BacterioStatic
In this science fiction drama, Dr. Maxwell Silverman, a university-based microbiologist, makes a dreadful discovery in a small Florida lake. During a field trip to research bio-luminescent life forms, he notices an eerie green glow coming off the water and decides to take a small specimen of the organism back to his lab. Max has no idea what he’s found and what is about to be unleashed on the world.
Max and his graduate student assistant, Sandra Sanders, test the slime sample and quickly realize it is like nothing they had ever seen before. Their first tests clearly indicate the organism feeds off any available source of energy – including other lifeforms. As it feeds, it grows and develops small tentacles and filaments. It evolves into a hydra-like creature, the first of many shapes it will assume.
After weeks of testing with limited lab resources and budget restrictions, Max approaches William Fordyce, the department chairman, to request additional funding to continue studying the organism. Fordyce reviews the data Max has collected, but rather than granting Max’s request, he orders the transfer of the organism to a secret military installation.
Now morphed into a starfish-like creature, the organism escapes its holding tank enroute to the military site. On the loose and with an unlimited source of available energy, it grows into an uncontrollable bat-like monster, wreaking havoc in search of more energy. It continues to morph into different creatures – a giant rat the size of a Great Dane, a crab-like creature as big as a car, and an enormous bat – each with long tentacles for feeding on all sources of energy from animals to airplanes. The terror mounts when the monster approaches a nuclear power plant, and it becomes a race against time for the team to find a means to destroy the creature and stop its frightening reign of destruction.
Reviews
“Enjoyed BacterioStatic. What a great monster Pablo’s created. I kept wondering what it would evolve into next!! It must have been a huge amount of work, but it was great fun to read. I enjoyed the nasty little uncertainty at the end. Just right. There are very many lakes in Florida, and I hope you made a lot of retirees and vacationers very, very nervous.” (smile) – Heather Kemp