but will offer the same protections against temperature extremes, radiation, and poisons that Deinococcus radiodurans exhibits.
Ted put the pen down and thought about who would “volunteer” to take the vaccine. Mike was truly the biggest thorn in his side. Jessica would also be easily expendable. Theresa might be helpful in future lab work, and Tony could help run the ship so Ted could concentrate on his work in the lab.
Mike or Jess? Hell, maybe do both and see what happened.