Parasitic Relationship: Matthew Lau (Most Inventive

written by Matthew Lau, Year 10

6opened his eyes, his dream of rolling hills and flowing rivers already fading as the cold clinical walls of his room came into focus. He pushed himself out of bed and glided to his kitchen to make himself breakfast before heading to work. Dressing quickly, he floated out into the bustling corridors of the space station, making his way over to the rooms marked with a microscope. He ignored the view of the vast universe the windows afforded him, already used to the sights, and donned his lab coat.

“What’s up 7?” He called to his counterpart, working across from him on unknown bacteria, likely alien bacteria.

“Not much,” he replied, “5’s turning up later today, said something about a cold, and 9’s just inside over there.” Pointing to the frosted glass window of the meeting room, where the silhouettes of two figures could be seen.

“Ooh, I hope she goes easy on Albert, he’s just an intern.”

The two returned to their work documenting their discoveries of their microbes, working in comfortable silence. The day dragged on, and the occasional comment and conversation filled the empty space of the room. 9 re-appeared, followed by a very disheartened and anxious looking Albert.

“Hey Al, how are you holding up?” called 7, laughing. Al turned to him with a weak smile. Suddenly a crashing sound drifted over to 6. He turned and saw that Al had knocked over 7’s bacteria filled petri dish.

“My bacteria!” he cried, leaping towards it. He reached out trying to salvage what he could.

“Wait!” cried 8, “you can’t touch bacteria directly without proper protective equipment!” 7 quickly tried to pull his hand back, but his momentum in zero-g propelled him into the floating shards. 7 turned around and… nothing happened. Al returned holding a tray to help clean up the shards. 6 discussed with 5 what to do, they would probably have to isolate 7 and monitor him for the next few days, maybe even a few weeks. Suddenly he heard a scream. The others, 7,8 and 9 had been in a line trying to clean up the shards and quarantine the area. 6 turned around and noticed 9 was gone, 8 was staring at 7 in horror. 7 was smiling viciously at them, his skin was rippling, dark veins growing and consuming him. Soon a vaguely humanoid figure emerged, glistening and opening a gaping mouth in its midsection. It seemed endlessly deep, filled with serrated teeth and had a crimson tongue which whipped out and wrapped around 9, dragging her in. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared into its depths, her muffled scream cut short. Oh no! 7 ate 9.

There was a moment of silence, the calm before a storm. Then everyone screamed, 6 and 8 escaped out the door, sealing it before 7 could follow them. 6’s mind was racing, adrenaline clouding his mind even as he tried to figure out what had happened. Then he felt something cold and hard on the back of his head. Slowly he turned around, beside him he could feel 8 doing the same thing. They came face to face with… Al. He had a maniacal grin on his face, a far cry from the scared look he had plastered onto his face just moments ago. Suddenly it all made sense. This whole chain of events had started when Al had knocked over the type B bacteria. He must have visited the dangerous biohazards room and swapped 7’s bacteria with a deadly microbe. This was a B-tray-Al.

“No hard feelings guys.” Al said mockingly before pulling the trigger.