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Prompt: Drama In and Out Of the Lab
Words to Include: microbiologist, telephone, hidden, bystander, trench, inside, international, shoe, heights, persuade
This was big.
Bigger than anything Tony had ever seen.
Tony never thought he would make this kind of discovery, especially so early in his career. People in the city had all been sick, all with the worst stomach bug one could imagine. Tony’s job as a clinical scientist at a microbiology lab had been to study various patient samples to determine the root cause of the outbreak.
Tony was looking at what appeared to be a new strain of bacteria. He had seen it in all the samples he had tested so far. It looked to be a previously unidentified strain of E. coli.
Tony was delighted, nervous, and amazed all at once. He got on the telephone to notify his supervisor. They were so excited about the discovery, but then they realized they didn’t know the source of the bacteria. Where did it come from?
They contacted local authorities to persuade them to share any relevant data about the patients. Had they been in the same location? Eaten at the same place? Was their water from the same source?
Tony looked up. Inside the doorway was a man in a trench coat, silent, watching. The man introduced himself as Detective Worley, and he asked to speak with the person who discovered the bacteria. Tony introduced himself as such, and the detective explained that he had been tracking an international terrorist group who had been testing methods of biological warfare. It seemed this bacteria was from something they had created.
The detective took Tony out to the location where they had determined most of the sick people’s paths crossed: the city water treatment plant. They tested the water supply and found large amounts of the bacteria. The water officials were all being questioned when Tony noticed a bystander who looked like a third-party inspector. Tony observed her high heels, which seemed rather out of place in such an industrial environment. He went over to speak with her to ask if she had noticed anything about the water, but as he approached, he sensed something was off. He watched as she removed a vial from her stiletto heel. She had the bacteria hidden in her shoe!
Quickly, Tony notified the detective. Detective Worley promptly apprehended the woman, finding more samples of this and other bacteria in her possession.
The next day, Tony was welcomed back into the lab with a new title: Microbiologist. As he donned his lab coat, he couldn’t help but glance at the city skyline. His discovery had changed everything, and he knew the heights he could reach were only just beginning.
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