At a magnification of one thousand, the green blob fills the monitor. Suddenly, it flashes white, and expands again.
“Did you see that?” asks Leavitt.
“I saw it,” says Stone. “You didn’t change the lighting?”
“I didn’t touch it,” replies Leavitt. The blob flashes and expands again. “It’s alive!”
“Yes,” says Stone.
“It’s bigger than two microns,” says Leavitt.
“Which means the infection is spread by a mere fraction of the green,” says Stone. He stands up. “I’m bringing down cameras. Let’s have the other microscanner.” Two movie cameras descend from the ceiling.
Stone presses an intercom button on the console. “Stone to Level Control,” he says,”I need a MIC-T.”
“Roger,” says Level Control, “will send.”
As they watch the monitor, the blob flashes and expands.
“Jump it up to fifteen hundred,” says Stone.
“Micro scan doesn’t go any higher,” says Leavitt.
“We can get fifteen hundred light magnification in Microchemistry. I’ll send the rock through,” says Stone. He reaches for a control arm.
“Attention CLTs on Levels Four and Five:” says an announcement over the intercom. “Main computer shows capacity versus access time…”
Stone uses the robot arm to pick up a smaller pincer tool.