Tardigrades In Space

TARDIGRADES IN SPACE!

by JONATHAN R. ANDERSON © M r A nderson .R ocks | all rights reserved

LOGLINE A larger-than-life tardigrade toddler befriends a spunky girl longing for a little brother.

Embarking on a thrilling quest to liberate the creature’s siblings from the medical university lab, the duo risks sabotaging the very gene therapy that stands between life and death for the girl’s beloved cousin.

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A LAB TECHNICIAN COLLECTS TARDIGRADE SPECIMENS FOR ISRAEL’S ILL-FATED “BERESHEET” LUNAR MISSION.

SYNOPSIS In 2019 Israel launched a lunar probe atop a NASA rocket.

It was carrying a payload of microscopic tardigrades.

Future astronauts brought the specimens back to Earth.

Years of cosmic radiation had mutated their DNA, so that once awakened, they began to grow and grow... until they were two feet tall...and sentient!

“Tardigrades in Space” is the story of this new life form’s liberation and emancipation, and a commentary that the best of humanity isn’t exclusive to being a “two-legger.”

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“BERESHEET”, WHICH MEANS “IN THE BEGINNING” ~ GENESIS 1:1

DR. SYDNEY BASIL ADVANCED HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY

Driven to develop cures for the incurable, Dr. Sy Basil pioneers the gene therapy lab at a premiere health sciences university.

Exploiting the seeming super powers of the tardigrades recently retrieved from Israel’s failed moon mission, Dr. Sy is on the cusp of healing her most challenging patient: Lydia’s cousin Ruby.

But she faces an ethical dilemma.

Sy’s work is funded by an APRAD program intent on using her research to forge tomorrow’s super soldiers...which is headed by her father.

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ADVANCED HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY | PORTLAND, OREGON

ADMIRAL BASTILLE ADVANCED PROJECTS RESEARCH AGENCY for DEFENSE | TARDIGRADE RESEARCH UNIT

Haunted by the death of his Navy SEAL son from radiation exposure during a black operation, Admiral Gerard Bastille heads an APRAD program seeking to exploit tardigrade genetics to protect future soldiers from battlefield toxins.

Bastille also has his thumb on the pediatric gene therapy program run by his estranged daughter at Advanced Health Sciences University, demonstrating that politics is never just business...

It’s personal.

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“THE BODY WILL WEEP THE TEARS WHICH THE EYES REFUSE TO SHED.” ~ Cree Indian Proverb

DR. ETZBON BAR LAVANA ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT LABS OF ISRAEL

Rebounding from the failed Beresheet moon mission, Dr. Etzbon Bar Lavana has pioneered technology that can compress matter to microscopic scale.

Understandably, only inanimate objects can survive the stresses of molecular scaling...except for some peculiar tardigrades from that moon mission.

Only they can pilot Bar Lavana’s experimental vessel, the Eukarya.

But when he discovers APRAD’s plans to weaponize his Tardonauts, Bar Lavana risks everything to do the right thing.

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THE EUKARYA NAVIGATES THE MICROCOSM WITHIN A CELL; BACTERIOPHAGES MISTAKE THE EXPERIMENTAL CRAFT FOR A BACTERIUM.

MR. ANDERSON SCIENCE EDUCATOR AND ARTIST

A grandfather who never lost his childlike wonder looks forward to some summertime with granddaughter Lydia.

But when a surprise visitor comes stowed away in Lydia’s backpack after visiting her cousin Ruby at the research hospital, chaotic adventure ensues.

Initially intent on returning the little blue tardigrade to Dr. Sy’s laboratory, Papa’s compassion and sense of justice draws his heart into Truman’s plight.

While they set about to free the captive tardibabies, little do they know that General Bastille and his band of mutant militardies is closing in on their humanitarian efforts.

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THE REAL MR. ANDERSON IN A 4TH GRADE CLASSROOM | ALBANY, OREGON

RUBY WILSON LYDIA’S COUSIN

Suffering from an epigenetic illness, Ruby’s prognosis is in the hands of a compassionate young doctor tirelessly working to develop a gene therapy for the tween’s mitochondrial condition.

But time is running out on every side... experimental treatments are mired in the FDA approval process; R&D funding is yoked to political and military posturing; and the font of genetic hope for young Ruby has escaped the lab: A baby blue tardigrade from space.

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MITOCHONDRIA PRODUCE ENERGY IN EVERY LIVING ANIMAL CELL

REAL BIOETHICS “Tardigrades in Space” isn’t just science fantasy... it’s current events and real-life bioethics.

Tardigrades are everywhere; not just geographically, but all over the media as popular science darlings.

School children readily recite legendary litanies of the ubiquitous but mighty waterbear...

World governments fund CRISPR research to improve crop yields, boost livestock immunity, and they are even enhancing the human genome to make “super soldiers” for tomorrow’s battlefields.

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ARTICLES FROM REAL SCIENTIFIC JOURNALS

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des. These c to tardigra rade’s exeins specifi ig ot rd pr ta to ed e er ally disord ading ch contribut of intrinsic ronment, le tations whi Abstract ecific proteins are types ccation, one of the adap influenced by their envi sp si ly de ng de e ra ro st Tardig des surviv ents. oteins are lp tardigra specific pr tic environm proteins he Tardigrade treme abio riety of ex ant nature. er va a ol ot ss m ro tre ac malleability to adaptive igtion were or . ation protec History sms of tardigrade desicc ls of the sugar trehalose ve ni ation gh le The mecha avoid desicc ] to sult from hi to re t to as t ye gh e lik oteins[1 inally thou organisms at shock pr is used by Howevking with he Trehalose ents by wor eins in solution.[2][3] halose, nm ro vi en tre prot of in dry ve ls iti ve ns le se l ationate smal me keep desicc n accumul from extre s rdigrades ca to provide protection er, while ta t in organism en rta ci ce ffi lp su he in e ch undant the levels ar Other molecules whi genesis ab yo br em 4] te n seeds. hen conditions.[ desiccation include la yonic cotto scovered w lar tion to embr ns, were di rade’s ec ig ot rd avoid cellu pr ta e e id th r luble protei ov fo pr so e at ch bl he hi si w nt on , proteins tually resp eted abunda rades.[6] proteins ac ic and secr ns in tardig cytoplasm [5] Certain osis is a dant protei cluding the Anhydrobi un in ab s, s es si in ne drobiosis. ge hard hy yo br an ] is em [7 ts te e. r la vironmen abolic stat searching fo e in dry en ter an amet de to surviv ater and en the tardigra se nearly all of its w by ed us gy lo One strate ganism can which an or process in ered ally disord of intrinsic Functionspecific proteins are a typeed shape or task. These ble, min an ensem Tardigrade no predeter ions, called , intrinsihich have conformat proteins, w y different ause of this an ec B m . ent e es us ur proteins the environm rent struct c strongly to rough diffe may react rade specifi to move th ig ns ei rd ot ta pr of in ered ilies calized with cally disord e three fam lo ar e is n er ei Th ot e pr t.[8] undant they inhabi named after where th genesis ab yo br em te ch do to la proteins, ea are similar ree families g e proteins des. The th d durin a cell. Thes e specific to tardigra d or enriche se ar es t pr ered bu rd ex they proteins r and are ically diso ents, where e each othe eins, intrins ture during me environm problems for not resembl nlike traditional prot na de or rvive extre es tion U su us lu n. ca so em io n th at of io t cc lp desi te ou to he dehydrat specific not precipita ly on these proteins organisms, tardigrade proteins do s re n. In most However, tegrity of ] Tardigrade ated state called a tu proteins to function. ntain the in ai m d an dr r high heat.[9 n, io thei at dehy r a dr fo t in hy en de es di nm upon put their bo ed a hydrated enviro ll contents ne ation of ce cells, which in preventing aggreg st si as proteins

THEMATIC CROSSOVERS Current events and pop-science about tardigrades, MEETS

MEETS

CRISPR gene therapies, MRNA vaccines, DARPA experiments and more!

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PRODUCTION DESIGN

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FULL-SIZE HARDITARDI PUPPETS AND THE REAL TARDIGRADE SPECIES THAT INSPIRED THEM

FULL-SIZE MILITARDI PUPPETS AND THE REAL TARDIGRADE SPECIES THAT INSPIRED THEM

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MrAnderson.Rocks Tardigrades in Space 04/07/2020 Spaceship Graphics

©2020 MrAnderson.Rocks All Rights Reserved.

EUKARYA MINIATURE | 1:12 SCALE

HANGAR BAY MINIATURE | 1:48 SCALE

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SPACESHIP SET-PIECES | FULL SCALE

SPACESHIP SET-PIECES | FULL SCALE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Jonathan Anderson has been a multimedia storyteller since childhood, through comics and puppets, sculpture and model building, acting and directing theater, and producing film and video in high school and college. Of course, life happened, taking practical turns through marriage and family, supported by jobs in marketing, pastoring, nonprofit management, and running a boutique creative agency. Then came teaching, which brought everything into focus: Equipping children for life and livelihood through the arts and crafts of storytelling. Bringing meaning from chaos and beauty from ashes.

Spinning quests that satisfy a soul’s calling. Tilling rocky soil to discover that the greatest harvest comes simply by putting one’s hand to the plow.

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