The Green Egg

Nobody witnessed my arrival; a small glimmer of green falling from the heavens. I fell into the boiling seas as a Phoenix tail of fire streaked behind me. Like the Phoenix, I am immortal. Every five hundred years I re-live another five hundred years, each time stronger than the last. For 3.5 billion years I have survived, and you are the witness to all I have done. I was your life and your death, do not judge me harshly for what was done, cannot be undone.

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"Green light means go, Harold." Anna said this with true impatience to her tone. Harold's befuddled behavior of late unnerved her.

"Does it?" Harold held fast at the light.

"Yes, it does. Everyone knows this, anytime now, go."

"Does it mean go forward? Or is it a warning to go away, run as fast as you can away from the light."

"Either way, it means go...don't cha' think?"

"Yes, you have a point." Slowly, Harold moved forward, relieved when he no longer saw the green light.

"Jeez, Harold. What is it with you lately?"

"I don't know. I found a meteorite."

"So, everyone finds meteorites."

"This one is different. It's shaped like an egg."

"Are you sure it's not a geode?"

"Yes, but it has something in it. When I put it in warm water, I swear I see a green glow all around it."

"Weird."

"I know, right?"

"You should wrap it up and send it to Arizona State or NASA."

"It might just get buried or lost there. I think I will run some tests on it first."

"I don't know, Harold, in this case, green light just might mean run, huh."

"See? Now you know, do I go forward or do I run away?"

"Green means go in most languages, I say, go forward."

Howard fumbled with his lab coat as he perched on his high stool: pen in his right pocket, microscope wipes in his left, polyethylene gloves on, and glasses, top left corner pocket. One strand of his thick dark hair fell loose from his tidy slicked back look. The tests today would include, salt water, age of meteorite and a scrapping to put on a slide for microscopic observation.

First things first, age of the meteorite. He chipped away at the small rock he found in the chilly mountain stream that flowed down from Mt. Adams just outside of Portland, Oregon. The rock caught his eye because it shimmered a dark green under the water. When he picked it up, it turned dark, almost black but more like a deep, deep green. The shape of the rock caught his eye also; a large egg best described the shape. The rock felt like satin, very smooth on one side. But on the other side, there were small visible worm-like indentations, signs of fossilization.

Harold gave the egg a whack with his rock hammer. It fell apart into four pieces easily which Harold thought was weird. It should have taken a bigger hit. With the evident foliation, the egg had signs of being a metamorphic rock. It should have been harder to break. Inside the rock were more of the worm-like indentations, many more, in fact. He chipped off an even smaller piece to radiometrically date.

He placed the separate samples in warm saltwater, warm water and cold water. The fourth sample, he refrigerated: sample zero. The warm water sample immediately began to glow with an eerie lime green light. The saltwater example began to glow the same green light by the end of the day. The cold water sample barely glowed at all; not impressive compared to the others.

Harold used a bulb pipette to carefully siphon off a small sample of the liquid around the glowing green light. He placed the sample under his microscope. Harold scooched his chair closer to the microscope, leaned his elbows on the table, fiddled with the oculars then brought the sample into focus.

Harold jerked away from the microscope with a confused look on his face. He rotated the lens to a higher power, then slowly leaned in to look through the eyepiece. Under the bright light he saw blue-green single celled organisms. They were already forming strings; an iridescent blue-green pearl necklace slowly waved into his view.

Harold reached for another slide. He pushed his chair back as he rummaged around the materials that cluttered his worktable. A smile lifted the corners of his mouth when he saw a concave depression slide, just what he was looking for. He pulled the lens paper out of his lab pocket, exhaled on the slide then rubbed it clean with his thumb and two fingers.

Harold flipped his lab coat over the back of the chair as he sat down again. This time, he used his pipette to pull a sample of the water above the glowing green area. He peered into the microscope and began to chuckle. The organism had already formed perfect spherical colonies; tiny green jewels glowed and floated around in the small drop of water trapped under the coverslip he had place on top of the depression slide.

"I know you." Harold whispered. "Hello, little fellas."

Harold grabbed his phone and called Anna. "Hey, Anna, come look at what I found."

"Just tell me, I'm busy."

"No. You have to come take a quick look. See if you can identify it."

"Okay, give me a minute."

Harold paced the floor as he waited for Anna. Finally, she arrived.

"What's the rush?" Anna asked as she walked directly to the microscope.

"It's curious. Let me know what you see. I have two slides prepared."

Anna looked down into the microscope. "I can't see anything. Just a green, fuzzy glow. It's a pretty color though."

"Let me see. You must have it out of focus."

"I think, I know, how to focus a microscope." Anna said, sarcasm dripped from her voice.

Harold looked, fiddled with the course and fine focus, then stood up. "That is odd."

"Not as odd as you! Can I go now?"

"No, wait! I will prepare another slide. Give me just a second."

Anna rolled her eyes. With a deep sigh, she glanced around his lab: messy.

"You probably have some sort of contamination. Look at your lab table. Is that an old sandwich? Definitely, there is same fungus among us."

"Okay, smarty pants. Take another look."

"Hmmmm. Okay...it looks like Cyanobacteria. Big deal."

"Look at how fast it's growing! It has already formed strings of pearls and colonies."

"Maybe. Maybe they were already present."

"Do a test with me. Wait five minutes, then look at that exact same slide again."

"Wait here? Just to watch Cyanobacteria grow? I don't think so Harold...you wait. I have my own work to do. You are really acting strange."

"Maybe. But what if..."

"No, but what if's, Harold. It's just Cyanobacteria, nothing new. Jeez!"

"Sure, sure. Well, thanks for taking a look."

"You're welcome. I am leaving now."

But Harold was full of 'what if's'. What if it was some primordial strain? What if this strain was hardier? It definitely grew at an accelerated rate. What if his discovery could halt the climate shift or maybe just slow it down? After all, Cyanobacteria caused a phenomenon called Snowball Earth, the longest ice-age ever recorded. True, it almost wiped out all life, but it gave rise to the Precambrian explosion, the most diverse life Earth had ever witnessed. It definitely warranted further experimemtation.

With altruistic intentions, Harold rushed around his lab gathering as many Erlenmeyer flasks that he could. He filled some with a seawater mixture and some with warm water. He divided and subdivided the three original samples as many times that he thought he should. He had a plan; save the world.

The next day, when he arrived at his lab, an eerie green glow emanated from each flask. Every sample flourished. He smiled at his eminence. The thought of a Nobel Prize flashed in front of his eyes.

"Thank you. I am so humbled. I am just grateful that my small contribution has made such an impact as to be noticed by the Nobel Commitee. Thank you. Thank you." Harold chuckled at himself.

With phase one completed, he awaited the results of the radiometric data on the meteorite he found; further validation to his theory.

"Anna! Anna! I was right! It was a meteorite. The uranium beta decay aged the sample at 3.5 billion years old!"

"Now, that is interesting."

"Right?"

"What now, publish your finding? Do some comparative research tests?"

"Sure, sure. But don't you know what this means? This may be a unique strain of Cyanobacteria."

"Yes. So now you need to make an experimental plan. You need to gather quantifiable data."

"Sure, sure. That will take some time, so I better get started."

"Really neat, though Harold. I guess you don't need to worry about green lights signifying 'run away' anymore. You need to go! Study the bugger."

"What a relief, huh."

Really, all that Harold thought about was phase two: disperse the Cyanobacteria. He dusted off his globe to mark out areas to disperse the growing Cyanobacteria. It had to be evenly distributed for global results. He marked all the warm oceans, seas and lakes and just for good measure, he decided to also include Greenland. He always wanted to see Greenland.

Harold traveled around the world. He released the Cyanobacteria at every destination that he marked and more. It took him a little over one month to complete his journey. By the time he arrived back home, the results were already evident. The news was abuzz about the unusual drop in CO2, the green mats of algal formations on the oceans and lakes, the increased Oxygen in the atmosphere; all very curious.

"Harold, what did you do?" Anna asked simply.

"It's working! I, Harold, am single handedly stopping the climate shift."

"But, Harold..."

"Anna, this is good. All the scientists said the pendulum could not be stopped. That climate shift was and is inevitable. I stopped the pendulum!"

"Harold, you need to tell someone. You have no idea what the results may be."

"Not yet. I need to document what the Cyanobacteria is doing. Then I can show and claim my work."

"You didn't test it in the lab?"

"The world was my lab!" Harold laughed, fame and fortune was sure to be his. "It is done."

"Oh Harold, you've gone too far." Anna shook her head.

"Green means go, Anna. Green means go."

The last thing Harold remembered as he froze to death bundled in coats and blankets were Anna's words, "Harold, what have you done?" Harold watched his breath turn into tiny ice crystals then drop on his table. "I saved the world, Anna." He whispered this to nobody, as almost everybody was gone, frozen under another Snowball Earth.

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I am the first. I am, and always will be here. Not to worry. Though I bring death, I also bring new life, watch and see. I am the seed of life and I will be with you every step of the way. Earth is my home and life is my gift. Revel in the rebirth for what is done, cannot be undone.