A story has snuck onto the space station.
On one of my rounds there, I found the scientists to be rather perplexed and arguing amongst themselves. I asked them what was wrong.
“We’re trying to figure out who’s doing the new experiments,” one of them said.
“What new experiments?” I asked.
“Well, whenever we do experiments, we record them so that everyone else knows what’s going on. This table is for the new robot, that table is for the new medicine, etc. But lately, we’ve been noticing traces of experiments that no one’s recorded,” said one of them.
“Yeah,” another piped up. “I’ve been working on growing a new species of shrubbery that sprouts blue and violet flowers, but when I arrived for my shift, I found a tree instead. My shrubbery had been moved to the table for stinky new perfumes, and I’m trying to figure out who did it!”
“Well, don’t blame me,” a third person said. “Why would I move your strange-smelling shrub near to my fragrant perfume?” The insults began flying, so I left them to it while I wandered around the laboratory.
There were indeed strange experiments lying around, but if there had been any order to them, only the scientists would know. Still, I knew what I was looking for, and it didn’t take me long to find it.
I found the mischievous story chasing a cleaning robot around. I stood in its path and demanded an explanation for all the chaos. It said that it arrived on a ship, wandered to the laboratory, and immediately felt at home here. It loved science.
“Well, how about I arrange for your own section of the lab for experimenting?” I asked. The story was practically doing cartwheels.
I corralled the scientists and explained what had happened and the subsequent deal. Everyone thought this was wonderful, and after the experiments had been sorted out and the final insults had been said, calm was restored.
Well, that place is never really calm. I guess I should say that things went back to normal. As I left, everyone was happily doing their own experiments, story included. I think the scientists are rather proud that they have a story nearby. If you would like to find the story, go to the laboratory, and look for the cheese.