Of Goo and Glory, Chapter 3

So, I drive to the bush fires on a tiny side road where they did not put the barriers up. Fog and smoke cloud the sky and I try to be as jolly as can be. The goo seems to be content. I see the first fires and accelerate.

“We need the speed to pass it quickly.”

<You are the expert here.>

“Yeah right, I am. Bye!”

Close enough to the fire, I push my spare umbrella against the gas pedal, open the door and roll myself out of it.

Blank.

…

“Madam! Do you hear me?”

A young man’s voice wakes me up.

Shocked, I ask, “Where is my car?”

“It burnt. But thank goodness, you did not!”

“Uh!”

He continues. “At your age you should not drive a car anymore, you know.”

Shoot! A driver’s license for the safety of Earth! Alas, fair price. 

THE END

Bonus Material

Pandora, the biologist, did not want the alien fungus to eat all the nematodes on Earth, and she had a good reason for this. They are an essential element in the ecological cycle and their disappearance could mean the end of our lives. If you look up the term “nematode” on Wikipedia (date Dec. 29, 2023), you will find a long description with a quote from Nathan Cobb, a nematologist:

“In short, if all the matter in the universe except the nematodes were swept away, our world would still be dimly recognizable, and if, as disembodied spirits, we could then investigate it, we should find its mountains, hills, vales, rivers, lakes, and oceans represented by a film of nematodes.”

source: Cobb, Nathan (1914). “Nematodes and their relationships”. Yearbook. United States Department of Agriculture. p. 472.