One micron. That’s how big it was supposed to be. Diameter. Or was it perimeter? Nanu was annoyed at this intrusion of Maths- a subject he thoroughly detested- into the relatively safe haven of Biology. Anyway what did it matter? His job was to keep looking at the translucent blob for an hour. Peering through the lens of the instrument. God, how did the others do this? It was incredibly boring..Funny how his face was reflected in the lens. Like a distorted shadow. Scary, actually. ‘You better do the observation properly or .’ or what? ‘Or I’ll jump out at you and become your real face’, probably. Something like that.
Besides, the specimen went annoyingly out of focus every time he tried to look closer..which meant another minute re-adjusting, which meant a ‘You must’ve missed the critical point!!’ from HER. Just because she’d worked here 10 years. And had unbelievable patience, he had to admit.. But that didn’t give her the right to scream at fresh learners. So everyone had different..what was it? Learning curves. That’s what the management dude had said ("Not ‘dude’, she’d say exasperatedly again..The English language is rich. Use it properly for god’s sake!") Phew.
But the thought of a learning curve somehow cheered up Nanu. Maybe I’m just curving..he thought. Just at the jump point..tomorrow I’ll be curved. And I’ll be the best observor at this place. Better than HER, even. He’d collect the maximum..oops. Was that a flicker?
With a sinking feeling Nanu stared back, scouring frantically through the lens. GONE! How’d it move? When? The beam. Damn. The BEAM. The indicator was at a green ‘release’, one half circle from the red ‘arrest’. That meant the only chance he had of catching it now was if it wandered into the field on its own. And fat chance there was of that happening. Nanu fiddled glumly with the knob. Had to be him.One last observation was all that was needed (‘Even YOU can’t screw that up’ had been the uplifting vote of confidence), and the work would’ve been wrapped up. The decision was unanimous anyway. That it must be a gesture of nervousness..poorly developed optic nerves, possibly. But the usual detractors had to be suffered. ‘Probably a form of mate attraction’, that was their theory. After all, it must be a handicap to go blind every few seconds. And if you could live with that, you were advertising your capability. Maybe. Nanu was skeptical. He..WHAT was that on the screen?
Nanu fumbled excitedly with the camera knob. The same specimen! Actually wandered back! Nanu Nantid, there IS a God. Now click and quick..
Two minutes later, Nanu leant back with a rush of wonder and satisfaction. SHE was right..it was his first spotting and there WAS something goosebumpsy about it. How did these specimens manage?? And hadn’t they invented similar instruments long long ago, to look at THEM? How did they observe, if they had to shut their eyes like this every few seconds? It was hard enough with his own ever open ones..No wonder these Human specimens collected all sorts of misguided information about US. For centuries, it seems.
Oops. He’d forgotten the ‘release’. One press and the specimen scurried away, de-magnified a million fold on Nanu’s screen.
Nanu got up and stretched. One pseudopod shot out preliminary to heading out. One last round of the lab and he could slither away, still much excited. After all, it was his first Blink..
This was in between centrifugation spins during an endless experimental procedure :> I don't quite know how the Sci-fi crept in or if its even understandable..infact I don't even clearly remember writing this! So please to overlook the disconnectedness if apparent :>
